CADSPPE Focus Group Outcome
Access to Information for Students With Print Disabilities
Gladys Loewen, November 2004
Goal of Focus Group
• To establish a clear picture of the issues facing disability service providers in supporting students with print disabilities
• To identify strategies to guide CADSPPE in promoting full access to print information
Participants = 22
• CADSPPE members who provide direct support to students with print disabilities in higher education
• Members of the NEADS Steering Committee on Access to Information
• 1 student
• Producers of alternate format
Vision Statement
• “To ensure equal and timely access to academic information in post-secondary educational environments.”
Discussion Topics
• Identify signs of success in the provision of alternate format materials in campus learning environments – In other words: “I will know that we have been
successful in achieving our vision of offering alternate format materials in all campus environments when…”
Topics Cont.
• Identify barriers to achieving the signs of successes in the provision of alternate format materials in learning environments
• Identify goals/tasks that can be implemented in moving CADSPPE towards the vision statement
Topics Cont.
• Identify strategies for achieving the goals previously identified
• Determine who should be responsible
• Identify key recommendations for CADSPPE
Signs of Success
• Students have information at the right time and place
• Students can purchase or receive resources in the appropriate format at the same price in the same place at the same time
• When Disability Service Centres and self identification are no longer necessary
Signs of Success Cont.
• Courses are not offered unless UD is practiced and course delivery is flexible
• When Universal Design (UD) principles are infused in post-secondary environments
• When everyone is happy (student satisfaction)
Barriers to Achieving the Signs of Success
• Attitudes within and around the post-sec environment (faculty, administration, publishers, etc)
• Systemic barriers that we cannot control, yet we are subjected to and affected by them (legal, institutional, federal, etc)
Barriers cont.
• Students who have to produce their own materials lose critical study time
• Priority of time , funding and resources for production, retro-fitting, and sharing nationally
Goals That Can Be Implemented
• Downloading responsibility to students to produce their alternate format is not acceptable. Students are there to learn, not to produce
• Develop universal standards for production across institutions so materials can be shared
Goals Cont.
• Use existing networks and services (national databases, library loans, etc)
• Require publishers to provide an accessible electronic file for all textbooks sold in post-secondary bookstores
• Train CADSPPE members to take responsibility for sharing, maintaining standards
Goals Cont.
• Expect CADSPPE members to shift to the paradigm of UD as their philosophical framework
• Offer training for faculty on inclusive teaching strategies
Recommendations to Achieve Goals
• Use national library system; work to make it better and usable for post-secondary i.e. AMICUS, CWIP (Canadian works in progress)
• CADSPPE to develop a plan for action (5 year plan) to promote action
• Establish a listserv to share transcription ideas, successes, experiences
Recommendations Cont.
• Develop a national best practice guide
• Promote UD to CADSPPE members to change the approach to service delivery.
• Showcase successes and initiatives
• Create national guide of resources and procedures for production, sharing, accessing resources
Who Is Responsible?
• CADSPPE Board
• NEADS
• CAER
• Individual students and disability service providers
Responsibility Cont.
• Institutional Administrators, faculty
• Publishers
• Legal environment
• Federal Government– Library and Archives Canada– Council on Access to Information for Print
Disabled Canadians
Key Recommendations for CADSPPE
• Establish action plan as part of a 5 year plan
• Implement the actions
• Explore how UD can make a difference in the way disability service providers approach their jobs
• Focus on changes to the environment, not individual accommodations
Next Steps
• Circulate the proceedings of the Focus Group
• Provide NEADS with copy of proceedings for its Access to Information Project
• CADSPPE Board of Directors and members will discuss and establish future actions