This PPT goes over how those who are able-bodied need to be more mindful in our actions and sayings to those who have a disablity. Resources on how to make your content more accessible is also provided.
Material Type: Lesson
The ADA National Network provides informal guidance on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other disability-related laws. The ten regional Centers that comprise the ADA National Network staff a toll-free information line and respond to inquiries submitted online via email or regional Center websites. Business owners, architects and designers, representatives of state and local government agencies, employers, people with disabilities and their family members, service providers, educational entities, and others interested in the ADA can receive individualized responses - Find Your Region/ADA Center. Our ADA Specialists can answer most questions immediately and, if necessary, will research complex questions to provide you the most thorough guidance possible. Referrals to local and state/territory resources for disability issues, which are not addressed by the ADA, can also be provided.
Material Type: Primary Source
Accessibility & Accommodations Assessments should be designed to ensure that all test takers have the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and skills on what the assessment is measuring. Critical to realizing this is providing accessibility features so that assessments are fair, valid, and reliable. “Accessibility” is a general term currently used for three levels of supports. Universal features, which might include use of a highlighter for example, are available to all test takers. Designated features, which might include text-to-speech, are available to all students for whom an adult or team of adults has indicated a need for them. Accommodations are provided only to students with disabilities and English learners for content assessments (general and alternate), and only for English learners with disabilities for English language proficiency (ELP) assessments. Accessibility policies are state-determined, and often vary by content area. Universal features, designated features, and accommodations may be embedded in technology-based assessments or may be provided by a human. The terminology used for the levels, and the specific features included in each level, may differ by state and by assessment.
Material Type: Primary Source
Accommodations are provided by a school, employer, or other institution to ensure deaf people are able to fully access all the experiences and activities offered. There are many different types of accommodations, ranging from interpreters to extra time for testing. In order to ensure equitable opportunities and effective communication for all students, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act mandate that reasonable accommodations be provided when requested.
Material Type: Primary Source
Leadership in Inclusive Technology Systems Share: Line drawing of a rocket ship Effective technology leadership promotes the development of a balanced and inclusive technology infrastructure that examines assistive technology (AT), educational technology (EdTech), and information technology (IT) as part of a technology ecosystem. The Center for Inclusive Technology in Education Systems (CITES) has utilized a design-thinking process, in partnership with local districts, to refine a set of leadership practices that enhance the development of a balanced and inclusive technology infrastructure. CITES leadership practices include: Create vision & goals Develop a strategic plan Measure progress Develop learning outcomes Plan infrastructure
Material Type: Primary Source
AEM Pilot Home Welcome to the AEM Pilot*, an interactive web-based tool that guides states and K-12 school districts to create more inclusive learning environments for students with disabilities. Building background knowledge about accessible educational materials (AEM), conducting self-assessments, and monitoring continuous progress are all facilitated by the AEM Pilot. If your state or district has work to do to improve the accessibility of the materials and technologies provided to learners with disabilities, take off with the AEM Pilot!
Material Type: Primary Source
This publication is designed to assist IEP Teams in: • Understanding What is ‘Print disability’ • Understanding What are Accessible Educational Materials (AEM) • Determining a Student’s Need for AEM • Determining how and where to obtain AEM
Material Type: Primary Source
About the AEM Center at CAST Share: National Center on Accessible Educational Materials logo Based at CAST, the AEM Center is funded by the Office of Special Education Programs at the U.S. Department of Education. We work with states and districts to build capacity for developing and sustaining robust systems for providing accessible materials and technologies for all learners who need them. To us, accessibility means that individuals with disabilities—from early childhood through the workforce—have equal access to materials and technologies for reaching educational outcomes and advancing in employment. We provide three levels of technical assistance: Universal technical assistance is available to everyone. You’ll find products and services throughout our website and collected on our resources page. Webinars and conference presentations are listed on our events page. Targeted technical assistance describes the Center's strategic collaborations to address problems of practice in early childhood programs, higher education, and workforce development. Supports for families are also a part of our targeted technical assistance. Intensive technical assistance describes the Center's capacity-building activities with a small cohort of states. This partnership is designed to produce practices that can be scaled nationally.
Material Type: Primary Source
Family members are the most important people on the educational team and in the life of a child or youth with deaf-blindness. They are the one consistent presence as children move from early intervention to school, and then transition to adult life. Educational settings change and practitioners come and go, but the family is always there. In this section of the website, you will find resources to help you: Connect to agencies and organizations Learn about deaf-blindness and key topics for families Access family stories Find events
Material Type: Reading
AEM for Families Accessible Educational Materials: The following resources will assist students and families with questions regarding Accessible Educational Materials (AEM) and Assistive Technology (AT):
Material Type: Primary Source
Accessible Educational Materials for Parents and Families Schools use a considerable amount of print-based instructional materials to deliver content. Many students, however, cannot access content that requires them to interact with print-based materials. Students who struggle to read may have physical, sensory, cognitive, or learning differences and may need accessible educational materials (AEM) to access the general education curriculum.
Material Type: Primary Source
Accessible Educational Materials (AEM) help students with disabilities access print- and technology-based materials in school. But what about accessing educational materials in the community? Learn about AEM in the community: where you might find it, what it can look like, what to do if community materials are not accessible, and how to equip and advocate for yourself or those you support. In addition, hear what Community Vision is doing to help make businesses, organizations, and public spaces more accessible. They also share a few resources they have created around accessibility.
Material Type: Primary Source
Information and video tutorials to help teachers and students take advantage of built-in features, apps and extensions on a variety of devices to support a personalized and accessible reading experience for everyone.
Material Type: Module
Resources to help educators enhance and enrich their teaching with accessible videos that include captions and/or audio description.
Material Type: Module
This guidebook was created by ISKME, in partnership with the Science Education Resource Center (SERC) at Carleton College. The document provides a practical reference for curators and authors of STEM OER, and contains 23 accessibility criteria, or elements, to reference as they curate, design and adapt materials to be accessible for STEM learners. The primary audience of this resource is STEM postsecondary faculty, instructional designers, and others responsible for course design and pedagogy who seek to: - Expand their knowledge about accessibility and ways to integrate it into their STEM curriculum and instruction - Design openly licensed STEM courses and course materials that support both access and use by learners - Curate existing STEM content that expands upon traditional textbooks and courseware to address variability in learning - Identify and add meaningful keywords, or tags, to the STEM OER they create, so that their OER can be more easily discovered across platforms Professional learning teams on campus are also encouraged to use this framework as part of training to facilitate integration of accessibility concepts into STEM course design and pedagogy. The framework and guide development was supported by a mini-grant program facilitated by Bates College and the SCORE-UBE Network (Sustainability Challenges for Open Resources to promote an Equitable Undergraduate Biology Education), with funding from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The framework and guide were developed by ISKME and SERC with input from 21 STEM faculty members from across the United States, and in collaboration with the project’s Working Group of accessibility experts: Andrew Hasley and Hayley Orndorf, both with BioQUEST’s UDL Initiative and the Quantitative Undergraduate Biology Education and Synthesis (QUBES) Project; Hannah Davidson, Plymouth State University; and Cynthia Curry, National Center on Accessible Educational Materials (AEM)/CAST.
Material Type: Reading, Teaching/Learning Strategy
Michael Cantino from Northwest Regional Education Service District presents Creating Accessible Documents in the Microsoft and Google Suites.
Material Type: Diagram/Illustration, Lecture, Lesson
This webinar presents information about Bookshare and how the service can be used to ensure timely access to accessible instructional materials.
Material Type: Lecture
This report is submitted under Section 203(b)(1) of the Department of Education Organization Act of 1979, Pub. L. No. 96–88, which provides: “The Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights shall make an annual report to the Secretary, the President, and the Congress summarizing the compliance and enforcement activities of the Office for Civil Rights and identifying significant civil rights or compliance problems as to which such Office has made a recommendation for corrective action and as to which, in the judgment of the Assistant Secretary, adequate progress is not being made.” 20 U.S.C. §3413(b)(1
Material Type: Primary Source
Some educational materials can create barriers for some students when they are not designed with accessibility in mind. Some students with disabilities may h...
Material Type: Primary Source
This lesson includes procedures ensuring the full participation of students and staff with special needs and disabilities through the planning and implementation of preparedness, response and recovery strategies as part of the overall management of school bus emergencies and disasters with special needs students.Students with special needs are those who cannot comfortably or safely access and use the standard resources offered in disaster preparedness, relief and recovery, whether their disability is chronic or temporary.
Material Type: Lesson, Textbook
