- Visual Accessibility
- Auditory Accessibility
- Mobility
- Seizures
- Learning and Cognitive Accessibility
- Color Theory for Accessibility


Types of Accessibility

Devices that help maintain or improve the functional capabilities and/or independence of individuals with disabilities.

Assistive Technology (ATs)

Accommodations refer to adaptations that are tailored to a specific individual's unique needs. Whereas, accessibility refers to design choices that are not created with a specific individual in mind but still attempt to make a product, service, or environment accessible to as many people as possible regardless of disability.
Accessibility is a more general approach while accommodations are a more individualized approach.

Difference between Accessibility and Accommodation

Accessibility is often difficult to measure or define, due to the many types of accessibility that exist. A structure may be accessible to someone with one type of disability, but not to someone with another. Additionally, there are many different criteria that can be used to determine or measure accessibility.

Challenges in Determining Accessibility

Captioning is the process of displaying text while a video is being played. Typically, the text will be a transcription of the video's audio, noting who is speaking along with sound effects and important musical cues. This helps to make films, television shows, and other video recordings accessible to those who are hard of hearing or deaf.

Captioning

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. § 794) requires that the housing owner/landlord is required to pay for any accommodations as well as fix them. The exception is that if the person demonstrates that providing payment for this would be a burden. Section 504 and the ADA requires that governmental bodies will be financially responsible for accommodations for public housing and other federally assisted provided housing, 24 C.F.R. part 8, 24 C.F.R. part 9. 

Payment for Reasonable Accommodation

Created in 1973, the U.S. Access Board is a federal agency that serves to ensure accessibility in federally funded properties/buildings. The agency is responsible for determining accessibility standards when it comes to built environments, vehicles used for transportation, equipment in the medical field, tools for communicating, as well as IT. 

United States Access Board 

Audio Description is the process of narrating certain actions or details that are normally seen visually, such as what a character is wearing. This process is often provided with films, television shows, stage plays, museums to accommodate people with visual impairments. It is often provided via an alternate audio track on a DVD or a handheld audio player.

Audio Description

Disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, and mental health have a large impact on people's experience in the medical field within the context of health equity. Lived experience and differences should be placed at the forefront of this discussion. These four identities affect health equity through comorbidity and the experience of stigma (directly or indirectly). 

Health Inequity of Disability, Mental Health, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identity

The COVID 19 pandemic impacted all people in profound ways, however, people with disabilities have been impacted more harshly and at a much higher level than people without disabilities. People of different disabilities were also impacted in varying ways. It is important to keep in mind that while these challenges are COVID specific, many of the remedies can be incorporated into daily life to make day to day living easier. 

Pandemic and Disability: Challenges Faced and Role of Technology

Children with disabilities are much more likely to need mental health support than their non-disabled peers. Despite this, children with disabilities are very rarely diagnosed with and receive treatment for mental health issues. 

Mental Health Services Use Among School-Aged Children with Disabilities

Around the world, one billion people live with disabilities. This report argues that these individuals are being left behind regarding health. Lack of access not only goes against the rights of people with disabilities under international law but also poses a challenge to achieving better health services for one billion people with disabilities, which is essential for achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and Sustainable Development Goal 3. Most of these individuals are in low and middle-income countries and the poorest sections of society. People with disabilities encounter more obstacles in obtaining healthcare services and have less health coverage, leading to poorer health outcomes due to their higher healthcare needs.

Access to Healthcare

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 is a key piece of U.S. legislation that prohibits discrimination against individuals based on their disability. The law is founded on the principle that people with disabilities are capable of making valuable contributions to organizations. A central requirement of the ADA is that employers must provide reasonable accommodations to help employees with disabilities perform their jobs, so long as these accommodations do not cause undue hardship to the employer.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990

This article examines how people with disabilities experience the design of public urban spaces in a social housing area in Aarhus, Denmark. Drawing on 14 universal design walks conducted with 17 participants, the study shows how ableist design practices create physical, mental, and social constraints in everyday life.

Experiences with disabling barriers in urban spaces

Ensuring that all people have the ability to utilize a product, facility, or service, regardless of any disability they may have. Accessibility may include the modification of existing infrastructure, products, or services or designing them with disabled users in mind.

Pepperdine University

Grinnell College

Portland State University

Georgetown University

Designs can affect a wide range of people, so it's important to follow principles of ethical design:

-Usability

-Accessibility

-Privacy

-Transparency & Persuasion

-User Involvement

-Focus

-Sustainability

Ethical Design

Adjustments made to tasks or activities in the workplace and at academic institutions to allow individuals with disabilities access to a job or educational program.

Reasonable Accommodations

A disability is any impairment through which a person is hindered from full participation in society on an equal basis with those without the same impairment. 

Disability

- Disability History
- Theories/Definitions of Disability
- Disability Legislation/Policy
- Disability Culture
- Accessibility
- Types of Disability 
- Economic Impacts of Disability
- Inclusive Education and Community Support 
- Black Disability Studies

Topics in Disability Studies

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020, September 15). Disability and Health Inclusion Strategies. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/disability-strategies.html

Disability and Health Inclusion Strategies

Usability is a quality attribute that assesses how easy user interfaces are to use. The word "usability" also refers to methods for improving ease-of-use during the design process.

Definition of Utility = whether it provides the features you need.
Definition of Usability = how easy & pleasant these features are to use.
Definition of Useful = usability + utility.

Usability

In terms of transparency, the best design practice is to make things clear to the users so that they can make informed choices.  In terms of persuasion, the way you design can pressure users into making choices that aren't in their best interest.

Transparency & Persuasion

In user-centered design, the user knows best and acts as the guide to the designer; the designer's role is to translate the users' needs and goals into an effective design solution.

User-Centered Design

Some apps are intentionally designed to "exploit human behavior using a 'social-validation feedback loop'" through constant notifications and the like.  Best practice is for designs to be there when the user needs them and out of the way when they don't.

Focus

Accessibility

Transparency is the visibility of procedures that make up a system to users of the system. This helps to demonstrate the good working of an institution.

Transparency

Privacy is an individual's fundamental right to determine what personal information about themselves is shared with others. In psychological research, respecting participants' privacy is an essential element of honoring their rights and dignity. Researchers are obligated to protect this right, which they typically accomplish by maintaining strict confidentiality of the data or by ensuring complete anonymity.

Privacy

An individualized academic plan that is created for a child with a disability that outlines the child's unique educational needs, goals, and the accommodations they are entitled to. Found in 20 U.S.C § 1412(4) (2018)

Individualized Education Program (IEP)

GLDs are shown to have incredible duality in their characteristics and needs, thus requiring tailored, customized accommodation to best address their needs. Educators commonly find difficulty in providing the tailored accommodation due to the need for freedom to explore the talents causing giftedness, while also getting support for their individual needs caused by disability. Educators could improve current accommodations by broadening the identification and assessment processes for students suspected to be GLDs, allowing them to include the wider variety of characteristics stemming from the duality these students. This will allow for earlier identification, and earlier support.

Accommodations For Gifted Students with Learning Disabilities

The two most popular types of support are interventions (helping students obtain better functional capabilities, through tutors, remedial courses etc) and accommodations (changing the educational environment so these students can still succeed, through technology, human helpers etc)

Existing Interventions for Supporting Students With Learning Disabilities and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Post Secondary Education

Individuals with disabilities have higher rates of unemployment even if their disabilities do not prevent them from working 

Disability Status (as a Characteristic of the Poor)

Persistent and significant gaps in academic performance and/or educational attainment between non-disabled and disabled students.

Disability Achievement Gap

- On average, students in all disability categories except speech impairments, emotional disturbances, and visual impairments performed significantly worse than students in the learning disabilities category.
- Students with disabilities showed a significantly slower rate of math growth
- The following disabilities groups showed significantly lower calculation scores than students with disabilities: intellectual disability, autism, traumatic brain injury, multiple disabilities
- Students with speech impairments showed significantly higher calculation scores than students with learning disabilities.

Disability Status and Math Growth Trajectory Results

Disability status refers to a person’s disabilities or lack thereof. A disability status refering to a lack of disabilities may include: able bodied, temporarily able bodied, neurotypical.

Disability Status

Disability Studies is an interdisciplinary field of study that examines the consequences and implications of disability as well as various issues that impact the disability community.

Disability Studies

While not all disabilities can fit neatly into one category, these categories generally encapsulate the types of disabilities through the Impairment Dimension.

-	Cognitive / Intellectual 
-	Chronic Illnesses 
-	Developmental
-	Mental 
-	Physical / Sensory
-	Speech / Communication


Types of Disabilities

The study of the impact disability has on individual's wealth.

Economic Impacts of Disability

The differences in norms, lifestyles, and social identities, propagated among disabled individuals. It often forms as a reaction toward past and present attitudes towards disabled communities. It promotes connection, camaraderie, and a shared purpose among those in the community. It also includes a motivation for people with disabilities to address their own civil, social, political, and economic needs

Disability Culture

Laws and policies created by governments and government agencies in order to protect the rights of disabled individuals. 

Disability Rights Legislation 

Defining disability, what it is and importantly who is included inside of it, remains controversial among different disciplines. This can lead to justice issues and denial of care for individuals who may not fit some definitions of disability and yet still identify as disabled.

Challenges in Defining Disability

The evolution of how every topic regarding disabilities has changed over time throughout the world.

History of Disability Studies

To address some of the ideological disconnects between educators and parents, researchers have suggested teachers consider a Disability Studies (DS) framework as they collaborate with families on the IEP process. Scholars approaching DS through 
an educational lens applies the constructing pieces of disability studies to the exploration of disability in school contexts.

Using The Framework of Disability studies to Formulate An IEP

Abosi, O., & Koay, T. L. (2008). Attaining Development Goals of Children with Disabilities: Implications for Inclusive Education. International Journal of Special Education, 23(3), 1–10. 

Attaining Developmental Goals of Children with Disabilities: Implications for Inclusive Education

The aim of inclusive education is to help people with disabilities live independent lives in their communities by allowing them access to equal educational and social opportunities. It eliminates discrimination in education by approaching differences with consideration, patience, and compassion. 

Aim of Inclusive Education

A caregiver is the parent or other family member that is responsible for parenting or caring for a child with a disability. A caregiver provides daily unpaid support for a person who is unable to perform the necessary tasks for daily living.

Caregivers

The inclusion of individuals with disabilities in research is a debated topic lacking protocol. 

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