Web Sites of Interest
The Access Board is the federal agency which develops and publishes guidelines for access, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines, or ADAAG. These and more can be found at their website.
The Department of Justice enforces most aspects of the civil rights law for people with disabilities.
The Association of Higher Education and Disability is the professional association of those working in higher education on access issues, including advocacy and providing services to students with disabilities. Their publications, and especially their "Resources" pages have nearly everything necessary to understanding disability and higher education.
Jane Jarrow has been active and visible in AHEAD and now has her own, private consulting firm on disability and higher education issues. She publishes an excellent email newsletter for a subscription, and her web site, Disability Access Information and Support, is full of great resources.
The U.S. Office of Civil Rights is the entity that receives disability discrimination complaints relative to higher education. The Regional OCR office that serves Montana is located in Denver, CO.
Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic is the primary source of textbooks in alternate format. They produce thousands of textbooks a year on recorded, audio cassettes.
The National Library Service for the Blind is a general repository and production service of the Library of Congress which produces and loans alternate format books. These formats include talking books, Braille, and increasingly electronic files formatted and ready for Braille printing, available over the web. They also have an excellent search database of not only their holdings, but also those of RFBD, state and regional libraries for the blind, and a number of international sources.
The Jobs Accommodation Network has long been an important resource for people with disabilities and for vocational rehabilitation professionals alike. Their job is to help figure out ways to accommodate you.
The Office of Disability Employment Policy has many programs. One of their most interesting programs has been the Workforce Recruitment Program for College Students with Disabilities (WRP), which recruits students for summer jobs with both federal agencies and private corporations. UM students have worked at such jobs locally, in Washington, DC, New Mexico, and have even landed permanent, career-launching positions after graduating from UM.
EASI is an excellent resource for on line workshops, technical information and webcasts on important topics related to assistive technology and access to technology.
Accessibility for web pages is increasingly important for surfers with print and other limitations. Pages must be built to accommodate the potential use of such assistive technology as screen-readers and screen-enlargement software. The most important work on web access comes from the Web Accessibility Initiative.
