National Center on Accessible Information Technology Established

The expanding use of information technology (IT) presents both remarkable opportunities and challenges for people with disabilities. If technology is made accessible to those who have sensory, mobility, learning, and other disabilities, it can provide a means to overcome the academic and employment barriers that they face. If not, the technology itself becomes another barrier.

A National Center on Accessible Information Technology in Education (AccessIT) has been established at the UW to promote the use of accessible IT in educational settings. The center, funded by a five-year, $3.5 million grant from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, is designed for educators, policy makers, librarians, technical support staff, students and employees with disabilities, and their advocates.

Co-directors of AccessIT are Dr. Kurt Johnson, associate professor of rehabilitation medicine, and Dr. Sheryl Burgstahler, assistant director of UW Computing and Communications.

Johnson, principal investigator on the project, directs the Center for Technology and Disability Studies (CTDS) at the UW Center on Human Development and Disability. CTDS conducts research on accessible IT and also provides education and training, technical assistance and consultation, policy analysis, and legal advocacy. Burgstahler directs the UW Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking and Technology (DO-IT) Program, which helps students with disabilities prepare for college and careers and trains employers and educators.

Although the CTDS and the DO-IT program have collaborated on smaller projects, AccessIT gives them, together, a much-expanded national mission.

AccessIT partners include Equal Access to Software and Information (EASI), a private provider of training on accessible IT, Microsoft Corporation, and the Washington Education Association.