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Columns::October 15, 2001
Golden opportunity
Annual homecoming rituals celebrate ‘New Year--New Memories
Louise McBee Lecture examines ways to enrich college experience
Moore College will be rededicated as new home of Honors Program
American art history photos will be digitized
‘A mediated version of horror’
Public relations professor bridges the gap between intent and action
School of Music names new director
Coach named for new equestrian program
Newsmakers
Campus News
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| Nicole Mazurek (left), a learning disabilities specialist, learns about the new upgrades on Kurzweil, a voice-output synthesizer, from Leah Eagle, a student and staff worker who uses the program frequently. Photo by Peter Frey |
The Learning Disabilities Center--
Online and accessible
By Leslie Mason
lcmason@uga.edu
A visit to www.coe.uga.edu/ldcenter/ will introduce students, faculty and parents to the newly designed Web site for UGA’s Learning Disabilities Center. The site is the virtual address of the three divisions of LDC: service, research/training, and the Regents Center for Learning Disorders (Evaluation). Its format meets or exceeds all accessibility guidelines.
For the first time, the Web site also enables eligible students to request one of the LDC’s academic accommodations--books on tape--online. Through books on tape, students with learning disabilities, like dyslexia, can request that textbooks be converted into alternative media such as audio tapes, computer disks and CDs.
“We are excited to offer students online access to books on tape,” says Elaine Manglitz, head of the service division. “We recognize the expanding role of technology in helping students with disabilities gain full access to educational opportunities.”
The Learning Disabilities Center was founded in 1982 by Noel Gregg, its current director and a Research Professor in the College of Education. Located in Milledge Hall, the center conducts research ranging from the nature of learning disorders to the development of effective accommodations and modifications at the post-secondary level. It also provides clinical training for UGA graduate students planning to enter related fields. Finally, the center provides services to UGA students with appropriately documented learning disabilities.
Under federal law, principally the 1973 Rehabilitation Act and the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, all otherwise qualified students with disabilities are guaranteed equal access to the academic programs, facilities, resources and activities of publicly funded colleges and universities.
To receive accommodations (such as extended time for testing, classroom notetakers and books on tape), students enrolled within the University System of Georgia must present documentation that meets the board of regents diagnostic criteria for learning disabilities. Individual accommodations are then based on each student’s diagnosis and are administered by learning disabilities specialists in the LDC’s service division. Last year, 525 service interviews were conducted, 2,235 tests were administered at the center and 716 within departments, 279 notetakers were provided, and 578 textbooks converted into alternative media.
Currently, the LDC’s service division sees up to 275 students with learning disabilities. Students with other disabilities are served by the Office of Disability Services in Clark Howell Hall. Altogether, students who request disability services on campus comprise approximately 3.6 percent of the total enrollment at UGA.
The comprehensive services offered by the LDC underlie UGA’s commitment to create a learning environment that is both inclusive and accessible. UGA President Michael F. Adams says, “The LDC is considered a leader in providing state-of-the-art services to students with learning disabilities, as well as conducting empirically based research in the area of learning disorders.”
According to Ashley Bland, a senior with a double major in political science and history, these services can make a real impact.
“Accommodations have made the difference between being weeks behind and days behind,” says Bland, who plans a career in law. “Students with LD should give it a chance, because the accommodations really work with you and they allow a more level playing field than you have ever had in any other scholastic environment,”
If a student within the University System suspects that he or she may have an undiagnosed learning disability, the Regents Center for Learning Disorders provides evaluations and referrals. One of three such centers in the state, the UGA-RCLD provides comprehensive on-site diagnostic testing for students at UGA and eight feeder schools, reviews outside evaluations for compliance with regents’ criteria, provides multidisci-plinary training for rising professionals, and provides technical support to state agencies and feeder schools in the administration of accommodations.
According to Gregg, the UGA-RCLD is deeply involved in developing policies to help students with learning disabilities make a seamless transition into higher education, looking at the relationship between Georgia’s secondary and postsecondary institutions.
“A lot of what we do relates to how accommodations are fairly and appropriately operationalized,” says Gregg. “We have to strike a balance between promoting a student’s self-advocacy and independence--important life skills--and providing an even playing field in the educational setting through accommodation.”
The LDC offers orientations and workshops for faculty, teaching assistants and others who would like to learn more about the center and UGA’s policies for students with learning disabilities.
Validating Web accessibility
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998 provides that electronic and information technology must be accessible to persons with disabilities. (See www.access-board.gov/sec508/brochure.htm.)
The 34 institutions of the University System of Georgia fall within the scope of Section 508, so school Web sites created or revised after June 21, 2001, must be accessible to all users.
The way to determine whether a Web site is fully accessible is to use an accessibility validator such as Bobby, WAVE, Home Page Reader or access.adobe.com. A validator checks features like pop-up screens and Flash pages to see if they obstruct software (e.g., voice output, large print, etc.) that a person with a disability might use to read the content of the Web site. When the design passes a series of tests, it is deemed accessible.
For more about accessibility validators and UGA’s compliance policy, visit www.uga.edu/help/wai/.
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