                      The Impact of Exemplary
                    Technology-Support Programs
                   on Students With Disabilities






                  National Council on Disability











                            Prepared by
                  Dr. Harry J. Murphy, Consultant
                            August 1991

         Description of the National Council on Disability
     The National Council on Disability is an independent federal 
agency composed of 15 members appointed by the President of the 
United States and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The National 
Council initially was established in 1978 as an advisory board 
within the Department of Education (Public Law 95-602). The 
Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1984 (Public Law 98-221) 
transformed the National Council into an independent agency. The 
current statutory mandate of the National Council assigns it the 
following duties:
      Establishing general policies for reviewing the operation 
of the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation 
Research (NIDRR);
      Providing advice to the Commissioner of the Rehabilitation 
Services Administration (RSA) on policies and conduct;
      Providing ongoing advice to the President, the Congress, 
the RSA Commissioner, the Assistant Secretary of the Office of 
Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), and the 
Director of NIDRR on programs authorized in the Rehabilitation 
Act;
      Reviewing and evaluating on a continuous basis the 
effectiveness of all policies, programs, and activities 
concerning individuals with disabilities conducted or assisted by 
federal departments or agencies, and all statutes pertaining to 
federal programs, and assessing the extent to which they provide 
incentives to community-based services, promote full integration, 
and contribute to the independence and dignity of individuals 
with disabilities;
      Making recommendations of ways to improve research, 
service, administration, and the collection, dissemination, and 
implementation of research findings affecting persons with 
disabilities;
      Reviewing and approving standards for Independent Living 
programs;
      Submitting an annual report with appropriate 
recommendations to the Congress and the President regarding the 
status of research affecting persons with disabilities and the 
activities of RSA and NIDRR;
      Reviewing and approving standards for Projects with 
Industry programs;
      Providing to the Congress, on a continuous basis, advice, 
recommendations and any additional information that the Council 
or the Congress considers appropriate;
      Establishing policies for the President's Committee on the 
Employment of People with Disabilities; and
      Issuing an annual report to the President and the Congress 
on the progress that has been made in implementing the 
recommendations contained in the National Council's January 30, 
1986, report, Toward Independence.
     While many government agencies deal with issues and programs 
affecting people with disabilities, the National Council is the 
only federal agency charged with addressing, analyzing, and 
making recommendations on issues of public policy that affect 
people with disabilities regardless of age, disability type, 
perceived employment potential, economic need, specific 
functional ability, status as a veteran, or other individual 
circumstance. The National Council recognizes its unique 
opportunity to facilitate independent living, community 
integration, and employment opportunities for people with 
disabilities by assuring an informed and coordinated approach to 
addressing the concerns of persons with disabilities and 
eliminating barriers to their active participation in community 
and family life.

The Impact of Exemplary Technology-Support Programs on Students 
with Disabilities
National Council on Disability
800 Independence Ave., S.W., Suite 814
Washington, DC 20591
(202) 267-3846 Voice
(202) 267-3232 TDD
(202) 453-4240 Fax

The views contained in this report do not necessarily represent 
those of the Administration as this document has not been 
subjected to the A-19 Executive Branch review process.
                   Message from the Chairperson


     In the last 20 years significant progress has been made to 
give people with disabilities access to higher education. Section 
504 of the Rehabilitation Act calls for a body of educational 
support services such as interpreters, readers and note takers. 
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) opens increased 
employment opportunities for those who graduate from institutions 
of higher education.
     The National Council on Disability (NCD) is encouraged to 
support increased electronic access for people with disabilities 
in postsecondary institutions. The technology revolution affects 
all people-with or without disabilities. For those with 
disabilities, the NCD is optimistic that access to technology 
will help develop well-trained individuals who will make 
significant contributions to society.
     While this study dealt only with postsecondary education, it 
is clear that access to technology at all levels of education and 
employment is the greater goal and one we wholeheartedly support. 
In a related study, the NCD is examining financing assistive 
technology for people with disabilities. This report will shed 
light on the question of access to technology and will recommend 
alternatives for acquiring assistive technology devices and 
services.
     The availability of assistive technology and 
technology-related services can mean the difference between an 
isolated, dependent life and an integrated, independent life. 
With the aid of technological devices, people who do not have the 
physiological ability to speak can speak through a computer. 
People who cannot hear can use the telephone with a telephone 
device for the deaf. For some with disabilities, the independence 
gained in acquiring the ability to speak or use a telephone may 
be the key to exercising their rights under the ADA.

                              Sandra Swift Parrino
                              National Council on Disability

                              Preface

     The formal title of this report is The Impact of Exemplary 
Technology-Support Programs on Students With Disabilities. The 
working title, Centers of Energy, grew out of a conversation with 
Dr. Trent Batson, director of Gallaudet University's Electronic 
Networks for Interaction (ENFI) Project. Explaining his work, Dr. 
Batson used the wonderful term Centers of Energy to identify a 
common denominator of the projects in this report.
     The ENFI Project began as a technological, educational 
support service for deaf students in English courses at 
Gallaudet. It became a model for deaf students at the University 
of Minnesota and, later, a model for non-traditional students 
(without disabilities) with applications to older students and to 
those for whom English is a second language. Ultimately it became 
a model for the entire field of general education, in use today 
at more than 150 colleges, universities and high schools in the 
United States and Canada.
     ENFI is a Center of Energy in that this exemplary project 
became a valuable, influential resource in its own institution 
and to others. The ENFI Center of Energy, as well as others 
described in this report, offered that energy to many 
constituencies: elementary and secondary schools; colleges and 
universities; international, national, state and local 
organizations and associations; the rehabilitation community; 
parent groups; and others.
     Even when an exemplary program was conceived as a finite 
resource in a single institution to a limited number of people, 
it soon reached out-often to its own surprise-to others. In so 
doing, these Centers of Energy became vehicles for systems 
change, touched thousands of lives, and have in turn created 
other Centers of Energy.
     I am grateful to Dr. Batson for identifying this phenomenon, 
for describing it succinctly, and for supplying this report's 
working title. I am also grateful to Dr. Danny Hilton-Chalfen of 
UCLA, chair of the Equal Access to Software for Instruction 
(EASI) special interest group of EDUCOM, a large annual 
conference on educational computing in postsecondary 
institutions, for helping identify exemplary postsecondary 
institutions that offer technological support services to 
students with disabilities.


                                        Harry Murphy
                                        Consultant

                             Contents

Acknowledgment..................................................v
National Council on Disability Members and Staff...............vi
Introduction..................................................vii
1. Recommendations..............................................1
2. Electronic Networks for Interaction
     Gallaudet University.......................................3
3. Computer Center for the Visually Impaired
     Baruch College.............................................6
4. Instructional Technology Division
     University of Michigan.....................................9
5. Disabled Student Services
     University of Wyoming.....................................11
6. Artificial Language Laboratory
     Michigan State University.................................15
7. High-Tech Training Center
     California Community Colleges.............................18
8. Assistive Technology Center
     University of Minnesota...................................21
9. Disabled Computing Program
     University of California/Los Angeles......................25
10. Desktop Computing Services
     University of Washington..................................28
11. The Office of Services for Students with Disabilities
     University of Nebraska....................................31
12. Adaptive Computing Technology Center
     University of Missouri....................................34
13. Training and Resource Center for the Blind
     University of New Orleans.................................37
14. Vocational Rehabilitation Programs
     El Centro College.........................................40
15. Adaptive Technology Laboratory
     Southern Connecticut State University.....................43
16. Center for the Vocationally Challenged
     Grossmont Community College...............................46
17. The Technology Group
     California State University, Northridge...................50

Appendices
A. Sites and People Interviewed................................54
B. National Council Member and Staff Biographies...............56
                          Acknowledgment



     The National Council expresses its gratitude to Dr. Harry J. 
Murphy, director, Office of Disabled Student Services, California 
State University, Northridge (CSUN), for conducting this study, 
The Impact of Exemplary Technology-Support Programs on Students 
With Disabilities.

                  National Council on Disability

Members                            Staff
Sandra Swift Parrino, ChairpersonEthel D. Briggs
New York                           Executive Director

Kent Waldrep, Jr., Vice ChairpersonHarold W. Snider, Ph.D.
Texas                              Deputy Director

Linda W. Allison                   Mark S. Quigley
Texas                              Public Affairs Specialist

Larry Brown, Jr.                   Katherine Seelman, Ph.D.
Maryland                           Research Specialist

Mary Ann Mobley Collins       Brenda Bratton
California                         Executive Secretary

Anthony H. Flack                   Stacey S. Brown
Connecticut                        Staff Assistant

John A. Gannon                     Lorraine Williams
Ohio and Washington, D.C.          Student Assistant

Margaret Chase Hager
Virginia

John Leopold
Maryland

Robert S. Muller
Michigan

George H. Oberle, PED
Oklahoma

Mary Matthews Raether
Virginia

Michael B. Unhjem
North Dakota

Helen Wilshire Walsh
Connecticut
                           Introduction

     Wheelchairs help those unable to walk. Artificial limbs help 
those who lack them. Hearing aids help those with impaired 
hearing. Canes help people who are blind. Terms such as assistive 
or adaptive devices describe a cluster of high and low 
technologies that give people access to their environment. In 
recent years, these technologies have become more sophisticated 
electronically and mechanically, and more computer-based. In 
their Assistive Technology Sourcebook, Enders and Hall (1990) 
define an assistive technology device as any item, piece of 
equipment or product system, acquired commercially off-the-shelf, 
modified or customized, that is used to increase, maintain or 
improve functional capabilities of people with disabilities.
     Such technologies range from velcro on clothing (to help 
people with disabilities dress independently) and adaptations to 
eating utensils, mouthpieces and headpointers; to electrical 
stimulation of paralyzed muscles, robots that help those who have 
limited control of their limbs, and navigational devices and 
talking signs for the blind. Most technology for people with 
disabilities in U.S. colleges and universities has a computer 
interface.
     Computers that have been adapted for use by people with 
disabilities have given them new education and employment 
opportunities and allowed them to create work products that are 
the equal of those created by people who have not experienced 
disabilities. Speech output devices allow a blind person to 
access information that normally appears visually on a computer 
screen. Other devices speak for those who can't. Large-print 
technologies allow a person with low vision to use a computer. 
Braille printers give quick and easy access to text. Speech 
recognition devices allow someone who cannot physically access a 
keyboard to talk to the computer. Simple, single-switch devices 
allow a severely physically challenged person to access a 
computer by moving a single muscle.
     Colleges and universities have taken a leadership role in 
providing such access devices to students with disabilities. Most 
students use such devices to secure a liberal arts education and 
a career in a profession not directly related to technology. Some 
use access devices to master a technical skill such as computer 
programming. Since the postsecondary community deals primarily 
with adults whose studies lead to employment, this report focuses 
on that area.
     In the past five or six years, postsecondary institutions 
have adopted many different technology programs for students with 
disabilities. Some have initiated well-developed master plans 
throughout an entire system, others have a computer or two in the 
corner of an Office of Disabled Student Services. Many have no 
access resources at all for students with disabilities.
     Today, technology is a drumbeat at the heart of the 
disability field. Off in the distance, a growing number of drums 
are responding. It is difficult to attend a conference in the 
disability field that does not deal with applications of 
technology to problems faced by people with disabilities. Those 
who work with technology want more and better technology. Those 
who don't have it now want it soon. This is for good reason. One 
need only observe a situation where, using assistive devices, 
severely physically challenged people can operate computers when 
they could not do so 15 minutes earlier. They can do word 
processing or
develop spread sheets, they have skills that will help in school, 
skills that will get them jobs. They are in control.
     For this report, interviews were conducted at 16 sites 
across the country. The common denominator was technology 
services to students with disabilities. Most programs are still 
gathering momentum, but it seems safe to predict their cumulative 
impact a few years from now will be many times what it is in this 
report. Each program's history grows out of a unique set of 
conditions in unique institutions. Yet, several common themes 
reoccur.
     The leaders of these programs do not view students with 
disabilities in a vacuum. They recognize that such students 
interact dynamically with parents and rehabilitation and 
community agencies. These leaders also focus on employment as a 
result of the postsecondary experience and use technology 
accordingly. It is not surprising that the program leaders in 
this report are leaders in other areas as well. They are active 
in the Equal Access to Software for Instruction special interest 
group of the EDUCOM annual conference, Association on Handicapped 
Student Service Programs in Postsecondary Education (AHSSPPE), 
RESNA and others. After years spent designing creative, model 
programs and securing the resources to initiate them, the vision 
of these leaders is still clear and in sharp focus, validated by 
their contributions to their institutions and to the field at 
large.
                             Chapter 1
                          Recommendations
     Several recommendations generated by this report involve 
creating new programs in colleges and universities; others 
involve a greater emphasis on technology in legislation.


     Because postsecondary institutions are obliged to provide 
all students with informational access:
     RECOMMENDATION 1. All colleges and universities should 
incorporate full technological access into programs for students 
with disabilities as soon as possible. One approach should 
involve general research on the impact of technology on the lives 
of people with disabilities; another should involve developing a 
model of technological services for minority populations of 
people with disabilities.


     Because of the impact of exemplary postsecondary programs on 
encouraging the use of technology among people with disabilities:
     RECOMMENDATION 2. NIDRR should establish a series of 
Rehabilitation Engineering Centers (RECs) specializing in issues 
dealing with computers and higher education.


     Because technology offers a way to deliver curricula and 
standardized tests:
     RECOMMENDATION 3. Colleges and universities should take a 
leadership role in developing strategies for delivering testing 
services to students with disabilities.


     Because technology holds such promise for improving the 
lives of people with disabilities:
     RECOMMENDATION 4. The Rehabilitation Act of 1972 and the 
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 should be amended to 
include mandated technological services.


     Because the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans 
with Disabilities Act of 1990 hold such promise to deliver 
technological services to people with disabilities:
     RECOMMENDATION 5. Significant funding should be made 
available in each program to encourage the creative development 
and use of technology.


     Because there are no clear-cut models for serving minority 
students:
     RECOMMENDATION 6. Colleges and universities serving minority 
students should seek institutional and external funding to 
develop ways to deliver technological support services and widely 
disseminate these findings.


     Because technology as an educational support service is in 
its early stages, and because its effect on the educational 
achievement and employability of people with disabilities is 
largely anecdotal:
     RECOMMENDATION 7. Longitudinal research be undertaken to 
track technology as a major variable in educational achievement 
and employability for those with disabilities.
                             Chapter 2
                Electronic Networks for Interaction
              Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C.

     English professor Dr. Trent Batson started the Electronics 
Network for Interaction (ENFI) project in 1984 at Gallaudet 
University, an institution committed to higher education for deaf 
and hearing-impaired students. His alm was to help deaf students 
learn a language they cannot hear, and express lt ln writing. IBM 
donated computers, a local firm donated a local area network, and 
Batson's English students participated ln the start-up. The 
network quickly generated interest among other institutions 
serving students of all kinds. Today, ENFI is in place ln 50 
colleges and universities and 100 high schools in the United 
States and Canada.

     Many attempts have been made to use technology to help those 
with hearing loss. The literature is full of approaches, many 
pioneered by Gallaudet-hearing aids, audio loops, cochlear 
implants, telecommunication devices for the deaf (TDDs), and 
linked overhead projectors (to make language more visual) are a 
few examples. By 1984, computer-related technology offered 
improved educational and occupational opportunities for people 
with disabilities of all kinds.
     Batson, using computers to enhance language flow for 
Gallaudet English
students, established a project originally called English Natural 
Form Instruction, which taught writing. He received equipment 
from IBM and a commitment for space from Gallaudet. Realtime 
Learning Systems in Washington, D.C., donated a local area 
network (LAN) that gave students access to others on the network. 
The original network consisted of students who communicated with 
each other, and an instructor to offer technical assistance.
     The deaf students, already familiar with TDDs, readily took 
to ENFI. One immediate benefit was that it gave deaf students the 
ability to engage in group discussions. Batson began teaching 
ENFI's interactive strategies to other English instructors, who 
often had to modify their own teaching strategies as a result. He 
also published a newsletter to reach colleges and universities 
that did not deal with disability, and talked about ENFI at a 
dozen universities and at two or three conferences a month.
     Ohlone College, a Gallaudet Regional Center in Fremont, 
Calif., was the first to implement ENFI for its deaf and 
hearing-impaired students. In 1987, Batson secured a three-year, 
$535,000 grant from the Annenberg Foundation/Corp. for Public 
Broadcasting to implement ENFI in a five-member consortium of 
colleges and universities, including the University of Minnesota, 
Carnegie-Mellon University, the New York Institute of Technology 
(NYIT) and Northern Virginia Community College.
     At the same time, still chairing Gallaudet's ENFI project, 
he became a visiting professor at Carnegie-Mellon University in 
Pittsburgh. There, Batson sought to move ENFI applications beyond 
deaf education. Eventually, ENFI was seen as a help to 
non-traditional students-commuters, those to whom English is a 
second language, older returning students, and students with 
other disabilities.
     Batson has compiled a body of literature documenting 
ENFI-generated language gains. Under the Annenberg grant, the 
consortium project validated ENFI as equal to other means of 
teaching writing and found that ENFI students tended to write 
more conversationally. At Minnesota, students in ENFI courses 
were more likely to complete the course than those in non-ENFI 
courses. At NYIT, ENFI prompted more professors to engage in 
research.
     With each application, ENFI evolved. Each university 
discovered new applications or applied different applications 
with each population. Some schools used ENFI at multiple sites on 
campus instead of in one room, as at Gallaudet. An upcoming 
conference, Network-Supported Writing '92, will focus on those 
who use networks to support writing. Today, Gallaudet offers 
three- to five-day training classes for those who want to learn 
and implement ENFI.
     ENFI is widely used in Gallaudet's Preparatory Program, 
which helps build English skills then transitions students to the 
freshman class level. About 1,200 Gallaudet students have used 
ENFI, which is a good introduction to computers and a friendly 
vehicle used for social and formal conversation.
     ENFI has received the EDUCOM/NCRIPTAL Award for best 
innovation, which carried a $5,000 cash prize. EDUCOM is the 
national consortium of computing facilities in colleges and 
universities; NCRIPTAL is the National Center for the Improvement 
of Postsecondary Teaching and Learning at the University of 
Michigan.

Funding
     IBM donated enough equipment for two laboratories, RealTime 
Laboratories donated LAN software and modified it to meet ENFI 
needs, and Gallaudet contributed space to initiate the ENFI 
project.
     Gallaudet's then-president Dr. Jerry Lee gave ENFI three 
Presidential Awards for innovative projects that totaled $106,000 
over three years, and granted funds for travel. Gallaudet 
committed Batson's time, allocated space and supported him in 
securing the Dana Foundation fellowship to spend a year at 
Carnegie-Mellon.
     The $535,000 Annenberg grant has ended but another smaller 
Annenberg grant is supporting research and a book on ENFI. The 
Adapso Foundation provided four years of funding at $25,000 per 
year to support laboratory staff and software development 
(Mac/ENFI).
     Gallaudet secured a Department of Education grant for a 
researcher to explore the use of ENFI among children at 
Gallaudet's demonstration site, the Kendall School. Ohlone 
College in California received in-house institutional support 
through California Lottery Funds, targeted for exemplary 
activities. Batson now is involved in a new project with IBM, 
Project Common Ground, which will bring in new labs and 
equipment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
--------------
             Starting An Assistive Technology Program
                    Tips from Dr. Trent Batson

      Two types of people are needed to back such a system. One 
must be a theoretician who can integrate the system and the 
institution's mission, and who is imaginative enough to
implement and modify the system. The other should be a technical 
person who can support the LAN. Both are needed for success.
      Students will love the system-it's the faculty that must 
be convinced. Initiate a faculty training program or allow them 
to attend one elsewhere. Stay in touch with others who use such 
systems to share problems and successes.
                             Chapter 3
             Computer Center for the Visually Impaired
                     Baruch College, New York

     The Computer Center for the Visually Impaired (CCVI) was one 
of the earliest technology programs for people with disabilities. 
It began ln 1977 as an educational support service to blind and 
visually impaired students in the Education Computing Center at 
Baruch College, part of the City University of New York system. 
Program Director Dr. Karen Luxton was one of CCVI's first 
students. The CCVI is an independent department that offers blind 
and low-vision students a range of educational services, 
including training in word processing, accounting and database 
management software. Each semester, about 15 blind and visually 
impaired students, most of them business majors, use the CCVI. 
The CCVI, a resource to blind and visually impaired community 
members, also serves corporations, other colleges and 
universities, and rehabilitation professionals.

     Like most programs described in this report, CCVI has no 
hard data on the academic or occupational success of those who 
use the center, but there is compelling anecdotal data-the young 
artist who lost her sight to diabetes, then became a computer 
programmer; and the cinematographer who lost his sight, then used 
assistive technology to enter an MBA program targeting film 
industry finance.
     The CCVI is an independent department, located in the 
university's Education Computing Center, which works closely with 
educators, counselors and the business community to demonstrate 
how visually impaired people can use computer technology.
     CCVI offers students and community members non-credit short 
courses in WordPerfect, PC DOS, Lotus 1-2-3 and dBASE III Plus. 
An evaluation and training program, Practical Evaluation of 
Programmer Aptitude, is for those with no computer or technology 
experience. The course is an introduction to adaptive computing, 
the IBM microcomputer and word processing. Participants and 
referring agencies receive progress reports and evaluations of 
participants' computing aptitude.
     Partnership ln Technology, a course funded by the Department 
of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation 
Services (OSERS), gives counselors, teachers and business people 
an overview of the role technology can play in the lives of 
visually impaired people. Course participants can work in 
conditions of simulated visual impairment in laboratory segments.
     The center also performs consulting on the job or at home 
for blind or visually impaired people, and offers PC training and 
career counseling to people with disabilities. CCVI markets 
services for blind and low-vision students through Baruch's 
Office of Disabled Students. CCVI previews its services at an 
annual orientation for new faculty, and CCVI activities are 
reported in the university's student newspaper.
     CCVI also has worked with Baruch faculty and staff, as 
consultants to other City and State University of New York (CUNY 
and SUNY) campuses, private universities such as
Columbia and New York University, state and Federal Departments 
of Rehabilitation, Commissions for the Blind in New York and New 
Jersey, the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the Lincoln Center, 
local banks, the Social Security Administration, the IRS, IBM and 
others.
     Inside the university, the library is writing grant 
proposals to use assistive technology to make the card catalog 
fully accessible to blind and low-vision users. For those outside 
the university, CCVI brailles concert programs for Lincoln Center 
headliners, as well as materials for the Social Security 
Administration, the IRS and IBM. CCVI is a resource for brailled 
materials for Baruch students, faculty and staff.
     As part of the Tactual Graphics Project, with support from 
the New York Science and Technology Foundation and the New York 
Community Trust, CCVI produces raised-line graphics, drawings and 
maps of the New York City subway system under contract with the 
Metropolitan Transit Authority. Because users must be trained to 
use the tactual materials, CCVI is planning training classes.
     CCVI also is working on a grant from the Department of 
Education to offer training for teachers, counselors, parents and 
employers of Independent Living Centers, which serve people with 
disabilities.

Funding
     In March 1978, Baruch gave the fledgling CCVI one full-time 
position, and the Education Computing Center director donated a 
portion of his time. The university contributed space and some 
equipment. To secure outside funding, the founding members worked 
with the New York Commission for the Blind, local banks and the 
Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA), now part of the 
Department of Education.
     Some grants to the Education Computing Center were used to 
support the CCVI in its earliest days. The New York Commission 
for the Blind paid $600 per-person tuition for 15 participants 
during the second year of summer programming workshops. In later 
years, the New Jersey Commission sent participants.
     In 1980, CCVI secured a one-year RSA grant to train 
rehabilitation counselors in technologies for blind and visually 
impaired clients. Other, later RSA grants included a three-year 
Employability Grant (16 weeks of training for blind and visually 
impaired clients), fees for services from the state commissions, 
and tuition from Manufacturers Hanover Trust Bank, Chemical Bank, 
Chase Manhattan and the National Westminster Bank. Later OSERS 
funding included a Career Path Information System grant, a joint 
venture with the New York Times to make job information 
accessible to blind and visually impaired job seekers.
     Baruch has increased the CCVI budget for equipment and 
increased staff positions to three. CCVI offers for-fee, 
non-credit courses in data management and programming to a 
growing number of off-campus clients.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
--------------
             Starting an Assistive Technology Program
                    Tips from Dr. Karen Luxton

      Funding has been a problem from the beginning. We deal 
with a low-incidence population that is expensive to serve well. 
There is a need for small classes and individual instruction. 
With permission from those involved, we tell compelling stories. 
Even better, our graduates tell the story for us.
      Space is a scarce commodity on most college and university 
campuses; it represents a significant contribution and commitment 
on the part of campus administration.
      Know your environment, your allies, your resources. Tell 
them what you intend to do in terms of extra effort and late 
hours writing grants. Seek out friends at the executive level and 
market, market, market. Be prepared to cover both bases in your 
lab: disability and technical. Build in administration and 
fund-raising capability. No one person can do all these things.
      Use students as allies. Find out how to bring in student 
workers. The Financial Aid Office often can help find students 
who qualify under Work Study Programs and who cost the technology 
program very little.
      In the initial plans, consider where should such a lab be 
housed, would students be best served in an Office of Disabled 
Student Services or within an Educational or Academic Computing 
Lab, who will maintain equipment, where will the lab get 
technical help?
      When it is time to expand, do so in a certain direction, 
rather than multiple directions. Avoid the temptation to meet all 
needs you uncover.
                             Chapter 4
                 Instructional Technology Division
                 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

     Ten years ago, Dr. James Knox became aware of the problems 
of students with disabilities when students new to campus asked 
what was available in the way of computing. Knox, in what is now 
the university's Instructional Technology Division, managed a 
consulting staff and questions came to him by default. He 
especially perceived a need among a group of visually impaired 
students, and thought the university should respond. A Low-Vision 
User Area was set up for visually impaired students. Knox felt an 
organization could be formed based on offering such support 
services to students with disabilities. At Knox's suggestion, a 
persistent blind student founded a group, with Knox as adviser. 
This became BFUG-the Barrier-Free Computer Users Group.

     BFUG immediately began raising consciousness on campus about 
accessibility issues. Group members became campus advisers on 
issues and recommended equipment purchases to the Instructional 
Technology Division (ITD). BFUG is open to students, faculty and 
staff, and community members. Membership cuts across all 
disabilities. Meeting agendas cover topics such as hardware and 
software for users with disabilities, developments in information 
technology, and general information on computer use.
     A graduate library science student with an interest in 
library accessibility joined Knox at the early BFUG meetings. A 
lab, jointly managed by the undergraduate library and ITD, was 
established in the library for blind and low-vision students. The 
lab is in a larger university-wide lab, staffed by 
computer-literate students. Impaired-hearing users can request 
interpreters. BFUG, now with 45 members, holds monthly meetings.
     All University of Michigan students pay a $100 per-semester 
computing fee, which gives them access to campus computer 
facilities, consultation, electronic-mail and electronic 
conferences. BFUG members use e-mail (from home or campus) to 
contact each other, ask and answer questions, and access bulletin 
boards and BFUG meeting minutes. Each Friday, BFUG members are 
encouraged to drop by ITD for informal questions and answers, and 
consulting help is available.
     The group often evaluates adaptive technology products. 
Their recommendations help ITD purchase equipment and software. 
BFUG offers help on a member-to-member basis: more experienced 
members help less experienced, and they help Knox provide 
consulting services within the group. Knox is available at 
monthly meetings, Friday afternoon sessions, by appointment, and 
through e-mail conferences and bulletin boards.
In 1989 the University of Michigan hosted EDUCOM, a large, annual 
conference on educational computing in postsecondary 
institutions. Knox chaired an EDUCOM Special Interest Group on 
disability-Equal Access to Software for Instruction, or EASI. 
BFUG helped plan EASI and other sessions. EDUCOM '89 increased 
the level of computing consciousness of adaptive technology and 
general computing.
     Several issues of the University Record, a weekly 
publication for faculty and staff, have featured adaptive 
computing and BFUG. Expressions, a community newsletter edited by 
a BFUG member, gets the word out in the community about people 
with disabilities. ITD newsletters and catalogs offer information 
about university adaptive technology resources. Knox soon will 
teach a non-credit course on adaptive computing.

Funding
     The University of Michigan adaptive technology program is 
funded entirely by the university. This grows out of a desire to 
eliminate the need on campus for separate adaptive computing 
sites. Knox seeks an environment where all campus computing sites 
are physically and informationally accessible.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
--------------
             Starting An Assistive Technology Program
                     Tips from Dr. James Knox

        BFUG is a good model for starting a new program. It 
takes no money and it gets you into the business. It gives a 
guiding hand in developing a program on technology, allows 
students to make contributions, gains visibility for adaptive 
technology, and raises consciousness and expectations. Let 
students drive the program, evaluate technology and make purchase 
recommendations.
      Invite new students with disabilities and their parents to 
meetings of such groups. It encourages students and parents and 
is a good introduction to the group.
      Enlist support from high-level administrators. Grass-roots 
support is easy, but it's hard to convince people to fund 
programs.
                             Chapter 5
                     Disabled Student Services
                  University of Wyoming, Laramie

     Ms. Chris Primus, director of Disabled Student Services at 
the University of Wyoming, views accessibility to technology in 
the context of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Under Section 504, 
a college or university must provide such basic services as 
interpreters for deaf students, readers for blind students and 
test accommodations. The university also is responsible for 
physical access to all facilities. The introduction in recent 
years of computing support for all students prompts a new look at 
accessibility. In Laramie, the DSS program shows how a university 
program can offer support to students in a rural state. As DSS 
director, Primus suggests ways for the University of Wyoming to 
comply with Section 504, and deals with physical and 
informational access.

     The DSS program Primus joined seven years ago was funded 
under a Department of Education TRIO grant, with university 
funding provided by the state of Wyoming. Like most directors of 
such programs, Primus saw a growing number of students with 
learning disabilities. She knew about the University of Minnesota 
computer-based program on Writing and Learning Disabilities and 
sought funding for a similar program at Wyoming. At the same 
time, the university was setting up campus microcomputer labs.
     Combining the needs of students with disabilities with the 
university's need to give all students access to computers, 
Primus submitted a proposal to the Office of Special Education 
and Rehabilitation Services (OSERS) for a demonstration program 
to develop evaluation software that would identify appropriate 
software for students with learning disabilities.
     Primus received a three-year grant, Computer Assistance 
Model for Learning Disabled (CAMLD), to implement a two-phased 
research-based model of adaptive education for postsecondary 
education students with learning disabilities, to be developed in 
cooperation with the departments of English, psychology and 
educational foundation and instructional technology; the 
university's Media Center; and the Wyoming Division of Vocational 
Rehabilitation.
     Phase One developed criteria to evaluate computer software 
for user-friendly capabilities for college-level students with 
learning disabilities. CAMLD evaluated software for word 
processing, spell checking, spelling and keyboard skills, career 
exploration and job-seeking skills by using the "user friendly 
characteristics evaluation criteria" to determine the most 
effective software for these students. Phase Two taught students 
with learning disabilities about the microcomputers and software 
selected in Phase One.
     Within DSS, students with disabilities took classroom tests 
using computers. Tests were read to blind students, who typed in 
answers for essay tests. Learning-disabled students used spell 
checkers and the thesaurus. Data were collected and evaluated to 
determine the microcomputer intervention's effectiveness. 
Comparing English grades and semester and
cumulative grade point averages showed that using microcomputers 
for writing has a significant impact on the academic performance 
of students with learning disabilities.
     This look at grades compared learning-disabled computer and 
non-computer users. Grades were higher over two semesters for 
computer users in freshman English. There were fewer academic 
probations and suspensions among learning-disabled computer over 
non-computer users. Students reported feeling more articulate, 
less frustrated with written work, more efficient. They 
represented themselves more competently and finished assignments 
in less time.
     Learning-disabled and blind and visually impaired students 
seem to benefit most from computers. Students with learning 
disabilities who are education majors, and blind and visually 
impaired students who are social work majors seem especially 
proficient in computer use.
     Primus's three-year grant produced an instrument and 
identified software that was purchased and made available to 
students. Students with learning disabilities were given an 
overview and encouraged to use computers. Results were 
disseminated on campus through talks to faculty; to instructors 
and staff in the English Department, freshman English and the 
Writing Center; and at Student Affairs Awareness Week.
     Articles in the campus newspaper discussed the program, and 
an in-house fact sheet was distributed to freshman-level 
instructors. The CAMLD effort raised university awareness about 
the need for an evaluation team in the area of disability. CAMLD 
results were widely disseminated through presentations at the 
California State University (Northridge) conference, Technology 
and Persons with Disabilities and other meetings. Almost 200 
copies of the CAMLD final report were sent to peers in the field.
     Because the grant threw a spotlight on services for students 
with learning disabilities, more such students enrolled at the 
university and sought services.
     As the grant phased out, Primus approached the university 
for financial support for basic services to these and other 
disabled students, and pursued funding to supplement basic 
services and provide leadership in the use of technology. She 
applied to the Montgomery Home for the Blind Trust Fund for funds 
to improve basic services for blind students and to help the 
university give such students access to its computer labs.
     Primus gives talks on adaptive technology to computer 
instructors, who visit the office, sometimes with their classes, 
to see the assistive technology first-hand. She cooperates with 
the university's Department of Special Education, which also 
received a Montgomery Trust grant to orient pre-service and 
in-service teachers to equipment available to school-age children 
with visual impairments.

Funding
     With the Montgomery Trust grant, an interagency agreement 
was developed with DSS, the Department of Vocational 
Rehabilitation and State Services for the Visually Impaired to 
better coordinate services. Primus is seeking more physical space 
at the university so the Blind/VI Project can serve more students 
and people with disabilities in the community. By charging 
community members a fee for services, the program could support 
more staff devoted to training for employment skills.
     Primus uses Section 504 to motivate the university to 
provide basic services. When she first came to the university, 
her program was funded under a Department of Education grant. 
Institutional support was minimal. In securing grants, she 
continues to educate the university about its legal 
responsibility to initiate, supplement and enrich services to 
students with disabilities.
     Today, the grant has expired and the program for 
learning-disabled students is almost completely 
institutionalized. The state legislature increased the university 
budget to meet basic service needs for the learning-disabled 
population. For anything extra, Primus still looks for grants.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
--------------
             Starting an Assistive Technology Program
                      Tips from Chris Primus

      New programs should first develop a baseline of what needs 
to be done: Who are the students? What are their disabilities? 
Why do they need to be served? How can they be accommodated with 
general and technological services?
      Educate the college or university every step of the way. 
Grants enrich a program; they do not relieve the institution of 
the responsibility to provide services, including technology as a 
way to carry out 504 regulations.
      Work closely with the administration. Know which 
committees to approach to meet your needs.
      Start slow and be realistic in what you ask for.
      Use a high degree of personal contact with students, and a 
high degree of input from students about their basic service 
needs and their suggestions for equipment purchases.
      The Department of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) can be a 
helpful ally in counseling students and influencing the 
university, providing a backdrop for the university to take on 
financial responsibility, including the responsibility to provide 
space for the program.
      Educate university officials about basic services, 
university responsibilities, how the DVR can provide early 
funding with the understanding the funding will phase out and the 
university will pick it up. Keep the focus on the university's 
ultimate responsibility to provide services.
                             Chapter 6
                  Artificial Language Laboratory
              Michigan State University, East Lansing

     Dr. John Eulenberg directs the Artificial Language (AL) 
Laboratory, a teaching and research facility in the Department of 
Audiology and Speech Sciences, College of Communication Arts and 
Sciences at Michigan State University (MSU). The Lab's mission is 
to pursue research and development ln using voice synthesis, 
voice recognition and computer-based technologies to detect body 
movements, access to computers and other language or 
communication-related purposes. Much research and technology 
applications for people with disabilities is tailored to 
individual needs. Early technology applications developed in the 
AL Laboratory preceded many commercially available products. 
Today, applications include recommendations for using 
off-the-shelf technologies, adapting existing technologies, and 
creating new equipment and applications.

     The AL Laboratory specializes in computer applications to 
help those with communication handicaps-MSU students and others 
who are blind or
have limited physical access to communication tools (those with 
cerebral palsy, stroke or traumatic brain injury).
     Clients who undergo evaluation and technology development 
typically have been seen elsewhere and referred to the AL Lab 
because off-the-shelf technologies do not meet their needs. 
Often, the evaluation team (occupational therapist, speech and 
language pathologist) accompanies the client to meet with the 
Lab's evaluation team.
     The AL Lab markets its services in several ways, including 
in university publications for new students, programs and 
services. Articles about the Lab have appeared in campus and 
local newspapers. For several years, MSU football and basketball 
games featured the Lab during half-time promotional spots.
     The Lab has been the subject of several television shows, 
including Finding a Voice, a NOVA documentary, and A Gift for 
Sevina, a documentary that featured a nine-year-old girl 
"speaking" her first words on an augmentive communication device. 
This show won a Michigan Emmy Award.
     MSU is a teaching institution, and graduate students may 
carry out course and licensing requirements by working on 
university evaluation teams, including time spent with clients in 
the AL Lab. As a result, clients with disabilities are served, 
and graduate students learn strategies they will use in their 
careers.
     Many graduates see technology's potential for the first time 
when working with the Lab. At the very least, they become more 
sensitive to the ways people with disabilities function and 
compete. MSU graduates, some with only a fleeting knowledge of 
the program, make referrals to the Lab. Some who have worked in 
the Lab and earned degrees at MSU include the head of research 
for Prentke Romich Co., one of the largest manufacturers of
augmentive communication devices. Several former graduate 
students now head technology programs in Michigan school 
districts.
     The Lab enjoys a high profile, in part because of a journal 
published there, Communication Outlook, which keeps the Lab in 
touch with major companies in the field that develop products and 
new applications. Eulenberg teaches in five university 
departments-linguistics, audiology and speech science, computer 
science, African languages and telecommunications. He is often 
called as an expert witness on litigation matters dealing with 
assistive technology. He has influenced state law; the 
legislature now makes $500,000 in matching funds available for 
assistive technology.
     The AL Lab contracts with school districts to evaluate 
students with disabilities for assistive devices. Lab staff have 
trained teachers and developed curricula; and conducted 
in-service workshops, held conferences and developed new devices 
for students with disabilities. Today, former staff members and 
graduate students work in school district programs. Eulenberg and 
Lab staff have held large grants to work with residential and 
mainstreamed students with disabilities.
     Because of early successes with augmentive communication, 
Eulenberg approached the Civil Service Commission in Washington, 
D.C., and secured a grant to introduce the first talking terminal 
systems and computer networks for blind employees. The project, 
implemented with blind IRS employees, was a Joint venture of MSU 
and Arkansas Enterprises for the Blind.
     Eulenberg's Lab is a pioneer in developing speech products 
with a strong multilingual flavor. Over the years, speech systems 
have been developed or are being developed for American English, 
black English dialects, Chinese, Hebrew, Arabic and languages of 
India and Africa.

Funding
     The university provides space for the Lab as well as 
Eulenberg's salary for teaching duties and responsibilities as AL 
Lab director. Grants, contracts and fees for service provide for 
the Lab's essential support. Eulenberg began work in assistive 
technology for people with disabilities by piggybacking 
applications for them onto other grants designed to implement 
technology among MSU students in general.
     These included grants from the National Science Foundation 
and the Ford Foundation. Another early grant to MSU from the 
National Institute on Handicapped Research (now NIDRR) dealt with 
supporting communication aids for the speech impaired in the 
United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Sweden. Eulenberg 
was the university delegate responsible for implementing voice 
technologies at these sites.
     The AL Lab had grants to implement technology in several 
school districts, including Wayne County Intermediate School 
District, which includes Detroit and 26 other communities, and 
Northville, where there is a large institutional population of 
people with cerebral palsy and mental retardation.
     A group of American Jews in Pittsburgh sponsored a project 
to develop a Hebrew speech synthesizer for a young man with 
cerebral palsy who was about to make his Bar Mitzvah. The 
project's objectives were to help the young man  read prayers and 
write
Hebrew on a portable computer. This led to the Hebrew Voice 
Project, a larger Hebrew-language project developed by Eulenberg 
and a team of Israeli speech scientists.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
--------------
             Starting an Assistive Technology Program
                   Tips from Dr. John Eulenberg

      Newcomers should attend conferences in the field and meet 
other people in the world of delivering assistive devices. Learn 
who the players are to become one. Stage conferences and 
seminars, speak at them, publish in the field.
      Build teams. There is usually not an absence of talent on 
a college or university campus; each institution has certain 
strengths. Look to linguists, computer scientists and departments 
of mechanical and electrical engineering for help.
      The university's major commitment is space. lt is the 
director's obligation to identify and bring in other resources.
      A new unit requires administrative support. Identify 
someone high up in the university structure who can make things 
happen. These administrative supporters must see your work as 
part of the university's ultimate mission.
      Look for small grants with the university to get started. 
Most offer some kind of seed money to get started and gain 
leverage needed to secure larger grants, usually from the federal 
government.
      Build a group that will meet regularly to keep abreast of 
opportunities within and outside the university.
                             Chapter 7
                     High-Tech Training Center
             California Community Colleges, Cupertino

     The High-Tech Training Center program was designed from the 
beginning ultimately to reach all 107 campuses (50,000 students 
with disabilities) in California's community college system. A 
modest High-Tech Center was established ln 1984 by Carl Brown at 
Monterey Peninsula Community College to serve six to eight 
students. In 1991, High-Tech Centers on 51 community college 
campuses offered technological support services to more than 
12,000 students. On any given day throughout the state, 5,000 to 
6,000 students use High-Tech facilities. High-Tech Centers are 
expected to be on all 107 campuses within five years. Other 
Centers have been established on California State University 
campuses, on University of California campuses, in Regional 
Occupational Centers and in K-12 schools. Today, the program is a 
$1.4 million effort with permanent funding from the state 
legislature through the California Community Colleges 
Chancellor's Office. A request is pending for another $1.4 
million.

     Carl Brown is a former Buddhist monk, a crisis intervention 
counselor and author of practical computer books. Though he has a 
disability and uses a wheelchair, his work in the disability 
field began in 1984 when he was invited to work with computers 
and students with disabilities at Monterey Peninsula Community 
College (MPCC).
     The MPCC Center began with Brown as a half-time faculty 
member and $25,000 in equipment. This High-Tech Center 
immediately cross-pollinated other campus units such as the 
Learning Resource Center and the English Department.
     The Center was seen as a training resource for students, who 
were encouraged to use their assistive technology aids to 
mainstream to regular campus computer resources. Electronic tools 
assumed to be learning aids for students with 
disabilities-spelling and grammar checkers, dictionaries, 
organizational software and thesauruses-turned out to be 
excellent learning aids for students without disabilities.
     Criteria developed early in the Center's formation 
determined that assistive technology should be based on software 
rather than hardware; should work transparently with such 
standard computer applications as Lotus, WordPerfect, dBase and 
SPSS; and should consist of tools that work in regular campus 
settings. They had to be easy to use and cost no more than $500.
     The numbers of students using the MPCC Center grew, as did 
interest in the field. An increasing number of visitors came to 
see the program, which influenced the formation of a similar 
Centers. To disseminate information about the High-Tech Center 
model and systematically respond to inquiries, Brown secured a 
two-year, $160,000 grant from the Department of Education's Fund 
for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, which paid to 
develop a practical two-volume book designed to advance the 
model. About 30,000
copies of Computer Access and Higher Education for Persons with 
Disabilities have been distributed.
     Soon, the Chancellor's Office of the California Community 
Colleges asked Brown to set up a central High-Tech resource in 
Sacramento for the entire community college system, and 
individual High-Tech Centers on individual campuses. And the 
California State Department of Rehabilitation, which wanted the 
program in Sacramento to support its clients, provided a 
2.5-year, $3.5 million (matching) Establishment Grant to 
stimulate development of the Centers at community colleges 
throughout the state.
     Individual colleges responded to a request for proposal, and 
successful bidders were awarded staff positions and a 
predetermined package of hardware and software. The package, to 
help students with disabilities of all kinds, emphasized tools 
for students with learning disabilities and acquired brain 
injuries.
     Eventually, the program moved to its current base at DeAnza 
Community College in Cupertino, the heart of Silicon Valley and 
home to Apple Computer. A 3,000-square-foot building houses a 
High-Tech Training Center, a Career Development Education Center 
and an on-site High-Tech Center for DeAnza students. Faculty are 
required to hold at least a master's degree in special education 
or related field, but no computer experience is necessary.
     The Center offers 35 training courses throughout the year, 
and new courses are added to respond to new technologies. The 
Center trains its own and community college faculty. An 800 line 
answers questions from the field from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Today, 
15 other states use the High-Tech Centers model. Colorado 
followed the Establishment Grant mechanism in developing its 
Centers.
     The Centers are set up to serve the entire community; 
outreach is an established part of its mission. One community 
college has a mobile van to serve a rural community. Another, in 
a mountain community, works closely with high school students.
     A Study of the Characteristics of Students with Disabilities 
in the California Community Colleges High-Tech Centers for the 
Disabled (Chancellor's Office, California Community Colleges, 
August 1989) offers a wealth of data on such variables as 
disability by ethnicity.

Funding
     Brown began at MPCC as a half-time faculty member. With the 
move to Sacramento, the Department of Rehabilitation awarded a 
$3.5 million, 2.5-year Establishment Grant. The Chancellor's 
Office provided three permanent positions, space and equipment 
worth up to $50,000. Funding to the colleges paid for staffing 
and equipment. The understanding was that when the Establishment 
Grants expired, the colleges would institutionalize the 
positions.
     Now based at DeAnza Community College, the High-Tech 
Training Center has a funding base of $580,000, legislatively 
authorized as a line item in the Governor's budget.
     Also in the Governor's budget is $800,000 in permanent 
funding for the High-Tech Center sites across the state. Brown is 
working on a request for another $1.4 million to finish placing 
High-Tech Centers in each state community college.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
--------------
             Starting an Assistive Technology Program
                       Tips from Carl Brown

      We have been successful because we consider the computer 
an appliance, like a toaster. You don't have to know how a 
toaster works to make good toast.
      Use as little technology as possible so the faculty and 
students don't become overwhelmed. Start small. lt's better to 
have a couple of computers in a computer lab and some software 
that is being used than a fancy lab that is not being used. Start 
with the minimum amount needed to make a student functional, then 
let student feedback determine where to go next.
      Faculty training is an essential component of success. 
Those from non-technical backgrounds make the best trainers 
because they can communicate with students who have non-technical 
backgrounds.
      Things work best when the colleges provide faculty from 
the beginning under institutional funding, and requested 
equipment under a grant.
      Any college wanting to get started must have a deep 
commitment to training.
      High-Tech Centers should be a resource to the entire 
community. Colleges should work with corporations and community 
agencies that serve people with disabilities.
      Help dissolve artificial distinctions between technology 
for people with disabilities and useful technology. Spelling and 
grammar checkers help everybody. They are not unique to people 
with disabilities.
                             Chapter 8
                    Assistive Technology Center
               University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

     The University of Minnesota Assistive Technology Center 
(ATC) began as a centralized model under the Office for Students 
with Disabilities (OSD) but became a distributed model under the 
Microcomputer and Workstation Networks Center, which offers 
campus-wide computer support to all students. ATC is coordinated 
by Curt Griesel, a former UM computer science student. Another 
project on campus that deals with deaf and learning-disabled 
students is directed by Dr. Terrence Collins, professor and head 
of the Arts, Communications and Philosophy Division of UM's 
General College. Technological services for students with 
disabilities began in the early 1980s. The OSD centralized 
services and equipment but, realizing the need for technical 
support, they donated the equipment to the Microcomputer and 
Workstation Networks Center (Microcomputer Center), which agreed 
to distribute the equipment according to need, maintain the 
equipment and support students through technical consultation and 
training. This organizational change was realized in 1987, when 
UM was preparing to build a new Computer Research Center. To 
ensure the new Center could serve students with disabilities, 
informational access was added to the list of general 
accessibility concerns. About the same time, some adaptive 
devices were purchased with funds from an IBM grant, and a 
curriculum ln the use of adaptive technology was proposed.

     Curt Griesel was a UM senior in computer science, with an 
interest in adaptive technology, when this change occurred. He 
set up the equipment under the IBM grant. Upon graduation, he 
applied for a grant under Minnesota's STAR Program (funded by 
NIDRR under the Technology-Related Assistance Act), seeking a UM 
staff position.
     STAR didn't fund the position, but in 1990 Griesel joined 
the Microcomputer Center team anyway after the UM vice president 
approved a new Coordinator position for the Assistive Technology 
Laboratory (ATL). With original equipment from OSD and the IBM 
grant as a base, the Adaptive Technology Center is 100 percent 
university-funded. Institutional support includes space, one 
staff position and equipment, and adaptive devices and software 
as a part of the Microcomputer Center equipment and supply 
budget.
     The UM main campus in Minneapolis has 43,000 students, about 
1,600 with disabilities. Twenty-five computer labs are scattered 
across campus. They tend to have Macintosh and IBM capability, 
with some Sun, Apollo and NeXT workstations. A pool of adaptive 
equipment and Griesel's services are available to university 
students, faculty and staff with disabilities.
     Some equipment is left permanently in heavy-traffic areas 
such as the university's three major libraries. Students may have 
devices installed as needed in other university public labs and 
in labs associated with academic departments such as physics or 
accounting.
Griesel has access to a range of technical knowledge through 
others in the Microcomputer Center.
     The OSD is a primary referral source. OSD counselors, 
supported by printed material, encourage students to use the 
Assistive Technology Laboratory (ATL). Griesel relies on OSD for 
recommendations on academic issues such as testing. Brochures are 
available on campus, and Griesel meets regularly with a campus 
organization for students with disabilities. The Microcomputer 
Center refers inquiries about adaptive technology to Griesel's 
office. Other referrals come from the Department of Communicative 
Disorders Speech Clinic.
     The distributed model has been operational for 12 months. 
Demand for assistance and general computer use have increased, 
along with the use of adaptive technology for writing projects 
such as term papers. Consumer feedback is positive. Hard data on 
student progress is unavailable, but anecdotal evidence shows 
that working with adaptive technology to use or improve writing 
skills is one of the greatest benefits of such services.
     The ATL serves as an information gathering and dispersal 
point. Griesel fields frequent phone and personal inquiries about 
equipment, and meets with counselors from State Services for the 
Blind, which supports blind and visually impaired students at the 
university with its own technology center. Griesel works with 
counselors to prescribe and recommend technology. He also works 
with the Division of Rehabilitation Services, which has a mandate 
from the state to offer clients technological support.
     Another campus project that deals with deaf and 
learning-disabled students is directed by Dr. Terrence Collins, a 
professor and head of the Arts, Communications and Philosophy 
Division of UM's General College. As an English instructor for 
undergraduates, Collins pursued the problem of failure among 
students with learning disabilities.
     In 1985, he obtained a three-year grant for a 
Learning-Disabled Writers Project from the Department of 
Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services 
(OSERS). At the same time, UM was opening its Computer Research 
Center and Collins joined OSD director Sue Krueger to provide 
access consultation on adjusting workstation height for 
wheelchair-users.
     Between 1985 and 1988, Collins published 30 papers, 
distributed information to 720 people, and consulted with 
colleges and universities that had set up similar programs for 
students with learning disabilities. Because learning-disabled 
(LD) students benefitted from Collins' writing project, such 
students were allowed to register early for computer-based 
writing classes so they could have first-day access to this 
resource.
     Research conducted during the grant period showed that LD 
students completed writing courses and achieved at the same rate 
(grade point average) as non-LD students. Collins also helped set 
up a project using a local area network (LAN) to teach 
conversational English to deaf university students.

Funding
     The ATL is funded entirely by the university. It began with 
a donation of equipment from the OSD and a grant from IBM, but 
the university's major resources are directed at students with 
disabilities.
     Collins' project, which started with a $260,000 Department 
of Education OSERS grant, ended in 1988. Today, three classrooms 
that were equipped under an Annenberg Foundation/Corporation for 
Public Broadcasting LAN grant are available to students with 
learning disabilities and to deaf students. One faculty member 
performs research in this area, and the curriculum is still used.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
--------------
             Starting an Assistive Technology Program
          Tips from Carl Griesel and Dr. Terrence Collins

      Work with someone high up in the administration, and show 
the university how much money such a program can save.
      Become part of the computing center team as soon as 
possible. Advance the point of view that your program is part of 
the university's mission, not a special interest.
      New programs should make use of existing programs and 
avoid duplicating efforts.
      Invite the computing staff to sit in on program meetings.
      The quality of staff is vital. The person who coordinates 
access services should be a technical person who can tie in to 
other resources on campus, such as the Office for Students with 
Disabilities.
      Jump in. Someone has to believe this effort is important.
      Novices should learn how to use a CD Rom search protocol. 
Learn what others have done and build on it. Build proposals and 
work plans on what others have already reported. Tie your work 
plan to the campus mission. Use graduate students to help carry 
out your work.
      Make a good-faith effort to use whatever equipment is 
available. Only ask for what you don't have.
      Don't go it alone if you can set up a consortium of 
interests. Students, alumni and computer resource people all can 
help. Enlist the help of the math and English departments, the 
library and others.
      Tie technology to what the students need to do. Build 
structures to deal with student needs in a way that's valuable to 
the institution. Meet needs that are visible to the 
administration.
      Working in isolation can be lonely and frustrating. Attend 
conferences where people share information. Plug into national 
information databases such as SpecialNet and bulletin board 
services. Start early convincing people that your work is of 
national importance. Ask for money in your grants to go to 
national conferences.
      Don't buy equipment that will soon be outdated. Consult 
widely. Try to anticipate two years in advance.
                             Chapter 9
                    Disabled Computing Program
               University of California, Los Angeles

     The UCLA Disabled Computing Program (DCP) is part of the 
university's Office of Academic Computing. Dr. Danny 
Hilton-Chalfen first got involved in 1984 when he was working for 
Social Science Computing as a graduate student, setting up campus 
microcomputer labs. When the issue of on-campus access for people 
with disabilities was raised, Hilton-Chalfen was asked to analyze 
the situation. His recommendations led to the establishment of a 
Disability and Computing Demonstration Lab as part of the 
Microcomputer Information Center. Today, Hilton-Chalfen renders 
technical assistance in the Lab and across campus for users with 
disabilities. As coordinator, he considers himself a campus 
advocate of people with disabilities and for technology access 
issues. He chairs EDUCOM's EASI (Equal Access for Software 
Instruction), a special interest group that deals with disability 
issues.

     The DCP seeks to create and maintain an accessible campus 
computing environment, and provide computing tools needed to help 
those with disabilities be independent and successful in their 
course work, research and employment.
     The DCP established a demonstration Lab in the Office of 
Academic Computing, with prototype workstations for 
demonstrations and public access. This is one of three 
demonstration Labs. Another deals with Apple and IBM advanced 
workstations, the third is a Network Demonstration Lab.
     DCP cooperates with other university disability interests, 
including the Section 504 Office, the Office for Students with 
Disabilities (OSD), the Chancellor's Advisory Committee on the 
Disabled, the university's Personnel Office and the (student) 
Union for Students with Disabilities.
     In the School of Law, Humanities Computing, the Office of 
Academic Computing and the Microcomputer Support Office, 504 
walkthroughs of microcomputer labs and classrooms identified 
access concerns and contributed to long-range planning. Jointly, 
DCP and the 504 Office published an access guide that has been 
requested by organizations nationwide. DCP helps direct incoming 
students to OSD, recommends computer access strategies, and 
provides extensive support in brailling class notes for visually 
impaired students. DCP also provides custom support for foreign 
language brailling, and brailles OSD publications.
     DCP markets its services through campus presentations, 
articles in the Dally Bruin student newspaper, and newsletters 
and bulletins of the Office of Academic Computing, including UCLA 
Microcomputing and Perspectives. Technology services are marketed 
through OSD publications, and OSD distributes DCP publications. 
Note takers and students with disabilities can check out laptop 
computers from DCP. Hilton-Chalfen makes presentations to the OSD 
staff.
     The computing support coordinators of various campus labs 
meet regularly to discuss common issues, and Hilton-Chalfen uses 
this forum to educate them on accessibility issues
and specific technologies. He is also committed to introducing 
technologies within the new Disability and Technology 
Demonstration Lab.
     These include using the Macintosh portable computer for 
evaluating software for students with learning disabilities, 
Toshiba laptops for note taking, the Kurzweil Personal Reader, 
DragonDictate voice recognition, the AST 386 computer for running 
DragonDictate, TSI's "Navigator" (a tactile-braille computer 
screen display) NEC Multisynch VGA display for people with low 
vision, and a variety of new software including PRD+ abbreviation 
expansion, GrandView outline program, Duxbury English and Nemeth 
braille translation, and Flipper voice synthesizer site license.
     UCLA is part of a network of higher education campuses in 
southern California, including Santa Monica Community College, 
California State University, Northridge, and the University of 
California, Irvine. Hilton-Chalfen consults with campuses in and 
out of the area on implementing adaptive technology 
accessibility.
     He also chairs the EASI project, a unit of EDUCOM, the 
national professional association for computing in higher 
education. EASI's mission is to provide information and guidance 
about adaptive technology issues in higher education to other 
campuses, promote exemplary programs and help fledgling programs.

Funding
     DCP began in 1984 when Hilton-Chalfen, a graduate student, 
gave 10 hours of his time in Social Sciences Computing to 
adaptive computing issues. Some peripherals were purchased and 
two workstations were designated as access stations.
     In 1986, the University of California Chancellor's Office 
approved a one-year pilot project on accessibility, took 
Hilton-Chalfen's time up to 20 hours per week and awarded $20,000 
for equipment. At year end Hilton-Chalfen proposed making the 
program a permanent entity.
     The Chancellor appointed a Task Force with members from 
Social Sciences, Academic Computing and OSD to define the program 
and determine where to house the program.
     Today, DCP is in the third year of a four-year plan that 
took Hilton-Chalfen's Coordinator position to full time, added a 
full-time technical assistant, gave DCP an equipment budget 
($25,000 for each of the first three years, $30,000 in the fourth 
year), set up the Demonstration Lab, provided space and supplies, 
and gave the unit the support of the campus at large.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
--------------
             Starting an Assistive Technology Program
                Tips from Dr. Danny Hilton-Chalfen

      A novice to such a program should examine resources on 
campus that pertain to disability: committees, departments and 
people involved in access issues.
      Identify the basic organizational structure of campus 
computing and encourage the players to get together. The players 
should develop adaptive technology support and bring it to the 
attention of the highest possible level of administration.
      Encourage establishing a Task Force to address 
accessibility and develop an action plan. The group will need 
supporting documentation of activities on other campuses and 
legislation that influences such a program.
      Find an environment that will help the technology program 
flourish and involve that department's management in your work.
      As soon as possible, request staffing for a person whose 
sole responsibility is support of this program. This should 
probably be a technical person if the program is housed in 
Academic Computing. Beware of having a person with split 
responsibilities in other areas of computing or within the Office 
of Students with Disabilities.
      Build relationships within the university. Go campus-wide 
from the beginning. Become part of the larger computing picture.
                            Chapter 10
                    Desktop Computing Services
                 University of Washington, Seattle

     Sheryl Burgstahler is manager of Desktop Computing Services 
(DCS) in the University of Washington Academic Computing 
facility. Responsibilities include running student computer labs, 
coordinating a consulting group, conducting computer fairs, 
working with user groups and negotiating campus software 
licenses. Within this framework, she sought to incorporate access 
services for students with disabilities. When the program began 
eight years ago, Burgstahler delivered technical services to 
students with disabilities. Today, one of eight consultants under 
her administration deals with computing access for students with 
disabilities. Burgstahler feels access is best carried out in 
cooperation with the campus Disabled Student Services Office 
(DSSO). With that director, Burgstahler and her consultant 
identify and resolve access issues. Burgstahler also has budget 
control over various campus computing labs, permitting her to buy 
and place adaptive equipment in appropriate settings. Most 
adaptive equipment is centralized in the Student Union HUB Micro 
Lab, which houses 48 computer stations. The HUB is a physically 
accessible, central location, with technical assistance (student 
help) available during Lab hours. The DCS access-issues 
consultant, supported half-time by a student, is called in as 
needed.

     At some campus locations there are showrooms to demonstrate 
computing equipment, at others there are computer labs. Other 
departments may purchase and place adaptive equipment in their 
own labs instead of in the
HUB. When two blind students enrolled in the Law School, for 
example, Burgstahler, DSSO, representatives from State Services 
for the Blind and the Law School met to consider accessibility to 
on-line legal information services. A system was configured, the 
Law School purchased equipment, and students accessed information 
from host computers in the Law School.
     A group of students with disabilities formed a user group, 
Computer Curb Cuts, which anyone from on- or off-campus can 
attend. Burgstahler meets with the group six times a year. About 
200 people in the Seattle area receive meeting announcements, and 
recent meetings have featured vendors such as Dragon and 
Kurzweil.
     Working with the DSSO director, Burgstahler obtained a grant 
from Seattle's Library for the Blind for greater accessibility on 
campus. A blind student can identify printed information of 
interest to visually impaired students, and that material will be 
brailled and put in a large-print format. Such information comes 
from such areas as food services, library information services, 
computer labs and admissions. Another joint DCS-DSSO project 
addresses training a trainer-a blind student-who will give 
computing support to other blind students on campus under 
tutelage from DCS consultants.
     The DCS access-issues consultant deals mainly one-on-one 
with students who have disabilities. It is not unusual for the 
consultant and a blind student to sit side-by-side to evaluate 
the effects of new software on the accuracy of braille output. 
Most questions from other departments about computer access come 
to Burgstahler.
     Computer-access services are marketed through joint efforts 
of the Academic Computing Center and DSSO. There are mailboxes 
for students in the DSSO office, and an active e-mail network on 
campus with individual electronic mailboxes and bulletin boards. 
Notices about services and special meetings are distributed 
electronically and in hard copy. Large-print and brailled notices 
go into boxes of blind and visually impaired students. Other 
marketing efforts include articles in staff newsletters, the 
student newspaper and internal computing newsletters about 
services.
     The Academic Computing Office conducts an annual Computer 
Fair. Statements about general physical accessibility go into 
literature promoting the event. Promotional brochures are 
available in braille and large print. At least one conference 
session deals with accessibility for people with disabilities.
     Burgstahler's office is a community resource. Individual 
therapists and representatives from community colleges, hospitals 
and the State Department of Rehabilitation visit the campus for 
equipment demonstrations or to seek client evaluation referrals. 
She also works with the university library on improved access. 
With library information now available via networks, Burgstahler 
wants to see easy access from the host computers within the 
library and from networked computers elsewhere on campus.

Funding
     Except for a modest grant from the Library for the Blind, 
DCS is 100 percent university-funded. The university's commitment 
includes equipment and software, space, staffing and supplies. As 
the person with budget control, Burgstahler can add to the 
inventory of adaptive equipment and special software as needed. 
When upgrading a campus computer lab, for example, she can add 
adaptive equipment. One problem is in anticipating what equipment 
students will need in the future.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
--------------
             Starting an Assistive Technology Program
                   Tips from Sheryl Burgstahler

      An ideal task force to help develop an assistive computing 
program would consist of directors of the Disabled Student 
Services Office and Academic Computing, key representatives from 
a student organization representing people with disabilities, and 
representatives from the library, affirmative action and 
admissions.
      Develop a strong working relationship between the Disabled 
Student Services Office and Academic Computing so the person from 
Academic Computing can financially support technology services 
and make changes as needed.
      Identify needs, chip away at the problem, and ask what the 
program can reasonably do to make a difference for students with 
disabilities.
      Important information can inexpensively be brailled or put 
into large print, and sometimes at no cost by off-campus, private 
or government agencies serving the blind. A user group on access 
issues also costs nothing. More interest than expertise is needed 
to get started. Group members learn quickly from each other.
      If the program has no equipment in the beginning, contact 
vendors and ask them to come in and demonstrate equipment for the 
group.
      The biggest problem is managing equipment-keeping it up 
and running and ready to be demonstrated.
      Network with peers in other colleges and universities to 
avoid isolation. Contact groups such as EASI and AHSSPPE to stay 
on top of issues in the field.
                            Chapter 11
       The Office of Services for Students with Disabilities
                  University of Nebraska, Lincoln

     After seeing a demonstration of technology for students with 
disabilities at a 1985 meeting conducted by Budd and Dolores 
Hagen, organizers of the Closing the Gap technology conference, 
Christy Horn wrote a three-year grant proposal to the Department 
of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation 
Services (OSERS) for computers and staffing. At the University of 
Nebraska, students with disabilities felt their lives were being 
controlled by others, and to some extent that was true. 
Technology was an independence issue. The OSERS grant provided 
technological support services to students, primarily those with 
physical disabilities. On this project's Advisory Board was the 
state director of Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Services. 
Working with the university, VR provided funding to many students 
for personal computers and assistive devices. Tracking computer 
time and comparing this with grade point averages, Horn showed 
that students' grade point averages jumped from 1.99 to 2.92 in 
two years. The 2.92 GPA put students with disabilities right 
where other students were, and they reported greater feelings of 
independence.

     In 1985, the University of Nebraska served about 25 students 
with disabilities through its Office of Affirmative Action. 
Today, the Office of Services to Students with Disabilities 
(OSSD) serves 500 students. Computer services contributed to this 
growth, as did several other factors, including an article in
Time magazine.
     An April 3, 1989, cover story on student athletes 
highlighted a University of Nebraska basketball player, Carl 
Hayes, who had trouble reading. Hayes, referred to OSSD, was 
diagnosed as having a learning disability. The article described 
educational support services he received as a legally handicapped 
person, including tape-recorded texts, and reading and note 
taking services.
     Afterward, flooded with students, OSSD began getting 
Athletic Department referrals of students with diagnosed or 
undiagnosed learning disabilities. The office also got calls from 
other states about its support of athletes. It developed intake 
instruments on technological assessments and the kinds of 
accommodations students would need.
     Dr. David Beukelman, a professor of Special Education and 
Communication Disorders, joined Horn's advisory board. So did the 
heads of other organizations such as Nebraska's State Services 
for the Visually Impaired. The university and VR spent $1 million 
to make campus residence halls more accessible. A local hospital 
provides attendant care. Lincoln has a city transportation system 
for people with disabilities. Beukelman oversees technology 
assessments. VR assesses most learning disabilities.
     Horn secured more funds-an 18-month, $132,000 Research and 
Development grant from the Department of Education's Technology 
and Media Division. InfoNet networked an IBM system with CD-Rom 
drivers that was field-tested at the university and with high 
school
and elementary students with disabilities. Voice output allowed 
people with print disabilities to access information without 
having to do heavy reading. When the grants ended, the 
university's chancellor approved formation of the OSSD and Horn, 
who had been the technology trainer, was appointed coordinator.
      The OSSD has the most sophisticated computer lab on campus. 
The Computer Resource Center donated two Macintosh computers, and 
the OSSD has some access technology in the residence halls. Many 
students have their own access devices.
     New students are connected with VR right away so they can 
get their own equipment. VR works more directly with students 
with physical disabilities. OSSD refers blind and visually 
impaired students to State Services for the Visually Impaired, 
where they typically receive training and equipment loans. When a 
new student contacts OSSD, Horn handles straightforward 
recommendations for technology. She uses Buekelman (an augmentive 
communication expert), VR, or local hospitals for specialized 
assessment. VR often purchases equipment for individual clients 
within two weeks after recommendations are made.
     Nebraska is a rural state, so the university serves many 
rural students with and without disabilities. OSSD also has a 
special program to serve minority students who are university 
athletes. These are primarily students with learning disabilities 
that went undiagnosed until they got to the university. VR helps 
market university services to students with disabilities using 
brochures that have information about OSSD.
     Horn is active in the field through several professional 
associations. She chairs the Technical Advisory Group for 
Nebraska's Technology-Related Assistance Act, funded by NIDRR. In 
AHSSPPE she chairs the Computer Special Interest Group. Horn 
arranged a hands-on technology demonstration at the 1991 AHSSPPE 
conference in Minneapolis. She has attended the CSUN conference, 
presented a half-day workshop on Computer Access at the October 
1991 Closing the Gap conference, and is active in the EDUCOM EASI 
Special Interest Group on Disability.

Funding
     Two federal grants initiated the university's technology 
services and were the chief motivation for forming OSSD. When the 
grants ended, the university picked up Horn's salary as 
coordinator and paid for some student assistants, $35,000 for 
interpreters and other service providers, and some equipment.
     The university Foundation has awarded small grants for 
equipment. Graduate assistants come from educational psychology, 
speech pathology and special education. Space is an important 
factor. OSSD is located in a prime, centrally located spot near 
the bookstore, the University Student Union and the residence 
halls.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
--------------
             Starting an Assistive Technology Program
                      Tips from Christy Horn

      One of the biggest mistakes is to get $100,000 worth of 
computer equipment and no staff. A good staff consists of someone 
full time in charge of the computer lab, and
someone who is good at training students on the equipment. 
Graduate students are a good resource.
      Get students up on computers as soon as possible to take 
tests. Keep labor-intensive activities down. Tell students very 
early that they are going to have to take tests on computers.
      Follow the new technologies. Voice input is an exciting 
new technology. Do your homework-don't spend money on something 
you haven't seen. Get to conferences and haunt the exhibit halls. 
Take a piece of software with you. Make them demonstrate that new 
technologies work with your equipment.
      Connect into campus and community resources. VR is a 
critical community contact. On campus, use computer science 
people. Seniors often have to do projects, computer science 
majors can help write manuals for software or set up batch files, 
others can do research on new equipment, special education majors 
can do volunteer work, and all students can work as tutors.
      If you get started on federal money, don't wait for 
funding to end to connect into the university system, and connect 
early while the student population is low. If you don't have 
outside funding, go to the University Foundation for equipment to 
get started. It's not so hard to get money for equipment. It's 
tougher to get money for staffing support and training.
                            Chapter 12
               Adaptive Computing Technology Center
                 University of Missouri, Columbia

     Columbia, Missouri, is home to the world-famous Rusk 
Rehabilitation Center, which deals with spinal cord injuries. 
Because it has a relatively high number of wheelchair-users, 
Columbia has been a leader ln physical access. It was one of the 
first cities to cut curbs. Federal grants predating Section 504 
of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act provided for physical renovations 
on campus. In 1985, year-end funds in the university Equal 
Opportunity Office were designated for physical access projects. 
Because this $10,000 wasn't enough to fund a significant physical 
renovation project, the Computing Center was asked if it could 
use the money to give students with disabilities access to 
computers. A committee formed to consider campus-wide computer 
access for students with disabilities, leading to the immediate 
purchase of a few adaptive devices and salary for a half-time 
graduate assistant. A white paper detailed how the university 
could make computer access part of its mission. From then on, the 
university has taken a leadership role in providing computer 
access to students with disabilities.

     As microcomputer labs were established at the University of 
Missouri's Columbia campus in the early 1980s, students with 
disabilities and others began raising access issues. Not much was 
done until 1985, when the university's Equal Opportunity Office 
encouraged Campus Computing to consider electronic access as a 
way to spend year-end money designated for physical access.
     A group was formed that consisted of representatives from 
the university Access Office, the Rehabilitation Counseling 
Program, the Rusk Center and a medical pediatrics faculty member. 
They recommended that a Total Talk PC be purchased and a 
half-time graduate assistant assigned to help students with 
disabilities.
     William Mitchell, director of advanced projects for the 
Computing Center, said the group continued to work on a model of 
access. The Computing Center supported a half-time person, then 
increased to full-time. The Adaptive Computing Technology (ACT) 
Center now has two full-time people and graduate assistant 
support.
     Early in its history, to attract vendors and university 
support, ACT made presentations at national conferences. When 
EDUCOM formed its Special Interest Group on Disability and sought 
a campus to act as its first home base, the Center volunteered to 
coordinate activities. ACT continued coalition-building efforts, 
bringing together university administrators, Rusk Center and 
University of Missouri Medical Center teaching faculty, 
Vocational Rehabilitation, State Services for the Blind, major 
manufacturers such as IBM and Apple and a host of smaller 
vendors.
     The Computing Center increased ACT staffing and space and 
allocated up to $40,000 a year for equipment. IBM and Apple 
donated equipment, and other vendors donated or
loaned equipment. Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) and Services for 
the Blind supported purchases of equipment for their clients.
     ACT works cooperatively with VR and Services for the Blind 
by performing student technology assessments, followed by written 
recommendations for the purchase of equipment. The average system 
costs about $5,000; some have cost $10,000. VR funds an estimated 
$40,000 in equipment per year, and has for three years. At VR's 
request, ACT evaluates clients who are not university students on 
a fee-for-service basis.
     ACT Center services are marketed in several ways. An 
all-university publication, A Student Guide to Computing, goes to 
all freshmen. ACT services are emphasized in this guide. The 
Access Office tells all students with disabilities about ACT, and 
Campus Computing distributes information. The ACT Center 
publishes a newsletter. ACT's testing and training room is in the 
Arts and Sciences Lab, the hub of computing, open 24 hours a day, 
in a central campus location. The ACT Center routinely consults 
with state colleges, which send representatives to examine the 
ACT program.
     The Center receives inquiries from within and outside the 
state. ACT Center staff cooperated with IBM to write the 
WordPerfect profile for IBM's ScreenReader. This has now become 
an IBM standard and is distributed along with the ScreenReader.
     The Access Office recently sponsored a program on the Impact 
of the Americans with Disabilities Act and ACT contributed a 
segment on adaptive equipment. Center staff demonstrate adaptive 
technology at state conferences, including two sponsored recently 
by VR. ACT also has placed equipment at the Rusk Rehabilitation 
Center, which offers training and technical support.

Funding
     The university Computing Center completely funds ACT. All 
students pay a $2-per-credit fee to partially support campus 
computing efforts, generating $1.2 million per year. This 
supports ACT staff and provides up to $30,000 per year for 
devices for students with disabilities. The fund also provides a 
half-time graduate assistant and other student help.
     ACT formed a critical alliance with VR and Services for the 
Blind to provide equipment for individual students. The 
university has no grants, but is in the process of applying for 
grants to provide services to a broader clientele outside the 
university. The ACT Center's work with VR clients who are not 
university students is in its early stages. The Center performs 
assessments and makes recommendations to VR at a $45-per-hour fee 
for service.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
--------------
             Starting an Assistive Technology Program
                    Tips from William Mitchell

      It is important for an Adaptive Computing Model to have 
goals-direction. priorities, philosophy.
      A university that is already in the computer support 
business, with labs on campus, has a leg up. Secure access to the 
machines to give priority to students with disabilities. Usually 
such labs are already staffed, often with graduate students. Find 
a graduate student
who is computer literate and interested in access for students 
with disabilities, and try to get him/her assigned to supporting 
the hardware.
      Talk to other players on campus. Build a coalition of 
supporters from the Access Office, the Learning Center, faculty 
or staff with disabilities themselves.
      To get started, use existing equipment and people. A lot 
can be done that costs very little. Use a trackball instead of a 
mouse or special software that allows single-finger input. Do 
inexpensive things first; find students with disabilities who 
need support and start serving them.
      Program developers should talk to vendors. All 
universities work with vendors, many of whom will provide 
adaptive equipment on loan.
      Access is legislatively mandated, but don't push that too 
hard. Be positive. Have references handy to show you are meeting 
a legal mandate.
      Steer the program where you can have maximum impact. If 
you have more blind than learning-disabled students, go in that 
direction.
      Form links with the campus Access Office, which can 
schedule tests and help support test proctoring of students with 
disabilities through the use of computers; the campus Learning 
Center, which can provide tutoring; and the library.
                            Chapter 13
            Training and Resource Center for the Blind
               University of New Orleans, Louisiana

     Oliver St. Pe, with a background in political science and 
public administration, joined the University of New Orleans (UNO) 
in 1984. He was to conduct programs in continuing professional 
education for public administrators under UNO's Public Service 
Training Program, an outreach program for enhancing quality of 
life throughout Louisiana. Blind himself, St. Pe used a computer 
in his work and personal life. In 1985, his department approved 
$5,000 in computer support for St. Pe. Seeing how it helped him, 
he proposed an adaptive computing program to the Louisiana 
Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) to train blind 
employees. DHH gave St. Pe a memorandum of understanding and UNO 
supported a $15,000 loan, which was paid back over three 
semesters from tuition fees. Nearly 1,900 DHH employees have been 
trained under a $500,000 contract between DHH and TRCB-the 
Training and Resource Center for the Blind (and Other 
Handicapped). Blind and visually impaired matriculated UNO 
students enrolled in the second series of courses. TRCB now 
serves students, teachers and rehabilitation counselors, and 
blind and visually impaired community members throughout 
Louisiana.

     Based on his own experience as a blind person profiting from 
technology, St. Pe developed a program to serve Louisiana state 
employees with contracts from the Departments of Vocational 
Rehabilitation, Transportation and Development, and Health and 
Hospitals, as well as UNO students with disabilities. He 
established the TRCB as an advisory, information/technical, 
evaluation and training center to make knowledge and information 
accessible through the use of technology to those with impaired 
vision and other disabilities.
     A program development and planning team was formed. Eight of 
10 members were visually impaired. St. Pe and his group finally 
arrived at a curriculum of 150 contact hours that covered screen 
access, DOS, word processing and exposure to Lotus 1-2-3.
     The initial course was offered to blind and visually 
impaired students who were sponsored by Vocational Rehabilitation 
(VR), the Veterans Administration (VA) and the Greater New 
Orleans Council for the Blind. The only criteria were a high 
school diploma and minimal typing skills. UNO students were added 
with the second course offering and, later, service was extended 
to blind and visually impaired community members. The Center now 
offers courses in data management and medical transcription, word 
processing, DOS, Lotus 1-2-3 and other programs.
     TRCB predated and influenced the formation and development 
of the university's Office of Handicapped Student Services 
(OHSS). TRCB helps students take tests, offering equipment and 
consultation in conjunction with the Learning Lab and OHSS. TRCB 
does materials production (large print, braille) and test 
duplicating for students and professors and is a resource as well 
to off-campus, non-traditional students taking no-credit courses.
     TRCB works closely with OHSS, which identifies students and 
encourages them to take advantage of the Center's technology 
services. TRCB has brochures and flyers, and participates in most 
state conferences and conventions. The Center conducts tours for 
high school teachers, who let their students know what to expect 
when they come to UNO. TRCB also works with the VA and other 
federal agencies.
     TRCB has encouraged the university to make its campus 
physically accessible and learning accessible to all students. In 
1989, TRCB gave $10,000 in rehabilitation funds to improve 
accessibility in campus buildings by installing automatic doors, 
building ramps and improving accessibility to bathrooms and 
drinking fountains. The university offers a course to all 
students, Computer Science 1000, Introduction to Computer 
Literacy. St. Pe teaches a section of this course in adaptive 
microcomputing for students with disabilities.
     In addition to teaching continuing education courses, TRCB 
serves as a resource to Louisiana's VR by teaching, evaluating 
clients, maintaining a demonstration lab, performing research on 
blindness and other disabilities, and helping with case 
management files.
     All policy manuals are now electronically accessible; a 
blind or visually impaired rehabilitation counselor can access 
this information through large print, braille or speech 
synthesis. All counselors with disabilities in Louisiana have 
adapted computers on their desks. TRCB developed a software 
system that helps Rehabilitation Services maintain the 
state-mandated Louisiana Blind Registry, a list of state 
residents who are legally blind.
     Under another contract, TRCB assessed the size of the 
state's deaf-blind population. A resulting report included 
demographic, education and training information on this 
population. A nine-month grant allowed TRCB to provide creative 
and practical technological and other strategies as a supplement 
to classroom instruction for 20 visually impaired young people, 
aged 14-22.
     The Center serves as consultant to the Harris-Lanier 
computer manufacturing company, installing medical transcription 
systems designed to accommodate those who are blind. Staff 
members have helped install systems in Louisiana, Maryland, South 
Carolina and Oklahoma. The Center has completed modifications and 
supplemental training for Chevron, the VA, the U.S. Navy, the New 
Orleans City Attorney's Office, Watters Petroleum and others.

Funding
     TRCB began with a university loan for $15,000. Six months 
later the Center received a $200,000 equipment grant from the 
Department of Rehabilitation.
     Today, the program's $250,000 annual budget includes 
training counselors, carrying out research, developing access 
standards, holding workshops on blindness, and offering 
information on the Americans with Disabilities Act.
     The Center also manages training for the state's Randolph 
Sheppard Program. Under a VR contract TRCB trains staff and 
vendors. Marketing plans and strategies are developed. The Center 
has plans for a $3 million rehabilitation center to house its 
programs.
     The Department of Vocational Rehabilitation has spent 
$250,000 for engineering and architectural studies. A bill 
authorizing $2.5 million to complete the facility is pending in 
the legislature, and a 30,000-square-foot building (attached to a 
residential facility) is planned for
1994. The institutional commitment includes space, and the 
university will fund new operations. St. Pe's salary and that of 
17 staff members is generated by program income.
     The Center has no federal grants, although St. Pe would like 
to secure federal grants for long-term research and development 
on topics such as the correlation between assessment information 
and the effectiveness of a student upon completion of training.
     TRBC staff have worked with different departments on campus 
to secure grants for special equipment for students with 
disabilities. Equipment purchased for the Computer Research 
Center, the library, and the Media and Learning Centers include 
closed-circuit television systems, desk-top microcomputers with 
voice synthesizers and large print software, a camera projection 
system for large print images, a reading machine and a braille 
printer.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
--------------
             Starting an Assistive Technology Program
                    Tips from William Mitchell

      Take help where you find it. Build coalitions but don't 
form committees. Instead, share your experiences with others. 
Seek out those who share your interests in the English and math 
departments, the library, the bookstore, and Special Education, 
where people with disabilities seek help.
      Join associations like EASI or AHSSPPE. Go to conferences, 
find out what the rest of the world is doing. Ask questions: How 
did you finance your work? What did your administration think 
about it? What is your relationship with Vocational 
Rehabilitation? As you get up on the learning curve, pray for 
inspiration and figure it out yourself.
                            Chapter 14
                Vocational Rehabilitation Programs
                     El Centro College, Dallas

     El Centro College is a comprehensive community college, an 
urban institution whose mission is to serve the widest possible 
array of students. Serving students with disabilities always has 
been part of that mission. Since 1976, El Centro has offered, in 
conjunction with the Texas Rehabilitation Commission (TRC), a 
Career Training Program funded by TRC. The program offers basic 
math and developmental reading skills. Another program, Computer 
Programmer Training (CPT) for the Physically Challenged, began in 
1985 to prepare students with disabilities to perform management 
information services work in major Dallas/Fort Worth 
corporations. In 1987, an Office Systems Training (OST) Program 
for the Disabled was developed as a middle ground to meet the 
needs of students in between the Career Training Program and CPT. 
The Career Training Program now serves as a feeder program for 
OST. El Centro president Dr. Wright Lassiter, Jr., sees the OST 
program as a natural part of a comprehensive program for people 
with disabilities. Technological resources also are offered El 
Centro students with disabilities who are not enrolled in the 
Career Training Program, the CPT or the OST. Under Special 
Services Office (SSO) Director Jim Handy, assistive devices for 
students with disabilities have been placed in El Centro's 
Computer Lab.

     El Centro's Career Training Program is one of the largest 
Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) community college programs in the 
southwest. IBM and El Centro's Business Advisory Committee (BAC) 
played a large role in starting the Computer Programmer Training 
Program for the Physically Challenged. The BAC, composed of 
representatives from the Dallas/Fort Worth business community, 
ensures instruction is current, monitors teaching quality, and 
helps evaluate the program. They have become advocates for the 
program.
     CPT began with the vision of Hal Heitz of IBM, who took a 
six-month sabbatical to plan the program. He also sought support 
from other companies that could donate state-of-the-art equipment 
and hire graduates when they completed training. Heitz involved 
the Dallas Mayor's Committee on Employment of People with 
Disabilities and built an initial Computer Training Program BAC 
of 50 members.
     Students who enter Computer Programmer Training must be 
physically challenged, must have a high school diploma, 
above-average intelligence, and a 12th grade reading level and 
must pass a Computer Battery Test with a minimum score at the 
50th percentile. Over the first five years, 20 students entered 
the program. The number recently dropped to between 12 and 15 
eligible students. But rather than loosen admission criteria, El 
Centro stepped up its marketing program. VR Program Director 
Gloria Rosenberg says CPT has relied on rehabilitation counselors 
for referral so far, but is making contact with insurance 
companies, hospitals and back pain clinics to reach a group of 
people who do not usually seek vocational rehabilitation.
     In Computer Programmer Training's second year, the staff 
began to discover many motivated students with disabilities who 
did not meet program criteria, and the Office Systems Training 
program was conceived. The TRC provided $98,000 in support, and a 
second BAC was formed.
     El Centro considers job placement its greatest indicator of 
success. Most Computer Programmer graduates, 89 in all, are 
placed in BAC companies. The CPT placed 100 percent of graduates 
for the first four years, then 12 of 15, then 10 of 12. An 
eight-month training program is followed by a two-month 
internship, usually in a BAC company. OST has a 76 percent 
placement record.
     The CPT curriculum, more stringent than one offered through 
regular El Centro courses, is handled as non-credit courses under 
the college's Continuing Education Program. A BAC Curriculum 
Committee helps the program keep up with this rapidly changing 
field. Finding qualified instructors and maintaining them is the 
program's key to success. CPT graduates are finding jobs in the 
community at salaries between $21,000 and $30,000, with an 
average of $26,000. CPT staff meets with supervisors before a new 
employee is placed. They discuss what to expect and how to 
accommodate the employee.
     CPT students are largely male, white and middle-aged. In six 
years, eight women, two blacks, one Hispanic and one Asian 
student have completed the program. In early classes there were 
more people with congenital disabilities. This has shifted to 
those who have more recently experienced a disability. The OST 
program more accurately reflects El Centro's ethnic makeup. OST 
is 50-50 male-female and 50 percent minority. The average 
starting pay for an OST graduate is $14,000 to $18,000 per year.
     Students with disabilities take other courses at El Centro, 
and the SSO provides interpreters, readers, tutors and note 
takers. All students, including those with disabilities, use 
equipment in the college Computer Lab, which offers devices such 
as large print, braille printers and speech synthesizers.

Funding
     The college supports the VR programs with space and by 
covering administrative overhead. The facility is located in 
generous, attractive space in El Centro's downtown Dallas 
facility, formerly a department store.
     Initial 1985 funding of $72,000 for the CPT came from the 
Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA), a combination of city and 
county funds. TRC added $50,000. JTPA also supported the OST 
Program. TRC and the Texas Commission for the Blind have 
supported El Centro programs.
     Before 1985, the rehabilitation organizations supported the 
Career Training Program and the OST program, and supported the 
purchase of personal computers and adaptive devices for students 
enrolled in the CPT program.

Box--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------
             Starting an Assistive Technology Program
     Tips from Dr. Wright Lassiter, Jr., and Gloria Rosenberg

      Have one Business Advisory Committee instead of two, with 
a strong Public Relations Subcommittee.
      It is critical to keep all partners and partnerships up to 
date. They can include the college administration, program staff 
and all other supporting organizations. The chain of 
communication has to keep flowing.
      There was initial concern about the tough eligibility 
criteria for the Computer Programmer Training Program, but it has 
proved itself and is now a showcase program. The students view it 
as a tough program, like boot camp. But the Business Advisory 
Committee sees the students as well qualified, more qualified, 
often, than graduates of other area programs.
                            Chapter 15
                  Adaptive Technology Laboratory
               Southern Connecticut State University

     By spring of 1988, many professors at Southern Connecticut 
State University (SCSU) required students to use computers for 
writing, accounting, information management, research and 
statistics, simulations, computer programming and computer-aided 
design. While computer laboratories were available at several 
points on campus, students with learning, visual and physical 
disabilities had no access to the hardware or software. A cross 
department committee was formed to address these needs and 
propose solutions through an Adaptive Technology Laboratory 
(ATL). The ATL was conceived as a unit that would insure equal 
access to computers for SCSU students and staff, support 
university teacher education departments, and become a community 
resource to serve non-university teachers, professionals and 
people with disabilities. ATL administrators visited California's 
High-Tech Training Center for two days of intensive training, and 
Center Director Carl Brown visited SCSU to help the fledgling 
Lab. A major contribution of the ATL is its Start-Up Kit, a 
compilation of intake, evaluation and service forms; a list of 
resources; self-directed training modules for adaptive devices; 
word processing curricula; and a student survey (feedback) form. 
A disk is included that has information about starting a lab in a 
postsecondary institution.

     Motivated by Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, 
and in response to requests for assistance from several blind 
students, a cross-departmental committee of university faculty, 
staff and administrators
concluded that access was a university responsibility. An 
Adaptive Technology Laboratory (ATL) was formed and a grant was 
prepared that ultimately brought $25,000 worth of equipment to 
the ATL, which is based in the library.
     The Lab, in operation for 2.5 years, is a centralized 
operation whose influence spreads across campus in several ways. 
Students with learning disabilities have learned that the 
university's Macintosh Lab has five trackballs, making the Mac 
Lab computers accessible.
     The ATL has helped other campus computer labs make physical 
accommodations for wheelchair users. The ATL helped the Institute 
for Classroom Computing write a proposal to IBM that secured 
adaptive equipment for use there. Students can borrow software to 
take to other labs, and laptop computers are available on loan.
     Under a small grant from the Office of the Vice President of 
Academic Affairs, Lab staff conducted training workshops for SCSU 
faculty. One Art Department faculty member held a class 
competition to design an ATL logo. A Communications class 
fulfilled a class requirement by producing a videotape on the 
ATL.
     A new 1991 course addresses Adaptive Technology and 
Augmentive Communication. In the Special Education courses, 
students are offered the option of carrying out a class
assignment in the ATL. One option calls for students to do a case 
study on a particular student with a disability and recommend 
appropriate adaptive devices. Computer Science seniors and 
graduate students in Social Work do internships in the ATL.
     Students with disabilities who use the ATL may take a formal 
word processing course over five to 10 weeks. Students may seek 
individual solutions to problems and use the Lab as a resource to 
support their course work. About 40 students with disabilities 
per semester use the Lab.
     The university offers a non-credit course in remedial 
English for those who have insufficient background for the 
required Freshman Composition course. One section is for students 
with learning disabilities, and the ATL will support that class 
with a Writing Lab. The state Bureau of Rehabilitation has 
purchased computer systems for about 25 students with 
disabilities. The Board of Education and Services for the Blind 
may buy computer systems for blind or visually impaired students 
as they seek employment.
     The Lab markets its services through the Disabled Student 
Services (DSS) office and through a newsletter, Writing Without 
Worry, that encourages students to learn word processing skills. 
The ATL also publishes a brochure that describes its services and 
lists a schedule of classes. The Lab has been the subject of 
articles in the New York Times and the Hartford Courant, and it 
recently won national recognition from the American Association 
of State Colleges and Universities.
     The ATL is a community resource. The Bureau of 
Rehabilitation Services and the Board of Education and Services 
for the Blind refer clients for evaluation and training under a 
small contract. The ATL holds a monthly open house for community 
members, and holds training sessions for rehabilitation 
counselors and community members. Parents and teachers from local 
high schools visit the Lab.
     During registration, it is recommended that students with 
learning disabilities take a word processing course in the ATL. 
These are offered on a non-credit basis and can be tailored to 
individual needs. In preparation for a presentation on 
Establishing an Adaptive Technology Lab in a Postsecondary 
Institution at a 1991 conference on technology and people with 
disabilities, Barbara Heinich, Amy Rubin, Jan Hecht and DeWitt 
Luze began compiling forms they felt would be helpful to new 
programs.
     Assembling the materials, they realized the information's 
value. The presentation evolved into a Start-up Kit-a compilation 
of forms, a list of resources, self-directed teaching modules for 
six adaptive devices, word processing curricula, a student 
feedback form and a disk with more information. The Lab sells the 
kit for $149 as an information packet and a way to raise funds 
for the program. As the kit is updated, buyers receive new 
information. After purchase, the ATL offers telephone support, 
even visits in some cases to help people in the start-up phase. 
ATL staff have spoken in five states.

Funding
     The ATL is staffed by a half-time professor of Special 
Education and two half-time professionals. They receive some 
student assistant help. A consultant, paid with state funds, was 
available five to 10 hours a week. He worked with difficult 
students and trained ATL staff members.
     Today, the ATL pays for his services with other funds. The 
initial equipment grant from state funds in 1988 was $17,000. 
This was supplemented by a $25,000 equipment grant from the 
Academic Computing Department.
     Another revenue source is from their work (at $45 per hour) 
with the Bureau of Rehabilitation Services for clients who are 
not SCSU students. The Start-up Kit generates funds, and there 
are donations from service clubs such as Lions and Rotary.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
--------------
             Starting an Assistive Technology Program
                        Tips from Amy Rubin

      Go for a broad-based committee. Get people in a lot of 
different areas involved. Don't tuck your Lab where others can't 
be exposed to it.
      The Start-up Kit is a conscious effort to share 
information with new programs to help them get started. It is a 
valuable resource.
                            Chapter 16
              Center for the Vocationally Challenged
               Grossmont Community College, El Cajon

     Scott Barr, director of the Center for the Vocationally 
Challenged (CVC), has raised $4.4 million for this program since 
1986. CVC offers Computer Programmer Training, PC Specialist 
Training and Local Area Network (LAN) Specialist Training for the 
Physically Challenged. Sparked by a meeting at the 1986 
conference, Technology and Persons With Disabilities, and an 
initial course in Computer Programmer Training for orthopedically 
challenged individuals, CVC has broadened its course offerings, 
added an Adaptive Technology Lab for all students with 
disabilities and expanded its audience to include people who are 
blind and visually impaired, deaf and hearing impaired, learning 
disabled, orthopedically disabled, spinal cord injured, and 
recovering drug and alcohol abusers. New programs-PC Specialist 
and Local Area Network (LAN) Support Specialist-have helped 
increase the number of participants.

     In 1986, a computer science instructor from Grossmont 
Community College attended the Technology and Persons with 
Disabilities conference, participating in a session conducted by 
an IBM representative from Maryland who discussed IBM-sponsored 
computer programmer courses for physically challenged people. 
Later, she attended an Association of Rehabilitation Programs in 
Data Processing meeting in Florida to learn more.
     She and Scott Barr, then on staff at a nearby college, 
co-wrote a proposal that followed the IBM model. This was funded 
by the Chancellor's Office of the California Community Colleges 
for a year at $315,000, and Barr was hired to direct the program.
     Barr and a newly established Business Advisory Committee 
looked at the needs of San Diego businesses and designed a 
computer programmer training program to meet local needs. 
Students who participate in the computer programmer training 
program must have an IQ of 110 or above, financial means to 
support themselves while in training for almost a year, and 
academic skills and physical stamina to maintain 24 units (versus 
12 for the average Grossmont student).
     Realizing these criteria excluded many with disabilities, 
Barr and his staff designed other programs to broaden the group's 
range of employment possibilities. The PC Specialist Program was 
initiated to teach people a spectrum of off-the-shelf business 
software applications. Within this program were subcourses in 
office procedures and speed typing.
     Placement rates are high. All 16 students in the first 
computer programmer class were placed. The overall placement rate 
is 87 percent. Graduating classes in the PC Specialist Program 
have comparable placement rates and their salaries nearly equal 
those of the computer programmers. By adding courses, the program 
moved from serving 22 trainees per year to 130.
     A new program, Local Area Network (LAN) Support Specialist, 
was added in January 1992 to teach participants to install, 
support and configure LANs.
Dozens of colleges have installed training programs based on the 
CVC model for people with disabilities and for others.
     IBM, which initially supported only computer programmer 
training programs with grants of equipment, now supports PC 
Specialist training programs. Because of the increasing numbers 
of participating Grossmont students, the local Department of 
Rehabilitation (DR) added two full-time counselors.
     The number of students with disabilities-some enrolled in 
CVC, some enrolled in other college courses-has grown 
considerably. The Chair of Grossmont's Computer Science 
Department sits on the BAC curriculum committee and uses CVC's 
BAC as an Advisory Board to the Department of Computer Science.
     Barr formed a new campus group, the Committee for the 
Disabled, to share information and coordinate resources. 
Membership has grown from eight to 21 members, and the group 
meets regularly to consider a range of academic and support 
services to students with disabilities.
     CVC was nominated as one of nine exemplary programs for 
special populations by the Chancellor's Office of the California 
Community Colleges. Barr uses that position to advocate the 
development of similar programs, including such courses as 
microcomputer repair and computer-aided design training. He also 
leads a new state group, Innovators in Rehabilitation.
     A key part of CVC is that, from the beginning, students rub 
shoulders with employers. The BAC meets with them regularly and 
they serve as interns in many companies. During training, 
students dress as data processing professionals and are called 
trainees, not students. If ill, students are expected to call in 
by 8 a.m. If they expect to be late, they call and let someone 
know. They work in teams as they will on the job, and their 
skills are evaluated every two months.
     The San Diego Community College District sent 
representatives to Grossmont to consider replicating the CVC 
programs. Other visitors have included representatives from 
Hawaii and England.

Funding
     The Computer Programmer Training Program began with a 
one-year, $315,000 grant from the Chancellor's Office of the 
California Community Colleges. CVC's contribution back to the 
District is the generation of average daily attendance (ADA).
     The District receives state reimbursement for students 
served. As CVC attracted more students, the state increased ADA 
payments to the District. CVC now produces $350,000 per year in 
ADA funds for the District and is nearly self-supporting.
     In the second year, the California Department of 
Rehabilitation became a permanent partner with a grant of 
$115,897. Its 1991-92 contribution is $333,000. As programs and 
services grew to include vocational evaluation and guidance and 
job placement for non-students, these became fee-for-service 
programs with funding coming from such sources as individuals and 
private insurance companies.
     CVC also receives support from IBM; the San Diego Community 
Foundation; Greater Avenues for Independence, Department of 
Social Services; and others.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
--------------
             Starting an Assistive Technology Program
                       Tips from Scott Barr

      The first step is to determine need. Start with anecdotal 
data, talk to students. What do they need? You can do formal 
research later. The key is to conduct business the way successful 
businesses conduct business. A part of that is, never lower your 
standards.
      The problem is not raising money to initiate the program; 
that's easier than you think. The real problem is securing 
funding year after year to sustain the program.
      New program managers should understand differences in 
philosophy between the education and business systems. Business 
Advisory Committee (BAC) members are enthusiastic about training 
computer programmers, but the secretarial training program also 
will result in jobs for many people with disabilities.
      Keep the BAC active and working. CVC conducts an annual 
self-evaluation, then the BAC does a separate evaluation and 
compares it to the staff-generated one. The BAC is structured by 
this document each year-each BAC committee sets its own goals, 
objectives and time lines.
      Barr advocates a talent-search-approach to selecting 
candidates for training rather than a screening-out process. 
Programs should accept responsibility for bringing prospective 
candidates up to program standards rather than dilute program 
criteria.
      Identify local needs and design programs to meet these 
needs.
      Use a single BAC for all programs.
      Design the program from entrance to exit-so students will 
be employed. Everyone in the CVC accepts responsibility for 
helping the students find jobs.
                            Chapter 17
                       The Technology Group
          California State University, Northridge (CSUN)

     In October 1985, CSUN's Office of Disabled Student Services 
conducted an on-campus conference, Technology and Persons with 
Disabilities. Expecting 200 local participants, CSUN opened its 
doors to more than 600, some from foreign countries. This 
conference grew into a larger meeting that draws 2,000 people to 
Los Angeles each March. It involves more than 220 speakers and 
100 exhibitors. It is the model for similar conferences in 
Australia, New Zealand and Europe. In partnership with Pacific 
Telesis Foundation, CSUN offers conference scholarships 
(registration fee waivers) to parents and people with 
disabilities. The Foundation has granted $90,000 over four years, 
and CSUN has added $140,000. About 600 scholarships have been 
offered to date. CSUN then secured grants to develop a Computer 
Access Lab for students; a multistate training project for 
rehabilitation counselors, rehabilitation facility personnel and 
employers; and an engineering project, the Universal Access 
System. Other grants were secured to develop SoundProof, a 
screen-reading program for people with learning disabilities, a 
project to evaluate technologies for people with learning 
disabilities and a conference on Virtual Reality and Persons with 
Disabilities.

     Dr. Harry Murphy is director of CSUN's Office of Disabled 
Student Services (ODSS). For the last 20 years he has written and 
administered dozens of grants totaling tens of millions of 
dollars. He conducted many seminars and workshops over 15 years 
before establishing CSUN's Technology and Persons with 
Disabilities conference.
     From 1972 to 1979, Murphy was assistant director of CSUN's 
National Center on Deafness. Between 1979 and 1983, as a 
consultant to the national training firm, the Grantsmanship 
Center of Los Angeles, he trained 2,000 people in 39 states in 
100 week-long workshops on grant writing and grants 
administration.
     Murphy returned to CSUN in 1983 to head ODSS, which is 
charged with carrying out mandated educational support 
services-including note taking, tutoring and reading-for 800 
students with disabilities. Another CSUN campus office, the 
National Center on Deafness, provides interpreting and other 
services for another 220 deaf students.
     These services are mandated under Section 504 of the 
Rehabilitation Act and by directives of the Chancellor's Office 
of the California State University (CSU) system, a network of 20 
campuses offering bachelor's and master's degrees.
     About 365,000 students are enrolled on 20 CSU campuses; 
8,000 have disabilities. CSUN, a campus of 30,000 in Los 
Angeles's northern suburbs, serves 1,000 of the 8,000 students 
with disabilities. CSUN has had an impact on adaptive technology 
because of the grants it has secured to conduct innovative 
technology projects, and because of its Technology and Persons 
with Disabilities conference.
     CSUN's major contribution in 1985 was to create a forum for 
sharing information about adaptive technology. The Technology and 
Persons with Disabilities conference is primarily supported 
through exhibit and registration fees. The Pacific Telesis 
Foundation awarded $90,000 in grants over four years for 
conference scholarships for parents and people with disabilities.
     The conference has more than matched that amount, waiving 
another $140,000 in registration fees to award scholarships to 
more than 600 persons. At the end of each conference, a 
Proceedings is published and distributed. Authors retain a 
copyright to their work and can publish their papers elsewhere. 
Professional groups of all kinds are urged to use the conference 
as a place to hold their own meetings. The conference provides a 
room at no charge for such national, regional or local groups.
     Those who associated CSUN with technology as a result of the 
conference assumed CSUN was also a leader in the use of assistive 
devices for students with disabilities. This motivated the ODSS 
leadership to seek external funding for a Computer Access Lab 
(CAL), where students with disabilities could experiment with 
assistive devices and equipment, receive training, and gain 
access to equipment that would help them with their university 
studies and prepare them for employment.
     At that time, the ODSS was supported by state funds and 
charged under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 with 
providing mandated educational support services. ODSS saw 
technology and computer access as 504 issues and an effective 
means of carrying out the university's responsibility to this 
population.
     It was clear from the start that CSUN could be a powerful 
advocate for technology use by combining the visibility and 
credibility of its conference with high visibility and 
credibility of a Computer Access Lab and other programs.
     The conference has a growing international influence. ln 
1991, representatives from 19 countries attended. Murphy has 
consulted in Australia, New Zealand and Europe, where similar 
conferences are now modeled after the CSUN meeting. He serves 
each year on the Program Committee of the European Conference on 
Computers and the Handicapped (Vienna, Austria) and has twice 
keynoted the National Conference of New Zealand on Technology and 
Disability.
     In 1991 he keynoted the statewide conference of Tasmania, 
Australia, and the national conference on blindness in Prague. 
CSUN also recently joined the University of Karlsruhe in Germany 
to help the Technical Institute of Prague under a grant to 
Eastern European universities by the European Economic Community. 
The Technical Institute will establish technological support 
services to blind students and sponsor the first national 
conference of Czechoslovakia on Technology and Blindness.

Funding
     In 1987, CSUN received an equipment grant from Apple 
Computer to initiate its Computer Access Lab (CAL). Soon after, 
the California Department of Rehabilitation awarded the Lab a 
two-year grant for equipment and staffing. Over the next three 
years, CAL received equipment grants from Apple, IBM, 
Hewlett-Packard and other manufacturers and distributors, 
eventually making it a $300,000 investment.
     ln 1988, CSUN received a three-year grant from the 
Department of Education Rehabilitation Services Administration 
(RSA) to conduct training in technology among rehabilitation 
counselors, rehabilitation facility personnel and employers in 
California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii, Guam, Saipan and American 
Samoa.
     The same year, CSUN received a three-year grant from the 
Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary 
Education (FIPSE) for the Universal Access System, an engineering 
project to make all computers accessible to people with 
disabilities. This takes place through a two-way, infrared link. 
This project won a national award from the American Association 
of State Colleges and Universities.
     Also in 1988, CSUN secured $33,000 in contracts from NASA 
for conferences designed to increase the number of qualified 
employees with disabilities in the areas of computer science, 
engineering and business. Representatives from California 
community colleges and universities joined Department of 
Rehabilitation personnel and Affirmative Action recruiters from 
NASA in two conferences in Los Angeles.
     In 1989, CSUN was awarded another Establishment Grant from 
the California State Department of Rehabilitation for $11,000, to 
develop and evaluate a speech synthesis device, SoundProof, a 
creation of Dr. Marshall Raskind and Neil Scott that is now 
manufactured by PulseData of Christ Church, New Zealand, and 
distributed by HumanWare of Sacramento, California.
     In late 1989, the ODSS adopted the name The Technology Group 
to describe a critical mass of technology programs and personnel. 
This group includes technological support services to students 
with disabilities through the Computer Access Lab, the annual 
conference, the RSA Training Project and the FIPSE-sponsored 
project.
     A second FIPSE grant, $220,000 over three years, was awarded 
in August 1991 for Learning Disabilities and Technology, a 
best-use study of three devices of benefit to this population: 
Optical Character Recognition (OCR), voice recognition and speech 
synthesis, including CSUN's product, SoundProof.
     A third FIPSE grant, awarded in summer 1991, for $5,000 
under the Lecture Programs Division, was for a 
conference-within-a-conference on Virtual Reality and Persons 
with Disabilities at CSUN's Seventh Annual International 
Conference in Los Angeles in March 1992. In September 1991, ODSS 
received a second three-year, $250,000 RSA grant to conduct 
regional seminars in Experimental and Innovative Training in 
Learning Disabilities, which included a simulation experience 
developed by CSUN's Learning Disabilities team.
     Between 1985 and 1991, ODSS secured $2 million in grants. 
The number of students with disabilities increased from 435 to 
800. A Learning Disability Program was added and the number of 
these students increased from 55 to 285. Recognizing this growth, 
the university moved ODSS once, then again to a 7,000-square-foot 
facility to house the support-service operation and the Computer 
Access Lab.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
--------------
             Starting an Assistive Technology Program
                    Tips from Dr. Harry Murphy

      Consider the distributed-access model under Academic 
Computing as a first choice. Put equipment in as many locations 
as possible, open as many hours as possible.
      Try to get institutional support from the beginning. 
Computer access is recognized as a university responsibility; 
argue 504 and ADA issues.
      Getting the right staff is critical. Have an engineer on 
staff along with service providers to get a good balance. Accept 
responsibility from the beginning to develop and advance new 
technologies and to provide services with present technologies.
      Create forums that bring people together. Every program 
can create meetings of 10, 20 or 100 people. Use technology as a 
way to share information.
      Visit as many existing programs as possible, but keep in 
mind that every program is different, serving different 
populations in different environments. What will work in one 
place won't work in another. Be deeply rooted in local needs.
                            APPENDICES

                  A. Sites and People Interviewed

     1. Electronic Networks for Interaction, Gallaudet 
University, Washington, D.C. Dr. Trent Batson, Director

     2. The Computer Center for the Visually Impaired, Baruch 
College, N.Y. Dr. Karen Luxton, Director

     3. Instructional Technology Division, University of 
Michigan, Ann Arbor. Dr. James Knox, Director

     4. Disabled Student Services, University of Wyoming, 
Laramie. Chris Primus, Director

     5. Artificial Language Laboratory, Michigan State 
University, East Lansing. Dr. John Eulenberg, Director

     6. High-Tech Training Center, California Community Colleges, 
Cupertino, Calif. Carl Brown, Director

     7. Assistive Technology Center, University of Minnesota, 
Minneapolis. Curt Griesel, Coordinator

     8. Disabled Computing Program, University of California, Los 
Angeles. Dr. Danny Hilton-Chalfen, Director

     9. Desktop Computing Services, University of Washington, 
Seattle. Sheryl Burgstahler, Manager

     10. Services for Students with Disabilities, University of 
Nebraska, Lincoln. Christy Horn, Director

     11. Adaptive Computing Technology Center, University of 
Missouri, Columbia. William Mitchell, Director, Advanced 
Projects, and Susan Phillips, Program Development Specialist

     12. Training and Resource Center for the Blind, University 
of New Orleans, La. Oliver St. Pe, Director, Public Service 
Training

     13. Vocational Rehabilitation Programs, El Centro College, 
Dallas, Texas. Gloria Rosenberg, Director

     14. Adaptive Technology Laboratory, Southern Connecticut 
State University. Amy Rubin, Director

     15. Center for the Vocationally Challenged, Grossmont 
Community College, El Cajon, Calif. Scott Barr, Director

     16. The Technology Group, California State University, 
Northridge. Dr. Harry Murphy, Director

            B. National Council Member and Staff Biographies


Harry J. Murphy, Consultant
     Dr. Harry Murphy is director of the Office of Disabled 
Student Services, California State University, Northridge (CSUN). 
He is project director for six technology and disability grants. 
He founded and directs the annual conference, Technology and 
Persons with Disabilities, held each March in Los Angeles.


                     National Council Members
Sandra Swift Parrino
     As National Council chairperson, Sandra Swift Parrino played 
an active role on key issues affecting the lives of people with 
disabilities. Nominated by President Reagan in 1982, appointed 
chair by the President in 1983 and reappointed by President Bush, 
Parrino has supported the rights of people with disabilities 
before Congress, in the media, and before groups nationwide. 
Under her leadership, the National Council is a driving force 
with respect to creating public policies that affect the nation's 
people with disabilities.
     During Parrino's tenure as chair, the National Council has 
worked toward creating and enacting legislation for people with 
disabilities; participated with President Bush in signing the 
Americans with Disabilities Act; issued a policy statement, 
National Policy for Persons with Disabilities; convened hearings 
nationwide to solicit comments and recommendations from people 
with disabilities about discrimination; issued a major report, 
Toward Independence, which outlined key components of a 
comprehensive civil rights law protecting people with 
disabilities; initiated the first national survey of attitudes 
and experiences of Americans with disabilities in conjunction 
with Louis Harris and Associates, Inc.; issued On the Threshold 
of Independence, a report outlining specifics of the Americans 
With Disabilities Act; and conducted the first national 
conference on preventing primary and secondary disabilities.
     Before becoming National Council chair, Parrino founded and 
directed the Office for the Disabled, Towns of Ossining and 
Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., where she created a regional program for 
public and private organizations that focused on facilities and 
programs for people with disabilities. She has more than 25 
years' experience on boards, councils, commissions, committees 
and task forces at the federal, regional, state and local levels, 
and as an expert witness, community leader, organizer and 
lobbyist.
     Parrino has represented the U.S. government on disability 
issues in many countries. She was invited by the Department of 
State to represent the United States in the Meeting of Experts on 
Alternative Ways to Mark the End of the United Nations Decade of 
Disabled Persons. She was an American representative to the U.N. 
and UNICEF (the U.N. International Children's Emergency Fund) for 
the International Year of Disabled Persons. In 1991, Parrino was 
invited by the Department of State to be a delegate at the Third 
Committee on Social Development of the United Nations. In 1991, 
Parrino was invited by the People's Republic of China to review 
their efforts to help people with disabilities. At the request of 
the government of Czechoslovakia, she and the National Council 
were invited to conduct the Eastern European Conference on 
Disabilities for participants from Czechoslovakia, Poland and 
Hungary.
     Parrino graduated from Briarcliff College with a B.A. in 
history, and completed courses at Bennett College, GuildHall 
School of Drama in London, and the Yale School of Languages. She 
is married and has three children, two with disabilities. She was 
born in New Haven, Conn., and lives in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.
Kent Waldrep Jr.
     Kent Waldrep has been involved with disability issues on a 
local, state and national level since suffering a spinal cord 
injury in 1974 while playing football for Texas Christian 
University. Since 1981, Waldrep has served on the National 
Council by presidential appointment. He is National Council vice 
chair and chairman of the Research and Prevention Committee. He 
has been instrumental in formulating the National Council 
initiative on preventing primary and secondary disabilities.
     Waldrep, one of 15 original ADA drafters, gave the 
legislation its name. He has lectured nationwide on subjects 
ranging from national disability policy to medical research 
targeted at curing paralysis. He founded the American Paralysis 
Association and the Kent Waldrep National Paralysis Foundation. 
He has appeared on Good Morning America, the Today Show, the NBC 
Nightly News and CNN, and been featured in People and Look 
magazines, USA Today and others.
     He was selected by the U.S. Jaycees as one of 1985's 10 
Outstanding Young Men in America, and received a special award 
from the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and a Sports/Fitness Award 
from the President's Council on Physical Fitness. Kent Waldrep 
Days are celebrated in four Texas cities and Birmingham, Ala. He 
serves on many boards, including the Texas Rehabilitation 
Commission. He is past chairman of the Texas Governor's Committee 
for Disabled Persons and now chairs the Dallas Rehabilitation 
Institute. He also is chairman of Turbo-Resins Inc., a 
family-owned and -operated aviation-repair business. He lives in 
Plano, Texas, with his wife Lynn and two sons, Trey and Charles 
Cavenaugh.

Linda Wickett Allison
     Linda Allison of Dallas, Texas, is a long-time advocate of 
people with disabilities. She is a board member of the National 
Paralysis Foundation and a trustee for the International Spinal 
Research Trust. Allison, who grew up in Fort Worth, has three 
children. Her daughter Marcy was paralyzed from the waist down in 
a 1979 automobile accident. Marcy graduated from the University 
of Texas School of Law in 1986, and practices law in Austin. 
Allison's late husband, James N. Allison Jr., owned the Midland 
Reporter Telegram and other newspapers in Texas and Colorado, and 
was former deputy chair of the Republican National Committee.

Larry Brown Jr.
     Since 1981, Larry Brown of Potomac, Md., has been the Xerox 
business and community relations manager for the Mid-Atlantic 
Region, Coastal Operations, Custom Systems Division. In 1991 he 
became Government and Community Relations Manager with Integrated 
Systems Operations.
     Brown was a running back for the Washington Redskins for 
eight years. During that time he received many awards, including 
Most Valuable Player in the National Football League for 1972, 
and was recently inducted into the Washington D.C. Touchdown Hall 
of Fame.
     After retiring from football in 1977, he worked at E.F. 
Hutton as a personal financial management adviser. He has been 
special assistant to the director, Office of Minority Business 
Enterprise, Department of Commerce. He is involved with youth, 
people with disabilities and senior citizens. Brown has spoken at 
schools, colleges and universities on topics such as motivation, 
discipline and camaraderie. He works with many organizations, 
including the Friends of the National Institute on Deafness and 
Other Communication Disorders, the Deafness Research Foundation 
and the Vincent Lombardi Foundation.

Mary Ann Mobley Collins
     A former Miss America who lives in Beverly Hills, Calif., 
Mary Ann Collins has a career in film, television and on 
Broadway. She has co-hosted the National March of Dimes Telethons 
with husband, Emmy-award winning actor Gary Collins, and serves 
as National Chair of the Mother's March Against Birth Defects. 
She is a member of SHARE, a Los Angeles-based women's 
organization that has raised more than $6 million for the 
Exceptional Children's Foundation for the Mentally Retarded. She 
serves on the National Board of the Crohns and Colitis 
Foundation.
     Collins helped raise funds for the Willwood Foundation in 
her native Mississippi, which provides homes for young adults 
with mental and physical learning disabilities. She has received 
many awards and honors, including the 1990 International 
Humanitarian Award from the Institute for Human Understanding,
Woman of Distinction 1990 from the National Foundation for 
Ileitis and Colitis, and the HELP Humanitarian Award of 1985 from 
HELP for Handicapped Children. She has filmed documentaries in 
Cambodia, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Somalia, Kenya, Sudan and Bolivia 
on the plight of starving children and people with disabilities.

Anthony H. Flack
     Anthony Flack of Norwalk, Conn., is president of Anthony H. 
Flack & Associates. He has been a member of the board of Families 
and Children's Aid of Greater Norwalk, and has worked with the 
Child Guidance Center of Greater Bridgeport, the Youth Shelter in 
Greenwich, Hall Neighborhood House in Bridgeport, and the Urban 
League of Greater Bridgeport. Flack is a member of the 
Allocations and Admissions Committee, United Way of Norwalk, and 
received the Bell Award for outstanding service in the field of 
mental health at the Bridgeport Chapter, Connecticut Association 
of Mental Health.

John A. Gannon
     John Gannon of Cleveland, Ohio, and Washington, D.C., 
founded John A. Gannon and Associates. His firm has offices in 
Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio, and Denver, Colo., and Washington, 
D.C. A fire fighter for more than 30 years, Gannon was an active 
leader of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) 
Local 93. Starting as a member of the local IAFF committee, he 
eventually became president, a position he held for 10 years 
before being elected to national office.
     In September 1988, Gannon was elected IAFF President 
Emeritus. He had served as president of the 170,000-member 
organization since 1980. Under his leadership, the IAFF expanded 
its role in occupational safety and health.
     Concerned about hazards of his profession, he guided and 
directed a series of programs to promote greater safety and 
health protection. One program sponsored research on safer 
garments and equipment for fire fighters. Gannon also fostered 
development of the IAFF Burn Foundation, which raises funds for 
research on the care of burn victims. In 1985, the Metropolitan 
General Hospital in Gannon's hometown, Cleveland, dedicated a 
John Gannon Burn and Trauma Center in recognition of his support 
for the hospital.
     Gannon was elected vice president of the AFL-CIO, with which 
the IAFF is affiliated. Within the AFL-CIO he is vice president 
of the Public Employee Department. On the Executive Council, he 
is a member of several committees. He serves on the board of the 
National Joint Council of Fire Service Organizations, and in 1982 
served as its chairman. He is a member of the board of the 
Muscular Dystrophy Association. Gannon attended Miami University 
in Ohio and Glasgow University in Scotland, and studied at 
Baldwin-Wallace College and Cleveland State University.

Margaret Chase Hager
     Margaret Hager's husband contracted poliomyelitis from the 
oral Sabin polio vaccine in August 1973. Helping him with 
rehabilitation, she became interested and involved in the 
disability field. Since 1985, Hager has been a member of the 
Mayor's Commission for the Disabled, which she chairs, in 
Richmond, Va. She is a member of the Executive Committee of 
Richmond's Office of Human Services Advocacy. She has served as 
the city's Festival Coordinator and Consultant for ABLEFEST, a 
disability-awareness festival showcasing abilities in sports, 
recreation, cultural arts and entertainment.
     Hager holds executive positions in local and national 
organizations that promote better quality of life for people with 
disabilities: Very Special Arts, Virginia (an affiliate of Very 
Special Arts of the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.); and the 
Employment Committee of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Board of 
the Rights of the Disabled. She is a member of the Executive 
Committee of the Japan-Virginia Society and the Virginia 
Committee of the Jefferson Poplar Forest Foundation. She received 
a B.A. from Wheaton College in 1963. Her avocation is accessible 
residential design for people with disabilities. Her article on 
this subject was published in the September 1987 issue of Builder 
Architect magazine. She is a consultant and speaker on 
architectural accessibility and disability awareness.

John Leopold
     John Leopold of Pasadena, Md., has 18 years experience in 
elected state office. He was elected to the Hawaii State House of 
Representatives in 1968 and re-elected in 1972. In 1974, Leopold 
was elected to the Hawaii State Senate. In 1982, he became the 
first Republican in Maryland history elected from District 31 in 
Anne Arundel County to the Maryland House of Delegates, where he 
served until 1991.
     An advocate of people with disabilities, Leopold is a member 
of the Learning Disabilities Association of Anne Arundel County, 
the Anne Arundel County Committee on Employment of People with 
Disabilities, and the University of Maryland Hospital Infant 
Study Center Planning Advisory Board. He has served in other 
appointed and elected positions, including the Hawaii State Board 
of Education in 1968, the National Advisory Council for the 
Education of Disadvantaged Children in 1977, and the Maryland 
State Accountability Task Force for Public Education in 1974.
     Leopold has written and produced cable television 
commercials in Maryland, written a weekly interview column for a 
local publication, and hosted and produced a weekly radio public 
affairs program. He graduated from Hamilton College in Clinton, 
N.Y., with a B.A. in English.

Robert S. Muller
     Robert Muller of Grandville, Mich., began his career with 
Steelcase Inc. in 1966 and is now an administrator. He is an 
adjunct associate professor in the Department of Psychology at 
Aquinas College and in the Department of Education at Calvin 
College in Grand Rapids. He serves on the board of trustees for 
Hope Network and Foundation in Grand Rapids, which serves 1,700 
adults with disabilities. In April 1981, he received an honorary 
degree in educational psychology from the Free University in 
Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
     Muller holds a B.S. in business administration from Aquinas 
College and in 1978 was voted Outstanding Alumnus of the Year. He 
has lectured at colleges and universities nationally and 
internationally. He is a board member for several national, state 
and local organizations.
     In May 1987, Muller and his wife hosted a first-time event 
at the White House with the Vice President. The Celebration of 
Disabled Americans at Work was co-sponsored by several major 
corporations. He now serves as president of the National 
Roundtable on Corporate Development for Americans with 
Disabilities. In 1985, Muller received the Liberty Bell Award 
from the Grand Rapids Bar Association. In 1988, he was national 
co-chair of the Disabled Americans for President Bush Campaign.
George H. Oberle, PED
     George Oberle of Stillwater, Okla., has more than 35 years' 
experience in the field of health, physical education and 
recreation. He began his career as a high school teacher and 
coach, and has been a professor and director of the School of 
Health, Physical Education and Leisure at Oklahoma State 
University since 1974. Oberle is a consultant to many 
organizations in the area of administration and adaptive physical 
education. In 1988, he worked with the Kennedy Foundation to 
organize and direct a new program of unified sports for the 
Special Olympics.
     Oberle chaired the College and University Administrator's 
Council (1980-82); he was president of the Association for 
Research, Administration, Professional Councils and Societies 
(1984-87); and served as a board member of the American 
Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance 
(1985-89). Awards include the 1985 Centennial Award from the 
American Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation 
and Dance; and Meritorious Service Awards from Indiana and 
Oklahoma.
     He was selected for Men of Achievement in 1975 and 
recognized in Who's Who of the Southwest in 1977. Oberle received 
his doctorate from Indiana University in administration and 
adapted physical education, and has written many books and 
articles. He lectures extensively about wellness promotion, 
adapted physical activity, sports and recreation for people with 
disabilities.

Mary Matthews Raether
     Mary Raether of McLean, Va., is associated with St. John's 
Child Development Center, a non-profit organization providing 
instruction, employment training and independent and group home 
living skills for people with severe mental disabilities, 
especially those with autism. Raether has been an officer and 
trustee of St. John's since 1985, and has chaired the public 
relations committee and participated on the executive, 
nominating, investment and development committees.
     Raether has been active in civic, educational and religious 
organizations in the Washington metropolitan area. While 
community vice president of the Junior League of Washington, she 
developed emergency grant procedures and fund-raising information 
services for small and emerging non-profit organizations. Raether 
has 10 years experience as legislative assistant to Reps. George 
Bush and Barber Conable. She specialized in tax, social security, 
medicare/medicaid and trade issues. She considers her efforts in 
clarifying the tax status of lobbying by non-profit organizations 
an outstanding career accomplishment. She received a B.A. from 
the University of Texas at Austin in 1962. She is married and has 
two children.

Michael B. Unhjem
     Michael Unhjem of Fargo, N.D., is president of Blue 
Cross/Blue Shield of North Dakota. The youngest member in state 
history elected to the North Dakota House of Representatives, 
Unhjem is a member of the National Conference of Commissioners on 
Uniform State Laws. In 1988, he served as president of the 
National Mental Health Association.
     He has been involved in local and national organizations, 
including the Advisory Mental Health Council of the U.S. 
Department of Health and Human Services; the Governor's 
Commission on Mental Health Services; the National Alliance for 
Research on Schizophrenia and Depression; and the National Mental 
Health Leadership Forum. Awards include the 1989 Special 
Presidential Commendation from the American Psychiatric 
Association, the 1988 Distinguished Leadership Award from the 
North Dakota Psychological Association, and the National 
Excellence in Leadership Award from North Dakota.
     He was recognized by Who's Who in American Politics and 
Who's Who in North Dakota. Unhjem graduated magna cum laude with 
a B.A. in history and political science from Jamestown College in 
North Dakota in 1975. In 1978, he earned a J.D. with distinction 
from the University of North Dakota School of Law in Grand Forks. 
He is married and has two children.

Helen Wilshire Walsh
     Helen Walsh of Greenwich, Conn., is a board member of the 
Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, the largest U.S. 
rehabilitation center. She has been involved in disability 
advocacy for many years and has been associated with the 
Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine at the New York Medical 
Center, where she served as
associate trustee. She has served as vice president, president 
and chairman of the board of Rehabilitation International USA.
     Walsh has been a member of the President's Committee on the 
Employment of People with Disabilities, and was appointed by the 
President to serve as a member of the National Advisory Council 
of Vocational Rehabilitation. In 1976, Walsh received the Henry 
J. Kessler Award for outstanding service in the rehabilitation 
field. She has received the Rehabilitation International Award 
for Women and the Anwar Sadat Award for outstanding work in the 
field of rehabilitation.

                      National Council Staff
Ethel D. Briggs
     Ethel Briggs is executive director of the National Council 
on Disability. In seven years at the National Council, Briggs 
served as the acting executive director, deputy executive 
director, and director of Adult Services. Briggs is former chief 
of the Office of Staff Development and Training for the 
Washington, D.C., Rehabilitation Services Administration. Prior 
experience includes employment as a rehabilitation counselor 
supervisor, vocational rehabilitation counselor and part-time 
college instructor at George Washington University. Briggs, a 
long-time advocate of people with disabilities, graduated from 
North Carolina Central University and holds a master's degree in 
counseling from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 
She was recognized by Dollar & Sense Magazine as one of the Top 
100 African American Business and Professional Women of 1989. 
Briggs also was recognized in Outstanding Women in America in 
1976 and by Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities in 
1971.

Dr. Harold W. Snider
     Harold Snider, selected as deputy executive director in June 
1990, was previously the first director of outreach for people 
with disabilities at the Republican National Committee. He served 
as executive director of the American Impact Foundation, and was 
president of Access for the Handicapped Inc. Snider holds a B.S. 
in international studies from Georgetown University, a master's 
degree in history from the University of London, and a doctorate 
in history from Oxford University in England. He is the author of 
two books on disability, The United States Welcomes Handicapped 
Visitors, and Museums and Handicapped Students: Guidelines for 
Education.

Mark S. Quigley
     Mark Quigley joined the staff as a public affairs specialist 
in May 1990. He previously served as a consultant to the U.S. 
National Commission on Drug-free Schools. He is a former program 
coordinator at the U.S. Interagency Council on the Homeless, and 
former director of communications at the White House Conference 
on Small Business. Quigley graduated magna cum laude in 1979 from 
Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Va., with an 
A.A. in general studies. He received a B.A. in government and 
politics in 1983, and an MPA in public administration in 1990 
from George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.

Katherine Seelman, Ph.D.
     Katherine Seelman joined the National Council staff in 1989 
as a research specialist. She is former director of Public 
Education, Research and Technological Services at the 
Massachusetts Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. She 
was a research scholar at Gallaudet University in Washington, 
D.C., and a consultant to the American Association of Retired 
Persons.
     Seelman received a doctorate in public policy and a master's 
degree in political science from New York University, and a B.A. 
in political science from Hunter College in New York. She is the 
author of many published articles, including "Communication 
Accessibility: A Technology Agenda for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing 
People," International Journal of Technology and Aging; 
"Communication Accessibility for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing People; 
An Expanded Concept of Access," Journal of Disability Policy 
Studies; and "A Comparison of Federal Laws Toward Disabled and 
Racial Ethnic Groups in the USA," Disability, Handicap and 
Society.

Brenda Bratton
     Brenda Bratton, executive secretary for the National 
Council, was formerly employed as a secretary at the National 
Transportation Safety Board. Bratton graduated from Farmville 
Central High School and the Washington School for Secretaries.

Stacey S. Brown
     Stacey Brown is staff assistant to the Chairperson and has 
been employed by the National Council since 1986. Prior 
experience includes employment as a receptionist and clerk with 
the Board for International Broadcasting, and with the Compliance 
and Enforcement Unit of the Architectural and Transportation 
Barriers Compliance Board, where he was a student assistant. 
Brown is a graduate of Howard University in Washington, D.C., 
where he earned a B.A. in political science in 1987.

Lorraine Williams
     Lorraine Williams, a National Council student assistant, was 
previously employed as a clerk typist with the District of 
Columbia Public Schools. She attends the University of the 
District of Columbia, where she is a third-year student majoring 
in computer information systems science.