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Exclusion to Inclusion:The UK experience of accessibility
Joint Information Systems Committee
Lawrie Phipps JISC Programme Manager
Users and Innovation
15th March 2007
About this presentation Defining accessibility The history of the UK’s route to accessibility The JISC response to the need for the
supporting of disabled students The reaction to legislation The evolution of an approach to accessibility in
e-learning What we learnt, what were our mistakes, what
would we do different
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What do mean by accessibility Accessibility is about removing barriers
to participation
However, beware of a “one size fits all” approach
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Timeline 1995: The Disability Discrimination Act covers the rights of disabled people in:
Employment Housing Goods and Services
Education was not included in the original legislation
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Post 1995 The introduction of the Disability Rights
Commission "A society where all disabled people can participate
fully as equal citizens"
The introduction of the Human Rights Act Which guarantees education for all
The issue of access to education for disabled people had to be addressed.
The result was the introduction of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (2001)
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The legislation - some key elements
Less Favourable Treatment
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The legislation - some key elements
Reasonable Adjustment
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The legislation - some key elements
Anticipation
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JISC and Disability 2001, JISC creates a service to advise
colleges and universities on how to support students on issues of technology and disability
TechDis
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TechDis TechDis www.techdis.ac.uk
Covers the UK in all post 16 education
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So what happened next…
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An unfortunate meeting 2002 TechDis meet with
several disability ‘lobby/pressure’ groups
Almost all of them only deal with a single issue
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The outcome of the meeting
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Why was this a mistake? Legislation does not mention specific
guidelines or standards. UK legislation relies on interpretation, the spirit
of the UK law should be the primary concern: The principle behind the legislation is that disabled people should have the same opportunities as non-disabled people to benefit wherever possible from whatever education or other related provision is available.
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The standards approach 2001, 2002: We (me, TechDis other
Advisory Bodies, UKOLN, CETIS etc) advised Universities and Colleges to use the W3C guidelines as a standard
(AA ‘compliance) All major education bodies responded,
strategically and operationally.
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A reasonable question What was the best approach for the
most students? Why were pushing a ‘standard’ that
served less than 1000 HE students? Were we excluding some disabled
people by the approach we recommended?
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Exclusive approach! The recommendations we issued served
most effectively ~ 1000 disabled HE students
They were not useful for more than 150,000 disabled students
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Opening the debate Kelly B, Sloan D and Phipps L (2003) Ideology
Or Pragmatism? Open Standards And Cultural Heritage Web Sites
Why should public libraries and museums only support wheelchair access or blind people
Should the Van Gough museum be closed because it is all visual media?
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Articulating the standards problem Kelly, B., Phipps, L. and Swift, E (2004)
Developing A Holistic Approach For E-Learning Accessibility , Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology
Stating the problems with existing standards How do we build a digital resource for both
blind and deaf? And then for students who have special
educational needs?
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Challenging the establishment Kelly, B., Sloan, D., Phipps, L., Petrie, H. and
Hamilton, F. (2005) Forcing Standardization or Accommodating Diversity? A Framework for Applying the WCAG in the Real World
Was critical of the W3C approach Received ‘letters’ in the press and personally
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Suggesting a third way Kelly, B., Phipps, L. and Howell, C. (2005)
Implementing A Holistic Approach To E-Learning Accessibility Paper published in the ALT-C 2005 Conference Proceedings
Recognises that accessibility is not black and white
Proposes a framework for supporting a diverse range of learners, including those with disability, of differing ethnicity, with religious commitments and ‘Normal’!
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2005 Building of a complete set of resources
around good practice in learning Not standards based Example resources in word, excel, html,
flash, Lego, PAPER! Some examples
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Doing it all again? What would I (we) do different?
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Use the Community We had isolated groups of people that
had no way of communicating Let them build the capacity Emerge
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Engage with academia from the beginning
Academics like academics They are in their jobs because of the
way they think, think on that level Write papers in their journals Present at their conferences Ask them to evidence their practice
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Listen to student voices Gather student data, let them record
their experience, blog, podcast… Do a weekly podcast with a student? These voices, telling their experiences,
are powerful. Use them with all levels, Government, Academia, Public.
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Advocate for Staff Understand the pressure that academics
are under and empathise Don’t sympathise I know how you feel, I felt the same way,
what I found was… Not, I know how you feel, it’s terrible but
we have to do it…
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Finally I would spend more
time in Utrecht
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Questions and thank you