January 31, 1995
After twenty-two years of not providing adequate computer access to people with disabilities, SF State is working on a master plan to make all the labs on campus comply with government regulations.
Since 1973 the U.S. government has prohibited discrimination with respect to services for all institutions receiving federal funds. Yet until now SF State has only had one computer station available for every 300 students with disabilities.
"We are playing catch up," said Dr. John True, executive director of computing services. "During the last five or six years nobody has really talked to us or made any request for accommodation. Now everybody is in our face. We're scrambling to provide those services. It doesn't happen in one week. I think major efforts are being made."
When the academic computing lab in the Administration Building opens Feb. 6, a model work station will be in place that is adaptable to the majority of disabilities, according to John Tait, microcomputer coordinator for academic computing. Specialized programs will be divided up among two or three computers and will initially be open to students on a reservation basis.
The new work station will include a larger 17-inch monitor and a screen enlargement program for people with poor vision.
There will be a speech output program combined with a speech synthesizer for people who are blind or who have learning disabilities. This program highlights a word being spoken. It can read aloud to the user each letter, word, line, or the entire document.
The work station will have access programs for people with motor disabilities. With the Drag and Dictate program, the user speaks to the computer instead of typing in characters.
According to Don Brown, SF State's compliance officer, while there has been one computer for every 25 students on campus, there has been only one for every 300 students with disabilities. When the new work stations are up in academic computing that will be approximately one for every 160 students with disabilities.
"As technology becomes more central to education, students who do not have access to technology are being refused access to education," Brown said. "My concern is that there are students who can't take certain courses. There are segments of the academic program that they are barred from. Those students pay the same tuition as other students."
To bring the campus into compliance, Tait has prepared a proposal to coordinate all the labs on campus and bring them up to government standards. This proposal is awaiting approval from SF State President Robert A. Corrigan's office.
Tait proposes that at least 5 percent of the computers on campus be made accessible to people with disabilities. His proposal includes a site licensing plan which would allow the university to install certain software on every PC on campus or in some cases on a limited number of computers. He proposes that the university also keep a pool of specialized equipment that can be moved to different labs as needed.
After 22 years of waiting, students and staff are asking when they can expect access to these resources.
"It is out of my control," True said. "We put together a proposal that went to the president's office a week ago. We will have to wait for approval and funding. If it is fully funded, then perhaps by the end of the spring semester. If it is partially funded, then some of it would happen."
The current work stations are "grossly inadequate," said Geoff Brown, who is a counselor at the Disability Resource Center, where approximately 800 people with disabilities have registered.
"What I hope the plan will accomplish is to set a reasonable time line for the university to come up to standard," Brown said.
According to Rob Turner, technology specialist for Lighthouse to the Blind in San Francisco, a lot of standard technology is available and could be installed almost instantly. But, he said, to make the systems accessible in general, a lot more attention needs to be given.
"It can get complicated to add layer after layer of adaptive technology," Turner said.
According to Don Brown, retro-fitting is much more expensive than building it in.
"When technology is being purchased we need to incorporate access as a reflex," Brown said. "Of the $500,000 worth of technology purchased by the library last summer, none was targeted to access."
SFSUview, the campus information kiosks, were ready to go on-line without any consideration for students with disabilities, Brown said.
"As we do not build buildings that are not accessible to the disabled we should not buy technology that isn't accessible," Brown said.
Tait's aim is to choose standard programs that students should not have to relearn on the job or on another campus.
"It's not just about having a computer on campus," said graduate student Grayce Regan, who is visually disabled. "It's about getting a job."
"If I don't have this technology I would need an assistant (to be a college level teacher) or I don't get the job. With technology I can do it myself. It's cheaper for society to get the technology than to support me for life."