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The Process: Visual

You have selected a visual disability. You will work in groups of three. Within the group, each of you will take on one of the following roles:

Professor

As the Professor for the web class Neil is taking, you will need to decide how to accommodate him in your course. You have not experienced this type of issue previously, as web courses are a fairly new undertaking at your university.

You will need to work with Neil on how he can complete this course successfully since he is unable to attend the university in person.

 

Student / Parent

All three of you are just getting used to the fact that Neil, at least temporarily, has a visual impairment and has suffered a trauma of great significance. Neil has expressed his need to get back to the university courses he was taking and to find a way to complete them by the end of the semester. He will need to contact his professors and the disability support services and their educational assistive technologist to see what is available for him.

As parents, you sometimes feel helpless. You want your son to be "whole again" but know that may never happen. Your son's medical doctors have told you to seek counseling and to learn as much as you can about your son's impairment. You are certainly not wealthy, and do not know what kind of assistive technology is out there that you can afford to have at home for him to get around and to complete his coursework.

Computer Technician/ Administrator

 There are two of you in this department, the disability support counselor and the educational technology expert. As the counselor, you will be helping Neil to feel more comfortable about his impairment and assist in his training to accommodate for his vision loss.

As the educational technology expert, you will recommend the most appropriate technology for him to complete his courses successfully.

In addition, you will both be talking to Neil's parents about resources and technology that can be used in the home that can help him be successful

 

1.  Individually, you'll examine the sites below and jot down some notes of your opinions of each of the roles. Your task is to learn a little more about Neil's problem, determine what would help Neil achieve his potential, and determine what would be considered a reasonable accommodation. Each of your team members will research possible solutions while playing a role of one of the members of a multidisciplinary team.  REMEMBER not to get out of character. 

2.  Your job will be to determine the best solution and present that solution to the Chair of the department. The chair will ask you to justify the cost of the solution based on the benefit to the student and ask you about what kind of needs you will have for the implementation and evaluation of the proposed solution. He will also want to know his legal responsibility.  Be prepared to speak to these issues.

 

3.  Study the evaluation rubric before you begin so you know what is expected of you and how you will be evalutated.

4.  Here are a few resources to get you started.  Hopefully they will lead you in many interesting directions.  

Links to Helpful Websites

http://www.ctlt.org/ Assistive Technology
www.nichcy.org/stateshe/ca.htm  Student/ParentsDisablity Org.
www.cde.ca.gov/csmt/appendd.html  Visual Resources
http://www.topica.com/lists/AT-LIBERTY/?cid=3150Virtual Disability Support
http://genasys.usm.maine.edu/ Disability/Ed. Tech Support
http://www.webaim.org/ Ed. Tech Support
http://www.eenet.org.uk/key_issues/teached/video/part2sn1.shtml Professor/Visual Impair Info.
http://www.als.uiuc.edu/infotechaccess/97-11-20.html Assistive Tech for Students
http://www.asdb.state.az.us/programs.html  Disability Support Orgs.
http://www.talkingbuddy.com/  Software Support/Assist Tech.
http://www.prenhall.com/turnbull  In Print & Online Resources
www.sfsu.edu/~cadbs/Eng022.html  Neuro-Visual Impairment
 

5.  When everyone in the group has seen all the sites, you will convene in the chat room to discuss the problem, alternative solutions and to come to agreement on the best solution for Neil's problem. You are encouraged to use these steps in your process:

Define the Problem
Identify a goal
Gather information
Generate solutions
Evaluate the alternatives
Select best alternative
Evaluate yourself and your group

 

6.  There will probably not be unanimous agreement, so the next step is to talk together to hammer out a compromise consensus about your team's recommendation. Pool your perspectives and see if you can agree on what's best for everyone involved.

7.  One person in each group should record the group's thoughts.

8.  Evaluate yourself and your group using the evaluation rubric.    Do you think the other groups will agree with your conclusions?