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October 2000 Volume 2 Number 4 Page 2 |
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![[Image of a wheelchair rotating on one wheel]](chair7-a.gif) Web Sites for Everyone |
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Cover Story Features The Making of an Accessible SUNYConnect Web Accessibility and SUNYConnect Databases Nothing but Net: |
July 2000 was the 10th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
It is also the 25th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
At the time of its passage, it was estimated that 43 million people had one or more
physical or mental disabilities. From 1991 to 1997, New York saw a 40% increase in
disabled students enrolled in post-secondary educational institutions. For 1997, that![[The ADA is "a comprehensive mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities."]](ada.gif) figure was 30,889 students (Task Force on Postsecondary Education and
Disabilities, New York State Education Dept., 2000). With almost 400,000 students in the
SUNY system, it is not a question of whether you will have people with disabilities at
your college, but more so what do we need to do to accommodate these students. Work is needed to guarantee that these anti-discrimination provisions continue and that they are carried out. Much of this work needs to be done at the state level. New York State is moving to ensure that the equal protections afforded by the ADA are fully secured by incorporating them into state statutes and/or regulations. One example of this is the effort to see that New York State web sites are accessible and useable by all people, including people with disabilities. As more and more information becomes available via the web, such a goal is not only laudable, but necessary. It is also an example of where libraries are taking a lead even if it means extra efforts by already busy library staff members. This issue of SUNYergy provides a number of perspectives on this topic. These include a status report on universal accessibility for SUNY OLIS' webs, a dialogue between Tom Neiss (Assistant Provost for Technology Infrastructure at SUNY System Administration) and Andy Perry (Assistant Director for Systems Management at Binghamton's Bartle Library), and a summary of some of the efforts by SUNYLA that looks at accessibility issues related to SUNYConnect database vendors. |
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