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University of North Texas
The ODA Connection
Volume 6, Issue 2
Harvard and M.I.T. Sued for Not Captioning
University of North
Texas
Phone: 940-565-4323
Fax: 940-369-7969
1155 Union Circle
# 310770
Denton, TX 76203-5017
ODA Walk-in Hours:
Monday—Friday 3-4 PM
Or by appointment
Monday—Friday 9-4
On February 12, the National
Association of the Deaf
(NAD) filed federal lawsuits
against Harvard and M.I.T. for
“violating antidiscrimination
laws by failing to provide
closed captioning in their
online lectures, courses, podcasts and other educational
materials.”
Mirroring the state of many
institutes of higher education
across the country, these two
prominent universities were
targeted for either uncaptioned, or inaccurately or
unintelligibly captioned educational content. The complaint
specifically stated, “Just as
buildings without ramps bar
people who use wheelchairs,
online content without captions excludes individuals who
are deaf or hard of hearing.”
This suit comes on the heels
of another accessibility lawsuit
at the University of Montana,
Missoula where the Alliance
for Disability and Students at
UM filed a complaint with the
U.S. Department of Education
for inaccessible online content.
Travis Moses, a UM student
with low vision reported, “I’ve
been told every year, ‘Oh,
we’re working on it.’ Well,
you know, I’ve gotten to the
point that I doubt it.” The
Office for Civil Rights (OCR)
conducted a full audit on accessibility at the UM campus
with a short deadline to resolve any issues.
The NAD’s website hosts a
video with the president of the
organization declaring this suit
against Harvard and M.I.T. is a
warning shot for all other
universities across the U.S. to
get in gear.
The UNT ODA has been working over a year now to improve
captioning on campus and has
found that although the problem is complex, the answer
does not have to be. Trying to
caption content after the semester has begun is a time consuming, expensive process that
almost never works out. Instructors are encouraged to
find accurately captioned content when writing syllabi before
the semester begins. Resources
for already captioned content
are readily available in the Media Library by contacting Kim
Stanton at 940-565-2480. Always check the accuracy of the
captions ahead of time and
NEVER rely on YouTube for
accurate captions.
35th National Veterans Wheelchair Games in Dallas
Inside this issue:
Delta Alpha Pi
6
Accessible Images for
the Blind—a How to
Approach
3
ADA25 Legacy Bus
Tour
5
Barbara Jordan Award
Winners Announced
2
Event calendar
4
Texans Mark Your Calendars!
The 35th National Veterans
Wheelchair Games will be
held in Dallas June 21-26,
2015! Registration and volunteer information will be available soon. The National Veterans Wheelchair Games
(NVWG) is a sports and rehabilitation program for military
service veterans who use
wheelchairs for sports competition due to spinal cord injuries, amputations or certain
neurological problems. Attracting more than 500 athletes each year, the NVWG is
the largest annual wheelchair
sports event in the world.
The presenters of this event
are committed to improving
the quality of life for veterans
with disabilities and fostering
better health through sports
competition. While past
Games have produced a number of national and world-class
champions, the Games also
provide opportunities for
newly-disabled veterans to
gain sports skills and be exposed to other wheelchair
athletes. Typically, one quarter
of the competitors have never
before participated in any type
of organized wheelchair sports
competition.
Events: Competitive events at
the National Veterans Wheelchair Games include air guns,
archery, basketball, bowling,
field events, hand cycling, a
motorized wheelchair rally,
nine-ball, power soccer, quad
rugby, slalom, softball, swimming, table tennis, track, trapshooting and weightlifting
Athletes compete in all events
against others with similar
athletic ability, competitive
experience or age.
Admission: Free. The public
is most welcome
Learn More about the
Games, Events and Activities:
http://wheelchairgames.org/
The National Veterans Wheelchair Games are co-presented
each year by the Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA) and
Paralyzed Veterans of America
with additional support from
numerous corporate and community sponsors.
Does UNT Charge Me For My Accommodations?
The short answer is of course, no. It is
illegal to make people pay for their civil
rights. However, many disabilities add
an additional financial burden for students. Medical costs, adaptive technology, personal attendant care, fees for
records or evaluations are just a few
examples of such expenses. At UNT,
we have tried to find ways to assist
students with this burden and want to
share some resources to help.
In Texas, students who are certified as
eligible due to significant hearing or
vision loss may qualify for a full waiver
of tuition at state universities. As you
can imagine this is a huge benefit. For
all the details visit:
http://tinyurl.com/pxsxudm.
UNT provides two disability related
scholarships, students must register
with the ODA to apply and meet other
eligibility requirements as described on
their website: http://tinyurl.com/
ky4nd4l. For an extensive list of more
scholarships beyond UNT see: http://
tinyurl.com/ocgz7x9.
The Texas Department of Assistive and
Rehabilitative Services (DARS) sometimes provides assistance when students are attending college as part of
their vocational rehabilitation plans.
Find out more at http://
www.dars.state.tx.us/. Another vocational program is available through
Social Security at http://tinyurl.com/
ybmako8.
The UNT Student Money Management
Center can assist students with all their
financial concerns, they have an emergency loan program that can provide
immediate funds for students who qualify. Further they help students budget,
work through the financial aid process,
and deal with debt. They even have a
video specifically addressing the money
management needs of students on the
autism spectrum,
http://
studentaffairs.unt.edu/
student-moneymanagement-center for
the video see http://
studentaffairs.unt.edu/
money-matter-videoseries.
Ron Venable,
ODA Director
How Do I register with the ODA to get accommodations?
Submit any documentation of a disability to [email protected] along with an application for services. Our team of
accessibility experts will evaluate your paperwork and contact you to meet with a counselor to discuss possible
classroom accommodations. Students must be registered with our office to receive classroom accommodations.
Looking for a Job?
Gettinghired.com is an internet based portal that connects job seekers with disabilities to
committed employers, advocacy organizations and service providers.
2015 Barbara Jordan Award Winners Announced
From the Office of the Governor—
Greg Abbott Committee on People
with Disabilities, the 2015 Barbara Jordan Award Winners are announced!
Each year the Governor’s Committee
on People with Disabilities, in conjunction with local committees throughout
the state, accepts nominations for media professionals and students who have
produced material for the public which
accurately and positively reports on
individuals with disabilities, using People
First language and respectful depictions.
And t he winners are...
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BOOK: My Father’s Eyes by Sheila
Allee
TV FEATURE: Adaptive Crossfit by
Kevin Reece, KHOU-TV
And
Summer Jobs by Teresa Woodard,
WFAA-TV
INTERNET: Bridging the Gap: Arts in
Context by Eve Tarlo and Galia Farber,
KLRU-TV
PHOTOJOURNALISM: Confidence
and Courage (set of 5) by Gabe Wolf,
Killeen Daily Herald Lone Wolf Photography
PRINT: Cancer Survivor to Tackle
Marathon on Two Good Legs by Roberta MacInnis, Houston Chronicle
COLLEGE STUDENT: Never Defeated by Alyssa Biere, Mary Cuba, J.C.
Rickman, and Samantha Forester Midwestern State University
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT: Sisterly Love by Zhouie Martinez, Westlake
High School
Making Images Accessible to the Blind
By Mel Finefrock, Editor, Freelance Writer,
UNT Graduate
When it comes to photodocumentation via social media, many unknowingly describe their photos by
accompanying them with little anecdotes like “Grandma and me at her
80th birthday celebration.” These
sorts of descriptions add meaning
to photos for all who view them,
but perhaps especially for people
who are blind.
When it comes to mainstream Web
design though, people often overlook labeling or describing their
graphics, leaving individuals who are
blind at a loss for understanding the
significance of them. My hope in
writing this article is to encourage
the use of image description and
demystify the process of implementing it.
Alternative Text
There are two ways to approach
describing your graphics, the first of
which being alternative text, better
known as alt text. What is alt text?
Although it’s originally intended to
serve as a placeholder for graphics
in the event that a visitor to your
website cannot download them, the
neat thing about alt text is that
screenreading software, such as
JAWS (Freedom Scientific), Window-Eyes (GW Micro), NVDA (NV
Access) and VoiceOver (Apple),
pick up on these labels and give
people who are blind feedback as to
the nature of the image. As such, alt
text is a great way to implement
image descriptions and make your
website more accessible to screen-
reader users.
Below, I have included two of my
own photos – yes, I’m blind and
take photos sometimes – for the
sake of demonstration. For the
benefit of my sighted readers, I
have appended additional descriptions to each image, since the alt
text isn’t apparent unless you tell
your browser to opt out of downloading graphics.
It’s up to you entirely how in depth
you go with your image description,
but ideally you want to be both
informative and concise. Here, I
have allowed for more detail because these are works of art and
personal to me. The same goes
with my author photo, whose description is admittedly not concise
by any stretch of the imagination,
because in “reading” the paperback
upside-down, I was being ironic and
wanted to clue my blind readers in
on my humor.
If you’re writing a description and
aren’t sure where to start, close
your eyes for a moment and consider what you’d like to know
about a picture, were you unable to
see it. Then, open your eyes, observe the central aspects of the
image and write them down. For
example, “black and white photograph of a woman in a cocktail
dress” conveys more about an image than simply “picture of a welldressed woman” for two reasons:
1. Indicating that the photo is in
black and white might suggest its
time period or the photographer’s
artistic style, and
2. Pointing out the woman’s style
of dress might suggest the signifi-
cance of the occasion for which she
is being photographed.
Similarly, if I were to finally create
an official website for my editorial
services and I commissioned someone to design a blue and white logo
reading “Editor Services by Mel
Finefrock,” I would also ensure that
my Web designer conveyed both
the color of the icon and its title in
the alt text for the benefit of my
visitors who are blind.
In-Text Descriptions
[An article from People.com about
Brittany Maynard] is another prime
example of good image description.
The blog team’s approach, however, was different than mine; instead
of placing the descriptions in the alt
text, they labeled the photos generically but relevantly, then accompanied each with an additional, in-text
description. Personally, I found that
the described images lent further
impact to the article itself, because I
was placed on an even playing
ground with my sighted peers and
was able to witness, albeit secondarily in my mind’s eye, Brittany and
her loved ones making memories
together before she passed.
Either method outlined above
works well for the purpose of image description, so use whichever
suits you. For example, you might
use alt text in order to describe a
company logo and in-text description for photos in an article, such as
the one about Brittany Maynard.
For readers who are newer to
HTML, read a basic tutorial on
eHow for embedding images in
HTML code, including the implementation of alt text.
Interested in learning about scholarships tailored to people with disabilities?
Visit https://unt.academicworks.com/ and search for keyword “disability”
Or visit disaboom.com and search for keyword, “scholarships”
Page 3
The ODA Connection
April 2015 Events
Schedule of Events:
 April 4—DFW 7th Annual Walk
to End Lupus Now. 8am, Lone
Star Park at Grand Prairie.
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
1
2
3
4 Walk to End
Lupus
 April 6-7—Join the Student Money
Management Center (SMMC) for
a week of fun and financial education. Interested in learning how to
start your own company? Want to
know how to impress your date
without spending a week’s pay?
Jump in our money booth or grab
some free ice cream? Come out
to the Money Week events to
learn how to budget, invest and
have a blast on a dime. More info
at studentaffairs.unt.edu/studentmoney-management-center
 April 9-11—Texas Association of
the Deaf (TAD) 48th Biennial
Conference. Frentress, Tx. More
info at txad.org
 April 16—The Multicultural Center and ODA are co-sponsoring
the UNT Diversity Series. A
presentation on assistive technology will be held from 1-2:30pm in
Chilton 111C.
 April 18—Community Deaf Chat
welcomes signers of all levels at
Zera’s Coffee House, 420 E.
McKinney St. Denton, Tx 76209
from 7pm to close.
Grand Prairie
8am
5
6 Money
Week
7 Money
Week
Denton
Denton
8
9 TAD Biennial
Conference
Frentress, Tx
10 TAD Biennial Conference
11 TAD Biennial
Conference
Frentress, Tx
Frentress, Tx
12
13
14
15
16 Assistive
Technology
17
Denton, 1pm
19
20
21
22
23
18 Community
Deaf Chat
Denton, 7pm
24 Autism
Awareness
25
Denton, 1pm
26
27
28
29
30
 April 24—The Multicultural Center and ODA are co-sponsoring
the UNT Diversity Series. A
presentation on Autism Awareness will be held from 1-2:30pm in
Sycamore 119.
Get to know the ODA’s new faces
From left to right: De’Amber Bullard plays the guitar, Tavon Hayes plays
both the piano and saxophone, Jenny Nguyen enjoys video gaming, Danny
Abraha is a member of the debate team, Destiny Darling is double majoring in
English and French
Page 4
From left to right: Mijani Petties plays the
viola, Basia Thomas was a “S3” ROTC Captain
ADA25 Legacy Bus Tour Begins
This year marks the 25th Anniversary of
the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA was signed on
July 26, 1990—a triumph forged by the
heroic advocacy of people with disabilities and their allies across the nation. It
is well established that the vision and
leadership for that effort came straight
from the heart of Texas. Justin Dart, a
proud Texan and former Chair of the
Texas Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities, is one whose vision and passion are the heart and soul
of the ADA. Lex Frieden, UT Chancellor's Health Fellow on Disability and
director of ILRU at TIRR Memorial
Hermann Rehabilitation Hospital in
Houston, defined that vision for Congressional action for the passage of the
ADA. Thousands of Texans—from
members of Congress to people living
in state institutions—worked tirelessly
to make the dream a reality. And another Texan, President George H.
W. Bush, signed the ADA into law.
This year the Road to Freedom
ADA Legacy Bus Tour will be traveling across the nation to highlight the
25th Anniversary. It has planned multiple
stops in Texas, including the stop in
Austin to celebrate the ADA’s 25th
Anniversary at the Bob Bullock Museum on Tuesday, March 3, 2015.
At the event there, recognition will be
given to the Texas Trailblazers Past,
Present, and Future who protect and
defend the ADA and the civil rights it
guarantees people with disabilities.
Tour Summary 2015:
January 28-31: Orlando, FL
February 27th: San Antonio,
March 1: Hutto, TX
March 1-4: Austin, TX
March 6-8: Los Angeles, CA
March 9-13: Denver, CO
March 18: Topeka, KS
March 30-31: Columbia, MO
April 2: Bentonville, AR
April 7-8: Hot Springs, AR
April 10-11: Memphis, TN
April 15-17: Nashville, TN
April 19: Washington, DC
April 20: Arlington, VA
April 23-25: Grand Rapids, MI
April 27: Syracuse, NY
April 29-30: Buffalo, NY
May 2: Morgantown, WV
May 3-4: Greensboro, N.C.
May 5-6: Raleigh, N.C
May 8: Gainesville, GA.
May 10: Atlanta, GA
May 13: Johnson City:
JMay 14-15:,Knoxville, TN
May 15-16: Expo, Atlanta, GA
May 19: Birmingham
May 21: Montgomery, AL
May 23: Gainesville, GA
May 28: Atlanta, GA
May 29-30: Augusta, GA
June 1-2: Charleston, SC
June 3: Columbia, SC
June 4: Anderson, SC
June 5-6: Greenville, SC
June 7-9: Charlotte, N.C.
June 12-13: Atlanta, GA
June 16: Springfield, IL
June 18: Indianapolis, IN
June 19: Blommington, IN
June 25: Madison, WI
June 26-27: Milwaukee, WI
July 1-4: Missoula, MT
July 7: Superior, WI
July 11: Rochester, NY
July 13-14: New York, NY
July 18: Chicago, IL
July 20: Toledo, OH
July 21: Detroit, MI
July 22: Cleveland, OH
July 23: Columbus, OH
July 25: Philadelphia, PA
July 26: Wilmington, DE, Baltimore, MD, Washington, DC
July 27-28: Washington, DC
Page 5
The ODA Connection
Sharing Campus Resources for Students and Professors
STUDENT SUCCESS SKILLS
As a student with a disability, it
is critical that you understand
your disability and how it affects your ability to learn and
participate in the college experience. Understanding your
rights and, equally important,
your responsibilities as a college student with a disability
are also critical to your success. In college, your instructors will take for granted that
you have these skills, that you
can read, write, listen, take
notes, and complete exams and
assignments effectively. To be a
successful student you need
college survival skills! Find
many great tips at: http://
www.washington.edu/doit/
programs/accesscollege/student
-lounge/college
FACULTY ROOM
Have a faculty member, professor or TA that wants (or
needs) to learn more about
creating a more accessible
learning environment? Perhaps
they want to know more about
a specific disability and how it
affects the learning environment? They can get great tips
h e r e :
h t t p : / /
www.washington.edu/doit/
programs/accesscollege/facultyroom/overview
-University of Washington
(UW). These materials are
provided under a Creative
Commons License and in accordance with UW's privacy
policy and terms of use.
Delta Alpha Pi Needs YOU!
Members of DAPI display pride in their academic
accomplishments as honor students who happen to
have a disability. Delta Alpha Pi members strive to
change the negative perception that students with
disabilities cannot achieve academically. Through
public recognition, leadership and visible participation in educational activities, Honor Society members counteract such prejudice.
Students who meet the criteria must present with a
documented disability and work with one of the
faculty or staff in the university’s Office of Disability
Accommodation, and they must demonstrate an
interest in disability issues. Undergraduate students
must have completed a minimum of 24 credits and
attained a cumulative grade point average of 3.10.
Graduate students must have completed a minimum
of 18 credits and earned a cumulative grade point
average of 3.30.
Current DAPI Officers at UNT are:
President- Devin Axtman- [email protected]
Co-Vice President/President Elect: Jessica [email protected]
Co-Vice President- Robina [email protected]
Secretary- Joy Eaton [email protected] or
972-563-1066 or 903-372-1998
Treasurer- Melody McCotter- [email protected]
Co-Advisor- Rebecca Cagle- [email protected]
Co-Advisor Leslie Roberts- [email protected]
Please contact any of us, YOU do make a difference!
Visit us online at http://www.unt.edu/oda
Page 6