We could do away with 90% of “special needs” today, and instead make all those tools and resources available to every child to use every time “this way” would make education work better than “the old way.” Stigmas would drop away, as would the self-limits of low-expectations. Student interests would create groupings rather than measurements of single abilities.

…we don’t call those wearing eyeglasses “special needs.” [...] we let just about anyone take elevators in tall buildings – not just those who have documentation proving that they can not climb stairs. Students need to be shown the tools available, and they should be helped in learning how to pick the best tool for their specific situation.

Ira has a fantastic couple of posts over at SpeEdChange at the moment on Universal Access {part 1 and part 2}. 

In the Disability Office here, our mantra is that we are trying to make ourselves redundant by making the university environment inclusive to all from the outset, effectively making the category of ’special needs’ redundant.

Ira explains it far better than I could, so the posts are very much worth your time if you are involved at any level in the delivery or consumption of content in education. Staff at NUIM might like to take a look at some of the resources in our staff area or have a look through our links in delicious.

At the moment, we have a good-sized Assitive Technology Centre with 12 computers, CCTV, wireless projector, two offices, two small rooms (no natural light, a litle small), several scanners, Inspiration, TextHelp. JAWS, Dragon, Kurzweil 3000 & 1000, ZoomText (all local installations). This is where we give students training and where many students registered with the Disability Office like to work.

Our Library are planning an expansion and a rethink of the services they offer. They want to encourage users to see the library less a place of ’silent reference’ and more of a collaborative learning space. They already have a small room with two PCs with assistive technology, but I reckon we have an opportunity to be more imaginative.

Next semester we will have TextHelp and Inspiration on every PC across the campus. As these are our most popular applications, I reckon that by mainstreaming their availability, the needs of a lot of students will be taken care of. Students with mild dyslexia for example won’t need to use the current ATC.

So, what shall we do? We still need a space to train all students in the use of assistive technology, whether that be in small groups or individually. We need somewhere to house the less network-friendly applications such as JAWS, and we need a place to develop our production of alternate format media. We also need a space for students to receive learning support in small groups and ideally we’d like to have a space with technology where students can collaborate.

Right now, I think there is an opportunity for the Library to build a small Learning Lab where students can receive training in the use of educational technology (Moodle, how to use electronic research resources, RefWorks, EndNote), general ICT (using Word, internet, file management, ECDL) and maybe the mainstreamed AT titles (Inspiration & TextHelp). We could also have some scanners for students to create their own altformat material (what better place than the library?).

The existing ATC then could be where the heavy-duty assistive technology is located. The Higher Education Authority in Ireland have set targets for us to double our intake of students with sensory disabilities, so I anticipate a greater need for JAWS, ZoomText and Kurzweil 1000. These more-specialist titles could be housed in the existing ATC to facilitate these learners for whom it’s impractical to have to track down free space in the general computer labs and where there is a dedicated AT specialist who can be on hand to quickly troubleshoot and support.

I see the production of altformat as being located in the library too. They are currently engaged in converting material into digital format so they have the tools and the know-how. We can work with them to ensure that the material they are producing meets standards of accessibility and take advantage of their clout as librarians to deals with publishers and copyright issues. They also have superb means of storage and distribution.

I’m interested in any feedback from those of you who may already have gone through this, users of assistive technology or any objective opinion.