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In the accessible e-learning community there are very few original metaphors, theories and models that have been developed to try and describe, explain and develop 'best' practice. This paper will explore the extent to which existing accessibility models can help to develop our conceptualisations of accessible e-learning practice, and outline a proposal for a new contextualised model of accessible e-learning practice. The key components of this model are accessibility stakeholders, accessibility drivers, accessibility mediators and stakeholder responses. The value of this model in helping to develop accessible e-learning practice in higher education is that it challenges researchers and practitioners to recognise that focusing solely on the drivers of accessibility (accessibility legislation, guidelines and standards) is not an effective strategy for developing and changing practice. If practice is to develop and e-learning be made optimally accessible we need to understand how stakeholders' responses to accessibility are influenced by the context in which they are operating, a context in which both accessibility drivers and mediators operate.

Web Accessibility Guidelines and Support Services For help, contact: Karen Sorensen As of Spring term 2012, the content in all new online courses (including content that is linked to from the course) must adhere to the accessibility guidelines listed below.

Since the introduction of the DDA and subsequently the Equality Act, many buildings have struggled to provide a means of access to their property that is barrier-free and ensures access for all. Even the smallest numbers of steps at the entrance of a building can provide a huge obstacle to visitors to a building and can lead to a situation where some visitors cannot access the building without assistance. Frequently, the property will install a retrofit solution that is difficult to use and can be an eyesore to the existing façade of the building. Sesame from Allgood Trio is a new innovative system that solves this issue by ensuring access for all whilst providing a discreet and aesthetically pleasing solution for the building. Technologically advanced, the Sesame system from Allgood Trio is tailored to each individual entrance and supplied and installed by our team of engineers. The secret to the system is the way that the retractable stair lift platform is installed beneath the existing stairs, utilising the stairs in the process. This then means that when not in use, the Sesame system cannot be seen and the aesthetic of the building is not unduly affected. Once activated, the system retracts the existing stairs to reveal the lift which can be programmed to work automatically or at the touch of a button. The result is a concealed stair lift that is easy to use, retains the existing aesthetic of the building whilst not taking up space when not in use.

Inclusive Design Approach The introduction of the 'Accessible Means of Egress Icon', or 'Wheelie Man' (as it has lovingly become known by all those involved in the project) onto accessible exit signage changes the current discriminatory approach to exit signs in buildings and presents a fully inclusive universal design.

This page helps you make your presentations, talks, meetings, and training accessible to all of your potential audience, including people with disabilities and others. Inclusive presentations have many benefits.

This video is hosted on YouTube and uses animated text and graphics. A full transcript is available to download.

Wheelmap is an open and free online map for wheelchair-accessible places. It empowers users to share and access information on the wheelchair-accessibility of public places. Like with Wikipedia, everyone can participate by tagging places.

CAE's popular and leading design guides offer practical and valuable guidance for access auditors and those seeking information on how to meet their duties under anti-discrimination legislation. We charge 10 per cent postage and packing on all items for UK postage only. Please contact us for overseas orders.

AS STUDENTS return to school this fall, most will find a plethora of new technologies and virtual environments, on which their institutions have been spending millions of dollars to bring into the classroom. Yet many of these resources will be needlessly discriminatory. What would happen if an institution constructed a new state-of-the-art building but neglected to make it accessible to the disabled? People would rightly be outraged. Yet even as new technology-rich environments revolutionize the classroom, few make provision for people who are blind, dyslexic, or otherwise print-disabled.

Visualizing actions between people, concepts and things requires more than words - models and metaphors are needed to create meaning. I will visualize connections on sheets of backing paper or a white board, or get out a box of Lego. Here I used Lewis chess pieces (resin replicas naturally) on a model of Engeström's Activity System that I draw out on a piece of laminated board the size of a door (Engeström, 2008) in order to get a sense of people working in collaborative teams to a common goal and to understand that an Activity System doesn't represent an entity so much as a framework or scaffold that is held together by the energy of action.

* Deutsches Studentenwerk (DSW - the German National Association for Student Affairs) presents new research on students with disabilities and chronic diseases in Germany * Problems identified by the study: timeline and organizational requirements, lack of support, individual interests in teaching process are too little considered * Compensation of disadvantages and counseling efforts are effective, but are too seldom used * Three out of four students have impairment-related extra costs * DSW president Prof. Dr. Dieter Timmermann: "There is still much to do on the way to University-for-All * 15.000 students with disabilities and chronic illnesses from 160 universities participated in an online survey in Germany, making the study nationally representative. Due to their disability or health situation, many students experience difficulties with the schedule and formal requirements of their studies, for example with frequent exams, inflexible classes modules or presence requirements. At times, teachers are not open to the impairment-related needs of their students. Often, there is also often a lack of necessary support like scripts in accessible version. Compensation of disadvantages and counseling are indeed effective, but also too seldom used - mostly because students don't know about such possibilities or do not want to speak openly about it. Nearly three quarters of students have impairment-related additional cost of their university studies; 15% have massive problems to secure their study financing. More than 15.000 affected students took part in the DSW-survey, out of which - 12% said that disability or health situation has a negative influence on the study process. - the large majority is suffering from mental and/or chronic diseases - 6% of respondents have dyslexia or any other learning disabilities - almost two thirds of respondents reported severe or very severe difficulties in their study process The DSW- survey "

Mobility International USA's mission is to empower people with disabilities around the world to achieve their human rights through international exchange and international development. MIUSA is a cross-disability organization serving those with cognitive, hearing, learning, mental health, physical, systemic, vision and other disabilities.

The Center for Research on Learning, at the University of Kansas Lawrence campus, is an internationally recognized research and development organization noted for creating solutions that dramatically improve quality of life, learning, and performance - especially for those who experience barriers to success.

Tool development within ESPON 2013 is targeted to the use of policy makers and practitioners at all administrative levels (including cross-border and transnational groupings) and will enable the use of information and data by these particular groups of stakeholders. Most tools will be online, made available via the ESPON website. As such they will also be at the disposal of the general public, including researchers and university students, thereby contributing to the use of ESPON data and information and the consolidation of a European research field on territorial development and cohesion. At the moment five tools are made accessible via the ESPON website. How these tools link to the project groups and the policy makers is visualised in the figure below. The green arrows in this figure show the use for the policy makers and the blue arrows show the flows from the ESPON projects (the Final Reports or the data resulting from the projects) to the tools and vice versa: The ESPON projects deliver data to the ESPON database and maps to the Online MapFinder. On the other hand, the ESPON projects receive input from the ESPON Database, the Mapping Guide and Typologies. The policy makers can find and use ESPON results via the Online MapFinder, the HyperAtlas and the ESPON DataBase.

The Harvard Law School Project on Disability (HPOD) works to promote the human rights of people with disabilities worldwide.

Some attempts at anti-discrimination have been criticized as reverse discrimination. In particular, minority quotas (for example, affirmative action) may discriminate against members of a dominant or majority group or other minority groups. In its opposition to race preferences, the American Civil Rights Institute's Ward Connerly stated, "There is nothing positive, affirmative, or equal about 'affirmative action' programs that give preference to some groups based on race."