Other Access Topics
Deaf individuals participating in postsecondary settings have the right to access the environment in a manner that is most effective for them to communicate. Entities can address barriers for deaf individuals such as designing accessible environments, embracing the principles of universal design, and proactively planning to provide access in a variety of situations. Below are a list of unique access topics that provide strategies when addressing barriers in postsecondary settings.
Special Topics: Other Access Topics
Topics: Other Access Topics
Type(s): Overviews
Being proactive means to initiate changes yourself rather than reacting to things that happen. This approach is especially effective for postsecondary institutions when developing plans for creating campuswide access for deaf students.
Topics: Other Access Topics
Type(s): Overviews
The term universal design was coined by architect Ronald L. Mace to describe the concept of designing all products and the built environment to be aesthetically pleasing and usable to the greatest extent possible by everyone, regardless of their age, ability, or status in life.
Topics: Other Access Topics
Type(s): Overviews
Useful For: Disability Services Professionals
All postsecondary campuses, including community colleges, vocational training programs, and four-year universities, must ensure their programs, activities, and meetings are accessible to all visitors.
Topics: Other Access Topics
Type(s): Overviews
Deaf students continue to explore academic opportunities in the college setting. They often seek to participate in foreign language courses alongside their hearing peers rather than settling for alternatives to foreign language requirements.
Topics: Other Access Topics
Type(s): Overviews
Useful For: Disability Services Professionals
Graduation season is a busy time for disability service offices, and many professionals have questions about providing communication access at graduation ceremonies. The law is clear that institutions must provide access to public events and ensure an equitable experience for deaf people. The purpose of the following information is to assist postsecondary institutions in planning for communication access.
Topics: Other Access Topics
Type(s): Overviews
Field experiences, such as internships, practicums, and clinicals, offer students the opportunity to gain the real-world knowledge and skills they need to become gainfully employed. Deaf students have a right to these experiences in the same manner as their hearing peers.
Type(s): Overviews
More and more deaf students are pursuing study abroad opportunities which often raises many questions for disability service offices on what steps to take. Study abroad experiences provide opportunities for students to learn essential social and professional skills to be marketable in today’s workforce.
Topics: Other Access Topics
Type(s): Overviews
Note taking is the practice of capturing important pieces of information in a systematic way. It is not limited to the classroom. Note taking is an important accommodation in any situation requiring learning, including job sites and internships. Effective note taking is a skill that is acquired through training and strengthened through practice. It is an accommodation that deaf people rely on when they are in an environment of learning. In fact, research conducted with deaf college students indicates that most students view note taking as a very useful support.
A guide for strengthening tutoring support for deaf students in college including considerations for access, culture and identity of students, and online distance tutoring.
Type(s): Overviews
Improved access and advancements in technology have allowed deaf people who might not have previously considered a career in the healthcare field to now pursue this option.
Type(s): Overviews
In today’s world, emergency preparedness is an important topic. Too often, deaf people do not have access to emergency alerts. Visual emergency alerting systems provide equal access and allow deaf people to evacuate safely during emergencies. Both the ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act also mandate reasonable accommodations, which include visual fire alarms.
Type(s): Overviews
Captions are the textual representation of audio content in a video format, communicating spoken dialogue, sound effects, and speaker identification. Captions provide essential access for the more than 30 million Americans with a hearing loss. They also benefit emerging readers, visual learners, non-native speakers, and many others.
Type(s): Research
Collecting and Using Data for Decision-Making is one of five key impact areas identified by the National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes in its review of the literature on practices that address root causes of challenges to deaf people’ postsecondary attainment.
Type(s): Research
This study investigated patterns of educational accommodations use between high school and postsecondary settings by deaf students.
Type(s): Research
In recent years there has been an increase in the number of veterans returning home with combat-related hearing loss and tinnitus. Deaf veterans may need accommodations and support to be successful in college and the work environment.
