Global Accessibility Awareness Day. May 15 2014

Global Accessibility Awareness Day

The target audience of GAAD is the design, development, usability, and related communities who build, shape, fund and influence technology and its use. While people may be interested in the topic of making technology accessible and usable by persons with disabilities, the reality is that they often do not know how or where to start. Awareness comes first. Read the blog post by Joe Devon that inspired GAAD.

Learn more about

• How this all got started
• Public events that you are invited to attend
• Other activities taking place to mark the day

On May 15

Whether you participate in an organized activity with others or not, join us and take an hour out of your day to experience digital accessibility first-hand.

Contribute Directly To The Digital Accessibility Effort

Karen Mardahl in Denmark has suggested the following additional ideas for designers, developers, and others to take on as part of the day. These will help directly to improving the accessibility of the web and to spreading awareness.

• Caption a video - at least prepare a transcript. If it is not your video, send the transcript to the owner and suggest that they follow the information provided by Google for YouTube or 3Play Media for Vimeo to add captions.
• Write a blog post on what digital accessibility awareness is and what your (the writer's) ideas are for raising that awareness.
• Create a video demonstrating how you use some type of assistive technology and upload it to YouTube.

Additionally:

• there are a number of free toolbars that can help designers and developers to test the accessibility of their pages. One of these is WAVE - Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool from the folks at WebAIM.
• Why not run this toolbar on a page or pages you have developed and see how accessible these are to your visitors, including those with different disabilities. Take the results and implement the suggested changes.

More Ideas

• Publish a blog post on or before May 15, including background on GAAD and your organization/company’s commitment to digital accessibility.
• If you are a web design, usability, web development, digital agency, digital accessibility or related firm, send an e-mail to your clients on or before May 15 to let them know that May 15 is Global Accessibility Awareness Day, with a link to www.globalaccessibilityawarenessday.org, drawing attention to how your firm supports accessibility through services or education.
• Announce a digital accessibility-related initiative on May 15, using the occasion of Global Accessibility Awareness Day to do this.
• Identify and contact local Meetup or other associations/organizations of developers/designers (web, mobile, other tech), usability and other associated IT professionals and let them know May 15 is Global Accessibility Awareness Day and ask them to inform their memberships.
• Let your favorite tech publication or better yet, reporter or columnist know that May 15 is Global Accessibility Awareness Day and encourage them to cover the event.
• Send an internal e-mail (e.g., to your IT staff, web development team, anyone involved in technology decision-making) informing them that May 15 is Global Accessibility Awareness Day, discuss any accessibility initiatives that may be under way/remind staff of any technology accessibility policy that may exist and the role everyone plays in its success.
• Contribute your time to projects such as Fix The Web

 This entry was posted in www.globalaccessibilityawarenessday.org,.

Great Educators in History: Anne Sullivan and Helen Keller

Being a great educator is not only about mastering the discipline of teaching but also about having the ability to adapt the craft according to the needs of the learner. This week in our series, Great Educators in History, we present Anne Sullivan and Helen Keller, two women who redefined the boundaries of both teaching and learning – two lives that are so inspiring, they make it hard to believe that any obstacle is too large to overcome.

Anne Sullivan finds a new student

Born in 1866 in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts, USA, Anne Sullivan experienced near blindness early in life. Although she never fully lost her eyesight until shortly before her death, her educational career was focused on schooling for the blind. After graduating from the Perkins Institution for the Blind in 1886, she soon found herself the governess of a particularly challenging pupil. Helen Keller was just over 6 years old when she fell under the instruction of Anne Sullivan, and she had suffered from extreme isolation due to being both deaf and blind. Anne, presented with the task of tempering a child whose only contact to the world was through touch and who expressed her frustration through frequent tantrums, writes, “The greatest problem I shall have to solve is how to discipline and control her without breaking her spirit” (Gardner: 15). As headstrong as Helen, Anne would struggle with her for hours at a time, even locking themselves into a room together until they reached an agreement. Within the first year, she won the trust and heart of young Helen, the next big step being to establish a means of communication and engagement with the outside world.
It was in the summer of 1887 when Anne unlocked the world to Helen. While outside touching a water pump, Anne spelled out “w-a-t-e-r” into Helen’s hand repeatedly until her face lit up with understanding. A few months later, Helen had learned how to write, read braille and knew over 600 words. From touching objects and associating them with words, to learning to lip-read by touching lips, to reading text that was raised on the page, the world had opened up to her. By the age of 14, Helen entered high school, first attending the Wright-Humason School for the Deaf in New York City and then the Cambridge School for Young Ladies in Massachusetts.

Helen Keller becomes a leader

It became clear from the start of Anne Sullivan’s work with Helen Keller that Helen was extremely intelligent. Helen’s thirst and ability to learn could not be quenched. Helen worked to finish her high school degree with the dream of attending college. Anne would spell out entire books not available in braille into Helen’s hand as well as transcribe full lectures into her palm. Helen’s life story and intelligence would soon earn her fame. In 1903, Helen published The Story of My Life and went on to graduate with honours from Radcliffe a year later. She was touring the world giving lectures by 1913 and published a number of books over the following four decades.
By the late 1930s, Helen had helped establish commissions for the blind across the US. Anne remained a close companion to Helen until she passed away in 1936, even often joining her on tours. Helen Keller lived until 1968. By the time of her death, she had worked to improve the treatment of the deaf and blind, particularly fighting for the end of committing people with disabilities to asylums.

Their impact today

To look at the lives of Anne Sullivan and Helen Keller, it is hard to imagine that being blind or deaf, let alone both, could ever have been considered a disability. They proved that learning is a matter of resources and reimagining how one communicates with the world. Their influence on education today is twofold. For one, they helped establish educational institutions for the deaf and blind and attacked the social taboos attached to impairments of the senses. Secondly, they showed that learning and teaching is only as limited as the method. If you are open to the needs of the students and finding a way to facilitate communication and understanding, educational methods are limitless and learning abilities unfixed.

Resources

• Anne Sullivan Macy. 2013. Encyclopaedia Britannica website. Available from: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/355531/Anne-Sullivan-Macy [Accessed 10 Feb 2014]
• Gardner, Howard. 2006. Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons. Basic Books.
• Helen Keller. 2013. Encyclopaedia Britannica website. Available from: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/314352/Helen-Keller [Accessed 11 Feb 2014]
• Nielsen, Kim E. 2009. Beyond the Miracle Worker: The Remarkable Life of Anne Sullivan Macy and Her Extraordinary Friendship with Helen Keller. Beacon Press: Boston, MA, USA.

 This entry was posted in Rethinking education on 17. February 2014 by iversity.

Teachers Matter

Today, The 6th of May marks the Teachers Appreciation Day. The question is at the pace of educational "reforms", technology inclusion and all, do teachers matter?
It seems common sense that teachers matter, even if it's not easy being a teacher today.

Teacher quality is the single most important factor in student learning within a school’s power to influence.

According to Angela Maiers "As the pace of education "reform" heats up, we need to remind ourselves of these two undeniable words:  Teachers matter."

Indeed, teachers matter more now than ever.

9 Things Teachers Do Gladly

1. You do what you are born to do. You do what you are called to do.
2. You do what students need you to do.
3. You make time to touch their hearts every day.
4. You look into students' eyes, and they see in yours that you love them.
5. You serve as the voice of reason, courage and hope.
6. You assure them with your poise and presence that the world is a beautiful place, and that they are beautiful creatures.
7. You tell them that they matter, that they are geniuses, and that the world needs their contribution.
8. You choose your words carefully, so that those words help students envision success, stretch their thinking, and advance independent behaviors and actions. Well-chosen, impactful words will stick with your students the rest of their lives.
9. You TEACH.

Your students need you more than ever. There is nothing that you will allow to get in the way of your changing the lives of your students -- for good.
No, it's not easy being a teacher today, but yes, teachers matter.

Teachers Make the Difference. "Thank God for teachers. Thank God you know what to do. Thank God you do what you do."

ACCEPT

You were born to make an impact. Accept that you matter. Accept that your work and ideas count. Accept your role as agents of change. Use what you have all the way.

ACCELERATE

You have the opportunity to stand for something. Do the people you see each day KNOW they matter to you? Start now. Inspire many.
Imagine the possibilities.

ACT

You don’t need permission to speak up. It's time to act. Ask yourself: What breaks your heart about the world? What are WE going to do about it?
Don’t wait a single moment.

 Get involved  CHOOSE2MATTER