Assistive Technology is largely seen as a necessity for people with disabilities to complete activities of daily living. In that way I suppose it could be called a lifesaver. I also view it as a lifesaver because it has the ability to allow people to preserve their dreams.  The advent of document reading technology into my life has allowed me to read text more easily and helped to preserve my dream of pursuing a doctorate.  I became actively involved in providing assistive technology to students with disabilities as a student assistant in the Adaptive Technology Lab at Southern Connecticut State University in 1989. I have had several professional positions focused in the area of Assistive Technology. Surprisingly, it took me 17 years to realize how much the technology could help me.

The coursework in my program has helped me to think differently about providing assistive technology.  It is no longer just about getting the word out and providing the technology to the students with disabilities.  I am now focused on understanding what policies help to make the services work?  What is effective and useful?

In my first class, Ways of knowing, EDUC 800, I decided to explore how different professional disciplines viewed the assessment process and prescription of assistive technology. In a paper titled, Ways of Knowing the Inform Scholarship: Rehabilitation Engineering as a Discipline, I compared the medical profession's "way of knowing" to the educator's "way of knowing". This process helped me to think about assistive technology more broadly and provided a stronger foundation for me to defend what I believe is important when considering assistive technology for individuals. 

In the leadership class (EDUC 805) I completed a literature review on the effectiveness of universally designed assessments.  This was the first time I looked critically at research; I found it difficult at first to accept the idea that the technology was not always proven to be beneficial and at times was detrimental.  This challenged my beliefs, but also fueled my desire to find out what does work and why. I also reviewed an article from this literature review in relation to policy implications in EDUC 871. The paper is titled, Universal Design Principles Applied to Large Scale Assessments: Policy Implocations.

As the Coordinator of the Assistive Technology Initiative I have implemented a project to scan textbooks and other hard copy documents for students with disabilities on campus.  This effort began as a result of a student in law school who was unable to turn the pages of his books due to paralysis. An article was written about this student and the technology available in the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2004. The accessible text project under the ATI has grown to serve students with print related disabilities. It is one of the most used services provided by the ATI.  We have now moved into providing text in MP3 format. Most students believe this is the best thing since sliced bread. I question whether it is truly effective. Can students absorb the text while walking around campus with an iPod? Is this something we should be promoting?  In EDRS 810, I wrote a quantitative research method section designed to address this question.

I plan to take a critical look at the research available to address whether or not assistive technology is effective at the university level.  The product of this exploration is a PowerPoint presentation and discussion in EDUC 872. It is not yet available as I will be completing it on the day of my second portfolio review. 

The daily activities of my job as the Coordinator of the Assistive Technology Initiative remind me that being content with providing the minimum of services required in the letter of the law is not enough.  People who implement policy must look at the spirit of the law and even beyond to make a difference.  I have worked hard to do that with the ATI.   I remain unsatisfied with the services offered which is fine because as long as I am unsatisfied I have the fuel to move forward and think of new ways to make a difference. I believe this is another quality of leadership. Since we have been providing electronic text to students I have been looking for ways to speed up the process. Over the last year I have worked with the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Virginia Commonwealth University and James Madison University to develop a repository of scanned textbooks to help us and other universities in Virginia share textbooks converted into electronic text.  This project began from a simple conversation among colleagues after a conference presentation.  The project is hosted at Mason as a blackboard site. I have since presented our work at a regional AHEAD conference in Virginia and recruited several more universities to share books.

The field of assistive technology is constantly moving forward. It is important to keep up with the advances in the technology. It is just as important to understand what policies need to be in place to ensure that the provision of that technology is effective.