Accessible IT for People with Disabilities: HR Considerations

Human resource (HR) representatives were interviewed regarding their organizations use of Web technology in HR processes and computer accessibility issues in the workplace. The survey addressed: the organizations use of Web technology in HR processes; knowledge and perceptions of barriers to the use of computer/Web technology to employees with disabilities; and familiarity with assistive technology (equipment to improve functionality for people with disabilities) and resources. The respondents represented a wide variety of industries and organizational sizes

Inclusion and online learning opportunities: Designing for accessibility

Higher education institutions worldwide are adopting flexible learning methods and online technologies which increase the potential for widening the learning community to include people for whom participation may previously have been difficult or impossible. The development of courseware that is accessible, flexible and informative can benefit not only people with special needs, but such courseware provides a better educational experience for all students

Community Rehabilitation Programs and Organizational Change: A Mentor Guide to Increase Customized Employment Outcomes

[Excerpt] For the purpose of this Guide, customized employment is defined as a process for individualizing the employment relationship between an employee and an employer in ways that meet the needs of both. Customized employment is based on an individualized negotiation between the strengths, conditions and interests of the person with a disability and the identified business needs of the employer or the self-employment business chosen by the job seeker. Job negotiation uses job development or restructuring strategies that result in responsibilities being customized and individually negotiated to fit the requirements of the job

Implications of the Information Technology Revolution for People with Disabilities

The paper focuses on opportunities for the integration of persons with different types of disabilities in the information technology (IT) labour market. Recent IT developments are identified and examined for their potentially harmful or beneficial effects on access to the IT labour market for persons with disabilities. The opportunities created by new job creation, new forms of training, teleworking, and the role of assistive technologies in facilitating workplace accommodations are briefly described. The focus is on new options for the design and implementation of computer-related assistive technologies in the workplace, and the impact of teleworking and the World Wide Web on employability and work-related training of persons with disabilities. The paper closes with a brief discussion of the roles that government agencies, business firms, labour unions, non-governmental organisations and education can play to help people with disabilities join the IT revolution and share its benefits

The Glass Ceiling and Persons With Disabilities

Glass Ceiling ReportGlassCeilingBackground2PersonsWithDisabilities.pdf: 8336 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

Information Technology and the Workplace: Implications for Persons with Disabilities

The Internet improves access to employment and community for many people. However, there is growing concern that many Web sites are inaccessible to people with certain disabilities. This article examines the impact on people with disabilities of online human resources processes used for employee recruitment, benefits, and training. In 2002, Cornell University staff reviewed the accessibility of 10 Job boards and 31 corporate e-recruiting Web sites. Human resource (HR) professionals are well positioned to report on key issues regarding these processes. A survey of 433 HR representatives was conducted regarding their organizations\u27 use of information and Web technology in HR processes; knowledge of computer/Web barriers to employees with disabilities; and familiarity with assistive technology and resources. The authors summarize current literature and legislation relevant to Web accessibility, and discuss implications of their findings for businesses and people with disabilities in the workplace

Serving People with Disabilities through the Workforce Investment Act's One-Stop Career Centers

This paper examines the extent to which people with disabilities are served through WIA's One-Stop system and discusses its capacity to serve people with disabilities who desire employment assistance, both in terms of common barriers to access as well as promising strategies to improve service delivery to people with disabilities

Assistive Technology, Accommodations, and the Americans with Disabilities Act

This brochure on Assistive Technology, Accommodations, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is one of a series on human resources practices and workplace accommodations for persons with disabilities edited by Susanne M. Bruyère, Ph.D., CRC, SPHR, Director, Program on Employment and Disability, School of Industrial and Labor Relations - Extension Division, Cornell University. Cornell University was funded in the early 1990’s by the U.S. Department of Education National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research as a National Materials Development Project on the employment provisions (Title I) of the ADA (Grant #H133D10155). These updates, and the development of new brochures, have been funded by Cornell’s Program on Employment and Disability and the Pacific Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center

Invisible publics: higher education and digital exclusion

Teaching in public involves reducing barriers to access and nowhere is this more appropriate than with the subject of electronic resources and the delivery of virtual learning opportunities. The future of the university, in a time of resurgence of neo-liberal values, the primacy of market forces and an increasing emphasis on private rather than public provision, has become the subject of much debate. Insufficient attention, however, is being paid to the possibility of exclusion, which is the inevitable result of increasing digital pedagogies and practices. This chapter focuses on the role of the university in ensuring equitable access to digital technology. Over the last decade, the possibilities of virtual learning have included pportunities for widening participation, increasing student numbers and opening up world trades in professional and academic expertise, thereby sustaining the globalization of education. This chapter addresses the limitations to these opportunities, in particular the failure to prioritize issues of digital inclusion and the divisive consequences of digital discrimination. The chapter is in two parts: the first examines the adoption of virtual learning within higher education, in particular, the ability of the technology to both enable and deny access. The second looks at the wider implications of this duality when set against the background of an increasingly digital society, and how inclusive practices are failing to have inclusive results

Assistive Technology, Accommodations, and the Americans with Disabilities Act

This brochure on Assistive Technology, Accommodations, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is one of a series on human resources practices and workplace accommodations for persons with disabilities edited by Susanne M. Bruyère, Ph.D., CRC, SPHR, Director, Program on Employment and Disability, School of Industrial and Labor Relations - Extension Division, Cornell Universit