Smarter Balanced is committed to providing accessibility resources and supporting formative assessment processes that help educators better serve the needs of diverse students, including students who are deaf or hard of hearing and/or blind or visually impaired. This document describes how Smarter Balanced designs accessible tests and supports…

The Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform (CEEDAR) Center at the University of Florida (http://ceedar.education.ufl.edu/) is a national technical assistance center dedicated to supporting states in their efforts to develop teachers and leaders who can successfully prepare students with disabilities to achieve…

Young disabled people continue to be under-represented throughout further and higher education settings. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's social theory of habitus, capital and field, this paper explores the practices of domination and oppression that have made it difficult for young people with visual impairments and hearing impairments to participate…

There are plenty of products out there for making information accessible to all users, but how can administrators and managers determine which are the most practical and economical for their particular library? Mates, former director of the Ohio Library for the Blind and Physically Disabled, strips away the technical jargon and introduces dozens…

English language learners (ELLs) with disabilities are required to participate in all state and district assessments similar to their peers without disabilities. This includes assessments used for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title I accountability purposes for demonstrating proficiency in academic content, assessments used…

Daily communication journals are a powerful tool to promote communication development in children with severe disabilities. Each page of the daily journal features three parts: a print or braille label, a recording device, and a tangible symbol. Children should participate in both the preparation of the daily journal and its review, thus gaining…

This document updates "Accommodations: Assisting Students with Disabilities. A Guide for Educators," published by the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) in 2003. This document is written to assist school district personnel and parents when making decisions about the use of accommodations by students with disabilities in instructional…

This paper examines the goal of providing transparent computer access to people with disabilities, especially those with visual impairments. First, four basic strategies to provide this population with access to technology are identified: (1) building features into the computer, operating system, or application programs; (2) using adaptive…

The first of two papers presents suggestions on library services for the deaf by a British university lecturer, and the second provides an enumeration of Russian achievements in providing the blind with books. Based on an outline of the personal and social implications of deafness and unawareness of the deaf on the part of libraries and the…

The materials included in this reference circular are recommended as basic resources for providing current information on general aspects of visual impairments and physical disabilities. The selections, based on the holdings of the Reference Section, National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), were chosen for their…

The paper examines ways in which computers have radically altered and improved the lives of handicapped students. The visually impaired have been helped through the use of computerized braillers, embossers, and readers. Both adaptations of off-the-shelf software and specialized software have provided the visually impaired with magnification of…

Each person who is deaf-blind--whatever her sensory, mental, and physical abilities--deserves the opportunity to become literate in all the ways of which she is capable. Reading and writing are especially crucial for one whose world is narrowed because of vision and hearing losses. Literacy can enable such a person to exchange information and…

This final report describes activities and products of an 18-month study on improving access of persons with sensory impairments to media, telecommunications, electronic correspondence, and other communications devices by means of technological advancements. Ten scenarios were developed which describe potential applications of: (1) Braille devices…

Twenty-seven papers are presented from a conference on applications of computer technology for disabled persons. The following titles and authors are represented: "Computer Applications For Rehabilitation Organizations: Finding What You Need" (T. Backer); "Similarities In Cognitive Development Of Severely Physically Handicapped and Younger Regular…

THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES CONCERNING RESEARCH WITH THE VISUALLY HANDICAPPED ARE PRESENTED IN THIS BULLETIN--"TRENDS OF THE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROCESS ON THE SENSORILY IMPAIRED--EUROPE AND THE U.S.A. 1966" BY M.D. GRAHAM AND L.L. CLARK, "THE PERCEPTION OF GRADIENT AND THE VERRING TENDENCY WHILE WALKING WITHOUT VISION" BY B.J. CRATTY, "VERRING…