One of the key aims of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 is ‘to eliminate, as far as possible, discrimination against persons on the ground of disability.’ The Australian Human Rights Commission has published a guide to assist the general public.
The Classroom Access Project was first piloted in Term 1, 2010 at La Salle Catholic College, Bankstown, NSW. This project was an initiative of Media Access Australia, and implemented through partnership with the Catholic Education Office Sydney and La Salle Catholic College, Bankstown.
The Classroom Access Project (CAP) operated for 20 weeks in both trial schools, which provided necessary longevity to test the concept of access to captioned video and other media and improved sound in mainstream schools.
Access to captioned video and other media for students with hearing impairment can be challenging due to the increased use of online curriculum resources to support the curriculum, and also a need to upskill teachers in the use of captions.
Advances in technology have seen the concept of learning escape the confines of the classroom, however teachers need to ensure that BYOD and other devices or equipment in the classroom don’t pose a barrier for students with diverse learning needs. Accessibility features may need to be enabled on the devices.
To achieve best practice, modelling accessible use of media in your school communities can be facilitated by:
cap that! asks educators to become Captions Champions, where they are provided with a kit of information to learn about captions, promote them to colleagues and introduce them into their lessons. We recruited 577 Captions Champions this year, which well and truly topped last year’s 375.
“WA has seen some huge leaps in technology and policy in the past twelve months,” said Dr Scott Hollier from the WA office. “But we’ve also seen the accessible web community begin to thrive.”
One of the biggest WA news stories in accessibility has been the state government’s commitment to implement the W3C Web Contents Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 to either an ‘A’ or ‘AA’ level by the end of 2013.
Applications to the Australian Curriculum Equity and Diversity Advisory Group are encouraged from people who have expertise in at least one priority equity and diversity area. These areas include students with a disability and students with English as an additional language or dialect.
The group is a welcome opportunity for professionals who have experience working with students with a disability, such as Itinerant Teachers of the Deaf (ITODs), to provide expert input.
