Purdue News

October 2, 1998 Purdue issues annual report on accessibility WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Purdue will spend more than $1.2 million this school year on renovations and services to make the university more accessible, according to a report released today (Friday, 10/2) in conjunction with national Disabilities Awareness Month. Since the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law in 1990, Purdue has spent more than $4 million at the West Lafayette campus. In January, the Office of the Dean of Students created a new division, Tactile Access to Education for Visually Impaired Students (TAEVIS), to provide alternatives to the traditional print formats for students with visual impairments. This school year, TAEVIS plans to spend nearly $540,000 to create learning materials for Purdue students. The Office of the Dean of Students also will spend about $475,000 for Adaptive Programs, a division that helps identify and accommodate students with learning, physical and psychological disabilities. TAEVIS produces Braille and other tactile materials for Purdue students. The division evolved from a project initially funded to help two blind students take chemistry classes. Sue Wilder, TAEVIS director, worked in the chemistry department when the tactile project began. "Fred Lytle (professor of chemistry) worked out a way to automate the transcription of mathematical and scientific formulas during his spare time," Wilder said. "Someone told him that because of the complexity of Braille code in math and science, it couldn't be automated. He took that as a personal challenge. "About the same time Dave Schleppenbach, a student in the chemistry department, was trying to find out if Braille texts for math and science could be produced in-house for a lower cost than the $5,000 to $10,000 major publishers said they would charge. "They were successful in using personal computers to automate a lot of the transcription. The work we do here is the applied result of that research," Wilder said. The work of the past four years has built a library of more than 2,000 tactile diagrams and models for the sciences. The technology allows visually impaired students to have most of the same written materials their sighted peers have. "We are able to take word processing files from instructors and turn them into Braille text in a matter of weeks instead of the 12 months we would have to wait if we wanted a book from one of the publishing houses," Wilder said. While TAEVIS provides materials for visually impaired students, Adaptive Programs coordinates services for students with all types of disabilities. "We try to provide one-stop assistance for students," said Paula Micka, assistant dean of students. Adaptive Programs provides services for students with documented disabilities, which enables students to complete their degrees by using alternative methods to complete class requirements. Adaptive Programs staff also facilitates meetings between students and instructors before each semester so both are prepared when classes start. Other Adaptive Programs services include taped textbooks, readers, notetakers and sign language interpreters. During the last academic year, 627 students were enrolled in Adaptive Programs. This fall nearly 650 students are receiving services, an increase of nearly 100 students from just two years ago. About 425 students have learning or attention disorders; about 100 have medical conditions; about 30 have visual impairments; and about 30 are deaf or hard of hearing. Adaptive Programs is continuing to work with Engineering Projects in Community Service, a program at Purdue University's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering that places teams of undergraduate engineering students into a partnership with local community service agencies. EPICS is working on four projects for the Office of the Dean of Students: An adjustable chair and table project to provide comfortable and functional classroom furniture; a notetaking project to help students with disabilities take more effective class notes; a remote classroom captioning project to make lectures more effective and cost efficient; and a project to develop a tactile map for students who are blind or visually impaired. While much of the university focus is on students, improvements for faculty, staff and visitors continue. Owen Cooks, ADA coordinator in the Office of Facility Planning, said about $200,000 will be spent on numerous accessibility projects this year, adding to the $3.75 million already spent renovating buildings and other facilities to make them more accessible. All new construction projects address accessibility issues during the design phase to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Pat Russell, access and occupational health services coordinator for the Department of Personnel Services, arranges accommodations for applicants and employees. Examples of the many accommodations made during the past year include printing a textbook in larger type and on colored paper for an instructor with a learning disability; purchasing document readers, voice recognition software and large screen monitors for employees with visual impairments; providing qualified interpreters and real-time reporters for employees with hearing impairments; and raising the work surface for an employee who uses a wheelchair. Sources: Sue Wilder, (765) 496-2856; e-mail, sawilder@purdue.edu Paula Micka, (765) 494-1245; e-mail, pjmicka@odos.purdue.edu Owen Cooks, (765) 494-5431; e-mail, ojcooks@purdue.edu Pat Russell, (765) 494-0269; e-mail, pdrussell@personnel.purdue.edu Writer: J. Michael Willis, (765) 494-0371; e-mail, mike_willis@purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page