Ellen Perlow – Accessing Higher Ground 2007 Proposal – March 30, 2007 - Page 1 of 7
March 30, 2007
Proposed Presentation: Accessing Higher Ground – November 2007 Conference:
Assistive Technology & Accessible Media and in Higher Education, University of
Colorado, Boulder
This document is available in alternative formats upon request.
Web Addresses: http://www.a4access.org/ahg2007proposal.doc
http://www.a4access.org/ahg2007paper.doc
Presenter: Ellen Perlow, Ph.D. CHES
Title: Accessibility in Postsecondary Classrooms: Learning from Faculty Attitudes
Today’s postsecondary faculty operate in an environment increasingly being summoned
to be much more responsive to equity of access and accessibility concerns.

People with accessibility needs represent a class that anyone can join at any time, and
that virtually all people do join at some point during their lifetime (Shapiro, 1994).

People with accessibility needs currently are more than 20% of the U.S. population
(U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2003).

An estimated 600,000 million people (10% of the world's population) have formally
reported accessibility needs (World Health Organization, 2006).

By 2010, the aging U.S. population will have an estimated 70 million Americans with
recognized accessibility needs (Wu & Green, 2000).
Ellen Perlow – Accessing Higher Ground 2007 Proposal – March 30, 2007 - Page 2 of 7

By 2030, older adults, aged 65 years or greater, will grow from 12.4% to 20% of the
U.S. population.

Aging is a universal fact of life involving changing access needs (Atchley, 2000; World
Health Organization, 2002).

The older student population in higher education is increasing (Kressley &
Huebschmann, 2002; Silverstein, Choi, & Bulot, 2001).

Dramatically evident in reports from wars’ battlefields, medical advances have
increased survival rates, despite acquisition of often complex access needs, particularly
traumatic brain injuries (Bilmes & Stiglitz, 2006, p. 8; Gawande, 2004; International
Center for Disability Resources on the Internet, 2007; Warden, 2006).

The global climate crisis has increased the severity of natural disasters (Gore, 2006).

In the 21st century, people with access needs are an increasing proportion of the student
population in higher education (11%) in both face-to-face and online classrooms (Foss,
2002; Lewis & Farris, 1999; U.S. Department of Education, 2006a, 2006b).

“Accessibility should be automatic” (Schmetzke, 2006).
Attempts to comply with accessibility-related laws, regulations, codes, and policies
may prompt accessibility’s placement on an academic agenda. However, the daily reality
of faculty members increasingly facing greater numbers of people with accessibility needs,
including veterans, as applicants to their departmental programs and as students in their
physical and virtual classrooms is pushing accessibility to the forefront as a priority issue
demanding immediate attention.
Ellen Perlow – Accessing Higher Ground 2007 Proposal – March 30, 2007 - Page 3 of 7
Value priorities often are cited as predictors of attitudes and behaviors (Rohan,
2000, p. 255). Success of accessibility and universal design initiatives in higher education
thus may depend, at least in part, upon faculty members’ value priorities and attitudes
regarding integration of these initiatives into their curricula, research, and campus
advocacy. As hypothesized in an Institutional Review Board (IRB)-approved study of
postsecondary health education faculty, variables influential in development of such
priorities and attitudes include prior experience and knowledge concerning accessibility
issues and people with accessibility needs, as well as comfort level in interacting with
class members. These factors also may affect faculty interest in both practicing and
learning more about accessibility and universal design [for learning]. Furthermore,
experience, knowledge, comfort, and interest variables also may have significant
consequences for faculty members’ confidence levels in a [potential] student’s ability to
successfully complete certain coursework, particular academic programs, and to
successfully enter various professions. Faculty confidence in a student’s capacity for
academic and professional success is a crucial determinant in postsecondary program
admission and mentoring toward a career.
The proposed session will review the results of and lessons learned from the one-year
study of postsecondary health education faculty attitudes regarding accessibility and
students with accessibility needs. Consideration will be given to future replication of the
study in other academic disciplines and expansion of the survey design to include
demographic information, of course, with the requisite IRB approval. Subsequently, session
Ellen Perlow – Accessing Higher Ground 2007 Proposal – March 30, 2007 - Page 4 of 7
participants will collaborate to formulate an action plan of goals and objectives to promote
faculty support for accessibility and universal design initiatives at their institutions.
References:
Atchley, R. (2000). Aging and society. In: L. Morgan & S. Kunkel (Eds.). Aging: the social
context (2nd ed., pp. 3-29). Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.
Bilmes, L., & Stiglitz, J. E. (2006, January). The economic costs of the Iraq War: an
appraisal three years after the beginning of the conflict. Harvard University. John F.
Kennedy School of Government (Faculty Research Working Paper, RWP06-002).
Retrieved March 30, 2007, from
http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/Research/wpaper.nsf/rwp/RWP06002/$File/rwp_06_002_Bilmes_SSRN.pdf
Foss, J. J. (2002). Attitudes and accommodation practices of university health professions
faculty toward students with learning disabilities (Doctoral dissertation, University of
Florida, 2002). Dissertation Abstracts International, 64, no. 03A, 737.
Gawande, A. (2004, December 9). Casualties of war -- Military care for the wounded from
Iraq and Afghanistan. New England Journal of Medicine, 351(24), 2471-2475.
Gore, A. (2006). An inconvenient truth: the planetary emergency of global warming and
what we can do about it. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press.
Ellen Perlow – Accessing Higher Ground 2007 Proposal – March 30, 2007 - Page 5 of 7
International Center for Disability Resources on the Internet [ICDRI]. (2007, March 29).
U.S. veterans and disabilities. Retrieved March 30, 2007, from
http://www.icdri.org/Vets/usvets.htm
Hofstedt, G. (1980). Culture’s consequences: international differences in work-related
values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.
Kressley, K. M. & Huebschmann, M. (2002). The 21st century campus: gerontological
perspectives. Educational Gerontology, 28, 835-851.
Lewis, L. & Farris, E. (1999). An institutional perspective on students with disabilities in
postsecondary education. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of
Educational Research and Improvement, National Center for Education Statistics.
Educational Statistics Quarterly, 1(3). Retrieved March 30, 2007, from
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/quarterly/vol_1/1_3/4-esq13-b.asp
Rohan, M. J. (2000). A rose by any other name?: the values construct. Personality and
Social Psychology Review, 4(3), 255-277.
Schmetzke, A. (2006, September 25). E-mail communication.
Shapiro, J.P. (1994). No pity: people with disabilities forging a new civil rights movement.
New York: Times Books.
Silverstein, N. M., Choi, L. H., & Bulot, J. J. (2001). Older learners on campus.
Gerontology and Geriatrics Education, 22(1), 13-30.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. (2003a, March). Disability status: 2000. (CZKBR17).
Ellen Perlow – Accessing Higher Ground 2007 Proposal – March 30, 2007 - Page 6 of 7
U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics. (2006a, June).
Postsecondary education information system: enrollment of students with disabilities.
Retrieved March 30, 2007, from
http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/peqis/publications/1999046/3.asp
U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics. (2006b, June).
Profile of undergraduates in U.S. postsecondary education institutions: 2003-04, with
a special analysis of community college students. Retrieved March 30, 2007, from
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2006184
Warden, D. (2006, September/October). Military TBI during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 21(5), 398-402.
World Health Organization [WHO]. (2002). Active ageing: a policy framework. Retrieved
March 30, 2007, from http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2002/WHO_NMH_NPH_02.8.pdf
World Health Organization [WHO]. (2006). Concept paper: world report on disability and
rehabilitation. Retrieved March 30, 2007, from
http://www.who.int/disabilities/publications/dar_world_report_concept_note.pdf
Wu, S. V., & Green, A. (2000). Projection of chronic illness prevalence and cost inflation.
Santa Monica: CA: Rand Corporation.
Ellen Perlow – Accessing Higher Ground 2007 Proposal – March 30, 2007 - Page 7 of 7
Presenter’s Biographical Information:
Ellen Perlow, Ph.D. CHES, a career academic librarian and certified health educator, has
degrees in elementary education, library and information science, educational technology,
law, and a Ph.D. in health studies with a focus on accessibility. She is a graduate of the
California State University at Northridge [CSUN] Assistive Technology Applications
Certificate Program (September 2000) and CSUN Symposium Series advanced accessibility
training (2001-2003), a regular AT conference participant, and presenter on accessibility and
assistive technology at conferences and to university classes. Her dissertation, A for
Accessibility: Descriptor Preferences of People with Accessibility Needs (2006), about
which she presented at the 2005 Accessing Higher Ground Conference
(http://www.a4access.org/ahg2005.html), was a participatory research study by and for selfidentifying adults with accessibility needs. The research examined the impact of
accessibility-related terminology on accessibility advocacy success and class selfempowerment. Provision of alternative formats and accessible venues were a fundamental
given for the dissertation research, keeping with the study’s theme of accessibility to the
research process. Dr. Perlow currently is pursuing a doctoral degree in special education at
Texas Woman's University.