The Of?ce of Disability Services is hosting an event on Sept. 14 to assist students with and without disabilities to better understand certain technologies.
The Accessible and Assistive Technology Expo of Alabama will feature presentations by several major computer hardware and software manufacturers, including Apple.
The expo will be held in the third ?oor of the Ferguson Center from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free and open to all members of the UA community, as well as to the general public.
According to ods.ua.edu/aatexalabama, the expo seeks to introduce attendees to technology they may not have seen before while demonstrating some accessibility features of technology that attendees may already be using.
Marion Stevens, the Assistive Technology Specialist at ODS, said the event will be bene?cial to anyone who comes.
“Since the expo is open to everyone both on and off campus, anyone who might be interested in these topics is welcome to come,” Stevens said. “I think there are many people in the community who could bene?t from learning about these technologies.”
It is important for students without disabilities to recognize that those with them are walking among them every day, Stevens said.
“There are many [disabilities] that are practically invisible unless you know what you?re looking for,” Stevens said. “For example, a student with a learning disability looks no different than a student without one, but they have to work much harder to be successful in their classes.”
Stevens also said students without disabilities can bene?t from a better awareness of how various disabilities can affect others.
“For example, with the right technologies, a blind person can read electronic texts much faster than a sighted person can, but, to be accessible, that text must be formatted properly,” Stevens said. “Making materials accessible isn?t that dif?cult, but it requires an awareness as to why doing it is important.”
This is a ?rst-time event at the University, but organizers intend for it to continue into the future.
“Our goal is to do it annually, but, since this is the ?rst time, we?ll have to see how well it?s received,” Stevens said. “The more people who attend, the more likely we can have it again next year, since the technology vendors and organizations will be more likely to come back if attendance is strong,”
Although it is not required, organizers ask that those planning to attend fill out the attendee registration form on the ODS website so that they can get an accurate assessment of participation.
