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[MUSIC PLAYING]
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NARRATOR: Providing accessible
informal STEM learning.
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[MUSIC PLAYING]
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CHARLOTTE MARTIN:
I'm Charlotte Martin.
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I'm the Director of
Access Initiatives
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at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and
Space Museum in New York City.
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And one of my big takeaways
working in access for a number
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of years now is not to
assume what an individual can
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or cannot do, but rather
knowing the potential barriers
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presented by your space or
your program or the challenge
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you're working on, trying to
mitigate those as best you can
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in advance, and then being
prepared to offer clear options
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and information
about those options.
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So having text labels,
having large print available,
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so having large print labels
that people can borrow, also
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having that content available
online through an accessible
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web page that you can
access through a QR code.
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By building those resources
into the exhibition,
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you can still have that shared
experience with the people
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that you came with even
if some are disabled
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or not disabled or have
different preferences for how
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they get that information.
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[MUSIC PLAYING]
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KATY MENNE: Hi.
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My name is Katy Menne.
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I'm the Curator of Education
at the North Carolina Maritime
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Museum at Southport.
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We strive every day, all
day, through all platforms
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and on site to make
sure that we are
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accessible for all people,
all ages, all abilities.
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So if it's reading the
exhibits and going through
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at your own pace, if
it's scanning a QR
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code for a semi-guided audio
tour, including American Sign
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Language, or if it's
utilizing our Braille
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maps to go throughout the
building, no matter what,
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we hope that you
have an opportunity
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to learn, and do, and be the
best version of yourself.
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[MUSIC PLAYING]
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ISAAC BEAVERS:
I'm Isaac Beavers.
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I'm with the Alabama
Institute for Deaf and Blind
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in Huntsville.
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In our informal STEM
learning programs,
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we serve primarily blind and
visually impaired students.
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We have over the last
few years incorporated
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deaf and hard-of-hearing
students.
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So one of the things
we do is make sure
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that on our registrations, we
ask what consumers might need,
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attendees might need.
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When we're working with
blind and visually impaired,
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we want to make
sure that we have
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Braille, tactile
representations and models.
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We want to make sure that
we have audio access.
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And when we're
working with our deaf,
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we always make sure we
have American Sign Language
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interpreters, and also we have
a few FM devices along the way.
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RYAN SAGLIO: My
name is Ryan Saglio.
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I am the Supported
Employment Program Manager
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at a human services
nonprofit in Massachusetts
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called Attleboro Enterprises.
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I work exclusively with
individuals with disabilities
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and mental illness who are
looking to find employment
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opportunities out
in their community,
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but I have also in the past
done accessibility and inclusion
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work for some of the local
museums here in New England.
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I think that good accessibility
work is basic accessibility
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work, things like having
bathrooms that are accessible,
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benches that are accessible,
wide walking paths.
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A story that I often tell
of accessibility gone wrong
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is I recently visited a museum
that I was very excited to see.
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I'd been waiting two
years to get there.
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I do have my own
physical disabilities
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and physical limitations, so
I don't use mobility aids,
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but I do need to sit
down quite often.
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And we were in the museum,
and we were walking around,
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and after a couple of minutes,
I really needed to sit,
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and because of COVID, they had
removed all of the benches.
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So as we're walking
through the museum,
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I'm looking for somewhere to
sit down so I can take a moment,
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and we're not finding one.
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And the further we
get into the museum,
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the less I'm looking
at the museum,
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and the more I'm just
looking for a bench.
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And by the time we
finally found one,
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there was a line of people
who were looking to sit down,
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so we actually just left.
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TANY HOLZWORTH: Hey.
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I'm Tany Holzworth.
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I'm the content designer
for Inclusive Classroom
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Tools at Microsoft,
and previously, I
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was managing the
Volunteer Inclusion
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Program at Woodland Park Zoo.
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And some of the things that
were the most successful with us
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when we first got started were
revamping the Accessibility
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Guidelines on our website.
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We found that a lot of
people with disabilities
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didn't perceive the
zoo to be accessible
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for them to even visit, so
it never occurred to them
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to volunteer at the zoo.
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So by updating the
website and making sure
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that there was a way to request
accommodations or see what
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accommodations are
available, we were
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able to get a lot more folks
interested in volunteering.
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The other thing that
was really important
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was training staff and existing
volunteers without disabilities
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to presume competence of
the incoming volunteers.
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And by that, I just
mean treating them
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as much as possible
like anybody else
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who would be a new volunteer.
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[MUSIC PLAYING]
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DIANA JOHNS: My
name is Diana Johns.
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I'm the Vice President
for Exhibits, Education,
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and Outreach at
Pacific Science Center,
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and I have been with the
Science Center for 17 years now.
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I think for an institution
that's been around since 1962,
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some of the challenges
that you're dealing with
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are legacy issues.
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So one of the best practices is
when you have that opportunity
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to make a significant
change to a legacy area,
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how are you thinking about the
accessibility of that area?
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We recently put in
a new experience
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that we'd had before,
and the vendor
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had asked if we could put
it back in the same place,
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and we said no because that
was not accessible to everyone.
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CHARLOTTE MARTIN: But
the thing I would really
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encourage from
the very beginning
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is engaging directly with
disabled self-advocates,
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and engage with them at
all levels of your planning
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from the very beginning at
that brainstorming to identify
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what the priorities should be
or what the challenges are,
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what the opportunities are.
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It's the expression--
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Don't let the perfect be
the enemy of the good.
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We need to start somewhere.
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But as long as it's
iterative, and we're
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learning along the
way, that's really
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what's going to make
the big difference.
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KATY MENNE: When designing
programs and exhibits,
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we try to look at
the whole person.
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So if you are sitting
in a wheelchair,
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if you're sitting on
the floor, if you're
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walking around needing
constant movement,
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how can you still
learn and interact
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with our maritime topics?
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So materials
utilized in classes,
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like crayons or
scissors, we try to have
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several different options.
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We hope that as you take
on this journey of creating
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inclusive and accessible
spaces for all people
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that you think about putting
yourself in the shoes
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and in the spaces of others.
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ISAAC BEAVERS: As
you think about how
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to accommodate someone
who is blind or visually impaired
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and somebody who's deaf
or hard-of-hearing,
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the fact of the matter is,
is that almost all of us
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could benefit from something
that is larger print, that
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is high contrast,
almost all of us
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could benefit from
clear communication.
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RYAN SAGLIO: When you make one
small change with one community
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need in mind, it often
has ramifications and can
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impact more than just one.
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So when you make a space
wheelchair accessible,
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you make it easier for
a mom with a stroller
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to also navigate that space.
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When you create a
gender neutral bathroom,
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you create a place for dads to
bring their kids or caregivers
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who might be out
in the community
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and need a space that is neither
a men's room or a women's room.
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Or when you create a
picture menu for somebody
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that doesn't read,
you also allow
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someone who might
have extreme anxiety
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or might be an English
language learner
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to also occupy that space and
have the typical experience.
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DIANA JOHNS: When you do design
something that you make sure
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you are testing that with a
wide variety of potential users
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because you will learn
very quickly if something
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is truly as close to universally
designed as possible.
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So I think it's
always never assume
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you've got all the answers.
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Make sure that you
are testing things
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with all the variety of users
that you hope to invite.
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[MUSIC PLAYING]
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NARRATOR: This
presentation was created
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by AccessISL, which supports
efforts to make informal STEM
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learning opportunities
more welcoming
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and accessible to everyone,
especially individuals
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with disabilities.
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For more information, visit
the AccessISL website,
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uw.edu/doit/programs/accessisl.
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AccessISL is supported by
National Science Foundation
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grant number DRL-1906147.
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Any questions, findings, and
conclusions or recommendations
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expressed in this material
are those of the speakers,
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and do not necessarily
reflect the views
-
of the federal government.
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Copyright 2022,
University of Washington.
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Permission is granted
to copy these materials
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for educational
non-commercial purposes
-
provided the source
is acknowledged.