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NCDAE: The National Center on Disability and Access to Education

Increasing universal access by
developing educational resources

Events and Activities

NCDAE Year One Accomplishments

List of NCDAE's accomplishments in the first year of the FIPSE funded project. NCDAE focused on concept development and dissemination, as well as attended many activities and presentations.

National Education Technology Plan: Many children left behind

NCDAE's response to the Department of Education's 2004 Education Technology Plan. "We certainly applaud efforts to ensure that American students benefit from the explosive growth of technology in education, but what about the more than six million students with disabilities?" asks Martin Blair, Policy Director of the National Center on Disability and Access to Education (NCDAE).

NCDAE's applauds CoSN for new accessible technologies for all students initiative

The National Center on Disability and Access to Education (NCDAE) applauds the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) on its new three-year initiative, "Accessible Technologies for All Students". This project will increase student achievement and promote academic success for all students by increasing communication between school technology leaders and special-education departments.

NIMAS in IDEA: Department of Education response to public comments and final regulations

Added August 4. 2006: The final federal regulations are now available for the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) in Part B of IDEA 2004. They were published by the Department of Education yesterday in an "unofficial" form pending their publication in the Federal Register. Although the document is well over 1700 pages, staff from NCDAE has collected only those items that pertain to NIMAS. Verbatim sections pulled from the "unofficial" federal document are available for (1) a summary of changes to NIMAS, (2) the Department of Education's analysis of comments and change, and (3) the final regulation including the technical standard.

Read a compilation of NIMAS excerpts.

Telecommunications and Electronic and Information Technology Advisory Committee

Added July 6, 2006: The National Center on Disability and Access to Education is pleased to announce that it has been appointed a seat on the newly formed Telecommunications and Electronic and Information Technology Advisory Committee. This committee will be reviewing and updating the existing Section 508 and Telecommunications Act accessibility guidelines for telecommunications products and accessibility standards for electronic and information technology. These laws apply widely throughout U.S. federal government and industry.

Accessible Distance Education National Discussion

NCDAE and AccessIT co-sponsored a National Discussion on Accessible Distance Education and IT on Wednesday, January 18, 2006 immediately prior to the ATIA 2006 Conference. NCDAE affiliates and partners attended the discussion from Noon to 4:00PM. The meeting built on the national discussion held November 18, 2005 in Washington, DC. Participants in that meeting identified a series of initiatives and activities to enhance accessible education-related information technology in the public school setting.