On July 26, 1990, President George H. W. Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Now that the academic year is underway for many of us, it’s a good time to take note of the 20th anniversary of the passage of this law and to provide links to a few valuable and relevant resources.

You might start with the ADA Home Page, which offers "information and technical assistance on the Americans With Disabilities Act." See also Disability.gov, whose stated goal is to "connect the disability community to information and opportunities." Disability.gov sponsors the Disability Blog, which shares "the latest disability-related news, information & trends." The United States Access Board is "a federal agency committed to accessible design" with links to information related to communications, architecture, transportation, and equipment.

For design and use of digital media and digital tools, see Section508.gov. Note, in particular, their list of "Academic Community Members" a list of links to "entities [that] offer a wide array of expertise and opportunity for enhancing the implementation of Section 508."

The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) offers "strategies, guidelines, resources to make the Web accessible to people with disabilities." Their page of links to "WAI Resources" is especially helpful. See, for instance, "How People with Disabilities Use the Web," which presents a variety of scenarios involving a variety of users with different disabilities and how accessible web design will serve their needs.

http://chronicle.com/blogPost/The-ADA-Turns-20/26415/?sid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en