Autism

Don't End Equal Access to Put Up a Coffee Shop

by Dora Raymaker

Published February 13, 2009 @ 10:15AM PT

More and more, autistic students in the U.S. are being given an opportunity at a college education. One of the things that makes this possible is the availability of assistive technology for education. Screen readers, speech-to-text systems, and speech devices are just some of the assistive technology that enables autistic students and others with communication, movement, or learning disabilities to succeed at college. Since purchase of this technology can be prohibitively expensive, and is often not covered under insurance, free AT labs like Assistive Technology Center (ATC) at my university may be the only thing enabling students to get the education they deserve. So imagine my outrage when I learned that there were plans to abolish the ATC and put in--are you sitting down?--a coffee shop.

The ATC was started by students in the 1980's and became staffed by employees of Accesss Technologies, Inc. in 1995; Portland State University (PdxSU) pays for half the operating costs of the center and provides the lab space. The ATC provides free technology (including training) for students with a wide variety of disabilities, including learning, orthopedic, and visual.

And ATC does not limit itself just PdxSU students either. It provides free assistive technology training, evaluation, and other services for the community at large. ATC has helped me and others to get or use speech devices, something many of us would never be able to afford otherwise. I've also worked with ATC to test my research group's web pages for accessibility using popular screen readers. ATC's benefits reach far beyond a single student.

So when I got an email from the head of the ATC that said,

Due to the changing economic climate on the [PdxSU] campus, we are under increasing pressure to demonstrate to various administrators what the assistive technology center is doing for students. If you are a former or current [PdxSU] STUDENT and you feel strongly that the assistive tech center is important to your success as a student. Please consider taking time out of your busy schedule to write a paragraph or two about what we have done for you...

Now is the time.

I kind of flipped out.

"How desperate is this, what is going on," I wrote back--

The answer, "They are talking about sizable cuts, as well as moving or shutting down the lab (the library wants a coffee shop of all things)."

A coffee shop of all things. Indeed.

Because, you know, those 270 other coffee shops in, on, and next to campus are of course not enough. Apparently access to coffee is more important than access to education. How foolish I was to think school might be about learning, bad Dora!

(how to take action in progress, stay tuned)