The Impact of AccessComputing
Richard Ladner (Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering)
Accessibility Colloquium
Thursday, May 9, 2024, 3:30 pm
Abstract
AccessComputing is a Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) Alliance that has been funded by the National Science Foundation since 2006 by a series of five grants. The goal of AccessComputing is to increase the participation and success of people with disabilities in computing fields. There are other BPC Alliances addressing other minoritized populations in computing fields including Women, Black and African American, and Hispanic/Latinx. In this talk, I will discuss the impact of AccessComputing on the success of disabled students in computing fields and on the institutional changes that have occurred in computing departments at colleges and universities and computing organizations. I will also discuss the challenges that remain in ensuring that people with disabilities are included in the ever-changing computing fields.
Bio
Richard E. Ladner is a professor emeritus in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, having joined the faculty in 1971. He was the Principal Investigator (PI) for AccessComputing from 2006 to 2024 when he stepped down from that role. He was a theoretical computer scientist for the first 35 years of career, then moved on to be an accessibility researcher for another 18 years. He continues to do accessibility research working with students and former students. He has won several awards for his work in AccessComputing and accessibility research including the 2020 National Science Board Public Service Award, the 2016 SIGACCESS Award for Outstanding Contributions to Computing and Accessibility, the 2014 SIGCHI Social Impact Award, and the 2008 Computing Research Association A. Nico Habermann Award. He is a Fellow of the ACM, IEEE, and AAAS.
Live captioning and ASL interpretation will be provided.
This talk will be streamed live on our YouTube channel.