Broadening participation of people with disabilities in Computing fields

Individuals with disabilities are significantly underrepresented in both postsecondary academic programs and careers in computing, even though demand for employees in some information technology (IT) fields remains high. This presentation will describe access challenges for individuals with disabilities who wish to pursue IT fields, share promising practices for attracting people with disabilities to these fields, and provide information about The Alliance for Access to Computing Careers (AccessComputing).AccessComputing is funded by the National Science Foundation and serves to increase the participation of people with disabilities in computing careers that include those in computer science, information systems, software development, computer engineering, systems management, and teaching. AccessComputing is a collaboration of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking and Technology) at the University of Washington (TJW). Partners include Gallaudet University, the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Microsoft, the NSF Regional Alliances for Persons with Disabilities in STEM (hosted by the University of Southern Maine, New Mexico State University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the UW), and SIGACCESS of the association of computing machinery (ACM).