Now that the Christmas rush has come and gone, I have a moment to sit back and enjoy the unhurried pace of the day after Christmas. The gifts have been opened. The money spent. The anticipation of Christmas gives way to the anticipation of a new year, and maybe, just maybe, I'll make a few new years resolutions to remind me why every day is a gift, and to inspire me to give more than I take, as I make my way through each day, throughout the year, and throughout the rest of my life. Knowing how blessed I am, and how much I have already received, it seems doubtful that my giving can ever exceed my taking. Even so, I know I can give more.

Although not officially approved yet — and therefore subject to revisions — I have published my dissertation proposal. Here is a brief excerpt:

Broadly speaking, the dissertation proposed in this document will be a curriculum analysis focusing on teaching masters-level instructional technology students to design e-learning with disability access in mind. The research will consist of three components: 1) the context of the professional instructional technology field, 2) the content of the instructional technology masters level curriculum, and 3) the process involved in integrating disability access into that curriculum.

I propose an new index in the context of international development—a Disability Development Index (DDI)—to supplement the Human Development Index (HDI) and other official indexes in the annual Human Development Report published by the United Nations Development Programme. Because people with disabilities have functional limitations requiring accommodations and an economic safety net, the well-being of people with disabilities is an effective barometer of a society's commitment to the well-being of all its members. A Disability Development Index would take into account the unique situation of people with disabilities, such as the need for assistive technologies and accessible infrastructure in both physical and virtual environments. It also takes into account the additional costs associated with living with a disability. Standard measures of poverty underestimate the poverty experienced by people with disabilities. A Disability Development Index would shed new light on the inequalities and deprivations that people with disabilities have always experienced, allowing the opportunity to focus efforts on ameliorating them to the extent possible.

Though suppositions and recommendations abound, evidence-based research focusing on how to make web content accessible to people with disabilities is scarce. Only seven studies could be found that 1) directly observed people with cognitive disabilities, and 2) addressed cognitive disability access from a web content design perspective. Most of these studies lack the rigor and/or focus to provide any firm evidence or rationale for guidelines, notwithstanding the many recommendations promoted by these studies. Certain broad observations surfaced in multiple studies, such as user difficulties typing text, understanding context, and navigating within web sites. This literature review summarizes and critiques the seven relevant studies, then discusses potential reasons for the dearth of research-based studies about cognitive disability access to the internet.

View and/or print out a web accessibility quick reference sheet which highlights important accessibility principles and techniques. It fits on a single side of paper when printed.

An excerpt from the review:

"Kohrman's book is an ethnographic treatise about the emergence of the modern concept of disability in China in the closing decades of the twentieth century. Kohrman chronicles a specific period of time in China's history, but this book is not a historical retelling of events in the conventional sense. It is an exploration of the ways in which the physical human body is integral to the concept of self, and to expressions of socio-political power. "

An excerpt from the article:

"…Higher education institutions are complex systems—or, more accurately, complex layers and networks of systems—and there are many possible points of failure in efforts to achieve web accessibility. Holistic systems-level solutions are necessary. Only systematic, coordinated effort can result in comprehensive, sustained implementation of the best techniques and technologies…"