Heather Kadrich
For Junior Kinesiology major Amanda Gretka, the start of classes brings unique challenges. Unlike many MSU students, those with print-related disabilities, including blindness, learning disabilities, and motoric challenges, begin the text book shopping process with a trip to the bookstore-but this is just the first step. Thanks to leadership from the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities, partnership from organizations within and outside the university, and investment from generous donors, MSU students like Gretka are able to receive their books in formats that are compatible with their disabilities.
"I was at a different university my freshman year and would typically receive my alternative textbooks just about the week before finals," said Gretka, "Having my books in alternative formats, to me, means I am able to succeed. It means equality because it allows me to have the same materials as every other person in the class."
MSU's tradition of making education accessible to students with disabilities began with the 1934 founding of the Tower Guard, a sophomore honor society created to build character, leadership, scholarship and a spirit of service by reading books aloud to students who were blind. While 75 years of service evolution has changed the techniques for accessibility, the goal of Tower Guard remains steadfast. Today, with the advancement of technology enabling better resources, most of their work is done on computer-course materials are scanned, formatted, and edited, then uploaded to a secure online books system ready for timely rendition in a range of formats, from magnified text to computer-synthesized speech, or even Braille.
Tom Hwang, RCPD Media Access Specialist, remarks, "We need technologically savvy, detail oriented students to do this work, because if it is not produced correctly it is not useful to the students. Top quality, accuracy and timely production are our main goals." Without Tower Guard, this would be a daunting task at best.
RCPD Director Michael Hudson recalls the important advancements in the past 10 years that maintained this leading edge capacity. "We leveraged an important early investment in the RCPD by the Samaritan Foundation, along with technological support from the Vice-Provost for Libraries, Computing and Technology to reinforce our national leadership in timely and effective production," he said.
In 2006, RCPD sought to further refine the accessible text program by streamlining coordination of the initiative. "In order to increase capacity in the books program, we needed a Media Access Specialist," said Hudson. After hiring Tom Hwang as the RCPD's first Media Access Specialist, MSU began to seek the leading edge in electronic media for people with disabilities. "Tom brings important new synergy to existing partnerships and furthers our deployment of technology in this long-standing effort," remarks Hudson. Hwang's coordination and leadership is instrumental in keeping MSU's accessible books program one of the best in the nation.
RCPD capacity to provide accessible textbooks was again boosted in 2008 with support from Richard and Kathleen Carlson. Their establishment of the Carlson Accessible Media Program (CAMP) endowment followed a sense of gratitude for the services their daughter received as an MSU student; the endowment exists to ensure access to educational materials. In the spring of 2009, MSU was featured as one of 14 higher education programs nationally listed as a foundational partner in the Bookshare.org initiative. In this way, MSU leadership is helping students with print-related disabilities across the nation gain access to quality educational materials. The initiative remains a partnership founded on the MSU land and world grant principles. A goal decades in the making, students, staff and alumni now showcase on the global scale how people with significant disabilities are reaching educational and career objectives, despite often overlooked obstacles.