Accessibility & Disability

ED Grants $3.6 Million for Accessible Tech

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 11/02/15

The field of accessible technology has just received an infusion of new funding. The Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs recently awarded $4.8 million in grants for projects intended to improve outcomes for students with disabilities. The bulk of that — $3.6 million — will be allocated to universities and other organizations to promote the development and use of accessible technology, media services and educational materials. The remaining funding is going to be directed to projects that increase literacy outcomes for students in grades 6-12.

The big award was funded under the Educational Technology, Media and Materials for Individuals with Disabilities Program and spread among eight recipients. Their projects include captioning and video description of educational materials and providing accessible materials to students with disabilities "in a timely manner."

Among the projects:

• Closed Caption Latina is continuing with an initiative to ensure that students from early learners through grade 12 with visual and hearing problems will be able to use the same educational media as other students. The Florida company received almost $400,000 in this round of grants;
• Beneficent Technology (Benetech) received $677,000 for its on-going efforts in the DIAGRAM Center, which is working to make images and math more accessible; and
• CAST, the Center for Applied Special Technology, which promotes Universal Design for Learning, will receive almost $250,000. Researchers at the University of Minnesota will receive a similar amount and those at the University of Oregon will get nearly $500,000.

Other fundees included CaptionMax, Narrative Television Network and Bridge Multimedia, all of which provide services that make content accessible.