Access and Assistive Technology Coordinator

Position Summary

The Access and Assistive Technology Coordinator plays a critical role in facilitating access and an array of accommodations provided by Access and Disability Services (ADS) within the division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. This role requires the administrative, technological, interpersonal, and operational skills necessary to facilitate accommodations and equitable access for hundreds of Dickinson students who have disabilities related to reading, writing, seeing, hearing, communicating, information processing, and note-taking.

Serving alongside a team of dynamic professionals dedicated to supporting and empowering students as well as one another, the Coordinator will have a great deal of autonomy, as most tasks will be executed without direct supervision. Staff are also provided ample guidance, training, and opportunities for professional growth.

• Manage all aspects of implementing note-taking accommodations for approximately 250 students with cognitive, psychosocial, medical, developmental, and/or physical disabilities. Frequent, effective, and high-quality communication with staff colleagues, students, faculty, and relevant campus partners is essential.
• Implement digital accessibility and assistive technology accommodations and access for students with disabilities by procuring texts in alternative formats, training students in the use of assistive technology such as FM systems, text-to-speech, and speech-to-text applications, and working with faculty to ensure that assigned texts, LMS pages, assessments, and all course materials (including information provided visually, auditorily, in print, etc.) are in accessible formats.
• Provide high-level access and accommodation supports to address the needs of students with severely disabling conditions, including students who are blind or have low vision, are deaf or hard of hearing, and those who have limited to no use of their hands. Examples of required tasks may include the need to:
• Facilitate sign language interpreting or CART services for classes, events, and other programs or services;
• Provide necessary written and verbal guidance on the use of captioning, alt text, audio descriptions of videos, and course accessibility for students with low to no vision and/or hearing loss;
• Engage in regular check-ins with students and their professors as necessary to ensure that access and accommodation-related needs are being met;
• Facilitate independent access wherever possible by researching, analyzing, procuring, and trialing assistive technology, and providing students with training on its use.
• Collaborate to determine necessary, reasonable and appropriate disability accommodations by reviewing students' neuropsychological assessments, psycho educational evaluations, and/or medical documentation, along with students' testimonials of access barriers. Create summaries of critical diagnostic, developmental, and assessment information, along with functional limitations to equal access in the housing, dietary, mobility, academic, and extracurricular environments, and meet with students to discuss the accommodations that ADS can provide.
  
  Maintain complex databases containing confidential student information.
• Facilitate access for students and minimize risk for the college by continuously keeping abreast of trends and best practices in the field, new assistive technology tools, and accessibility strategies in a rapidly growing and emerging field. Conduct research, communicate with counterparts in other colleges and universities, review reputable listserv posts, and participate in training opportunities to ensure that accommodation practices and technical skills align with the latest developments.
  
  Evaluate current student needs and project future needs and costs to recommend expenditures for equipment.
• Regularly monitor disability and accessibility statutes and the legal landscape regarding note-taking support and digital access for individuals with disabilities (most notably the WCAG standards and compliance deadlines) and provide guidance to the Dickinson community regarding how to meet our legal compliance and student access…