The original goal of this project was to establish an Accessible Technology Center located at The California State University (CSU) Office of the Chancellor in Long Beach. The goal of the Center was to increase the procurement and development of accessible electronic and information technologies (E&IT) used by 427,000 students (including 11,500 with disabilities) and 44,000 staff and faculty acrossthe 23 campus CSU system and beyond in a way that promotes universal design in the Information Technology (IT) and Internet industries. E&IT includes websites and Web applications, hardware, software, telecommunications, multimedia, and other IT related products.
The goal evolved into a CSU systemwide collaborative effort to support the procurement and development of accessible information technologies that conform to the technical standards of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act as amended in 1998 which seeks to incorporate accessibility into mainstream IT. Established in 2007, the CSU Accessible Technology Initiative (ATI) was the first postsecondary education initiative of its kind in the US. This grant project supported the ATI’s efforts to develop policies, practices, and procedures that integrate accessibility into business processes that lead to sustainable removal of accessibility barriers for persons with disabilities and the ATI’s commitment to developing tools and training to support those business processes. The
ATI shares its processes, supporting tools, and training and collaborates with other postsecondary institutions and a variety of government agencies. The ATI also works with vendors to improve the accessibility of E&IT products used in both education and other enterprises.