eJournal Entry 1: The 5 Whys -- by Ami Stovall

Systematic Process of Identifying the Root Cause of a Problem – The 5 Whys -- by Ami Stovall

1.

For my instructional design project, I would like to design a new SharePoint site on our district’s online sites that will include informational resources and tools available to our faculty for learning more about creating accessible online content. This is a huge demand for our district at this time because late last year we were required to mandate online accessibility policies and regulations for all students, faculty, and administrators. This newly created Dallas College mandate was due to being one of many USA college and university lawsuits that were not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. As a result, a new department was formed that I was one of three asked to set up and implement as of January 2020. Two months later, unbeknownst to anyone, this position very quickly became vital to everyone in our district as we were all forced to go to online learning due to COVID-19. The Accessibility Tech Support (ATS) team (of 3 and growing) is dedicated to assisting all Dallas College faculty and students in learning about its information and communication technology (ICT) resources ensuring that all content and communications online are accessible for everyone, including those individuals with various disabilities such as visual, and hearing, to name only a few. Creating an information and resource site that will be available to our users to learn more about online accessibility and how to use various digital tools to create online content and communications. This will be a huge benefit since everyone is still currently teaching and learning primarily online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This informational and instructional resource site will benefit users now but also moving forward into the future as new students and faculty come on board to teach and learn within Dallas College.

2.

This newly created Dallas College mandate was due to being one of many USA college and university lawsuits that were not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

3.

President George H. W. Bush signed into law “The Americans with Disabilities Act,” otherwise known as the ADA. This is a civil rights law that was enacted by Congress. This law prohibits discrimination based on the disability of persons. The purpose of the Americans with Disabilities Act, among other reasons and benefits was to assist the United States of America to benefit from the knowledge, skills, and talents of people with disabilities. This, in turn, afforded the USA to encourage more productive lives of all people in America.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities who were in programs receiving federal financial assistance. In addition, it was the first civil rights law enacted in the United States of America created to protect people with disabilities, and it was the precursor to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 mentioned above.

4.

The Americans with Disabilities Act law was modified eighteen years later, with these changes taking effect in January of 2009. This is referred to as the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008.

An amendment of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 508 was enacted (in 1998) by the United States Congress that requires federal agencies to make electronic information and technology accessible to people with disabilities. The purpose of this amendment was to remove obstacles in information technology, which in turn makes available new opportunities for disabled people. In addition, it fosters the development of the design and creation of assistive technologies to help people with disabilities to have equal access as everyone else as well as giving them the tools and ability to achieve their goals in education and workplaces to name a couple of example environments for them to benefit from.

5.

Reflecting on this process, this technique did reveal new insights for my project. For starters, the amendment of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 with subsequent amendments up through the year 2010 tells me that although or college district’s being sued and subsequently updated policy, regulations, and mandates were followed by an almost ten year “grace period” that our institution/business was granted and had ample time to implement new policies, regulations, and mandates way before they were forced to by the above-mentioned lawsuit. This is disheartening to learn and think of all the growing number of people with disabilities who have attempted to attend our colleges for at least the past ten years and their disabilities weren’t adequately accommodated, which would then allow them to have equal opportunities at learning as the rest of the student popular had and took for granted. It hearts me to admit this, but I am glad that our district (one of many colleges and universities) was sued to enforce these standards to include all people despite disability where it concerns electronic information, which has been abundance since the inception of the internet roughly in 1992, and the World Wide Web (WWW) became available to the general public roughly in 1995.

Learning this information collectively through my job and my graduate studies, as well as this journal entry assignment, the Systematic Process of Identifying the Root Cause of a Problem – The 5 Whys, it has not changed the scope, purpose, or focus of my project. Frankly, it is encouraging me even more to pursue this project with new insight and passion, so that faculty, staff, the administration will have the necessary technology resources and tools they need to ease their transition of creating, posting, publishing, and sharing content and communication digitally online that is accessible to all users, and specifically, those users who may have disabilities like visual and/or hearing, to name only two of the many types disabilities there are out there in people we associate with daily. Often people take for granted abilities they have like vision, hearing, walking, cognition, etc., but this project (I hope) will share new insight and empathy to those persons who may benefit from such laws I have mentioned above that are enacted to require and ensure that everyone has equal access, rights, and opportunities that others are afforded without the need for, the demand of, or creation of such laws that are designed to establish standards.