ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, October 12, 1996 TAG: 9610140058
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG (AP)
SOURCE: ALISON FREEHLING (NEWPORT NEWS) DAILY PRESS
THE SECOND-OLDEST campus in the nation is undergoing changes to become more accessible to students with disabilities. - ``Kit'' speaks in the high-pitched chatter of a small child. ``Wendy'' whispers in the rougher voice of an adult woman.
They are not real people, but characters - two of nine different voices programmed inside a text-scanning machine in a new technology center at the College of William and Mary.
For 18-year-old Tim Dutterer, a sophomore who is legally blind, ``Kit'' and ``Wendy'' are the voices that might scan, read aloud and record class assignments in his work toward a public policy degree.
For 303-year-old William and Mary, the technology center, opened in April, is part of a push to modernize the nation's second-oldest campus to meet the needs of students with disabilities.
``The center is really going to help people here,'' said Dutterer, who has had only limited vision since he was born with cataracts in both eyes.
``It can handle people much more impaired than I am. People are not going to have to eliminate William and Mary as an option anymore. It's going to send out a message to people applying.''
Because of the age of many of its buildings, William and Mary has a longer road than many schools to make its campus fully accessible to students with disabilities, said Lisa Bickley, assistant dean of students for disability services.
``William and Mary really had a long way to go when I came in,'' Bickley said. ``We still do have a long way to go, but we're really starting to make progress.''
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that educational programs and services offered to other students also are open to students with disabilities. Bickley's position was created four years ago, after a growing number of students with disabilities began applying to the college.
Student who think that their disability will require special accommodation in the classroom - such as sign language interpretation, Braille materials, counseling or alternative test formats - must register with Bickley's office.
About 200 students are registered, she said. About half of them have learning disabilities or attention deficit disorders, she said. The rest have a mix of disabilities, ranging from physical to visual impairment.
That means physical as well as technological changes on campus. According to Mary Glisan, assistant director of residence life, just five of the 33 residence halls are handicapped-accessible. None of the 11 freshman dorms can be accessed by students in wheelchairs, she said.
Krissy Lyons, an 18-year-old freshman who uses a wheelchair, lives with a sophomore roommate in Jefferson Hall, a residence hall for upperclassmen.
``I really don't mind at all,'' Lyons said. ``They are older, and they can help me out a lot. I just have to leave early for class, because it's hard to get some places. I can't go some of the normal routes.''
Twelve of 36 buildings on campus listed as non-residence halls are ``fully accessible,'' meaning they have entrance ramps, automatic doors and handicapped-accessible bathrooms.
Fourteen buildings fall under the categories of ``accessible'' or ``limited,'' meaning some but not all of the above features are in place. The remaining 10 buildings are ``problematic.''
The college is in compliance with the Disabilities Act as long as educational offerings are made available to all students, said Sam Sadler, vice president for student affairs. That sometimes means relocating classes to meet certain needs, he said.
``We're working at it, but we've got a long way to go,'' Sadler said. ``So many of our buildings were built in the 1930s and 1940s, when these concerns weren't around.''
Sadler did not have a timetable for when all buildings would be fully accessible.
A residence hall master plan for the next seven years, Sadler said, calls for the installation of ramps, elevators and visual alarm systems - flashing lights to alert students with hearing impairments during fire alarms. It should make most halls accessible, he said.
An elevator recently was added at James Blair Hall, and the Sir Christopher Wren Building will get one.
The technology center's focus is on bringing in needed equipment, particularly for students with visual impairments. There now are five such students on campus.
Until last spring, those students had to provide their own equipment. The center was funded through a $25,000 gift from Carolyn Watson, a 1943 graduate of the college who is not visually impaired but who was interested in helping students with visual impairments.
Equipment includes a voice synthesizer that reads back everything a student types; software that scans typed text and prints it out in Braille; screen enlargement software to aid low-vision students; and scanners that can read text aloud in different voices and even in foreign languages.
Students can program the machines to read in a variety of speeds and voices. ``Kit'' could be the primary reader of an article, for example, and ``Wendy'' could take over to read all bold or italic sections.
``This is a real recruitment tool for us,'' said Bickley, who is preparing a guide for faculty on teaching students with disabilities. ``We're getting to where we need to go.''
LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Tim Dutterer works in the college's new technologyby CNBcenter.