Browsing by Subject "Accessibility"

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Accessibility of Nirvāṇa : the language and media of Sri Lankan Buddhist televangelists and their followers
(2023-04-20) Fedricks, Krishantha Gemunu Kumara; Handman, Courtney, 1975-; Webster, Anthony K., 1969-; Spencer, Jonathan; Slotta, James; Keating, Elizabeth
During the last two decades of upheaval in Sri Lanka (including civil war, ethnic violence and the current economic crisis), a new transnational movement of televangelist Buddhist monks, collectively part of the Mahamevnāva Monastery, has emerged encouraging followers to access nirvāṇa (liberation from suffering) in this lifetime. The movement encourages lay Buddhists to prioritize attaining nirvāṇa over material wealth and nationalist politics. To make the concept more accessible to a wider audience, the Mahamevnāva movement has built over fifty branch monasteries, known as asapu (hermitages) in urban settings in Sri Lanka and twenty worldwide since 1999. In their rituals, they use colloquial Sinhala instead of the traditional Pāli language and employ modern televisual technologies to create new ritual spectacles of nirvāṇa. This dissertation examines how Mahamevnāva Buddhists—both monks lay practitioners—are reforming Buddhist practice through innovative rituals and new linguistic and media forms to create a non-hierarchical, non-consumerist, non-nationalist religious movement focused on attaining nirvāṇa in this world. I furthermore explore how in doing so the movement has produced a new hierarchical form of nationalist religiosity for an urban middle-class of Sri Lankan Buddhists. This dissertation seeks to move beyond polarizing paradigms of either materialist consumerism or nationalist politics on the one hand and decontextualized religious liberation on the other, viewing it instead as a Post-Protestant Buddhist movement, a reformation of 19th century Protestant Buddhist practice through new techniques of mediation. Thus, this dissertation argues that non-materialistic religious identities can coexist with consumerist forms of media and nationalist language. In turn, the uptake of this accessible nirvāṇa, through new forms of media and linguistic registers of emerging ritual practices, contributes to a religious transformation and a new form of nationalism. Ultimately this research reveals that this religious reformation caters to the demand of modern individuals to access liberation amidst the embodied "evil" of neoliberalism, social hierarchy, and political uncertainty. As such, both new and traditional media formats make the previously inaccessible goal of liberation an attainable objective in this lifetime for trans-local and transnational Sri Lankan lay middle-class subjects.
Accessible eLearning content, a video series : a sequence of videos exploring the importance, guidelines, and practices of creating accessible eLearning content for learners with vision impairments
(2021-05-03) Zhu, Wei (M.A. in curriculum and instruction); Resta, Paul E.
The purpose of this report is to explore the research relating to the accessibility of eLearning courses for visually impairment learners and help instructional designers to have a better understanding of the learning experience of visually impaired individuals. A series of animated micro-learning videos are created to acknowledge instructional designers of the problems and issues in the accessibility of eLearning design that they might have not been aware of and become barriers for visually impaired leaners to access multimedia content. More importantly, the report integrates WCAG 2.2 guidelines and provides feasible suggestions and best practices that instructional designer can employ in their eLearning design.
Amanda Martinez Beck Interview
(2021-12-02) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life; Department of Religious Studies
This interview is with Amanda Martinez Beck, a fat liberation activist living in Marshall, TX. Amanda talks about the work that online activism involves, such as social media engagement, podcasting, and writing for various platforms. She discusses the problems of language in her activism, like the negative connotations many people have with concepts like fatness and disability. Amanda also explains how her conversion to Catholicism and exposure to incarnational theology helped her learn to celebrate her body and the bodies of others.
An evaluation of pedestrian bus stop accessibility through the existing sidewalk network in Austin, Texas
(2020-08-10) Rivas, Jeffrey Nathaniel; Zhang, Ming, 1963 April 22-
This study explores neighborhood bus stop accessibility through the currently existing sidewalk network in Austin, Texas. The main methodology for this analysis involves the use of GIS Network Analyst. This topic is important for the City of Austin because it is currently missing a significant portion of their sidewalk network yet sidewalks provide an essential part of mobility infrastructure, especially for access to public transit. The use of public transit is becoming increasingly important in order to address sustainability, health, and transportation issues that are almost universally found across large urban areas. The GIS based approach used in this study focuses on residential building accessibility from bus stops across the City of Austin. Results show that the best-connected neighborhoods are not the ones with the most complete sidewalk networks. Instead, the availability of bus stops in the neighborhood is what was most associated with neighborhood connectivity. Results also show enormous increases in residential building accessibility to bus stops through a full build out of sidewalks found at 5, 10, and 15 minute pedestrian service areas.
Beyond utility : accessibility, art, and the cultivation of beauty
(2023-04-20) Dicks, Denise Marie; Dillon, Andrew
This master’s report is an exploration of accessibility through the lens of artists and museums. The following tenets were foundational to the research: art is necessary to the health of people and communities; it is a social gauge to understand the past and present; all work done in accessibility and for the disabled community must be led by their own voices – “nothing about us without us.” Through two rounds of interviews and a literature review spanning the fall and spring semesters, a surprising discrepancy was uncovered: the extensive accessibility work being done in museums was antithetical to artists’ perceptions of and experience with accessibility, who reported having no to little exposure in their schooling and within exhibitions spaces. Future research will include interviews with museum curators, artists with disabilities, and art granting institutions as well building accessible, and multisensorial art instillations, in my own art practice.
Bold, brave & essential : investigating the intersections of DEAI and educational programing at the Baltimore Museum of Art
(2022-05-05) Fejeran, Zoë Renée; Bain, Christina
This research presents the Baltimore Museum of Art as a timely case study during the years 2020 and 2021. Applying the framework of critical theory, this study investigates one museum’s mission to successfully embed diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion into the many facets of their museum operations. Located in Baltimore, Maryland, the museum has made a public commitment to be a leader in museum relevancy and community engagement. As such, educational programming and resources created by the museum are explored as an integral mechanism for this successful integration: prioritizing multi-vocal narratives and honoring lived experiences of their diverse community. Research conducted throughout this study revealed, across all considered data, three overarching themes as a result of the unique relationship between the challenges and opportunities that the Baltimore Museum of Art faced in 2020-2021, their DEAI initiatives, and the museum’s education department. The emergent themes expressed: an integral relationship between the BMA’s education department and the success of their DEAI initiatives, and increase in online resources, and substantial improvements of the diversity of objects and histories represented within the BMA’s exhibitions, programming and resources. While this case study highlights a singular arts institution, the discoveries therein offer a platform for further research into lasting, and necessary efforts to ensure museums remain meaningful, relevant and culturally inclusive institutions.
Bus network redesigns in medium-sized cities : an equity evaluation on supermarket accessibility
(2021-07-30) McGee, Jordan Kathleen; Karner, Alex; Wegmann, Jake
Transit agencies across the country are redesigning their bus network for the first time in several decades in order to increase ridership and the attractiveness of the system. The reallocation of resources and resulting service cuts raise equity concerns. This report calculates and evaluates equity-focused performance measurements related to supermarket accessibility before and after the bus network redesigns in the medium-sized cities of Austin, Columbus and Indianapolis. The performance measures related to grocery store accessibility significantly improved under Columbus’ bus network redesign and appeared equitable. The measures for Indianapolis largely worsened, but people of color equitably fared better than white residents. Austin’s bus network redesign had mixed performance and equity results for grocery store accessibility. On average, the redesigns of the three bus networks did not raise significant equity concerns for grocery store accessibility.
Comparing transit accessibility measures : a case study of access to healthcare facilities
(2010-12) Blackmar, Carey Eileen; Bhat, Chandra R. (Chandrasekhar R.), 1964-; Walton, C. Michael
Despite the continued interest in transportation accessibility, it is still unclear how different types of accessibility measures relate to one another and which situations are best for each. The current study undertakes a statistical comparison among six transit accessibility measures (representing three main categories of accessibility models) to determine whether they are comparable and/or interchangeable. Specifically, this analysis considers a case study to measure individuals’ access to healthcare via paratransit. Results indicate that the three categories of accessibility measures provide drastically different interpretations of accessibility that cannot be duplicated by each other. Furthermore, the more closely accessibility models capture individuals’ perceptions and true access to activity opportunities, the more consistent and evenly distributed the results.
Critical approaches to access : rethinking first and last mile access to opportunities for disabled people
(2023-08-01) Levine, Kaylyn; Karner, Alex; Sciara, Gian-Claudia; Solis, Miriam; Winges-Yanez, Nick
The disability community has been largely underrepresented in the transportation planning process, resulting in accessibility challenges and limitations in access and mobility. Disability rates in the U.S. have increased from 12.5% in 2010 to 13.4% in 2020 and is expected to continue to trend upwards. My dissertation contributes to understanding how disabled people experience the first and last mile segments of public transit trips to access the opportunities they need. To analyze this phenomenon, I frame first and last mile planning for disabled people within the theoretical framework of mobility justice, providing new connections between transportation systems, decisions, and experiences. Scholars can be most effective in advancing justice by shifting power away from planners and agency leaders to capitalize on citizen-led planning goals. This work examines if greater involvement and recognition in the engagement, data analysis, and planning process for the disability community, using a critical lens, can transportation planning for disabled people. My work centers disabled travelers by integrating their experiences throughout the planning process, rather than making assumptions based on insufficient data about pedestrian and transit environments. Using a mixed-methods research design, I compare missing sidewalk infrastructure, public agency planning for transit riders with disabilities, and the travel experiences of disabled transit riders along the first and last mile. I find contextual and intersectional burdens along the first and last mile trip segments for disabled people who use public transit and discuss how spatial and socioeconomic inequities impact these burdens. My dissertation makes three contributions to transportation planning scholarship. I situate first and last mile trips within the complex, socio-political realm of the existing built environment and social systems that link the travel behavior of disabled people with intersectionality, social exclusion, and equitable active transportation. My pedestrian network analysis of missing sidewalk infrastructure uses a novel approach to suggest that first and last mile conditions are needed in measures of access to opportunity. Lastly, I propose that intersectionality, and the complex factors that contribute to a traveler’s identity, need to be prioritized in the transportation planning process.
Democratizing mobility and accessibility in American communities : transportation demand management and universal design approaches
(2023-04-20) Mabalatan, Mark Francis; Karner, Alex; Sciara, Gian-Claudia
Auto-centric infrastructure is not a sustainable path forward for mobility in the United States also continues to uphold institutional and historical marginalization against several vulnerable groups. Motor vehicle emissions contributes greatly to climate change and even with a hypothetical shift to electric vehicles, the production of such vehicles still takes an immense toll on the environment, presents increased risk for crashes, and negative implications for congestion and physical activity for community members. Mobility and accessibility are two distinct aspects of community experience that every community member has the right to. TDM and universal design are two approaches can create more accommodating transportation journeys in the public realm and on transit for specific protected groups and restore mobility and accessibility injustice for historically marginalized groups.
Dynamic traffic assignment-based modeling paradigms for sustainable transportation planning and urban development
(2014-05) Shah, Rohan Jayesh; Boyles, Stephen David, 1982-
Transportation planning and urban development in the United States have synchronously emerged over the past few decades to encompass goals associated with sustainability, improved connectivity, complete streets and mitigation of environmental impacts. These goals have evolved in tandem with some of the relatively more traditional objectives of supply-side improvements such as infrastructure and capacity expansion. Apart from the numerous federal regulations in the US transportation sector that reassert sustainability motivations, metropolitan planning organizations and civic societies face similar concerns in their decision-making and policy implementation. However, overall transportation planning to incorporate these wide-ranging objectives requires characterization of large-scale transportation systems and traffic flow through them, which is dynamic in nature, computationally intense and a non-trivial problem. Thus, these contemporary questions lie at the interface of transportation planning, urban development and sustainability planning. They have the potential of being effectively addressed through state-of-the-art transportation modeling tools, which is the main motivation and philosophy of this thesis. From the research standpoint, some of these issues have been addressed in the past typically from the urban design, built-environment, public health and vehicle technology and mostly qualitative perspectives, but not as much from the traffic engineering and transportation systems perspective---a gap in literature which the thesis aims to fill. Specifically, it makes use of simulation-based dynamic traffic assignment (DTA) to develop modeling paradigms and integrated frameworks to seamlessly incorporate these in the transportation planning process. In addition to just incorporating them in the planning process, DTA-based paradigms are able to accommodate numerous spatial and temporal dynamics associated with system traffic, which more traditional static models are not able to. Besides, these features are critical in the context of the planning questions of this study. Specifically, systemic impacts of suburban and urban street pattern developments typically found in US cities in past decades of the 20th century have been investigated. While street connectivity and design evolution is mostly regulated through local codes and subdivision ordinances, its impacts on traffic and system congestion requires modeling and quantitative evidence which are explored in this thesis. On the environmental impact mitigation side, regional emission inventories from the traffic sector have also been quantified. Novel modeling approaches for the street connectivity-accessibility problem are proposed. An integrated framework using the Environmental Protection Agency's regulatory MOVES model has been developed, combining it with mesoscopic-level DTA simulation. Model demonstrations and applications on real and large-sized study areas reveal that different levels of connectivity and accessibility have substantial impacts on system-wide traffic---as connectivity levels reduce, traffic and congestion metrics show a gradually increasing trend. As regards emissions, incorporation of dynamic features leads to more realistic emissions inventory generation compared to default databases and modules, owing to consideration of the added dynamic features of system traffic and region-specific conditions. Inter-dependencies among these sustainability planning questions through the common linkage of traffic dynamics are also highlighted. In summary, the modeling frameworks, analyses and findings in the thesis contribute to some ongoing debates in planning studies and practice regarding ideal urban designs, provisions of sustainability and complete streets. Furthermore, the integrated emissions modeling framework, in addition to sustainability-related contributions, provides important tools to aid MPOs and state agencies in preparation of state implementation plans for demonstrating conformity to national ambient air-quality standards in their regions and counties. This is a critical condition for them to receive federal transportation funding.
Foregrounding accessibility for user experience design
(2015-05) Sandhu, Amanjot Kaur; Lee, Gloria; Bias, Randolph
I am interested in creating generative tools and techniques for designing accessible user experiences for end users. As a user experience designer, I am working on embracing the web accessibility standards and guidelines and including them from the beginning of the User Experience (UX) design process. My projects are directed at facilitating design students and professionals to understand two things: that the broad concept of web accessibility is important, and how they can embed web accessibility into the UX design process at a very early stage. To do this, I used different media (website, posters and videos etc.) to create awareness and educate designers in an interesting, simple and engaging way. In this report, I will discuss the definition and role of accessible design, identify limitations in existing tools and methods, and demonstrate how future designers might research, prototype, analyze, and implement their designs for all users.
Inaccessible Amenities: The Effects of Gentrification on Voter Suppression in Austin
(2019-12-13) Beckum, Orlando II
Paisy : a mobile banking experience for Indians with limited digital literacy
(2019-05-09) Joglekar, Bhargavi Mahesh; Gorman, Carma
While India is aiming to rapidly transform from a cash-only to a cashless and digital economy, people with low digital literacy, especially middle-aged adults in India who matured in the pre-smartphone period, find it difficult to switch to digital payments and digital banking. Although banks and private companies have created mobile payment solutions to enable cashless banking, these solutions seem to be designed only for digital natives, i.e., the young and digitally literate population. These solutions do not address the needs of novice digital users having limited digital literacy. I have therefore designed a mobile banking experience intended to empower middle-aged Indian adults with limited digital literacy to use mobile banking independently and confidently.
Rafael Aguilar Interview
(2021-06-16) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life
This interview is with Rafael Aguilar, an Austin-based educator and activist. Rafael talks about their experience with the American education system as a child, which caused them to begin questioning the country’s systemic injustices. They describe how as an educator, they expose students to intersectional information and encourage them to ask questions and think critically. Rafael also shares their experiences as an activist, particularly their support of racial justice, Palestinian liberation, and homeless rights.
Six principles for redesigning museum interpretation
(2019-05) Smedley, Lauren Kelley; Gorman, Carma; Park, Jiwon, M.F.A.
Many museum visitors rely upon content panels or labels to make meaning of what they are looking at, but these labels do not always provide sufficient context for visitors. This insufficient context can result in confusion or lack of interest, especially for visitors without much prior exposure to art. To assist visitors in making meaning beyond the provided label, museum educators sometimes offer audio tours, live programming, and—on occasion—expensive technological solutions (like the Cooper-Hewitt’s “pen”), but the information included on the labels is often too sparse or not what museum goers need, and the technological solutions are often too complex, clunky, distracting, or overwhelming, and require a great deal of maintenance. In response to this problem, I have developed a set of principles for designing accessible museum interpretation, as well as designed labels, digital resources, multi-way communication tools, and an exhibition experience that exemplify those principles.
Smallholder livelihoods and market accessibility in the Peruvian Amazon
(2013-05) Cardozo, Mario Luis; Crews, Kelley A.; Young, Kenneth R.
Abstract: This study examines how differential accessibility to regional markets and natural resources affects smallholder livelihoods in the northeastern Peruvian Amazon, particularly in terms of household income diversification or specialization. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods were applied to semi-structured smallholder household (N = 319) and community leader interview data collected in 40 communities in 2006-2007, in addition to change detection performed on Landsat satellite imagery (1987, 1993, and 2001). First, the dissertation explores changes in smallholder land use patterns across the study region during a period of profound macroeconomic changes and continual urbanization, finding that overall land use trends of agricultural abandonment reflected national reductions in agrarian subsidies. Second, based on interview data, household processes of income diversification and specialization were analyzed in two sections of the study area, the Itaya and Nanay basins. In the Itaya Basin, it was observed that smallholder livelihood specialization was aided by road development increasing transportation accessibility to important regional markets. In the more isolated Nanay Basin, livelihood choices were found to be influenced by processes of livelihood displacement caused by conservation efforts, in addition to remoteness and river seasonality. This study concludes by reflecting on the importance of the spatial relations of access to resources and markets in the region and in similar places in the developing tropics. This kind of information can help make national and regional policy decisions on such issues such as conservation, agrarian credits, road development, which may differentially affect smallholder livelihoods and their environments.
Sustainable residences: co-operative housing redesign in high density central area of Xiamen
(2014) Jia, Cheng, M. of Architecture; Pyrek, Adam
Today, the multi-families housing is recognized as vital to modern, urban communities. And it is primary housing type in some megacities, especially in high-density area. As a developed modern city with great historical urban context, Xiamen offers a great range of fascinating examples regarding creative co-operative housing projects dealing with current challenges such as rising rents, changes in climate and demography, privatization and individualization. There are quite a lot community-oriented housing projects. At the same time, Some out-dated housing units in Xiamen used to be inhumane and unhealthy, and promote isolated living experiences both physically and mentally. So a household redesign for a healthy individual, harmonious family and friendly community is becoming a pressing need. Xiamen Social Housing Innovations Plan include multi-generational, barrier-free and affordable renovations, plus-energy communities of existing buildings,etc. The aim of this proposal is to create a housing development design that rebuilds the community of the neighborhood by allowing a greater sharing of public and private space, while maintaining and gaining a higher population density. The design proposal will preserve the indigenous fine-grained urban fabric, which creates human scale and supports the public/private exchanges observed through the fieldwork and analysis. This proposal will explore housing sustainable design that reconsiders shared use of public and private in collective spaces, as the key to take advantage of a dense inner-city environment.
Understanding & predicting the skills needed to answer a visual question
(2019-06-20) Zeng, Xiaoyu, M.S. in Information Studies; Gurari, Danna; Karadkar, Unmil P
We proposed a method to automatically identify the relevant cognitive skills to perform a visual question answering (VQA) task. Focusing on a subset of VizWiz 1.0 and VQA 2.0 data, we collected labels for five skill categories, extracted multimodal features from images and their corresponding question, and trained a recurrent neural network with LSTM encoders to perform binary multi-label classification for the two main cognitive skills to answer a visual question: text recognition and color recognition. Our results demonstrated the potential of using a skill predictor to improve current visual question answering frameworks. This project made two main contributions. First, we provided an in-depth analysis of our data and highlighted the fact that, as a popular traditional benchmark dataset, VQA 2.0 cannot sufficiently model the information needs of visually impaired users in the context of visual question answering for accessibility. Secondly, we developed a skill prediction algorithm that can potentially help to label and route tasks for automated or human-in-the-loop systems of vision-assistive technologies
Universal design : designing products that all individuals can use
(2013-08) Talley, Austin Bates; Crawford, Richard H.
In today's world there is a need for products and services that are accessible to all individuals. Universal Design is the concept that products and environments should be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialization. There is a growing need for such products. However, many products are not accessible to all potential customers, arguably due to a lack of experience, design tools, and engineering methods for creating universally designed products. This research compares paired products to determine the differences between "Universal Design (UD)" and "Standard" Products. For each pair of products, a functional model and activity diagram were developed and analyzed. For each product pair, the identified differences in the products were recorded in a Universal Design differences database. Through systematic analysis of the Universal Design differences database and other research in Universal Design, a set of three Handheld Universal Design Tools was created. The toolset consists of the Handheld Universal Design Checklist, The Handheld Universal Design Guidelines, and the Handheld Universal Design Matrix. These three tools are designed to be used in the concept generation phase of product design or redesign. The Handheld Universal Design Tools were evaluated using a human subjects experiment. Control and test groups were asked to generate concepts for redesigning a product. The metrics of quality, universality, laterality, senior usability and inclusivity were used to evaluate the design concepts. The results of the study suggest that Handheld Universal Design Tools assist engineers in generating design concepts appropriate for Universally Designed products. As a part of the research, Universal Design was presented to first year mechanical engineering students with pre- and post- surveys on the students' perceptions of engineering. Subsequent analysis of the surveys indicated that exposure to Universal Design affects students' perceptions of engineers' overall role in society and their capacity to help others. The Handheld Universal Design Checklist, Guidelines and Matrix represent an initial step to provide engineers with tools to create Universally Designed products.