Cerritos College students with print-related disabilities have been granted admission into the AccessText network, an online database which helps cuts down tremendously on lengthy translations into alternative media.

The AccessText Network (ATN) is a service that utilizes technology to quickly deliver textbooks in an electronic format, making the text easier to use and providing equal access for all students.

The program is directed at students with print-related disabilities such as blindness, low-vision or upper body limitations which make it difficult to turn the page.

Recently, the Alternative Text Production Center (ATPC), which is a grant-funded program, acquired a membership so that every community college in the state can provide their students with proper resources.

Tim Kyllingstad, assistive technology alternative media specialist, said that the introduction of ATN will save a lot of time.

“Any one of the 112 community colleges can go to the ATPC and request a book. If the ATPC goes out and see that it’s on the ATN, then they can get it from the ATN in a matter of under 24 hours, which is really good turn-around,” Kyllingstad said.

The program, according to Kyllingstad, is much faster than Cerritos College physically translating the textbook, a process consisting of removing the spine, running the entire book through a scanner, and then rebinding the book after the text is translated into an alternative media.

Alternative media include electronic braille files, captioning and synthetic voices. 

Judi Holmes, faculty specialist and associate professor, said, “Thanks to technology, more and more people have been able to come to college, like a lot of the blind people and the mobility-impaired people, they couldn’t come to college because there was just no way for them to get access.”

“Now with technology they can come to college, and they’re coming to college in droves because there’s an opportunity for them that never was.

“It’s beautiful.”

Kyllingstad emphasized the importance of a stronger system to accommodate students in a timely fashion.

“The critical point is that what everybody’s trying to do is to make sure that the students get a verbatim copy of the original text,” Kyllingstad said.

Holmes and Kyllingstad both stressed that students not only must buy the textbooks, but that the alternative media provided to them may not be shared with anyone and violating the contract will lead to penalties.

The Association of American Publishers and Higher Education textbook publishers created ATN as a non-profit organization, which has been online since August 2009.

The Alternative Media Access Center (AMAC) maintains the AccessText Network.

For more information, contact the Cerritos College Disabled Student Programs and Services department in the Santa Barbara building or check out the website at: cms.cerritos.edu/dsps.