ReNUWIt Enhances Inclusion Through Partnership with AccessERC
Several years of partnership with AccessERC has resulted in a number of enhanced efforts to engage people with disabilities at the Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Re-inventing the Nation's Urban Water Infrastructure (ReNUWIt), an NSF-funded center with headquarters at Stanford University.
The mission of AccessERC is to increase the participation of people with disabilities in the ERC Program, while also increasing awareness about their contributions in the engineering community. ReNUWit’s efforts have included a more-accessible website and information technology, a better understanding of disability culture, and greater outreach into the community of the disabled.
ReNUWit has worked with AccessERC since 2016. Among the results are a website that is more accessible to sight- and hearing-impaired participants, advertising of ReNUWit’s REU program through AccessERC to enhance the center’s diversity, and the creation of collaborative video conferences that included a panel discussion and a seminar conducted by an individual with a disability.
Also, to help build awareness at the Center, two ReNUWit staff members and five graduate students have attended AccessERC institutes at the University of Washington. The Capacity Building Institutes provide a forum for sharing interventions and strategies that promote the full inclusion of people with disabilities in ERCs. Coming from ERCs across the United States, attendees shared expertise, practices, suggestions for future collaborations, and funding ideas.
