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  DBTAC: Southeast ADA Center

Georgia Accessibility Rally Announces Winners

May 18, 2004

The Georgia Accessibility Rally (GAR), a project supported by the Southeast Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center (DBTAC), recently announced the winning team, in its Internet accessibility contest. The GAR partners students from Georgia's High School - High Tech programs with mentors trained in accessibility and usability standards to redesign school district Web sites for increased usability and accessibility for students with a variety of disabilities. Four teams of students with disabilities at three Georgia high schools, assisted by teachers and mentors, worked together to improve educational websites.

The four winning teams are:

• 1st Place: Albany Westover High School - http://www.westoverhighschool.com

• 2nd Place: Valdosta High School High Tech - http://www.garally.org/cats

• 3rd Place: Valdosta High School Vocational Instruction - http://www.garally.org/determined

• 4th Place: Columbus Northside High School - http://www.nhspatriots.net/

The five members of the first-place team from Westover High School in Albany, Georgia, each received $1,000 scholarships. The four members of the second place team won $800 scholarships, and the three members of the third place team won $600 scholarships. Additionally, all participants earned free software and other prizes.

Donovan Toole, a senior member of the Albany Westover team, told the Albany Herald that all team players played integral roles. "The team was really great. We got input from all directions," he said. Team members Devon Clifton, Dustin Odom, Demetrius Hardy and Kayla Williams worked together to design the site, which meets the federal Section 508 standards for accessibility.

This project is funded, in part, by the Southeast Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center (DBTAC) under its Educational Leadership Initiative. The Southeast DBTAC is authorized by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) to provide information, materials, and technical assistance to individuals and entities that are covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) under Grant #H133D010207. The Southeast DBTAC is part of the Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access (CATEA) in the College of Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.

The Georgia Committee on the Employment of People with Disabilities and Butler New Media, Inc. were the principal partners on this project. Additional support was provided by the Georgia Industries for the Blind, Microsoft, Cingular Wireless, Lockheed Martin, Lewis Publishing, and the Georgia Department of Labor.

Additionally, several leading companies assisted the project by providing free software products for rally participants, including Macromedia Studio MX 2004, Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004, Macromedia Fireworks 2004, IBM Home Page Reader 3.0, Opera, and HiSoftware Cynthia Says.

For more information about the Georgia Accessibility Rally, visit the rally website at http://www.garally.org/ or the Butler New Media site at http://www.butlernewmedia.com/.