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Departmental Accessibility Resource Coordinators

What's in a Name?

A “bottom-up and top down approach” calls for Departmental Accessibility Resource Coordinators (DARC) being visible in every campus department. Hence, the word Departmental is key to the acronym. Some of our ACCESS-ed Partners, who served as inspiration in the development of this concept, have utilized this concept for several years. 

At the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and at UW - LaCrosse, the term for these representatives was and remains AARC, which stands for Access and Accommodation Resource Coordinators.  It was in the advent of the ADA that these AARC representatives were chosen or appointed on their respective campuses. Their purpose was to be a resource to their department regarding individualized accommodations, which became mandated with the passing of ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

It is hoped that in the years to come, campuses will choose to move in the direction of greater accessibility through the use of universal design in student services, instruction, information media and technology, and in physical access.

New information and communications technologies can improve the quality of life for people with disabilities, but only if such technologies are designed from the beginning so that everyone can use them. Given the explosive growth in the use of the World Wide Web for publishing, electronic commerce, lifelong learning and the delivery of government services, it is vital that the Web be accessible to everyone.

Bill Clinton