The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is the second largest professional society of computer and information scientists and engineers in the United States. ACM has an international membership of approximately 80,000. The project is expressly designed to address a well documented lack of information concerning the nature of disability in science and engineering professions. ACM will utilized the information resulting from the assessment in attracting individuals with disabilities to the computer and information science profession in general and ACM membership and participation in particular. They will use the information to plan the development and modification of member policies to increase the quality of service for disabled members. Potential specific results include: * Improved planning for conferences, symposia, and workshops to ensure equal opportunities for professionals with disabilities, both ACM members and nonmembers, to participate. * Determine alternatives for regular member services including publications to make them more accessible to members with disabilities. *Identify means to attract more individuals with disabilities to the computing professions in general and ACM membership in particular. The project is directly related to the interests and objectives of the NSF Computer Information Science and Engineering Directorate in that CISE represents the computing profession within NSF and is particularly interested in furthering opportunities for professionals with disabilities in computer and information science.
