July 2024 Meeting

Meeting Date
  • Opening quotation 
    • In loving memory: “I want to leave a legacy of disabled people knowing we are powerful and beautiful because of who we are, not despite of it.”- Stacey Park
  • Agenda 
    • We have invited Debbie Willis to speak about and hear our suggestions about a potential new advisory group for the Provost.
      • Advisory group for Provost- the Provost is considering creating an advisory group for her around the matters of disability concerns.
    • Topics of interest:
      • Suggestions for a name for the advisory group?

 

  • What topic areas should be covered?
    • Chat comment: One of the agenda items is suggested topics. Could parking and transportation be a topic, or does that involve a different area of campus?
      • Chat comment: I agree... parking has been a barrier for many due to costs. Accessible parking behind a paywall.
      • Chat comment: Allison Kushner- please reach out to our office if you want to discuss parking accommodations- we provide oversight of those and can hopefully assist - we can also provide an overview to the group whenever it is requested on improvements, changes, conversations and processes for employee parking and employee paratransit. 
    • Disability Culture
    • Inclusion of Disability Studies
    • Accessible Education 
    • Broader Digital Accessibility Areas
      • Like Neurodiverse ways of digital accessibility.
      • Kurt Murmers has a great workshop on neurodiversity and digital accessibility!!! I would recommend emailing Kurt! [email protected]
    • What are the issues that need to be addressed? It’s important to acknowledge that on campus groups have already identified these. 
    • Any due to costs. Accessible parking behind a paywall.
    • Staff and faculty related disability concerns.

 

  • As a community, who do we feel should be a part of this?  
    • The Council for Disability does a fine job at representing the community. An effort coming from as high of the provost risks taking away the value that CfDC does by selecting a number of people who are chosen to represent us without us. Why grab a subset of people who might show up to our meetings occasionally when you could just use the CfDC group? Why is there a need for a subgroup when we can represent ourselves?
      • The Advisory board would allow for representatives from many different groups. This would allow the provost to have input from a variety of different important sources at U of M. The Provost believes that having an advisory group for disability concerns similar to those she has for other topics is important. It will be taken into consideration if the community is against this decision. 
      • I have expressed interest in having the Provost attend a future council meeting- Pam     
    • Michigan medicine involvement in this advisory group?
      • Yes. Michigan medicine will be represented.
    • Will this advisory group contain campus staff as well as faculty?
      • I think whatever advisory group is formed should be composed of students, staff, and faculty. I know a lot of students with disabilities who would love to be a part of making change but never get invited, or never hear about it- CfDC member
      • **Disabled students, faculty, staff- CfDC member
    • Will Flint and Dearborn be represented?
      • Debbie does not have an answer to this as of right now but it will be brought up as a suggestion. 
    • It would be helpful if the people we report to aren't part of HR.
      • It is intimidating to report to someone who is part of HR because you don’t know if they have their HR hat on. Can cause anxiety in giving feedback.
    • This board and many other successes can be looked at as a result of the hard work of individuals in this community which can make this council seen as being pushed aside. This is important because CfDC is open to all. There are a lot of entities on this campus that work for disability access. I think a group that includes CfDC and others on this campus may provide the best representation. Many groups do not represent everyone. We understand that the provost needs to hear from individuals to get work done. Provost doesn’t necessarily serve all of the members of this group. Keep this in mind. Having leaders in the community that are taking in feedback is important.
    • A group advising the provost should represent the community and achieving this would speak to her allyship. 
    • The disability community on campus is a uniquely egalitarian place. Therefore we would appreciate a group that represents the voices of students, staff, and faculty equally. And would want any advice that is given to the Provost to reflect this.

 

  • What format would be most beneficial?
    • The ability to submit concerns to the group would be important to address the needs of individuals who are not on the committee.
      • A suggestion the Provost is already taking into account in the formation of this group is having an email to submit concerns to. This allows the concern to go to the entire committee, not just the provost.
    • One of the problems with an email address is that it would be hard for individuals to submit communications anonymously. Would an accessible form be an option?
      • Also, voicing concerns which have an open dispute with other people on campus, might prevent people from being willing to report a concern.
    • Could you talk a little bit about the sustainability of other advisory boards that the provost office has? Rollover? Term limits?
      • Different boards are different. They make sure that there is representation at various levels within the university. She can take suggestions to the top. She also cannot guarantee that this advisory board will happen. At the moment it is all based on community feedback.
    • How are people selected for this group?
      • This has not been decided yet. However, members who met with the provost were leaders of major disability groups on campus. The group had faculty, ECRT, SAAS, Michigan Medicine, Disability Justice Network, etc. Allowing to nominate or suggest candidates may be important. Record of the committee and their term can be taken into account. Unfortunately, it cannot be everyone but it can be representatives. She does not know if there will be students yet but many of them are members of the disability community.
    • I’ve been reflecting on this advisory board for the past several weeks. It seems to me like there is a gap between what the provost wants/needs and what the disability community wants/needs in a structural sense. I’m wondering if talking more explicitly about what the gaps/needs are before we talk about the potential solutions (e.g., advisory committee) would be a better strategy.
      • (And I want to point out that many groups have already done some of this work)
      • Debbie: The provost is trying to be an ally. She is trying to figure out how to do it best. She wants to think about it carefully before setting this up. Deborah will take these suggestions to the provost. 
        • A lot of this information is coming from her trying to actively listen to the community. She is also having the provost talk to individuals in the community to make sure she is not becoming this representative for disability concerns.
    • Appreciating the fact that the provost office wants to be involved. It is important to consider needs that don’t only apply to students. It is important that efforts like these go forward. Points need to be made about the value of the multiple disability groups on campus. Rather than funneling questions through our group, do it through the many groups that will be represented by the advisory board. Funneling concerns through the groups can allow for their significance to not be trampled on. Allowing the disability groups on campus to continue to play their important roles.
    • Struggle when we try to institutionalize social justice work. Presents a challenge when it is being fit into the institutional structure. We can appreciate that the provost wants a dedicated and vetted group of leaders to advise her to do right by the community. Groups like CfDC need to understand what the provost is looking for. Is it a group she can call up in emergencies? We can’t do that. But it does run the risk of leaving people out. 
      • The Council does have an advisory group however that can be reached via email. [email protected] 

 

  • Miscellaneous Council insights:
    • Relatively new Michigan Medicine staff member here. Wondering what the best ways are to join into and become active in the institutional disability community? The only info I have found online so far is the recurring CfDC meeting.
      • There is also a Michigan Medicine group. BRB with details!
    • ​​I personally have been having issues with making my concerns known on campus without chastisement from different departments. I just don't know how to make my concerns known without judgment or being rebuked.
    • This is an amazing opportunity. The feedback shared here is important. Giving this feedback is important and is what this council is here for. The president and the provost have never paid more attention to the disability community as they are right now. Therefore, we need to acknowledge this is not going to be perfect and we need to support it to an extent that it is clear we want it. Because we do not want to be absent from these groups. Having all of these campus groups is important and the creation of this group is not going to diminish this. And we need to make it clear to the office that we want this to happen. We as a community would miss out on this opportunity if we do not support this effort. It is difficult to feel like not everyone’s voices are being heard but this also provides opportunities. A suggestion is to have these groups make recommendations to the provost. We can recommend who is on it. And yes she does not need to listen but it is important that we make clear what we want.
      • The provost is open to suggestions and there were people at the previous meetings that represent the community in ways Deborah didn’t even think about. This is a way to voice concerns. They can do email submissions and anonymous concerns. Having an official group will be more representative than none.
    • We have been complaining that we want high level interest and this is our first step. That means that this new initiative needs a chance to develop and evolve. Different groups have been lobbying for this and it is a good first start. We need to give this a chance. As time goes on we will be hearing more. And it would be fantastic if the president and the provost could give this group a heads up on the progress of this initiative. 
  • Other Matters Arising 
    • The CfDC will want to gather all of these ideas and potentially send a proposal.