July 2021 Meeting

Meeting Date
  • Access Info
  • Introductions
    • Done in the chat
  • Council Business
    • Disability Pride Parade (for 2022)
      • First planning meeting on Wednesday, July 21 from 2-3pm ET
      • Original parade held in 2020, a collaboration between CfDC, AACIL, DDP
      • Open to additional volunteers if anyone is interested! Reach out to [email protected]
    • IDEA Conference
      • IDEA Board report created over the last year with short- and medium-term recommendations on disability climate and inclusion matters
        • Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA)
      • Public version being launched this fall
      • Conference being held this fall to publicize the report and other Disability research, presentations, etc.
        • Call for proposals currently open
        • If you are interested in presenting, please fill out the proposal form
        • Point of Contact: Pam McGuinty ([email protected])
    • Submit nominations for Neubacher Award
      • Thank you to our committee volunteers!
      • First committee meeting Friday, July 16 2:00-2:50pm ET
      • Nominations are open through July 31
        • You can nominate yourself
    • Response to WISE Recommendations
      • In response to the May presentation by the WISE Committee to CfDC, council members created a “white paper” suggesting additions and clarifications of the WISE recommendations to ensure accessibility in implementation
      • Will be sending a copy to the same decision makers that the WISE Committee sent their recommendations to
        • May also send it to student organizations, Michigan Daily, other community members
      • Draft document seeking input for the next two weeks (until Friday July 23rd)
  • Morphic - overview and demo
    • U-M will have access to Morphic
      • Morphic allows access to assistive settings that are already built into various operating systems, and allows people to use assistive technology in a variety of settings
      • Three levels available
      • Level 1: Download the free Mophic toolbar
        • Easy access to changing text size, magnification, text to speech, color and contrast settings
        • This will be available on all UM computers on site on campus by Fall 2021
        • Additional buttons will be available to get to Canvas, Gmail, and MPrint
      • Level 2: Sign Up for the free Morphic Plus trial version
        • Scroll down to the "Sign Up" button
        • Morphic Plus allows you to customize your toolbar, which could include various sites you frequent, applications (browsers, calculator, virtual keyboard), preset functions (ex. Volume controls),
        • You can set up a maximum of 5 bars for yourself, and 5 bars for other people
          • Beta state, able to support up to 2000 individuals right now
          • Available as an accommodation for students, faculty, and staff, and the free toolbar is available for everyone online
        • Not clear how long Morphic Plus will be free, but if you sign up now you can get it free for life
      • Level 3: still being developed, but the idea is that people can use their own assistive technologies on any device safely and securely from anywhere
        • The assistive technology would be delivered through the cloud, so you would be able to join any internet or intranet, put in your passcode, and have your preferences and pre-configured settings already available
        • For this cloud-based access, the user would be able to add new software that they need/prefer
          • It will likely roll out slowly and gain momentum as more developers and providers get on board
        • Could turn on and off specific parts of assistive technology as needed
          • Ex. a student could turn off spell check in JAWS for an exam
          • SSD will be the ones editing the settings and overseeing the implementation of this feature for testing situations for students
    • Morphic and UM are seeking feedback on how this could best be used and publicized on campus
      • Video tutorials are being made by the company now, should be available soon
      • Possible concern: Michigan Medicine uses a software that would need screen capture availability - is this possible?
      • Morphic is very open to feedback! You can provide feedback directly to the company if you download the basic toolbar or Morphic Plus, or reach out to [email protected]
      • There is not currently a hashtag about this, but that could be used to spark conversation in the larger disability community
      • Current outreach and education happening at UM
        • ITS communications department will be working on marketing and getting the word out widely
        • Messaging will be aligned with the public availability of this tool
        • TBD how the public computer labs will be operating during the fall semester, so be on the lookout for announcements
    • The chameleon logo is representative of being able to transform things
  • Announcements
  • Adjourn: 12:47 PM