Meeting Date
- Community Group Updates
- Graduate Employment Organization (GEO) Disability Caucus
- Adam Smith, Co-Chair of Contracts Committee, Member of Disability Caucus
- GEO is developing the bargaining platform for 2022-2023 based on a needs survey with over 1100 responses
- 7% of respondents self-identified as disabled
- 50% of respondents have an ongoing health condition
- 55% of grad students found it extremely difficult to find spaces to connect with other disabled students
- 33% of disbled graduates feel welcome in their department, 33% do not feel welcome
- Considering how to include contract language to ensure people can connect to accommodations even if they don’t self-identify as disabled/don’t want to disclose
- Graduate students are least comfortable disclosing to staff, then faculty. Most comfortable disclosing to fellow students
- GEO is planning listening sessions for W22 to learn more about graduate student experiences related to this
- Students seem relatively low-confidence re: understanding accommodations requests processes
- Disability Culture @ UM
- Ashley Wiseman
- Beginning of calendar year was focused on COVID support
- Summer focused on planning Anti-Ableist Academy Conference (which was in October)
- Other work
- Recruited new members
- Training Workshops
- Partnership with College Democrats, CSG
- Potential partnership with GEO in the future
- Making Infographics about Disability Culture and a possible DC Center
- Will ensure that infographics are accessible
- SSD Director’s Student Advisory Board + Student Accessibility and Accommodation Services (SAAS)
- Student Advisory Board hasn’t been as active recently given the staffing changes, but SAAS is planning on bringing it back
- SSD Updates
- Feranmi Okanlami - Director of SAAS
- SAAS is now over SSD, testing accommodations centers, adaptive sports and fitness
- A new testing accommodations center is being built now (name TBD)
- Both testing centers will be open to all students, regardless of school/college
- SAAS Website being built, but doesn’t exist yet
- Lots of new hires happening, including
- Erik Robeznieks - new assistant director of adaptive sports ([email protected])
- Allen Sheffield - new associate director of SAAS ([email protected])
- Hoping to get a student space in the Michigan Union by Summer 2022
- Partnership with AACIL to renovate gym for practice space
- U-M Initiative in Disability Studies (UMInDS)
- Remi Yergeau
- Graduate course offered every semester
- Natasha Abner wrapping up F21
- Petra Kuppers is going to be teaching in W22
- Focus on COVID
- Conversations about creation of undergrad minor and/or graduate certificate in UMInDS
- Currently working on bringing in a post-doc to help with the course and possible affiliation with the digital accessibility futures lab
- Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living (AACIL)
- Alex Gossage (ED) + Will Purves (Director of Planning and Program Development)
- Funding for ~350 tablets and training for people with disabilities to learn to use the tablets, relaunched an assistive technology program at CIL
- New gym will be free and available for the public once CIL is more open
- Creating an accessible art gallery space
- Vaccine access and information
- Continuing work with schools, nursing facilities, UM (SAAS, School of Architecture)
- Ann Arbor City Commission on Disability Issues (CODI)
- Kathleen Mozak
- Commission on Disability Concerns meets every 3rd Wednesday at 4 PM. via zoom and broadcast live on Comcast. There are 2 subcommittees: Partners in Access and Community Engagement. All meetings are on the City of Ann Arbor website under Boards and Commissions as well as the City Calendar. All are welcome. If interested in serving on the Commission one can apply on the City website as well.
- Michigan Medicine Council on Disability
- Collaborative project between UM Center for Disability Health and Wellness and Office of Health Equity and Inclusion (OHEI)
- Council used to have a lot of patient representatives, but it’s been difficult recently to get that participation from community members
- Council created a community listening project with DDP - should be recordings posted soon on DDP’s youtube channel
- Testing a disability tab in the Michigan Medicine patient portal, to help with requesting accomodations in advance of an appointment
- New OHEI director Kristen Howard
- Former representative Clarissa Love left
- Possibly getting a more centrally located website for disability resources in the Michigan Medicine website
- Graduate Employment Organization (GEO) Disability Caucus
- Questions and Discussion
- How can individuals and groups advocate for the creation of a Disability Cultural Center at UM?
- Long term advocacy has been a bit derailed by COVID
- Focus on building internal capacity right now, and leveraging the momentum of the IDEA Board report
- Included lots of university recommendations to improve accessibility and disability culture at UM
- Mobilize people on campus who don’t know about DC/DCC and work with administrators
- How can individuals and groups advocate for the creation of a Disability Cultural Center at UM?