January 2024 Meeting

Meeting Date

 

  • Opening quotation 
    • “Understanding disability and ableism is the work of every revolutionary, activist and organizer– of every human being”- Mia Mingus
  • Agenda 
    • Updates from various disability partners
    • Feranmi Okanlami- Director of Student Accessibility and Accommodation Services (SAAS). Oversees office of Services for Students with Disabilities, testing accommodation centers, and the Adaptive Sports and Fitness Program
      • 2 New Disability Access Coordinators on the team
      • Adaptive Sports and Fitness
        • New Community Programs Coordinator
          • Adaptive sport curriculum in AA public schools in 
          • Goal to destigmatize disability by exposing 6th graders with and without disabilities to adaptive sports.
          • Goal to expand program from just 6th grade to 7th and 8th as well
          • Hoping to expand to Ypsilanti middle schools.
      • Adding a Monitoring and Evaluation coordinator for helping with the research side of  the Adaptive Sports Inclusive Recreation Initiative.
      • Coaching and athletic offerings updates
        • Offer adaptive sports teams including basketball, tennis, track and field,  and rugby
        • New adaptive track and field coach as of a few weeks ago.
        • In the final stages of interviews for other program coaches.
      • Testing accommodation center
        • In the middle of a search for a testing facilitators 
        • Two testing accommodation center (TAC) locations
          • MLB
            • Now accessible to all students (not just LSA)
          • CCCB TAC
            • Basement of the Ruthven Building
        • Academic Support and Access Partnership team
          • Opened back up mini-grants
            • Funding available for student groups serving students with disabilities is putting on programming that they would like to make more accessible.
        • Internship role opening due to donor funding
          • Boosting marketing of SAAS
          • Student help with marketing and communications
            • Help with instagram
            • Increased interest in communications
        • APG 
          • Dean meeting taking place on 1/10
            • DEI sub committee goals to focus on disability
            • Feel free to email him about particular issues across campus from your schools
            • Disability Cultural Center
        • Question: How to encourage students to get their accommodation letters or scholarship opportunities without being inappropriate.
          • Mention it to the entire class. Not inappropriate to tell students with an accommodation letter about SAAS scholarship opportunities. Just mention that it is a resource available but not exactly what ones they would qualify for.
          • Link to scholarships: https://ssd.umich.edu/topic/scholarships-and-awards 
          • Anyone with questions can reach out to Anya Cobler, their Stewardship Program Coordinator, at [email protected] 
        • Michigan medicine summer internship open for any students/recent grads that are interested. Focus on care for people with disabilities
      • Allison Kushner the ADA Coordinator for the University and Director for Disability Equity in ECRT.
        • Position open for a case manager
        • Request for accommodations and trainings database form.
        • Report a barrier form
        • Upcoming Trainings/Workshops
        • Question: Now that you've incorporated Accommodate, does that mean anyone registered to the ECRT has an Accommodate profile on our end that we need to make?
          • Answer: No, the systems are separate. They are  working with a single sign‐on right now to allow you to be able to use your Michigan ID and login whether or not you have accommodations. They are going to host PowerPoints, training, etc. That everybody on campus has access to that will likely be launched in a couple of weeks.
      • Phil Deaton ITS Accessibility team updates
        • Digital Accessibility Liaisons Network has been soft launched
          • Goal to have a liaison in each unit to help with digital accessibility and help increase compliance.
          • They are currently gathering more appropriate representatives from different units.
          • There is a group involved in The Digital Accessibility Community of Practice on campus.
          • Let Phil or Stephanie know if you have questions
      • Ava Armour DC @U-M
        • Preparing for March 1st Disability Day of Mourning (virtual). We are collaborating with Vtech, Umass Amherst, and Berklee College of Music this year.  I am looking for volunteers. Please email me at [email protected] or directly at [email protected]
          • It is online so the majority of volunteering would be facilitation or anyone looking to be a CART liaison.
          • Engineering has a focus on accessibility in their DEI 2.0 plan
      • Andy Brosius- Center for Disability Health and Wellness (CDHW)