May 2025 Meeting

Meeting Date
  • Opening quotation 
    • “We can’t continue to move forward in society unless the disability community feels properly seen and heard.” - Keah Brown
  • Agenda 
    • Presentation by PF Anderson
      • Link to slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Ig9lryeJxORk9y1ksqGuhjoM-k47JkksppAIIyUbZMo/edit?usp=sharing 
      • Link to survey: https://www.theride-engage.org/#survey 
      • AAATA is The Ride which is the local transportation system in Washtenaw County
        • Some questions were biased in favor of non-disabled people
        • We need the disability community to know about it and be able to fill it out meaningfully 
        • Deadline May 23rd.
      • Analyzing the survey from a disability lens
        • How important is taking care of the disadvantaged on the bus routes?
        • Choose the option that best describes the trade off you prefer?- PF has examples in the slides
          • Making difficult choices with the budget- Alarming questions
            • Bus stops 10 minutes away
              • Potentially difficult for the disability community
              • May be better to wait longer and have more options for the disability community. 
            • Expanding service area to have more people in our community versus removing existing buses
            • Pivoting to Flexride
        • Ranked order questions
          • Prioritizing accessibility 
            • Shelters and benches allow people to take the bus. Not having this can keep people from using the bus system.
            • More discussion about prioritizing this within our community
        • Accessing the available services
          • PF has links with resources many people may not know about
          • Grocery ride is only available to seniors
          • My Ride and A Ride
            • Accessible options for when no other is available 
          • These resources have restrictions
      • Comments from the community
        • Comments to PF:
        • Winter: scales typically start with not important as 1 and very important as 5. May be intentionally confusing for disabled people by switching from the norm. Especially confusing for dyslexic people. 
          • Designed in a way biased against disabilities
        • In chat: 
        • Also, the big issue with ADA Reasonable Accommodations at U-M is that they are executed/implemented at the department level and not at the institutional level as required by the ADA. It's the resources of the employer not the department that is a factor of determining an undue hardship.
          • What about the ECRT/DEO office? https://ecrt.umich.edu/disability-accessibility/contact-request/ Our unit works with them to determine reasonable (and formal) accommodations for staff
          • I haven't had good success with ECRT... I can speak with you concerning my experiences... but for fear of retribution and retaliation, I don't think mentioning details in this meeting will be acceptable to certain members of the U-M management.
          • Thank you for the context! Several of our staff have had good experiences overall working with them.  I can understand this may not be the case for all and am sorry to hear that
          • One example I can say is that ECRT has stated, in writing to me, that cost wasn't factored into denying an accommodation for me. They said it was unfair to large institutions, with bigger budgets, if they had to base undue hardships on costs. They said it was too burdensome, even though I have it on record my management said it wasn't due to it being a burden.
          • If anyone wants to discuss my situation… Feel free to shoot me an email [email protected].
        • Not sure I can take this cuz I’m not in Ann Arbor but I sure wish I was able to live there cuz then I wouldn’t have to commute while balancing disability stuff when I go in (I’m fortunate to be mostly remote :)
        • We need seating at the bus stop
        • Yeah and that’s average estimate for able-bodied walking too. I’d prefer option 2 myself mobility-wise. I don’t have a rollator/walker so I’d also need somewhere to sit while waiting for sure. Can’t stand for long, sit for long, or walk for long - gotta keep mixing it up or something flares up.
        • I've seen many really elderly folk hanging on to a sign to support themselves while waiting
        • And any seating needs to not be spiked or segmented in a way surely aimed at homeless folks but also makes it impossible for larger disabled folks etc.
        • Having a definition like that is definitely beneficial

 

  • Open discussion about Santa Ono Leaving the University:
    • The Navigators Program being launched was announced by Ono before he left. Is this program still being rolled out?
      • Does this apply to Michigan Medicine?
    • We would like to see more accountability within ADA Accommodations
    • Hannah Buck- Disability Navigator for Michigan Engineering
      • Has not received information about growing the program
    • Jessica McCuaig- 
      • The LSA Disability Navigators do not yet have information about the university-wide rollout. Hoping to learn more soon.
    • More aggressive about DEI 
    • Op-Ed by Ono yet, I would suggest giving it a read. It’s very…illuminating… https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/views/2025/05/08/why-i-chose-university-florida-santa-ono-opinion 
    • Advance Program
      • Faculty felt left behind in Ono’s administration.
      • Faculty with disabilities likely feel the same.
        • Advocating for the new president to think about this
    • I think it would be helpful to understand what the portfolio of the new VP for Access and Opportunity will include.
    • President Ono had a strong commitment to the disability community. When he was brought in it was a hope that he would heal the breach of trust we had with the previous administration. We are now experiencing that same breach of trust making it harder to heal this lack of trust. This leads to instability in our institution.
    • Fear that immediate needs will be met and not other issues that have been worked towards. Fear of a priority shift.
    • Also, the big issue with ADA Reasonable Accommodations at U-M is that they are executed/implemented at the department level and not at the institutional level as required by the ADA. It's the resources of the employer not the department that is a factor of determining an undue hardship.
    • Hannah- I hope that the next permanent president maintains a view of disability that doesn’t only rely on compliance, but accessibility and disability justice and joy as well.
    • And U-M Flint is still the U-M! We are all U-M employees.

 

  • Other Matters Arising 
    • Announcements
      • Petition to bring back DEI: https://chng.it/wGWtbYtg7R 
      • Please fill out the survey announced by PF: https://www.theride-engage.org/#survey  
        • Think of yourself and your needs but also think about the disability community and how this can be a tool for good in supporting our community.
      • Maize x Blue is tomorrow and I’m talking about inclusive metadata :) - Charlie Larson
      • Global Accessibility Awareness Day on Thursday https://accessibility.umn.edu/gaad/gaad-2025 
      • has anyone experience with the panorama PDF to word remediations?- Phil
        • Our engineering digital accessibility folks might know. Amy Whitesall, Kellie Grasman
        • I have experience with 360 photography and editing? I can take a look- Charlie Larson
        • [email protected] 
        • You can also use this form: https://accessibility.umich.edu/contact-services 
          • Can help generate alt text
            • Does not meet UM privacy guidelines
        • Kellie worked with two staff in LSA to do some testing!
        • ^Yes Emily Huang and I did some work with Panorama PDF testing in LSA for Kellie
        • https://chatgpt.com/g/g-t8ueMpwjg-wolverine-describer
        • UM GPT to describe images
        • Anything uploaded to Chat GPT is added to their training data. 
          • Be wary. This then makes this information discoverable.
          • May not be able to publish articles using chat GPT as a co- editor. UM GPT is safer
        • A lot of blind people like “Be My AI” too! Not sure about privacy, and it’s not U-M, but it is a good resource.
          • They got a lot of pushback about adding AI into the Be My Eyes app
    • Anything to share with the Council?