14th Annual Conference on Access, Inclusion, and Disability
"More Important Things"
April 16 & 17, 2014
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
8:30am-10:00am - Concurrent Sessions
Session A: The Path to College: Narrative Experiences of Students with Disabilities
Theodoto Ressa, Graduate Student, The Ohio State University
The Federal Laws on disability have led to increased enrollment of students with disabilities at K-12. However, the number of students with disabilities that transition to college remains low. This study with college students with disabilities focuses on transition from high school to college. The methods of this interpretive case study include using interviews to uncover the experiences of students with disabilities at K-12 and the skills (social, cognitive, emotional competences) they used to navigate education systems to college.
Current progress in the research shows that high school students with disabilities face many barriers in their transitioning to college and that less emphasis is placed on college education despite college being one of the alternative paths for them. Less emphasis on college education means its omission in the transition-planning program yet literature shows that successful transition to college insulates students with disabilities from economic and social vagaries.
Literature findings on transitioning of students with disabilities suggest reform of education transitioning planning program, however these suggestions are mostly informed by the experiences of professionals or are informed by experiences of students with disabilities who dropped out of school or college graduates. Lacking insight into students with disabilities perspectives requires considering their experiences. Information from students with disabilities who have successfully transitioned from high school to college can inform transition-planning programs and lead to appropriate resource allocation to feasible programs that may lead to increased transition of SWDs from high school to college.
Session B: Rights of People with Disabilities under the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act
Kevin Truitt, Attorney at Law, Disability Rights Ohio
The presentation will cover a basic overview of the rights of people with disabilities, particularly in the context of housing and community integration and including information on the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. It will also cover information about a new program, "Recovery Requires a Community," designed to help individuals who have behavioral health disabilities return to the community after residing in a nursing facility. Furthermore, it will include a broader discussion of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in L.C. v. Olmstead and the right to live, work, and receive services in the most integrated, least restrictive setting in the community. The presentation will also cover what individuals can do to protect their housing rights and where to go if they need help with a housing rights violation. Common housing rights violations include discrimination against people with disabilities (such as refusing to rent or attempting to evict), denial of service animals, and not providing accessible parking and physical modifications to residences. There will be time for questions after the presentation.
This presentation is intended for anyone with an interest in the issue of housing, community integration, and individual rights for people with disabilities. The topic will be most relevant for individuals with disabilities, advocates, professionals, educators and researchers who want a greater understanding of disability rights laws.
Session C: From Impairment to Empowerment: A Longitudinal Medical School Curriculum on Disabilities
Cristina Sarmiento, Office of Medical Student Education, University of Michigan Medical School; Arno K. Kumagai, M.D., Professor of Internal Medicine and Medical Education and Director, Family Centered Experience and Longitudinal Case Conference, University of Michigan Medical School
This cross-disciplinary educational collaboration designed and implemented a longitudinal medical school curriculum on the disability experience from the perspective of individuals with disabilities to enhance communication and healthcare delivery.
This educational project involved the design of a medical school curriculum to be incorporated into the first through the third years at our institution. Importantly, the project was based on the motto of the Disabilities Movement, “Nothing about us without us”, and involved collaboration between individuals with disabilities and others with professional interests in disabilities and medical education. From this perspective, the project was built on patient-centered approaches, using in-person, written, and audiovisual narratives to demonstrate the disability experience from the perspective of those with disabilities.
Session D: Embodying Disability Culture, Living (in) Disability Community
Ryan Parrey, PhD Candidate in Disability Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago; Kelly Munger, PhD-MS Student, Rehab Counseling, Virginia Commonwealth University
Fiona Kumari Campbell (2009) tells us that the lived experience of disabled embodiment entails a disorientation; namely, "the lived experience of facing at least two directions". (194) This paper explores the sense of disorientation as it emerges in encounters between disabled people with differing orientations towards disability. That is, when disabled people become disability studies scholars this can, sometimes, lead to uneasy relations and relationships with other disabled people and groups. Why? Perhaps it is a matter of raised consciousness or politicization or, perhaps, it is that disability "makes sense" differently.
This presentation addresses the contested space(s) between disabled people; disability studies scholars, and disability activists. Specifically, it examines perceived differences in orientations towards impairment, disablement, and disabled embodiment as observed by two disability studies scholars at meetings of disabled people's organizations. The authors interrogate contemporary meanings of disability and the variety of ways they interact.
While the archive for this project consists largely of the lived experience of its authors, this work is informed by philosophically inflected theories of embodiment (Ahmed 2006), articulations of disabled embodiment (Kumari Campbell 2009), and various writings on identity and politics.
Rather than offer a definitive solution to disorienting relationships between disability scholars and activists, this presentation considers opportunities for cross-orientation communication.
10:15am-11:45am - Concurrent Sessions
Session A: Toward the Transformative Inclusion of Students with Disabilities in STEM Fields
Lauren Strand, M.A., PhD student, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, The Ohio State University
There has been relatively little attention paid to students with disabilities in STEM. No studies have been conducted to examine the experiences and retention of women with disabilities in STEM disciplines and career fields. New conversations regarding women with disabilities and their multifaceted identities are required to ensure full inclusion of all types of students. This session focuses on the potential for further study and involvement in the recruitment and retention of women with disabilities in STEM fields. Successful inclusion techniques for various underrepresented populations are examined in order to begin a conversation about inclusion and outreach that addresses the multifaceted identities of women with disabilities.
Session B: How Does Disability Align with the EEOC's Strategic Enforcement Plan?
Denise DeGennaro, Investigator, U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Cleveland Field Office
Did you know that disability cases were the most often filed EEOC lawsuit in FY2013? In this workshop you will learn about the EEOC's Strategic Enforcement Plan (SEP) and how disability issues are included in the SEP. Topics include: Leave as an accommodation after FML and earned leave is exhausted; placement into another position as the accommodation of last resort; and when temporary conditions are covered by the ADA.
Session C: Embracing Neurodiversity in Higher Education: Overcoming Attitudinal Barriers for Individuals with Autism
Karen Margaret DeYoung, M.A Ed, Antioch University, Seattle
A thirty minute video of interviews with neurodiverse college students is the focus of this interactive presentation designed to facilitate greater awareness of the unique strengths and challenges that college students with autism/Asperger’s Syndrome bring to the higher education setting. A diverse group of autistic college students from several colleges in Washington State, USA, describe their experiences with marginalization, isolation, frustration and misconceptions, as well as their hopes and dreams for their future as they navigate through college.
Guided conversation questions generated by neurodiverse college students are the focal point of small group discussions. Participants shared their understandings, perspectives and concerns regarding their own professional interactions with college students with autism/Asperger’s Syndrome. This presentation entails multiple methodologies including lecture, media presentation and guided conversation designed to create an opportunity for participants to self- reflect and identify currently held attitudes and beliefs of what it means to be a “neurodiverse” person in a “neurotypical” world and discuss low impact strategies and suggestions for facilitating positive interactions between neurodiverse students and faculty, staff, administrators, service providers and others.
Session D: Sixty Years after Brown: The Implications for Higher Education and Disabilities
Marilyn Bartlett, J.D., Ph.D., Professor of Education and Law, College of Education and Human Performance, Texas A&M University Kingsville
When Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote in Brown, that “we conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of separate but equal has no place,” little did he realize that Brown was about to change the course of special education as well! (Brown v Board of Education Topeka Kansas. 1954). After Brown, dozens of cases arose challenging the obvious lack of services for special needs learners, and, several states and the federal government recognized that laws were necessary to protect the rights of this special population. Massachusetts, for example, passed Chapter 766 which was used as one of the prototypes which became The Education of the Handicapped Act of 1970, which evolved into Public Law 94-142. Then two of the landmark decisions were passed down from the Supreme Court: PARC v Pennsylvania, 1972) and Mills v the Board of Education of the District of Columbia (1972) were the first that forced school districts to recognize disabled students as a having educational rights. Two years later, the federal mandate Public Law 94-142 passed in the U.S. House and Senate; it was this piece of federal legislation that forever brought children with disabilities into programs with their non-disabled peers. The entire philosophy of education that disabled children were unable to benefit from education with “normal” children was challenged. Up to this time, the burden of how to educate these children was the responsibility of the parents who lack the knowledge and resources to provide opportunities for their children. The final piece finally fell in place thirty-six years later when the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 passed which enabled so many persons to pursue higher education.
This presentation is divided into three parts. First the presenter will discuss Brown and its impact on the Civil Rights movement. The second section will be a discussion of the various special education laws including the EHA of 1970; Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504, the passage of PL 94-142; IDEA et seq.; and the ADA of 1990 and the ADA-Amended Acts of 2008. And, finally, the presenter will discuss the major cases in higher education that developed because of the Brown decision.
The Relevance of the topic to current education law:
Too often today we find that our colleagues only vaguely understand that the landmark decision, Brown, is the single reason that special education was able to push ahead over the last fifty years. We believe it is important that this year, sixty years after the Brown, that people need to be reminded about the impact this one case has on so many aspects of civil rights but especially on special education.
12:00pm-1:15pm - Lunch and Information Exchange. Blackwell Hotel Ballrooms
1:30pm-3:00pm - Concurrent Sessions
Session A: Access to Education: Benefitting From the Student Perspective
April Coughlin, PhD Candidate, Syracuse University
Access for students in secondary education is often talked about in terms of providing accommodations, services and supports to students with disabilities in school. But what if you cannot even access the entrance to the building? What if physical inaccessibility reduces your school choices? How might this affect your experience growing up as a teenager and your daily interactions with your peers and teachers in school?
In order to understand the impact that access issues have on students with disabilities, it is best to hear their stories firsthand. This presentation will discuss the self-reported everyday lived experiences of students with physical disabilities in high schools. Specific focus will be placed on showing the impact that physical, attitudinal and institutional barriers (policies and procedures) have on social integration and academic opportunities for students with physical disabilities. The implications of these barriers beyond the school setting, such as in friendships, community activities and students' lives outside of school, will also be presented.
Session B: Looking Back and Thinking Ahead: OSU's Practical Guide to Accommodations in the Workplace
Rebecca L Brown, CDMS, Disability Program Manager, Integrated Disability, Office of Human Resources, The Ohio State University; Erica Bible Smith, M.S., CDMS, Disability Program Manager, Office of Human Resources Benefits, The Ohio State University
This presentation will review the changes to the ADAAA and explore its impact on employees and employers as they implement accommodations. The presenters will walk through the interactive process that OSU utilizes through case studies. The cases will outline common types of accommodation requests, including intermittent leave, extended leave, and the reassignment (placement as a last resort) process. We will identify the challenges encountered, and learning points from each case that has helped structure best practices for the future.
Session C: Strategies for the Inclusion of Accessibility and Universal Design in a Post-2015 Global Development Agenda
Andres Balcazar, GAATES Communications and Projects Coordinator, Global Alliance on Accessible Technology and Environments
Global Alliance on Accessible Technologies and Environments (GAATES) is an international organization dedicated to the promotion of accessibility of electronic and communication technologies and accessibility of the built environment. With an international presence, membership from 26 countries, and cooperative agreements with governmental institutions and civil society organizations worldwide, GAATES has a unique perspective on the opportunities and across diverse levels of development.
Based on our experience, we will provide a global overview of challenges and strategies for making accessibility a part of a future development agenda for the full participation of persons with disabilities. The presenter will identify obstacles encountered and challenges faced in relation to implementing policies and programs for accessibility in information and communications technologies, the built environment, transportation and tourism. Based on that experience a comprehensive development agenda for persons with disability that built on a foundation of universal design will be presented.
3:00pm-4:30pm - Ken Campbell Memorial Lecture: "Disability: A Global Perspective on Policy"
Presented by L. Scott Lissner, ADA Coordinator & 504 Compliance Officer (Office of Diversity and Inclusion), Associate, (John Glenn School of Public Affairs), Lecturer, (Knowlton School of Architecture, Moritz College of Law & Disability Studies), The Ohio State University; President, Association on Higher Education And Disability; Board Member: ADA-OHIO & Board, Center for Disability Empowerment, Appointed: State HAVA Committee & Columbus Advisory Council on Disability Issues.presented by L. Scott Lissner
Blackwell Hotel Ballrooms. Free & Open to the Public.
This year’s conference theme “More Important Things” was drawn from an Earl Kelly quote: “We have not succeeded in answering all our problems - indeed we sometimes feel we have not completely answered any of them. The answers we have found have only served to raise a whole set of new questions. In some ways we feel that we are as confused as ever, but we think we are confused on a higher level and about more important things.”
From one perspective we have been answering questions about disability rights in the US for roughly 25 years (the ADA), from another 40 years (Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act) and from yet another 228 years when the Continental Congress provided half pay for officers and enlisted men who were disabled in service. Beyond our borders and further back in history, disability policy in the kingdom of Ur was captured on 5000 year old clay tablets. Has what constitutes the “important” questions changed over time and with locale?
This presentation combines a brief history of disability, current events and recent travels to set the stage for a discussion of important global trends and emerging policy challenges at home. These include: access for individuals with print disabilities and international property rights; the role of accessible technology and facilities infrastructures in economic participation and development; and global rights for a global society under the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.
4:30pm-5:30pm - Student Perspectives Ethel Louise Armstrong Student Poster Presentations
Thursday, April 17, 2014
9:00am-10:30am - Concurrent Sessions
Session A: Access to Higher Education: Topics in Enforcement from the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights
Karla K. Ussery, Senior Attorney, U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights; Julianne Gran, Attorney, U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights; Dan Scharf, Attorney, U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights
This presentation will discuss current topics of interest in ensuring compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the ADA AA. It will include information and communications technology and determining when an accommodation under consideration poses a fundamental alteration of the academic program.
Session B: Fit for Freedom: Disability and Racism in Nineteenth-Century African American Literature
Andrew Sydlik, Graduate Student, The Ohio State University
When we think about literary representations of disability, we usually think about how authors either stigmatize or accommodate bodily difference. We also tend to think of white authors and characters. But what happens when we consider race in such representations? How do African American authors, already struggling to contest the stigmatization of black bodies, shape their attitudes toward non-normative bodies?
This presentation aims to answer these questions by linking representations of disability to responses to racism in two nineteenth-century African American texts: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper's Iola Leroy (1892) and Katherine Davis Chapman Tillman's Beryl Weston's Ambition (1893). While critics have begun to explore the intersections of race and disability, few have looked at disability in nineteenth-century black authors, leaving an historical gap in connecting Black Studies with literary Disability Studies.
Session C: Rights of People with Disabilities in Transition from Education to Employment
Barbara Corner, Attorney at Law; Earnestine Hargett, Advocate; Kristin Hildebrant, Senior Attorney; Emily White, Attorney; Ginger Wilson, Attorney
Two experts from Disability Rights Ohio will present a discussion on the Rights for Individuals with Disabilities who are transitioning from high school to meaningful employment. At this presentation, attendees will gain a basic understanding of an individual's rights to transition services and supports under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the Higher Education Opportunity Act. They will also receive a basic understanding of the programs and services available for transition age youth to help them gain meaningful employment in an integrated setting including Vocational Rehabilitation Services. At this presentation attendees will also learn helpful information and advice for self-advocacy and navigating the systems. There will be time for questions after the presentation.
10:45am-12:15pm - Concurrent Sessions
Session A: A Culture Shift: Moving Beyond Compliance to Full Membership in Higher Education
Enjie Hall, Masters in Rehabilitation Counseling, The Ohio State University; Katherine Betts, Masters in Higher Education and Student Affairs, The Ohio State University
There is often a lack of intentionality about including disability as a part of the broader diversity conversation. As a result, microaggressions and environmental factors that create systemic barriers go unnoticed. This results in marginalization and disconnectedness for the disability community. This presentation will help participants recognize bias, create structures for change, and develop allies through an action plan.
This session will also address moving beyond just the requirement to be in compliance with laws such as the ADA and Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The presenters will take an in-depth look at whether institutions of higher education are truly providing access always and in all ways. Is it possible that attitudinal barriers prevent us from being truly inclusive? As disability services professionals, we often think of disability through the lens of access and compliance specific to disability. The presenters will help the audience explore what disability looks like through the lens of diversity, challenging current notions of identity in diversity and inclusion programs.
Session B: Questioning the Art of Education: Anxiety, Autism, and Depression Answer Back
Wendy L. Chrisman, Ph.D., Faculty, Columbus College of Art & Design; Marissa Martin, Columbus College of Art & Design (Student); Alexis Brunk, Columbus College of Art & Design (Student); Rachel Kalaycio, Columbus College of Art & Design (Student)
When education and curriculum reformist Earl C. Kelley stated mid-twentieth century that, "We have not succeeded in answering all our problems - indeed we sometimes feel we have not completely answered any of them. The answers we have found have only served to raise a whole set of new questions," he actually was much closer to legitimate, sustainable answers than he may have known. As an early proponent of human-centered education who argued for action-oriented results, Kelley, like his predecessor John Dewey, valued experiential learning before it became de rigueur. Hailed as "Giants in Democratic Education," Kelley and Dewey argued for the necessity of privileging personal experience as both a locus of, and destination for, the process of learning. Over half a century later, educators continue to build on this theory by bridging identity politics into classroom applications.
This panel will explore how situating disability as a locus for research and creation opens up the possibility of self-education and growth in a non-disability related course. From Columbus College of Art and Design's Writing and the Arts class, first-year students will showcase their research and subsequent artwork: Alexis Brunk explores her work in "Know Your Anxieties;" Marissa Martin focuses on her vision of the "Integration of Education and Art Education;" Rachel Kalaycio discusses her depictions of "What Not to Say to People with Clinical Depression;" with course instructor Wendy L. Chrisman moderating the discussion.
Session C: Doing Business: Providing Access to Facilities and Services
L. Scott Lissner, Derek Mortland, Sue Hetrick, Center for Disability Empowerment
12:30pm-1:45pm - Lunch and Information Exchange - Blackwell Hotel Ballrooms
2:00pm-3:30pm - The Ethel Louise Armstrong Memorial Lecture: ONE WAY, DEAF WAY: The Life and Art of Ann Silver
Ann Silver & Jim Van Manen, Ph.D. Free and Open to the Public.
The presentation will discuss the book One Way, Deaf Way and describe Ann Silver, one of the founding members of the Deaf Art Movement. Born Deaf, this self-taught artist's work addresses issues of discrimination, politics and human rights. She will be discussing her life with Jim Van Manen, Ph.D., the author of her art-o-biography.
Ann Silver ONE WAY, DEAF WAY (video)
Internationally known artist, Ann Silver, made her gallery debut at Columbia with "One Way, Deaf Way." In addition to the gallery, the ASL department hosted a presentation where assistant ASL professor Dr. Jim Van Manen and Silver discussed her journey as a deaf artist.
Artist's Statement:
Rumors of my scribbling artwork on the walls inside of my mother's womb could not be confirmed. Born genetically Deaf, I was blessed with art as a native language--or it enabled me to communicate with the hearing folk long before I acquired other languages, namely English and American Sign Language [ASL]. Does that make me trilingual?
My language of art has, over the years, metamorphosed from pictorial grammar to creativity and critical thinking. I turn to art (1) as an artistic expression of the Deaf Experience-i.e., culture, language, identity and heritage; (2) as a Zen meditation and an aesthetic recreation of the contemplative state in which it allows my thoughts to drift by without grasping at them; (3) as an emergency back-up whenever the English language gives me semantic anxiety; (4) as an academic study vis-à-vis Deaf Studies; and (5) as a visual weapon to deal with polemical issues and concerns such as stereotyping, inaccessibility, paternalism, inequality and discrimination on the basis of hearing status (a.k.a. audism).
No matter how you look at it-protest art, political satire, victim art or graphic wit, I do not shy away from ethical questions or controversy. Having fused scholarship, creativity and sociopolitical philosophy, I truly believe that my being Deaf-with-a-capital-D gives me.
