Multiple Perspectives on Access, Inclusion, and Disability
"Disability in Context"
April 11 & 12, 2002
The Fawcett Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Feedback of over 250 participants helped to ensure this conference as an annual event.
The 2002 conference consisted of 25 sessions scheduled as two days of concurrent workshop tracks. The generosity and support of our sponsors allowed for the low participant cost. The low cost contributed to broad participation from the community, allowing busy professionals and advocates to build their own conference by attending selected workshops.
Our 2002 Sponsors:
- The Ohio State University
- ADA-OHIO
- Great Lakes ADA & IT Center (NIDRR Grant #USEDH133D60011)
- City of Columbus
- The Ohio State University College of Humanities Interdisciplinary Studies Committee
- The American Institute of Architects, Columbus Chapter
- The Governor's Council on People with Disabilities
- The OSU Partnership Grant: Improving the Quality of Education for Students with Disabilities
Thursday, April 11, 2002
9:00 am - Conference opening & welcome - Scott Lissner, Coordinator, Office of Academic Affairs - ADA Coordinator’s Office
9:00am-12:00pm - CONFERENCE SESSION ONE
Using the ADA Accessibility Guidelines: Review, Design, Construction & Renovation
Earlene Sesker, Accessibility Specialist, U.S. Access Board
A 3-hour session focusing on the hands-on use of ADAAG in review and design. The scoping and technical requirements to be applied during the design, construction, and alteration of buildings and facilities covered by Titles II and III of the ADA as required by Federal agencies, including the Department of Justice.
12:15am-1:45pm - INFORMATION EXCHANGE AND BUFFET LUNCH FAWCETT CENTER BALLROOM, SECTIONS A & B
2:00pm-3:30pm – CONCURRENT SESSIONS
Session A: Access to Health Care: Rights and Responsibilities
Marilyn Brusherd, Equal Opportunity Analyst, Office for Civil Rights, Region V
This presentation will provide an overview of the various laws under OCR’s jurisdiction, and the obligations of health service providers to ensure access to persons with disabilities. Topics will include physical accessibility and programmatic accessibility, the definition of disability in light of recent Supreme Court decisions, and some of the procedural obligations of recipient programs and how the programs themselves as well as consumers and advocates can use those obligations to ones best advantage.
Session B: Requesting an Accommodation: Rights and Responsibilities of Employee and Employer
John D. Sargent, Supervisory Trial Attorney, EEOC - Cleveland District Office
An interactive presentation using EEOC guidance to highlight the elements of an effective accommodation process under the ADA.
Session C: Teaching in the Humanities: A Perspective on Disability Studies
Georgina Kleege, Independent Scholar and Author
A faculty panel will explore the role of Disability Studies within the Humanities as both a discipline and a perspective within a range of disciplines. Panel members will include: Brenda Brueggemann, Dept. of English, The Ohio State University; Steve Kuusisto, Dept. of English, The Ohio State University; Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Women’s Studies, Emory University.
Session D: Section 508, Title II & Beyond: Effective Communication in the Digital Age
Earlene Sesker, Accessibility Specialist, U.S. Access Board; Scott Lissner, ADA Coordinator, The Ohio State University
The accessibility of Web pages for courses using the Web was analyzed using the Bobby (Center for Applied Special Technology; CAST, 1999) validation tool. Of the 80 unique pages examined, 29 (36%) were "Bobby approved." Common Priority 1 errors were identified. Implications and strategies for compliance with ADA were discussed.
3:45pm-5:15pm - CONCURRENT SESSIONS
Session A: Access to Health Care & Individuals Who Are Deaf or Hearing Impaired
Marilyn Brusherd, Equal Opportunity Analyst, Office for Civil Rights, Region V
An in-depth discussion of services to persons who are deaf or hearing impaired. The discussion centers on some of the common misconceptions about the responsibilities for providing interpreters, when and how to use interpreters, who can be an interpreter, who is not a "qualified" interpreter, and why family or children should not be used as interpreters. Participants from health facilities and social service programs will be given a resource for technical assistance, and consumers/advocates/community organizations will be given information on how to help their clients assert their rights to accessible health care.
Session B: Ability Etiquette: Exploring the 3 A’s of Attitude, Awareness & Ability
Derek Mortland, Executive Director of Fairfield Center for Disabilities and Cerebral Palsy; Ken Campbell, Nisonger Center, The Ohio State University; David Cameron, Rehabilitation Services Commission
An in-depth look at the attitudes and awareness of physical and mental differences in our society; how people's abilities can be brought to the forefront, not the obstacles they face.
Session C: The Emergence of Disability Studies
Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Women’s Studies, Emory University
A discussion of the emergence of Disability Studies as a discipline and how Disability Studies relates to Cultural Studies, Women's Studies, and Literary Studies.
Session D: Building an Accessible Environment: The Ohio Code & The Fair Housing Act
Jan Sokolnicki, Senior Staff, Ohio Board of Building Standards; Michael Shifrin, Chief Enforcement Officer, Housing and Urban Development, Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Phone Program Operations & Compliance Center
This session is focused on reducing the complexity of regulations and includes:
An overview of the relationship between the federal and state laws on accessible design and construction;
A sequence of steps to take when evaluating an existing condition for compliance;
An overview of options to consider when developing a short or long term plan for compliance;
When to use and how to choose a design or accessibility consultant;
How to avoid plan review and inspection delays for renovations or new construction;
Reliable resources related to compliant accessible design and construction.
(Approved 2 CEU hours for Building Officials, Plans Examiners, Building Inspectors, & Mechanical Inspectors)
Friday, April 12, 2002
9:00am-10:30am - CONCURRENT SESSIONS
Session A: Access to the Arts
James Shannon, Executive Director, VSA of Ohio
The presenters will explore accessibility requirements as they relate to arts venues. They will also provide a collaborative model for implementing a review of a facility.
Session B: The Mediation Process and Negotiation Strategies
Keith McNeil, Chief Legal Counsel, Ohio Civil Rights Commission; Matt Miko, Director of Enforcement, Ohio Civil Rights Commission
The presenters will provide an overview of the Ohio Civil Rights Commission’s compliance process and discuss the role of mediation in resolving access and discrimination complaints.
Session C: Disability Studies, Ethics, and Bioethics
Timothy Lillie, PhD, The University of Akron
Scholars in the emerging fields of Disability Studies and Bioethics have found themselves in disputations over ethical and bioethical problems regarding disability. Bioethicists, many of whom work in hospital or health care settings, are still greatly influenced by a medical model of disability, while Disability Studies is generally looking at the phenomenon of disability via a social construction model. Bioethicists, heavily influenced by physicians, tend to underestimate the quality of life experienced by people with disabilities and may tend to propose or allow active or passive euthanasia or withholding or withdrawing of treatment, because of their mistaken assumptions. Their decisions are often made without including the perspective of people with disabilities. Disability Studies scholars, on the other hand, tend to listen to and respect the perspective of people with disabilities and to weave their perspective into their scholarly work. Because people with disabilities, as a group, are impoverished and oppressed, Disability Studies scholars include an active advocacy role in their research and writing -- one that is clearly stated in advance. Department of Philosophy, Centers for Ethics, Medical and Law schools and Disability Studies scholars can and should work together to take advantage of the strengths each brings to Bioethics in order to expand and promote the role of people with disabilities in important decisions regarding medical or other services. A possible model is proposed to do this.
Session D: Accessing Information Technology in the Classroom
Peter Berg, Technical Assistance Specialist, Great Lakes ADA & Accessible IT Center
What are the issues in the area of Accessible Information Technology in Education? What are the legal obligations facing elementary, high school and postsecondary institutions? How do the ADA, IDEA and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act impact the information technology being used by educational entities? Why is it important for students with disabilities to have access to information technology?
The use of assistive technology along with new regulations and guidelines has allowed individuals with disabilities access to information technology, but many barriers still exist. The presenter will discuss the issues facing educational entities and resources available under a new grant from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR).
10:45am-12:15pm - CONCURRENT SESSIONS
Session A: Accommodating Physical and Mental Impairments: An EEOC Perspective
Cynthia Stankiewicz, Program Analyst, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
As a foundation for reviewing recent decisions, the presenter will review the EEOC’s Enforcement Guidance on Psychiatric Disabilities, Reasonable Accommodation, Undue Hardship, and Medical Examinations. Recent EEOC decisions and settlements will be presented to provide a model of best practices in employment.
Session B: Disability/Accessibility Issues in Housing and Public Accommodations
Keith McNeil, Chief Legal Counsel, Ohio Civil Rights Commission; Matt Miko, Director of Enforcement, Ohio Civil Rights Commission
The presenters will review the role of the Ohio Civil Rights Commission in ensuring access to housing and public accommodations.
Session C: The Year in Review: Issue & Practical Lessons from the US Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights
Catherine Anderle, Senior Attorney with the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in Cleveland
Recent OCR cases and resolutions that have raised such issues as web accessibility, real-time captioning versus note takers, interpreter services and distance learning will be highlighted to provide “real-life” examples and illustrate the kinds of resolutions OCR has obtained in these types of cases. Issues of alternative forms of access and when undue burden or fundamental alteration issues might apply will also be explained. In addition, OCR will review any recent court decisions in this area that college/university personnel should be aware of. Finally, questions from the audience will be encouraged and entertained throughout the presentation.
Session D: Planning Accessible Events & Meetings
Robin A. Jones, Director, Great Lakes ADA and Accessible IT Center
This workshop will walk participants through the process of planning an accessible event. Considerations from accessible parking to interpreters, from publicity in alternate formats to seating, and much more.
12:15am-1:45pm - INFORMATION EXCHANGE AND BUFFET LUNCH FAWCETT CENTER BALLROOM, SECTIONS A & B
2:00pm-3:30pm – CONCURRENT SESSIONS
Session A: Undergraduate Work in Disability Studies from the Ohio State University's College of Humanities
Facilitators: Marian Lupo & Wendy Chrisman, The Ohio State University
A panel of undergraduate students in English and Women's Studies will briefly present, in a virtual poster session, the final projects and papers (many as websites) that they developed as final projects for English 562 (Disability and Illness in Drama and Performance Art) and English 575 (Representations of Deafness in Literature and Film). Panel members will include: Ben Patton, Denise Koehne, Angeline Kapferer, Julia Heiberger, Lauren Kelley, Emily Busziwicz, Elizabeth Waring, Philip Carter, Jeanne Kozelek, Jim Weber, Paul Kotheimer.
Session B: Access & Recent Decisions in the Federal Courts
Ruth Colker, Heck Faust Memorial Chair in Constitutional Law, Moritz College of Law
The presenter will review recent Federal Court decisions related to disability with a particular focus on the Court’s narrowing of the definition of disability and the remedies available. Before taking questions from the audience the presenter will also discuss the current climate for disability and the emerging importance of State legislation.
Session C: Advocating for Accessible Housing: A New Alternative
Ken Campbell, Director, Disability Policy, Nisonger Center, The Ohio State University; Michael Garth Moore, Attorney
The presenters will review issues related to accessible housing and explore options for improving the available housing stock through advocacy.
Session D: Independent Living in Ohio: Where It Is and Where It Is Going
Derek Mortland, Executive Director of Fairfield Center for Disabilities and Cerebral Palsy; Woody Osburn, Executive Director of Ohio Statewide Independent Living Council
A look at the Independent Living model and philosophy, where Ohio is at in the Independent Living movement, what the future holds for IL in Ohio and where we need to go from here.
