The Association on Higher Education And Disability (ahead) 2015 Saint Paul Minnesota, July 13-18

Concurrent Sessions

The AHEAD 2015 Conference offers an array of informative concurrent sessions arranged by Topical Tracks. While you may choose any session that you’d like, we offer these themes for those who want to explore particular topics in depth. Words in italics after each description indicate the topical tracks and themes along with the intended audience level. Information below is current to date and may be subject to change.

Concurrent Block 1

DS Directors and their staffs literally need to be visible and persistent change agents in every corner of the institution. From onsite and online instruction, to the workplace, to strategic planning, to electronic information systems, to facilities design and construction, campus components and disability constantly intersect. Yet, oftentimes DS Directors feel powerless/helpless to take the initiative and galvanize their institution’s commitment to act. They may say that they don’t have enough clout or resources, that their “boss” would not be supportive, that disability is not part of their institution’s diversity agenda, that their administration is only concerned with what “must” be done, and that the parameters of their offices limit their ability to help move the institution beyond compliance. In this session we will address the work a talented and productive DS Director should undertake to build a credible and effective office, ensure comparable, full participation of individuals with disabilities, infuse inclusive design into the total operation of the institution, and promote an appreciation of the disability experience.

The Office for Civil Rights ensures equal access to education and promotes educational excellence through active enforcement of federal civil rights laws. OCR assists individuals with disabilities facing discrimination and guides advocates and institutions in developing systemic solutions to civil rights problems by investigating complaints, initiating compliance reviews and providing proactive technical assistance. This session reviews illustrative decisions over the last year which may help you in formulating policy and practice on your own campus.

Interested in learning about Disability Studies? At this session you will learn the theoretical underpinnings, historical outline, essential definitions, and fundamental concepts of Disability Studies. We will also provide information and discuss the relevance of Disability Studies to providing services for the students who utilize our offices. A list of suggested introductory readings, films, videos and blogs will be provided.

In our role as disability service providers, we need to regularly facilitate access in classroom environments more than anywhere else on campus. Working with faculty can be positive, challenging or sometimes downright intimidating. Based on notable leadership strategies, this session will offer thoughts and insights on how to have the conversations you want with faculty to create the access you need for students and the university.

Oppression. Power. Privilege. Self-awareness. For many people these are difficult concepts to consider, let alone discuss. We don’t like to admit we have privileges that oppress others, but these concepts are insidious and ubiquitous. This session will invite participants to see their part in creating social justice by reflecting on their own identities, privileges, and experiences of oppression.

Have you ever wondered how we could use technology beyond the standard methods to improve access? Come learn how two institutions are thinking outside of the box, to provide technology solutions such as tracking furniture used for accommodations, providing real time information on accessible parking availability, creating accessible wayfinding through mapping and smartphones, and using rapid prototyping for DIY AT.

In this workshop, participants will learn how to assess and repair accessibility issues with PDF documents using Acrobat Pro. Workflows for creating PDF documents will be discussed, and hands-on activities will allow participants to practice using the accessibility tools within Acrobat Pro to address common accessibility issues and challenges with PDF documents.

Beyond the Americans with Disabilities Act: Inclusive Policy and Practice for Higher Education was published by NASPA in 2014, and featured contributions predominantly written by AHEAD members. Many of the original book contributors will join together to facilitate discussions of case studies based on the book’s best practices and themes. The session will be highly engaging, educational and fun.

The national math redesign movement is affecting math success for students with disabilities. Participants will learn math course advisement strategies, effective math study skills, how processing deficits affect math leaning, appropriate recommendations for classroom accommodations, testing accommodations and course substitutions. An additional focus is staffing failing students and developing individual math success plans for students with disabilities and wounded warriors.

The purpose of this program is to provide disability service providers with the tools they will need to work effectively with people on the Autism Spectrum. Participants will learn about tools used effectively by the presenters and will be given the top ten resources for supporting this population. The audience will be given a resource list to develop their own tool kit.

With recent legal decisions concerning accessibility, the topic of captioning has been brought into the spotlight. Captioning, media shown in the classroom and digital media posted online, is no longer an option but a legal mandate. This workshop will talk about the process of captioning media, various software options, and the importance of quality captioning. Bring your questions and be ready to learn.

The AHEAD Task Force on Students with Intellectual Disabilities, in partnership with Think College, has developed an online module to help support understanding and collaboration between disability services offices and programs that serve students with intellectual disabilities. This session will describe the module and highlight how Disability Services professionals can use it to find common ground when working with programs for students with ID.

Based on the Principles for UID implemented at the University of Guelph, Canada, this workshop will review the fundamental grounds of universal design from the architectural approach, to Vygotsky’s theory of the brain processes of learning.Through several hands-on activities, attendees will have the opportunity to evaluate their current syllabus using the UDL and UID principles and suggest appropriate changes to make their classroom a more universally designed environment with ideas for creating instructional materials and evaluation tools that are accessible for all. This workshop will discuss Universal Design, including Universal Design for Learning, Universal Instructional Design, and the Seven Principles of UID researched and implemented by the University of Guelph, Canada. Through several hands-on activities, attendees will learn how to evaluate their courses and gain suggestions for appropriate changes to create a more universally designed learning environment, including course materials and evaluation tools.