Commission on Disabilities Agenda
Meeting #4
4/7/05, 3 PM, Kirby 268
Call to order 3:05PM
Approval of minutes as distributed from 2/24/05
Roger volunteered to record the minutes.
Present: Georgia Keeney, Kora Cavanaugh, Beth Esselstrom, Rob Weidner, Shelly
DeCaigny, Pam Griffin, John Weiske, Judy Bromen, Ken Norstrud, Penny Cragun,
Jon M. Berry, Elee Vang, Nancy Diener, Roger Petry.
Excused: Mags David, Maria Campanaro, Trudie Hughes, Deborah Petersen-Perlman
- Old business:
- Report on Disabilities Awareness event
Access For All (AFA)
sponsored the annual Disability Crash
Course, held this year on March 9th.
Booths were set up in the Kirby Ballroom featuring simulations across
disabilities such as assistive technology, dogs who assist the blind
or deaf. A wheelchair obstacle course provided first-hand exposure to
access challenges on campus. Elee reported good attendance, and
lots of inquiries. Both Elee and Shelly felt that having this
on the same day as the UMD Health Fair worked well.
- Northern Bridge meeting (see items 2.A.d. and 2.C.h.).
- New business:
- Planning for next year - goals, budget request, committee membership
- Accessible transportation
Need to revise annual
transportation letter sent by Greg Fox and check language to encourage
faculty and students to make accommodations. Suggestion is to link
from faculty web page to appropriate web page to arrange for accessible
transportation. The existing accessible transportation policy is:
http://www.d.umn.edu/access/commission/transportation.html
- Assistive Technology Team
The team is working on a resource list on what's available and
who to contact. Penny felt the cooperative effort will
improve support to students, staff and faculty.
- "DO-IT" collaboration
Pam reported that UMD is part of consortium of colleges developing
assistive training and evaluation tools. UMD Disability Services &
Resources (DSR) proposes that UMD would submit a proposal to develop
a "Community
of Practice" (The
Commission on Disabilities would be the CoP) to identify strategies,
policies, and procedures to implement steps toward the application
of universal design of courses and services. Pam will notify the
consortium that the Commission is interested in exploring this
concept.
- Evaluation of assistive needs of prospective students
DSR cooperates with the
Office of Admissions to identify and inform prospective students
of available services. UMD hosts an annual LD/ADD recruiting fair,
and the DSR staff are members of Northern
Bridge,
a regional group of college disability services professionals in
NE Minnesota, working together to assist K-12 Special Ed. staff
help high school students make transition to college. Consortium
membership includes representation from UMD, St. Scholastica, UWS,
area MnSCU affiliates, Rehabilitative Services, State Services
for the Blind, the Lighthouse, Indianhead Technical College, and
the Center for Independent Living of NE Minn.
A recent meeting of this
group was held on March 29th. (see item 2.C.h)
- Are campus buildings accessible-friendly or minimally compliant?
While new building designs meet ADA criteria, in practice some building
designs are not accessible-friendly. The overhead causeway linking
the Life Science building and the new Swenson building is steep
ramp which will challenge both manual and powered wheel chairs.
- Parking for sign-language interpreters
Parking problems continue for interpreters, causing them to be late
for signing commitments. Nancy reports that no parking accommodations
are forthcoming for this year. We will press hard next year to
look into spaces. Consensus supported pursuing the gold sticker
option to ensure a space.
- Budget request (see item 2.C.c.)
- We are still looking for a Commission representative from Facilities
Management. Georgia will discuss this issue with John King, FM Director.
- Video Relay Service demonstration
Nancy reported that DSR will host a presentation by Sorenson
VRS on April 8th, beginning at 9:00AM in Kirby 268. Sorenson VRS is
a free service that allows anyone to conduct video relay calls through
a certified ASL interpreter. DSR will recommend that UMD become a regional
interpreting center. Elee provided a very positive personal testimonial
of her experiences with the Sorenson VRS.
- Around the room for announcements and issues of concern
- Kora reported that the LSBE has no power-assisted entrance doors.
Kora will relay suggestions to the architects who are designing the
new LSBE building. The Tweed Museum is another location in need of
power-assisted doors.
- Beth brought up accessibility issues relating to the acquisition
of the Chester Park Elementary school building.
- Rob inquired as to funding source for the Commission. Georgia reported
that she prepares an annual budget request to the Chancellor for
programming, snacks, meeting-room costs, etc. It is possible that
in the future the Commission on Disabilities and the Commission on
Diversity may have to share some funding resources.
- Pam reported on "Strategies
for Success", a recently formed support group for anxiety, depression
and other psychological problems. Meetings are at 4pm on Wed. in
264 Kirby. For more information, see http://www.d.umn.edu/access/Stressed.htm
- Nancy mentioned the "Spring
into Shape" 5K run coming up on April
23rd. AFA co-sponsors the event, and receives a portion of the proceeds
from the donations.
She relayed to the Commission the unfortunate decision by the VCAA
to cancel some sections of ASL (American Sign Language) for Fall
2005.
Considerations:
- Day school access funds are prioritized by courses deemed most
significant.
- ASL satisfies the foreign
language requirement at UMD.
- CSD has been offering the courses and providing the instructors
- CSD has been planning an ASL Certificate Program
- Ownership of ASL seems to have become diffused
- Students have already registered for sections of ASL slated
for cancellation.
- Elee shared an observation and concern that a number of the
audiologists do not know how to sign.
The Commission could draft a position statement or request to Paul
Deputy (Dean of CEHSP) or to the VCAA to reconsider or at least explain
why the sections were cancelled.
- Judy reported on an exhibit of DVD's
recently featured in the UMD Library's hallway display case. The display,
"Disability in Movies," in celebration of Disabilities Awareness Month,
was created by Judy.
- Ken Norstrud reported significant progress continues relative
to numbers of Category 1 & 2 clients served by the Minnesota
WorkForce Center Disability Services.
- Penny reported on the recent Northern Bridge meeting,
and reminded the group of the upcoming DSR/AFA Awards and Student
Recognition Celebration on Wednesday, April 27th, from 5:30PM-7:30PM
in the Kirby Ballroom.
- Jon Berry sent out a questionnaire to solicit issues related to
accessibility of facilities within the School of Fine Arts (Tweed,
MPAC, Weber, etc.) Mark Harvey created "Theatre 1001" Introduction
to Theatre. Section 2 of the course is fully web-based and "friendly" to
individuals with disabilities. The storage area on the third floor
of MPAC which holds small props can be accessed only via a small
spiral staircase. An existing elevator shaft extends to the third
floor, however the elevator car can travel only up to the second
floor.
- Elee Van provided the Access for All report. The play "Deaf
Duckling
" is scheduled for April 20 7:00 p.m. presented by the Mixed
Blood Theatre in the Dudley Experimental Theatre. The Mixed Blood
Theatre from Minneapolis
will be coming to UMD to perform this theatrical performance which
takes the age-old tale "The Ugly Duckling", and intertwines
it with the story of a deaf child born into a hearing family.
- Any other items?
- This is our last meeting for the year. Georgia will be preparing
our final report.
- Georgia thanked the Commission members for a job well done. We
thanked Georgia for a job well done!
- Adjourned 4:15PM.