MU Chancellor’s Committee
for Persons with Disabilities (CCPD)
Minutes for March 12, 2012
Attendees: Cheryl Shigaki, chair; Cindy Cotner; Gui DeSouza; Bonnie Gregg; Barb Hammer; Lee Henson; Carol Howald; Sean Joy; Giulianne Krug; Abbie O’Sullivan; Carol Twenter.
January 2012 Minutes: Motion was made and seconded to accept the January 2012 minutes. (Note: No minutes exist for February because this meeting was canceled due to inclement weather.). Minutes were accepted
Announcements and Introductions:
Two new CCPD members were introduced: Gui DeSouza, Associate Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Sean Joy, a junior Occupational Therapy major in the School of
Health Professions.
Campus Accessibility Policy – Cheryl contacted Mike Middleton about the status of the Accessibility Policy. He did not know the official status, but the assumption is that Legal is still reviewing the policy. Cheryl will inquire again in a few weeks.
Awards and Recognitions of current and recent past CCPD members: Cheryl Shigaki recently received the Faculty Achievement Award in Diversity, and Troy Balthazar received the Chancellor’s Diversity Initiative Award.
Celebrate Ability Week – The third annual Celebrate Ability Week is scheduled for the first week in October. The event is organized by students and financed by Kathy Murray’s office (Student Life) with assistance from Disabilities Services, Great Plains ADA Center, and the Chancellor’s office.
Committee on Committees (COC) Report – Bonnie is a member of COC, and she explained that campus committees are reviewed every three years by COC. Recommendations for continuation and other committee improvements are made to the Chancellor. CCPD was reviewed this year, and Bonnie shared her report with the Committee. Role and need for a liaison was discussed. No decision was made yet whether to pursue this.
Brief Departmental/Individual Reports:
MU Healthcare Diversity Advisory Council – Cheryl, a member of the Council, suggested this group write a policy stating they are interested in diversity. Cheryl has concerns about some accessibility issues in the health sciences, specifically the accessibility of electronic medical records. Discussion ensued and it was decided that Cheryl and Abbie would approach Hal Williamson, Vice Chancellor Health Sciences, about a meeting.
Disability Services – Barb explained that her office has seen a 75% increase in students with disabilities during the past four years. This semester a new, automated process for requesting exams was launched, and this has been well received. Her office has now hired a receptionist.
Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy (OT/PT) Departments – Giuli said the proposed move for PT and OT to the Stephens College building is still on hold. Concerns were expressed about the lack of accessibility for students in wheelchairs in the current location.
Student Organizations – Sean Joy, who is president of both the Student Occupational Therapy Organization and the Mizzou Unity Coalition, shared recent activities of these groups including “Super Saturday,” an event for kids with autism to watch a movie in a theater, and “Walk on Stankowski Field” an event which attempts to raise awareness using offensive language, targeting “the R-word.”
Adaptive Computing Technology (ACT) – Abbie explained that WebAIM, a new tool for evaluating webpage accessibility, is now being used by ten departments on campus. With over one million web pages at MU, she hopes more departments will utilize this tool.
ACT has a new web page, and Abbie hopes it includes more helpful information.
Workstation analysis: ACT is talking to the IT campus community to be proactive against poor ergonomic office environments which can cause discomfort and disabilities. Abbie is working with Environmental Health and Safety to proceed with “disability prevention” efforts. Also, she reminded the group about VPATs (Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates), a tool to evaluate new technological products regarding their conformity to accessibility standards. Campus project managers are supposed to evaluate new technology using VPATs.
ADA Coordinator – Lee announced he now reports to Noor Azizan-Gardner, Interim Chief Diversity Officer. Lee likes the new emphasis this has on Diversity, and he looks forward to building on this relationship.
“Spreading the Word” about Disability Issues – An athletic survey was recently emailed to many campus employees. Discussion followed if this survey could be used to comment on disability issues in athletics. Although it was determined this survey’s primary focus is on luxury boxes, etc., the final comment box could be used to write comments about “universal design standards,” etc.
Barb proposed that the CCPD present its “Rethinking Disability” presentation to the Athletics Department. Other suggested groups are:
1) College of Engineering
2) Individual Academic units
3) Undergraduate Studies (Jim Spain’s office)
Barb advised making the PowerPoint presentation a “one size fits all” for all groups rather than tweaking the PowerPoint before each presentation.
City/Campus Transit. Lee has attended meetings regarding the city and campus transit options. He hopes to achieve more accessible transportation opportunities.
Campus Planning Principles The Campus Master Plan group meets this week. Lee hopes to refine the Planning Principle pertaining to disabilities.
Centralization of Services for Employees with Disabilities – Barb said Cathy Scroggs will reconvene the steering committee that is looking into the centralization of disability support for employees. Cathy wants someone representing Faculty Council and HR added to this group.
Next meetings:
Meetings are held 3:30-5:00pm:
Monday April 9, 2012, Memorial Union, N 232
Monday, May 7, 2012, Memorial Union, S207
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