MIAHEAD Board Meeting 9-17-2004
Welcome and Introductions
AquinasCollege: Jackie Sweeney, Ann Moore
CalvinCollege: Karen Broekstra, Margaret Vriend
CentralMichiganUniversity: Jill Noch
CooleyLawSchool: Goldie Adele
FerrisStateUniversity: Eunice Merwin
Glen Oaks: Cheryl Hayden, Lyle Riven
GrandValleyStateUniversity:Kathleen VanderVeen (President), Sulari White
KelloggCommunity College: Holly Moore McKee
Lake MichiganCollege: Dennis Mahoney
LansingCommunity College: Jennifer Lock (Secretary)
MadonnaUniversity: David M. Stokes (Treasurer)
Michigan Commission for the Blind: Bernie Kramer, Karyn Silky
Michigan Rehabilitation Services: Rosanne Renauer
MichiganStateUniversity: Elaine High (4-Year Rep), Virginia Martz
OaklandUniversity: Linda Sisson
SchoolcraftCollege: Carl Monroe
University of Michigan: Sam Goodin, Virginia Grubaugh (Past-President)
WesternMichiganUniversity: Beth denHartigh
Agenda Approval--approved
Secretary’s Report
1)Deb Guerrero—NewTwo-YearCollege representative
2)Website—some changes made to the website; please review
3)Chris Veith was recommended to be a vendor a the Commission for the Blind conference and was accepted.
Treasurer’s Report
1)David Stokes has taken over and needs materials transferred over to his name as a signatory.
2)Provided report as to the current standings for the finances for MIAHEAD.
3)$ 8624.25 balance currently; several checks had to be destroyed due to incorrect name of organization on the checks.
Conference Committee
Volunteers solicited for Spring 2005 conference committee.
1)Group will consist of: Elaine High (MSU); Jennifer Lock (LCC); Linda Sisson (Oakland); Virginia Grubaugh (UofM); Ginger Martz (MSU); Karen Broekstra (Calvin); Kathleen VanderVeen (GVSU)
2)Sam recommended having the OCR Region 9 representatives as keynote presentations. He agreed to discuss this with them to determine their availability.
Advocacy Committee
1)LDA conference is October 3-5. Elaine High will be presenting along with several MSU LD students; many speakers discussing documentation. Rosanne Renauer will also present. Conference will be held at the KelloggCenter at MSU
2)Michigan Rehab Conference is November 3-5; Rosanne will provide additional information at the next MIAHEAD meeting
3)AHEAD conference, held in Miami in July, was excellent—great speakers, breaks, events, etc. Virginia Grubaugh is on the board of directions for AHEAD as the director of professional development. She is currently looking at a variety of training opportunities for disability professionals with conferences beginning in November; online courses will also be starting and more information will be provided as it becomes available. The 2005 AHEAD conference will be in Milwaukee, WI in early-August.
4)Rosanne Renauer—the Monday Bulletin has been updated by the Commission for the Blind. The next edition will focus on websites that support post-secondary education. Any members who would like to be added can contact Rosanne at:
5)Should the PowerPoint be available to all MIAHEAD members? It could be formatted to an Adobe format so that it could not be changed. Secretary will follow up with Chris Veith to create a link to the PowerPoint presentation so that it is in a downloadable format.
6)Abilities Expo at NoviExpoCenter this weekend—9/17-9/19—focusing on assistive technology.
Legislative Committee
The Disability Caucus meeting was postponed until October. Goldie met with Senator Bernero to discuss the Disability Caucus to make introductions. Next meeting is in the first Wednesday in October (10/6) at 8:30 AM (but may be cancelled for this month—Goldie will follow-up). The group is trying to determine needs of disability professionals and students to be able to advocate for our needs within the House of Reps and Senators. Rosanne recommends that the MIAHEAD President invite some of the members of this group to a MIAHEAD meeting to host their lunch to have an introduction to the group. Issues to discuss with them would be: funding, technology accessibility, etc. Goldie will follow up with the members to determine which MIAHEAD meeting they would be able to attend within the next couple of months.
President’s Report
Stephen Blosser (Technology Specialist of MSU) has requested to attend a MIAHEAD meeting. Stephen would like members to be aware of new assistive technology that has become available for people with ALS and quadriplegia; additionally, he could discuss funding for this technology that may be available through MSU. A second area he would address would be the Ag Tech programs (Agribility) will have new technology and services that will need to be available to all Ag Tech professionals. He will be asked to attend the Oct/Nov meeting (opposite of the meeting that will be attended by the Disability Caucus members who will be attending one of those months).
Round Table
Elaine High (MSU)—WaverlyCommunityHigh School Psych Report Update of documentation form that has been provided to her. MSU needs to determine if this is a viable option in place of a full report/update and can be used by other school systems. Along with this form, a full Psychological report would be needed (even if it’s old). Elaine has been discussing this form with the Waverly Psychologist to be able to easily determine the appropriate accommodations. MSU will share with other MIAHEAD members as it becomes available. Sam Goodin suggested that all Psych testing must be done using “adult norms” (regardless of how old it is) rather than playing the “age game” and determining how long ago the testing was done, although it must be done within 5 years (same standards at ETS is currently using). This form would replace the need of completely re-testing a student during their senior year; would be a “summary” attached along with a full psych to back up the summary. Students can choose to have a full re-testing done if it is “for the current needs of the student” rather than for higher ed needs.
Karen Broekstra (Calvin)—How are students identifying themselves to Health Services and Counseling Services so that the information comes back to the Disability Services office. Is any training done to staff to define how disability may limit a students’ functioning at the college level (specifically about all living situations), and how to make appropriate referrals to the Disability Services office? The concern is with the liability of the Disability Services office to ensure that the student is aware of this office. Also, concern regarding the Counseling or Health Services office that may be recommending “accommodations” to students which may not be validated by the Disability Services office. Sam Goodin pointed out that it is up to the students to self-disclose to the Disability Services office. Some schools present in-services to their staff within their institutions regarding referrals to discuss the Education Model versus the Medical Model. Some schools ensure that a statement is added to all syllabi so that many referrals come from educators, or students will self-disclose to the Disability Services office.
Karen Broekstra (Calvin) Employees with disabilities—are there forms that already exist that could be used to request accommodations? Group recommended that she follow-up with John Pedraza at MSU; additionally, UofM also has those forms within their website.
Eunice Merwin (Ferris State Univ)—How are referrals from faculty made to the Disability Services office? Some students may self-disclose to the instructor, but has not yet discussed this with the Disability Services office. Other times, instructors may be concerned that a student has a disability and may inquire of the Disability Services office to determine if there is a need to make a referral of the student to the Disability Services office. A general conversation can also take place to make sure that ALL students within a class are aware that the Disability Services office is available to provide assistance. A statement on the syllabus is very important in enabling students to make the self-referral to the Disability Services office. It is always up to the student to self-disclose.
Rosanne Renauer (MRS)—MCTI will be starting a new training program called CART (Computer Aided Real Time Captioning)—a paraphrasing mechanism for real time captioning. This will be a self-directed program and will be starting with @ 5 people to go through the initial training.
Rosanne Renauer (MRS)—Draft Agreement with MRS/Commission for the Blind—Roseanne has been receiving feedback from members regarding this draft. MRS was advised by auditors to develop individual agreements with higher education institutions. One suggestion was to hold a meeting to discuss negotiations with these agreements, and Rosanne requested feedback on this option. Rosanne is unsure of the flexibility in MRS’ ability to revise this agreement.
Dennis Mahoney (Lake MichiganCollege)--Is anyone aware of an expert speaker regarding accommodating students with psych disabilities? Group recommended Robin Jones from Great Lakes.
Karen Silky (Commission for the Blind)—Janice Benstead gave birth to twin girls. She will be returning to the Commission on October 1.
Carl Monroe(Schoolcraft)—Is early registration available for students with disabilities at your school? This is currently an issue with the Nursing department due to their selective enrollment policies.
Beth denHartigh (WMU)—Beth is serving on a diversity committee at WMU. Is there any disability training that MIAHEAD members could recommend to be used? HopeCollege used to have a disability simulation program available for their students and staff (wheelchair users, dyslexia, etc). Louise Shoemaker is the Coordinator at Hope and may have more information on this topic. Jane Jarrow also has a packet (AHEAD.org website training materials); MSU has a disability accessibility awareness week packet (Council of Students with Disabilities on Center for Independent Living organizations are normally very opposed to any empathy training/simulation (seen as a game or as pity). It is very important to get the buy-in from the students and staff/faculty.
Sam Goodin (UofM)—Courts in Review information from AHEAD meeting (available on the website).
Sam Goodin (UofM)--Unsolicited survey of architectural barriers at colleges across the country is currently being done by OCR. Selection is made by complaints that were made by students on the campuses.
Sam Goodin (UofM)-- National file format for all eText books at the secondary-level. A recommendation was made that the Daisy standard be used at the higher education level as well (the same as is being used at secondary) to ease transition issues. Weak areas include music and math notation, so more investigation will take place in these areas. Discussion is being had regarding a depository for eTextbooks.
Sam Goodin (UofM)--AHEAD session—Book publishers discussion regarding the fact that Chaffee doesn’t cover us in terms of scanning (regarding permission standards). Does copyright law trump disability accessibility law?
Sam Goodin (UofM)--Post-secondary higher education issue publication study which will be available on the website by searching for: Institute for Higher Education Policy; Higher Education Opportunities for Students with Disabilities: A Primer for Policymakers; American Policy on Publishers; and CAST within your online search engine.
Kathleen VanderVeen (GVSU)—C-Print pilot program has been implemented at GVSU for Fall. A student who normally uses an interpreter is trying this for one class for the semester to determine if this is a valid option. It seems to be working for the student—he is now only using interpreters for testing. Funding came from a GVSU department (Equity and Planning) including wireless laptops hardware ($2100.00 apiece), ($200.00 apiece) training for staff through PepNet (in Wisconsin), and software cost.
Kathleen VanderVeen (GVSU)--Chronic Back Pain—how is it determined that this is debilitating? Answer: this should be considered a valid disability as it affects their functioning within the classroom and how does it impact the student’s life functioning. It would depend upon the accommodations being requested.
Karen Broekstra (Calvin)—Has deaf students from the state of Idaho in terms of paying for a percentage of their students’ accommodations at Calvin. Karen pointed out that Michigan’s interagency agreements appear to be very different than those in other states.
David Stokes (Madonna)—Confidentiality issue with a Psych grad student’s (with quadriplegia) personal aid who would be present when psych training/therapy sessions would be taking place between the student and his/her clients. The Psych department may say that this fundamentally alters the nature of their program in terms of having a third person having access to this type of information. A determination needs to be made regarding the reason for having a personal aid available during the therapy sessions. There is also some concern regarding some of the student’s personal habits that have been exhibited in class. A recommendation was made to put program standards in place that would be applicable for all students to ensure that the department/Disability Services are covered.
Virginia Martz (MSU)—John Pedraza wanted to let MIAHEAD members know that the wheelchair basketball class is running at MSU this semester. Tai Chi will also be available in upcoming semesters for wheelchair users and VI students.
Virginia Martz (MSU)--What are the expectations for students to use with technology as they come into college? MSU expects all students to come to college with a computer (laptop preferred). Many colleges expect their students to be able to have computer knowledge in terms of online course work. Computer labs are able to provide assistance in training in some cases. There are issues with accessibility (disability related and otherwise) to this type of technology. There would be a need to offer technology training.
Karyn Silky (Commission)—How do students obtain adaptive software that would be needed in the classroom? The college is responsible for providing in-class software. One issue is that the authorization keys are changing so that it cannot be re-installed. Schools recommend site licenses (rather than keys) or obtaining networking rights.
Additional New Business
New Member to be added to site: Holly Moore McKee, Director of Support Services at Kellogg Community College; 450 North Avenue, Battle Creek, MI 49017-3397 (269) 965-3931 ext 2629 email .
Next MIAHEAD Meeting—Friday, October 15, 2004.