2019 The Next Chapter: Master Classes for the Seasoned Professional

The Next Chapter is AHEAD’s advanced professional development event for highly experienced higher education personnel who work to ensure accessible campus environments. Each three-day master class is designed to expand the knowledge of seasoned professionals, supporting them in making nuanced decisions, staying current in this fast-paced profession, engaging campus stakeholders, and exploring foundational concepts that underpin the work. To encourage an expansive exploration of concepts, apply academic thought and legal principles to daily work, and expand strategies for collaborating with campus colleagues, all master classes include significant opportunity for networking and engagement.

All participants receive a certificate of advanced study. Continuing education units (CEUs) from the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification (CRCC) are available.

2019 Master Classes

The 2019 program held in Columbus includes the following master classes:

• MC#1- Advanced Practices for Disability Services in Health Sciences Programs

• MC#2- Disability Law: Lessons in Application for the Advanced Disability Professional

• MC#3- Knowledge Mobilization: Closing the Gap Between Disability Studies and Services

• MC#4- Exploring and Advancing Best Practices in Community College Disability Resource Offices

• MC#5- The ADA Coordinator Role in Higher Education: Planning Seamless Access

MC#1- Advanced Practices for Disability Services in Health Sciences Programs

Lisa Meeks, Ph.D., University of Michigan Medical School 
Jan Serrantino, Ed.D., Meeks and Company Consulting
Barbara Blacklock, M.A., L.I.S.W., University of Minnesota 

The high stakes environment of health sciences programs, coupled with multi-layered, nuanced and complex educational experiences (e.g., didactics, anatomy labs, clinical rotations, standardized patient exams, board exams, etc.), poses unique challenges for disability resource, student affairs and diversity professionals, especially those unfamiliar with the culture and hierarchy of clinical education. This master class will empower participants by refining their expertise on disability in health science programs. 

The case-based training is highly interactive and dynamic, utilizing elements of problem-based learning (PBL) and role play, drawing on actual cases, Office of Civil Rights (OCR) complaints and resolutions, private litigation, and Department of Justice (DOJ) guidance. Current cases and concerns from attendees are addressed in a workshop format at the end of each day.

The course goes beyond the scope of disability practice and covers the following topics:

• Dynamics of relationship building in clinical education

• Disability as a function of diversity, equity, and inclusion

• Intersectionality of disability and other identities

• Well-being and disability

• Support and preparation for board exams

• Support and transition from program to residency, fellowship, and professional practice

• Sound an meaningful technical standards, including a general review and self-study, group exercises, and an editing session with the facilitators

• The use of intermediaries

• An introduction to advanced assistive technologies

• Working with stakeholders across campus to ensure meaningful, not just legal, access

• Responding to complaints and appeals

• Language

• Forward-facing messages (websites, policies, orientation materials)

The training is fast paced and assumes competence in the basics of the ADA and disability resources, as well as a general understanding of health science program structure. Therefore, participants must have a solid background in higher education as demonstrated by one of the following prerequisite criteria:

1. Previous attendance at part one of this training with AHEAD;

2. Experience providing or supervising student support services in a health science program for at least one year;

3. At least 3 years of experience in non-health science student support services;

4. Approval from lead instructor to register;

5. Completion of a self-study prior to the training (provided by the lead instructor).

A copy of The Guide to Assisting Students with Disabilities: Equal Access in Health Science and Professional Education and  a bound copy of the AAMC Special Report Accessibility, Action, and Inclusion in Medical Education will be included with registration for this course.

MC#2: Disability Law: Lessons in Nuance and Application for the Advanced Disability Professional

Jamie Axelrod, M.S., Northern Arizona University
Paul D. Grossman, J.D., OCR, Chief Regional Civil Rights Attorney, San Francisco, retired; University of California, Hastings College of Law
Mary Lee Vance, Ph.D., California State University Sacramento

The higher education environment and the legal concepts intended to ensure its accessibility are multi-faceted and ever-changing. It can sometimes feel as though the more we know, the more challenging it can be to find the salient issues in novel situations and apply the relevant legal concepts. Nonetheless, the law is an effective tool for both securing students’ civil rights and setting limits. 

This advanced training will highlight long-standing and widely-accepted judicial precedents and principles, as well as the latest decisions on emerging issues, and provide an interactive exploration of their practical implications. We will succinctly cover the law, including cutting-edge principles, and facilitate best practice discussions through multiple case scenarios. Within a team of experienced colleagues, you will have the opportunity to become facile with the law by applying it to realistic and complex hypothetical questions, sharing your ideas and solutions and exploring approaches to effective implementation. Together with your colleagues and the presenters, you will explore these difficult issues and assess practical policies, processes, and procedures that provide effective access in accordance with legal obligations. Many of our hypotheticals will be based on OCR/DOJ findings, letters, and court decisions that reflect common and recurring situations; participant scenarios are also welcome.

This certificate-bearing master class will include 16-hours of face-to-face discussion and instruction. Participants will be sent four seminal rulings related to disability law in postsecondary education to review prior to our time together. The training is fast-paced and assumes competence in the basics of the ADA and disability resources. Therefore, participants must have a solid background in applying disability access principles in higher education; on-site work will focus on application in the following areas:

• DOJ Title II and Title III regulations concerning who is an individual with a disability, including the emphasis on “condition, manner, and duration” analysis

• An advanced walk through the regulations

• Review of basic claims and defenses

• Who is a qualified individual with a disability?

• Individualization and interaction in the development of accommodations

• Fundamental alteration and undue burden process and procedures

• How the courts may be using “programs as a whole” language in the regulations as a limitation on program access

• Service animals and ESAs

• Internships and field work

• Self-injurious students

• Discipline of students with disabilities

• Grievance and complaint procedures

• Veterans issues

• Digital equality

• Responding to sexual violence

• Students on the autism spectrum

MC#3: Knowledge Mobilization: Closing the Gap Between Disability Studies and Services
Sue Kroeger, Ed.D., University of Arizona
Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Ph.D., Emory  University

 “A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.” - Kahil Gibran             

Over the last fifty years, there has been a marked shift in our understanding of disability. This shift can be attributed initially to the disability rights movement as well as the field of disability studies. Both have engaged in enthusiastic analysis and have fundamentally redefined the problem of disability from one of deficits in the individual to one of barriers in the environment. Disability Services has joined the efforts to reconceptualize disability, impairment, normalcy, access, inclusion, and integration more recently. However, there continue to be gaps between scholarship and application. The challenge for disability services and disability studies is to build an alliance that will work toward applying the broad reframing of disability to practice, teaching, and research. Scholars and practitioners may inadvertently stifle the application of new thinking for the convenience of professional territoriality.

• Professions decide who is and who is not disabled (who receives services)

• Professionals often operate from deficit thinking and seek to change primarily the individual; even when professionals intellectually shift their thinking about disability, they are unable or unwilling to shift their service delivery

• Scholars oftentimes write off services as simply “adversarial gate keeping”

• Scholars often are unwilling or unable to articulate practical applications of their research and teaching and to appreciate institutional constraints

• Models/theories of equal participation, reasonable accommodation, and service delivery may be abstractions on disability as appropriated from the life stories of disabled people and through the lenses of professionals and scholars

A relatively new field called knowledge mobilization (KMb) has emerged to make research matter more on the frontlines. As a powerful methodological framework and action program, it is demonstrating social improvements by engaging researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and consumers in new ways. KMb is not just about sharing information or one-way information flow. It is about engagement, user participation, and attention to impact. It is about research as well as real world evidence from the expertise of practitioners and consumers. 

While the field of disability does have a history of involving various stakeholders in such efforts as policy development, applied research, and service evaluation, it is clear that relationships remain uneasy. This master class will focus on understanding the core perspectives of scholars, practitioners, and consumers and explore the misinformation and misunderstandings that have prevented them from ensuring that scholarship matters on the frontlines of policy/practice and vice versa. Participants will develop a KMb strategy for their campus to help increase and sustain disability access and integration. (inclusion?)

MC#4: Exploring and Advancing Best Practices in Community College Disability Resource Offices
Lucinda Aborn, Ph.D., Cerritos College (retired)
Denise Simpson, M.Ed., North Orange Continuing Education (retired) 

Providing services to students with disabilities in the community college is often different than providing services in other post-secondary education institutions. Determining accommodations for students can be challenging with the diversity of students served by open-enrollment institutions and due to the characteristics of the institution itself. Partners in fulfilling the mission of the community college serve differing roles and confront various challenging issues. 

The Community College Research Center reports over 8.7 million students were enrolled in 2-year colleges in 2016-2017, and 38% of undergraduate students were enrolled in community colleges.  Community college students with disabilities often have different accommodation needs than undergraduate students enrolled in four-year institutions. In addition to removing barriers to access, these students may require remediation and other developmental education to be successful. What role does a disability resource office have in addressing those issues?

 This workshop will consist of 16-hours of face-to-face training and discussions of current best practices. Participants will have the opportunity to bring their own challenges and brainstorm solutions to emerging issues with other highly experienced colleagues and the trainers. There will be one preparation assignment which will require 30 minutes of preparation prior to attending the training. Participants will explore topics unique to disability resources in the community colleges including: 

• Open enrollment challenges and underprepared students

• Dual enrollment programs and providing disability services

• High school partnerships

• Establishing campus-wide policies for accessibility

• Changing campus culture to assure compliance and accessibility

• Campus Infrastructure to support accommodations

• Technical Standards for Career and Technical Education Programs

• Data management and reporting

• Program evaluation and strategic planning

• Options for students with intellectual disabilities

• Supporting transition to work and to 4-year institutions

• Conducting faculty training on serving students with disabilities

• Involvement of community partners and parents

• Campus engagement for the commuter student

 This training session assumes competence in the basics of the ADA and disability services in a community college.  Attendees should have at least three years of experience in disability services in a community college setting.

MC#5: The ADA Coordinator Role in Higher Education: Planning Seamless Access
L. Scott Lissner, The Ohio State University
Gabriel Merrell, M.S., Oregon State University 

This master class is designed for participants who have been serving (formally or informally) as the ADA/Section 504 Coordinator at their institution. The fast-paced training assumes a working knowledge of the ADA and Section 504. Our focus will be on institutional access and unique challenges within higher education, on developing a compliance program and philosophy rather than on providing direct services to students, faculty and staff.  You are a good candidate for this class if you

• are your institution’s ADA Coordinator and/or 504 Compliance Officer, or

• frequently participate in institution-wide policy development, construction & renovation projects, employee accommodations, dispute resolution, and public access needs, as well as academic accommodations.

Using a review of the administrative requirements of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act as Amended, the facilitators will draw on their and participants’ experiences to explore the role of ADA Coordinators within higher education and to highlight best practices. We will discuss models for implementing a coordinated program that moves your institution towards seamless access and enhances the full participation of disabled individuals in all aspects of the academic enterprise.

Across a range of practice areas that reflect the diversity and scope of higher education, participatory case studies will model a flexible approach and identify practical solutions anchored to relevant statutes, regulations, and case law. Within and across topics, concrete examples will highlight core principles and process that can be adapted to a range of educational institutions. 

Discussion and case studies will cover:

• The role of ADA Coordinator: Connecting Personnel Philosophy and Institutional Mission

  • Minimum compliance to social justice or risk avoidance to change agent

  • The organizational chart: institutional placement and relationships

  • Dispute resolution and complaint management

• Facilitating a Sustainable Infrastructure Supporting Seamless Access

  • Policy as a foundation

  • Building standards and universal design

  • Information and communications technology access

  • Budgeting (administrative and financial resources)

• Adapting Process for Different Constituencies

  • Students

  • Faculty and staff

  • The wider community

• Access and accommodation in unique programs

  • Hospitals, hotels, athletic venues

  • Research labs

  • Multiple campuses

  • International travel and work

  • Dual enrollment, camps, etc.

• Developing Trends

  • Demographics of disability

  • Developing law

  • Emerging technology

Interactive scenarios will highlight principles in action and illustrate best practices, allowing participants to workshop policy and process elements to bring back to their campuses. The overall experience will balance information sharing, small group discussion, and hands-on policy and process development.

Registration

• Cost

  • Members

    • On or before April 12 - $495

    • After April 12 - $575

  • Non-members

    • On or before April 12 - $595

    • After April 12 - $675

Registration includes all materials and beverage morning and afternoon breaks each day of the Institutes. Travel expenses, hotel accommodations, and additional meals are not included in the registration fee. Refunds can only be provided for cancellations received in writing on or before April 12, 2019. A $75.00 administrative fee will be charged for all cancellations. We regret that no refunds can be issued after April 12, 2019 for any reason but can be transferred to another attendee from the same institution.