The Oregon Association of Higher Education and Disability (ORAHEAD) asked us to present on our access maps. This year it is at the Oregon Gardens about an hour south of Portland. Lydia and I decided to join in for the rest of the conference.

Accessibility Committees

“This session will discuss the creation of an accessibility committee, broadly defined to be inclusive of all potential topics of interest for access to education and employment at a college or university. More specifically, this session will discuss the purpose, scope, charge, membership, impact, and take aways for accessibility committees to become effective change agents on a college campus.”

• Starts with an open discussion about which colleges currently have committees
• What kinds of stakeholders need to be involved?
• How do you get them involved?
• How to small colleges get investment? Relationships!
• Universal design helps everyone, not just those with disabilities.

Remote Realtime Communication Access

“This presentation will be an overview of remote services in the classroom – ASL, CART & TypeWell. Topics to be covered: Technical considerations, equipment selection, how to evaluate if remote services will work in your situation. This will be a lecture with Q & A.”

• Realtime example: http://west.typewell.com/acnojpih
• Use to work at PCC, started her own company http://stradagize.com/
• Why is this a big issue now? Demographic is changing. Sign language is used less.
• Fills gaps, cuts costs.
• Consider how flexible your students are with technology.
• Make sure your IT people are on board.
• There isn’t 100% even with in-class transcriptions.
• Do your prep in advance. Then nothing can go wrong ;)
• Remember to unplug your mic before heading to the bathroom! Or, it may be transcribed.

Commission for the Blind