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SIGs

Get Involved!

AHEAD works because of you, our members. Every day, we receive requests for information on hot topics such as open enrollment, documentation needs for students with psychiatric disabilities, transition issues, job placement, etc. These are not new questions, they are ones arise for all of us in the day to day operations. But there is a way that we can organize and help one another.

SIG's, or Special Interest Groups, are AHEAD members organized around an interest or concern. SIG's provide leadership to the AHEAD membership by providing information and referral, organizing professional development opportunities, and networking around a particular topic.

Consider setting up a discussion forum; if you're active in a SIG (or would like to be) request a listserv on a topic of interest or join an existing one. Or perhaps you'd like to learn more, below is a list of the SIGs that have been established over time. Contact the leaders and see how you can get involved.

Contact for more information.

Current SIG Information

ADA Coordinators

Responds to members' concerns about education, communication and training for persons charged with ADA compliance for their campuses.

Contact:
L. Scott Lissner

Asperger's Syndrome

The Asperger's Special Interest Group provides information and resources for professionals working with students with Asperger's Syndrome. As this challenging population on college campuses continues to grow, the SIG will sponsor conference session and have a listserv to share ideas and resources.

Contacts:
Jane Thierfeld Brown
Lorraine Wolf and
Ruth Bork

Blindness/Visual Impairment

Promotes accessibility to higher education by blind and visually impaired persons.

Contacts:
Jim Marks and
John Harris

Career Planning/Placement

Offers practical strategies on how to empower students and human resource managers to recruit, hire, train, and promote qualified college graduates with disabilities in today's diversified work force.

Contacts:
Ronnie Porter and
Mary Lee Vance

Community Colleges

Serves as a forum for dissemination of information and promotion of shared problem solving around the unique issues concerning disabilities and community and junior colleges.

Contacts:
Cindy Jepsen and
Jennifer Radt

Deaf & Hard of Hearing (external link)

Promotes postsecondary education equity for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Contacts:
Jennie Bourgeois and
Teressa Gregory

Disability Studies

Promotes an awareness of the discipline of disability studies, to provide a forum for discussion of current issues and trends in disability studies, and to serve as a network/clearinghouse/liaison for AHEAD members and others (e.g., editorial staff of the Disability Studies Quarterly and members of the Society for Disability Studies) who are interested in the field of disability studies.

Contact:
Diana Darris

Graduate and Professional Students-"GAP"

Purpose is to help bridge the GAP experienced by many service providers and students with disabilities in graduate and professional programs.

Contacts:
Christy Willis and
Jane Thierfeld Brown

Head Injury

Serves as a forum to share information and provide assistance and support to AHEAD members in working with students who have acquired a head injury.

Contact:
Ruth Bork

Independent Colleges and Universities

Offers AHEAD members representing independent colleges an opportunity to address the concerns unique to their setting, such as limited staffing and budgets.

Contacts:
Virginia (Ginny) DeMers and
Pamela M. Schwartz, Ph.D.

International

Offers a forum for discussion and action for members who are interested in international issues or perspectives on issues pertaining to postsecondary education and disabilities around the world.

Contact:
Catherine O'Rourke

LD - AD/HD

Purpose is to collaboratively address the current and salient issues of students with learning disabilities (LD) and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) in the postsecondary setting and the professionals who work with them.

Contacts:
Debby Wilkerson (listserv contact)
Matt Buckley (co-chair)
Carole Burrowbridge (co-chair)

Psychiatric

The mission of the Psychiatric Disabilities Special Interest Group is to improve services and the campus climate for students with psychiatric disabilities. This is accomplished by establishing a network for disability service providers, providing a forum to get answers to their questions, sharing useful resources, and developing and promoting the use of best practices to provide equal access to higher education for students with psychiatric disabilities. See also the PD mini-site.

Contacts:
Barbara Blacklock

Racial and Ethnic Diversity and Disability

Aims to increase the awareness of AHEAD members on issues of diversity pertaining to students from historically underrepresented groups.

Contacts:
Bea Awoniyi
Vinson Ballard

Student Athletes with Disabilities

The purpose of this SIG is two-fold: to discuss issues and best practices as they relate to student-athletes with disabilities in existing varsity sports and to discuss ways to increase athletic opportunities on college campuses for students with disabilities.

Contacts:
David DelPizzo and
Matt Springer

Technology

Shares information and resources regarding access to information technology by students with disabilities in higher education. Focus is on policy and management and issues regarding the availability of assistive technology and the procurement, develpment and use of accessible information technology.

Contacts:
Sheryl Burgstahler and
Lyla Crawford

TRIO Programs

Coordinates a communication/mutual aid and support network, monitor issues, concerns and developments affecting students with disabilities in TRIO programs, and aims to develop the capability to respond to those issues, concerns and developments in a timely and meaningful manner.

Contact:
Rhonda Rapp

Emergency Preparation

The mission of the Emergency Preparation Special Interest Group is to engage AHEAD in a national/international leadership position in the dialogue and development of inclusive policies and practices that fully consider the emergency needs of all individuals

Contacts:
Vinson Ballard and
Ron Venable

Other SIGs

If you have questions about the existing SIGs or have a suggestion for a new SIG, please contact:
k-mcgillivray@bethel.edu
AHEAD Director (BOD)

Edit/Update request

To request updates and additions to SIG pages, please go to http://www.ahead.org/web_edit/index.php.

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