A.I. Unleashed: Transforming the Accessibility of Images, Graphics, and Math Through Alt Text Automation
Kristin Kaylor, M.A., University of Alabama
Tuesday, February 6, 2-3:30 pm Eastern
How can you improve the quality of your alt text while reducing the amount of time spent writing it? This webinar guides accessibility professionals, digital content creators, and educators through using AI to generate accurate and intricate alternative text (alt text) (an accessibility requirement for all informative images). It will provide examples of standard prompts created for Bard and Chat GPT 4 that can be uploaded with an image to quickly create high quality text, reducing the time spent on manual writing. These prompts work for a wide range of images, including but not limited to: infographics, diagrams, charts, figurative images, general images, art appreciation images, tables, scatter plots, graphs, math, and complicated equations. Finally, participants will explore best practices for using AI in accessibility work. Ultimately, this webinar can empower participants to speed their accessibility processes and enhance their online course and web accessibility, making digital content more inclusive for those with visual, learning, and cognitive disabilities, as well as those with limited internet bandwidth.
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Parent Whisperers: Tips for Fostering Positive Partnerships
Jane Thierfeld Brown Ed.D., University of Connecticut School of Law, Retired
Margaret Camp M.Ed., Clemson University
Jaime Butler M.Ed., Chattanooga State Community College
Katie Krieger M.A., C.A.G.S., University of North Carolina, Wilmington
Wednesday, February 21, 1-2:30 Eastern
Parents of current students are often staunch advocates, and most are not well versed in higher education disability laws and reasonable accommodations. How do we educate parents to better serve students and prepare them for adult life? Our administrations are often quick to look for resolutions for parents who complain, often to the detriment of our policies. What can we do to increase administration's support and simultaneously work with students and educate parents? This panel, which includes participants from two-year, four-year and professional schools, will discuss creative strategies to address the issues, including de-escalation techniques.
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Accessible Campus Events: Tools and Considerations
Emily Singer Lucio, University of Maryland
Bree Callahan, University of Washington
Hannah Enenbach, AMDA College for the Performing Arts
Tuesday, February 27, 1-2:30 Eastern
From small performances to large commencement ceremonies, and all the guest lectures and hackathons in-between, higher education institutions strive to ensure events held on campus are accessible to anyone who wants to attend. However, coordinating among the multiple entities responsible for putting on events and determining who should be responsible for the various aspects can be challenging. This webinar will address multiple aspects of event access, including communication needs, physical spaces, digital mediums, and more. Focus will be placed on reducing the institution's reliance on the disability professionals to create access, and will provide actionable tools and processes for other campus entities to increase their comfort and ability to create events with meaningful access for all attendees, no matter their disabilities.
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Applying Principles of Intersectionality in Serving BIPOC Disabled Students
Karen Andrews, Brown University
Tuesday, March 5, 3-4:30 Eastern
It is time to reframe our thinking and best practices in disability services to better serve the diverse populations coming our way in higher education. Discrimination and exclusion are not resolved by focusing on a single issue or influence. This webinar will explore the useful framework of “Intersectionality” as it relates to equitable opportunities, legal compliance, accessibility, barrier elimination, and resources for serving BIPOC disabled students.
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Looking Inwards: Self-Auditing your Office Towards Anti-Racism and Disability Justice
Carleigh Kude, Stanford University
Roselyn Thomas, Stanford University
Heather Harris, Stanford University
Friday, March 15, 1-2:30 Eastern
For years, the field of disability services has been moving their hearts and minds towards a program model that espouses a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. But turning words into actions requires taking a hard look in the mirror and a courageous examination of our institutional practices, including the policies and processes of a Disability Services office, that exclude multiply marginalized students. This program will be an overview of the journey that our Disability Services Office took to initiate and execute an action plan towards anti-racism, including how we developed and carried out a self-audit, the findings and results from that work, and a guided workshop so that DSPs can develop this for their own places of work.
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Paws and Reflect: Navigating Process and Decisions on Emotional Support and Service Animals
Chris Dallager, Mississippi State University
Sonia Badesha, University of South Carolina
Wednesday, March 20, 1-2:30 Eastern
Whether in housing, dining, or classrooms, students are bringing animals to campus more frequently. Join this discussion for guidance on how to address the different types of animals on campus. The presenters will cover how the ADA, Section 504, and the Fair Housing Act apply to different parts of campuses and how they act separately and together to control campus policy about animals on campus. Presenters will also address related issues including allergies, animal species, and conflicts with other animals and people. Plenty of time will be reserved for Q&A!
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It’s About Time, Part I: Scrutinizing the Extra Time for Assignments Accommodation
Adam Meyer, University of Central Florida
Thursday, April 11, 2-3:30 Eastern
Over the past few years, it seems there has been an increase in the number of disabled students coming to disability offices with a history of having received “extra time for assignments” as an accommodation. Students who seek this accommodation are often either students with disabilities affecting focus or reading, including ADHD, LD, Autism, and TBI, or students with chronic health conditions who may miss assignment deadlines due to an exacerbation of their condition. Many received this accommodation in high school and expect it to continue in postsecondary education. However, is this accommodation always reasonable in college settings? This webinar will broadly explore when this accommodation is--and is not--reasonable, relative to our institutional responsibilities of equal access, equal opportunity, and nondiscrimination. It will also touch on the college’s significant obligations to work with faculty and students to implement it, when it is approved. This is the first of a two-part series: the second webinar will include a panel of disability professionals from a variety of school types and office sizes describing how they evaluate and implement accommodations that require interaction with faculty.
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It’s About Time, Part II: A Panel Discussion About Requests for Extra Time for Assignments and Additional Absences
Jamie Axelrod, Northern Arizona University
Antonia DeMichiel, University of San Francisco
Kristy Harte, University at Buffalo
Adam Meyer, University of Central Florida
Michelle Mitchell, Lehigh Carbon Community College
Jenifer Montag, Marion Technical College
Wednesday, April 17, 2-4pm Eastern
This webinar offers an opportunity to hear from disability professionals from a variety of school types and office sizes describing how they evaluate and implement accommodations that require interaction with faculty. When offices have to say no to students who request this accommodation, how do they do it? What other accommodations or supports may be offered to those students? When the accommodation is approved, how is the communication structured? How do understaffed offices find the time for required negotiation with faculty? Are there templates or tricks to help facilitate and expedite the work? Join this conversation to hear how other offices are handling this complicated issue. This webinar will be two hours long, to allow plenty of time for discussion and Q&A.
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How to Tell a Student No: Maintaining Empathy, Firmness, and Clarity in a Difficult Discussion
Michael Southern, University of Cincinnati
Chris Stone, Washington University in St. Louis
Tuesday, April 30, 1-2:30pm Eastern
Denying a student's request for a particular accommodation can be hard. This webinar will offer practical guidance regarding the process you should undertake before saying "no" to a request, how to word your response to the student, holding firm in the face of push-back from students and parents, and best practices for documenting your decision and communications. Whether you are in a one-person office or a large office setting, this webinar will offer helpful advice for navigating this sometimes sticky situation with sensitivity for the student's position and understanding of your role in the accommodations process.
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