Council for Disability Concerns

June 8, 2005

Attending: Barb Chaffer-Authier, Jack Bernard, Aditi Sharma (Welcome, Aditi!), Anne Chi, Sam Goodin, Sam Breck, Samir Karim, Mike Myatt, Doug White, Jim Knox, Els Nieuwenhuijsen, Carole Dubritsky, Anna Ercoli Schnitzer (minutes).

ATTENTION CfDC Members:

The following important items are ones that you can actively address by e-mail before the next meeting:

1) Emergency Evacuation Plan (Carole will send electronic draft for your comments--cfd.bf@umich.edu)

2) Disability Resources web site (check it out and see whether your descriptions are accurate and the links work--cfd.bf@umich.edu)

3) Feedback form for accessibility problems on CfDC web site (http://www.umich.edu/~hraa/abilityrevised/AccessForm.htm)--please report to melledge@umich.edu with any additional thoughts on this form

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The meeting was called to order by Chair Jack Bernard, and introductions of the members were made. Jack briefly discussed some Google issues, mentioning that accessibility is being emphasized and that scanning text to OCR will be accomplished in the digitizing.

Carole discussed the Emergency Evacuation Plan and asked for comments (see above under ATTENTION CfDC Members). She also discussed the Disability Resources site (see above), and the form for accessibility problems.

Jack reported that he had met with Mike Harris, Sam G, and Carole to discuss concerns about the Michigan Stadium renovation, such as signage, bathrooms, changes to structure, and that he is hopeful that we will have much improvement in accessibility with the concomitant attention to these factors.

Neubacher Committee nominations go to Donney and to Jennifer Wade to be compiled for the Committee members. Nominations are closing as of 6/10, and the next Neubacher meeting will be on 6/28 to go over these nominations as well as holdovers from previous years.

Construction Committee: Mike Myatt, Jack and Doug Hanna met about the preliminary plans for Mosher/Jordan renovation. Doug was very supportive of input. Carole will get blueprints/schematics, confer with Mike and then Construction Committee will have input with architect then giving feedback to Mike. Regents have to approve of plans before a particular project is officially announced.

Carole discussed the ADA transition plan from 1992 that will now be updated (Carole, Anthony Walesby, Mary Krasny, Sam G, etc. to discuss further) and priorities reset for buildings--to be completed within next 12 months.

Discussion of North Quad Residence living/learning center to be a model, useful for either special needs or not. Space and logistical considerations for lift, smooth pathway, maybe extra room for assistant, separate entry perhaps. Mike brought up some specific features such as placement of the entrance ramp to Hill Area dining hall. Also, there seems to be a disconnect between findings and corrections, eg, power doors. We should be able to keep better track of these in the future now that we have card keys.

Jack mentioned that we should have archive of types of building/living quarters accessibility issues that have been identified so that we can be thoughtful of these in the future. Perhaps University of Illinois might have some pointers we could use for the future.

Jim reported that Jane Berlis from Berkeley is coming to campus. She is director/designer of accessibility at Berkeley and might have some ideas re; North Quad. Plus, there are some basic ergonomic and lighting issues that might be addressed.

Samir offered to help with problems of architecture.

INVESTING IN ABILITIES WEEK:

Doug reported that Tony Coehlo will be speaking at IAW on 10/24 at 4:10 and will talk about an hour with 1/2 hour for questions, after which there will be a reception. Since the Health Science Scholars will be required to attend the lecture, as if it were a class, we should have a guaranteed audience. We are still trying to figure out where to hold the lecture for optimal accessibility. Possibilities are MLA, Power Center, Lydia Mendelsson, Life Sciences/Palmer Commons. It was mentioned that we should let Tobin Siebers and Brian Clapham know the schedule to avoid scheduling conflicts.

Other events will include the Dogs in the Diag, Jay Sennett, Danny Heumann, etc.??? We shall try to be more specific at the next CfDC meeting.

Carole brought up the JFK Center's juried art exhibit for artists with disabilities. It costs $1500 and 20 pieces of excellent art could be displayed (preferable at the UM Museum of Art, it was thought). We could book for Oct. 2006. They deliver and we would put up exhibit. See web site: www.vsarts.org.

Jack will be meeting with President Coleman the second week in July in an ongoing effort to have the CfDC report directly to the President or to the Provost.

The next meeting will take place on July 13th.

Best regards to Joanie (Joan E. Smith) from all Council members present, and please stop by to visit--we miss you!!!

The meeting was adjourned at 1 pm.