2023 James T. Neubacher Award Recipient
Pam McGuinty
Pam McGuinty is a Budget Analyst in the College of Engineering and has worked at the University for over 23 years. She has a BBA in Accounting and Financial Reporting from the University of Michigan – Dearborn. When asked about her work in disability Pam might mention that she was a member of the Student IDEA board in 2019, a past board member of the Disability Network of Michigan, and is currently the Chair of the Council for Disability Concerns.
However, Pam's active participation in various disability advocacy groups and her integral contributions actually touch almost every corner of campus from improving access to physical spaces to ensuring attention is given to virtual spaces. Pam's mentorship has been transformational for many, helping individuals grow into their disability identities and empowering them to become advocates in their own right. Her unwavering support for inclusion efforts within DC@U-M and her willingness to champion disability inclusion events and spaces such as the Toward an Anti-Ableist Academy Conference, Detroit Disability Pride, a Disability Culture Center, and University's 2034 and 2050 focus groups.
With a career marked by excellence and an advocacy journey defined by her commitment to inclusivity, Pam McGuinty stands as an inspiring figure in the field of disability advocacy.
Honorable Mention
Petra Kuppers
- Anita Gonzalez Collegiate Professor of Performance Studies and Disability Culture,
- Professor of English Language and Literature,
- Professor of Women's and Gender Studies, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts,
- Professor of Art, Penny W Stamps School of Art and Design,
- Professor of Theatre and Drama and Professor of Dance, School of Music, Theatre & Dance
Dr. Petra Kuppers is a disability culture activist and a community performance artist; Artistic Director of The Olimpias, an international disability culture collective; and co-creator of Turtle Disco, a somatic writing studio. She is the Anita Gonzalez Collegiate Professor of Performance Studies and Disability Culture at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a 2023 Guggenheim Fellow. Her academic books include Disability and Contemporary Performance: Bodies on Edge (2003), The Scar of Visibility: Medical Performance and Contemporary Art (2007), Find a Strange and Twisted Shape: Disability Culture and Community Performance (2011), and Eco Soma: Pain and Joy in Speculative Performance Encounters (2022). Her website is www.petrakuppers.com
Jennifer Kerns
- Adjunct Clinical Instructor in Dentistry,
- Department of Community Based Dental Education, School of Dentistry
- Director of Health Initiatives, United Way of NW MI
Dr. Jennifer Kerns has spent over 25 years developing programs for the dentally underserved, including U of M’s own Victors for Veterans Free Dental Program. Passionate about oral health in relation to one’s overall health and quality of life, Jen is the founder of a new and innovative dental care delivery model in Traverse City called UNITED WE SMILE. As a PA 161 dental hygienist, Jen worked out of a mobile dental van but struggled to find dentists in her area who were comfortable treating patients with IDD. That’s when Jen decided to switch gears and work to improve access to dental care long-term.
Through a new partnership with the University of Michigan and support from the United Way of NW MI, Jen wrote numerous grants to renovate a 15,000 sq ft building into a $2.3million teaching facility to train future dentists how to provide dental care for those unserved who live with special healthcare needs. In just six short months, on September 5th, the clinic opened and over 20 local dentists signed up to volunteer as Adjunct Clinical Instructors to oversee UMSD pre-doctoral dental interns providing free dental care.
Monday-Thursday is free for pre-cooperative children, pregnant women, and those with neurodevelopmental disabilities. Fridays are free for veterans as a continuation of the Victors for Veterans program. Local dentists volunteer in return for continuing education credits and dental interns provide the dental care. Jen strives to teach students how to work on challenging patients with a focus on behavior guidance. Jen believes that to help a patient, it is often more important to understand the person that has a specific disease, than understand the disease that a specific person has and she works to share that civic responsibility with 12 students every day as part of their graduation requirements.
Since recently opening the clinic, students have already provided over $175,000 in free dental care. In her free time, Jen is enrolled in a fellowship for neurodevelopmental disabilities and consults for Thomas Judd HIV Care Center and the Northern Regional Bleeding Disorder Center at Munson Medical Center, as well as various national and community projects. Jen’s latest idea is to expand into an empty lot next door and build a dental surgery center with two additional floors to house dental students. Jennifer likes to quote Bryan Tervo, who said it best - “every accomplishment began with a decision to try”.
Elizabeth McLain (Alumnus - PhD in Musicology from U-M)
- Co-Director, Disability Studies, Virginia Tech
- Postdoctoral Associate, Academy of Transdisciplinary Studies and the Institute for Creativity, Arts, & Technology, Virginia Tech
- Alum, PhD in Musicology, SMTD, University of Michigan
Dr. Elizabeth McLain's lived experience as a chronically ill rollator-wielding autistic compels her to transform music scholarship through the principles of disability justice. She serves as co-chair of the Music and Disability Study Group of the American Musicological Society, a professional and verified member of RAMPD: Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities, and a professional member of the Recording Academy. She co-founded and co-directs the Disability Community Technology Center with Ashley Shew thanks to a generous grant from the Mellon Foundation, which includes disabled artist residencies and Open the Gates Gaming, a research initiative increasing access to tabletop roleplaying games through cognitive access tools and adventures that empower everyone to tell their stories.
McLain's research on disability culture and the arts has an (auto)ethnographic bent, capturing an insider’s perspective on the creative lives of disabled artists. With the support of an NEH Digital Humanities Advancement Grant and an ACLS Digital Justice Seed Grant, her a2ru’s Ground Works team is documenting the inaugural CripTech incubator with an emphasis on ethical consent processes and access. For too long, disabled people have been treated as objects of study rather than generators of knowledge. The resulting scholarship on disabled artistic practice portrayed disability as a curiosity, an object of pity, or an obstacle to overcome. When disabled artists reclaim the narrative, the result is transformative. They reveal disability as creativity, innovation, community, and a culture all its own. McLain hopes that by amplifying the stories of the CripTech artists, it will add to the growing movement to center disabled voices until “Nothing About Us Without Us” is not just a rallying cry but a reality for the disability community in the arts, education, and beyond.
Feranmi Okanlami
Head of Disability Services; Assistant Professor of Family Medicine; Assistant Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Assistant Professor of Urology, Medical School
Dr. Feranmi Okanlami is Assistant Professor of Family Medicine, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, and Urology at the University of Michigan, as well as Interim Director of Services for Students with Disabilities, Division of Student Life; Director of the Adaptive Sports & Fitness program in the Division of Student Life; Director of Adaptive Sports for the Michigan Center for Human Athletic Medicine & Performance; and Spokesperson for Guardian Life Equal & Able Partnership. He earned his M.D. from the University of Michigan and during his residency at Yale University experienced a spinal cord injury.
He has given a long list of media appearances related to his experiences and serves on a variety of boards pertaining to medicine as well as diversity, equity and inclusion. He has been a member of the CIL board since 2020.
Melissa Sreckovic
- Associate Professor of Education
- Director Academic Program, College of Arts and Sciences, The University of Michigan-Flint
Dr. Melissa Sreckovic is an associate professor of special education and director of the Honors Program at the University of Michigan-Flint. Dr. Sreckovic’s research interests center on identifying and examining the efficacy of strategies for fostering inclusive spaces for individuals with disabilities in school and community settings, with a specialized focus in autism spectrum disorder. Dr. Sreckovic spearheaded Officer Friendly Day, an annual event at the University of Michigan-Flint, which brings together autistic individuals and their families and local law enforcement officers to build positive relationships and increase the safety of autistic individuals in the communities in which they live, learn, and grow. She also co-hosts Inclusive Halloween, another annual event at the University of Michigan-Flint, which brings together over 250 university and community volunteers and over 450 community members to celebrate Halloween in a judgment free, accessible space.
Dr. Sreckovic and her research team are currently working on a project examining the impact of sensory bags when utilized by law enforcement officers during public safety interactions with autistic individuals. When working with pre-service or in-service teachers, P-12 students, collaborating with colleagues, providing professional development, or presenting at conferences, her fervent commitment to inclusivity resonates with everyone. Dr. Sreckovic is passionate about inclusion and has become a trusted mentor and advocate, and hopes to inspire a new generation of inclusion champions.
Michael McKee
- Associate Professor of Family Medicine
- Associate Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Medical School
Dr. Michael McKee is a family physician with clinical and research expertise in disability health. He was born deaf and is a cochlear implant user. As a deaf physician, he is especially interested in advocating for the rights of Deaf and hard of hearing patients to obtain equitable health care including accessible communication. His research focus includes health disparities for individuals with various disabilities, health information accessibility, health literacy, and telemedicine applications. Dr. McKee graduated from the University of Florida College of Medicine. He completed his family medicine residency at the University of South Carolina Department of Family Medicine & Preventive Medicine at Palmetto Health. He completed his preventive cardiology fellowship at University of Rochester. He is an Associate Professor at the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan/Michigan Medicine.
In addition to previously serving on the board of the Association of Medical Professionals with Hearing Losses (AMPHL), he is also currently an appointed member of the Roundtable on Health Literacy of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. He is the director for the MDisability and the Deaf Health Clinic. He is also a co-director for the Center for Disability Health & Wellness. He also believes strongly that diversity, equity and inclusion efforts need to prioritize those with disabilities. Outside of work, he enjoys gardening, beekeeping, hiking and kayaking.
Hawkins Family - Rachel (Alumna), Neil, Deborah, Rachel
Annmarie, a special education teacher and certified vocational rehabilitation counselor has served on Midland County education boards and statewide organizations, including serving as a board member at Community Mental Health for Central Michigan and at the Midland County Educational Service Agency, among others. The goal of the family’s philanthropy is to make a difference in the lives of people with disabilities.
They established a scholarship for Midland Public Schools called The Deborah Lynn Hawkins Special Educator Scholarship to support a student who wants to work with special needs students in a public school setting. The family has funded the Changemaker Lecture Series at School of Social Work and helped to recruit well-established and dynamic speakers like Spike Lee and Darren Walker to the podium.
Through the family’s strong desire to help improve disability-related policies in the USA and in Michigan, Neil, Annmarie and Rachel recently made a commitment to the Ford School for Public Policy that will support: - disability policy work at the Ford School through the Center for Racial Justice to partially support one CRJ Visiting Fellow as well as student internships focused on disability policy.
Don Wirkner
U-M Mechanical Engineering Department
Don Wirkner is the Instructional Lab Manager in the Mechanical Engineering Department who works with undergraduate and graduate students. The labs provide creative, fabrication and hands-on learning environments to bolster the educational experience, supporting around six courses along with graduate research labs. Don and his team have identified that standard industry equipment in the fabrication labs do not allow full participation by all students of various stature and physical abilities.
The team assessed the equipment, secured funding, designed and adapted the equipment to be more universal - providing more convenient and adjustable interfaces to be used by all. The first wave of the changes was executed for fall 2023, and the team will gather user feedback in order to continue to increase equipment access for all. Don Wirkner is the Instructional Lab Manager in the Mechanical Engineering Department who works with undergraduate and graduate students. The labs provide creative, fabrication and hands-on learning environments to bolster the educational experience, supporting around six courses along with graduate research labs.
Don and his team have identified that standard industry equipment in the fabrication labs do not allow full participation by all students of various stature and physical abilities. The team assessed the equipment, secured funding, designed and adapted the equipment to be more universal - providing more convenient and adjustable interfaces to be used by all. The first wave of the changes was executed for fall 2023, and the team will gather user feedback in order to continue to increase the equipment access for all.
Congratulations 2022 Award Recipients
James T. Neubacher Award Recipient - Jill Sklar
Jill Sklar, the Administrative Director for Capacity Management at Michigan Medicine, has had an immeasurable impact on the lives of disabled communities around the country. Her work highlights a commitment to empowerment, advocacy, accessibility, making her well deserving of this year’s James T. Neubacher Award. Read more about Jill Sklar in the University Record.
Based on her own lived experiences, and recognizing the needs of more than 25 million Americans, Jill initiated and championed an effort to ensure the passage of the Restroom Access Act. The Act allows individuals who have a greater reliance on a restroom to use an “employee only” restroom in a business that is open to the public as long as there are two or more individuals who are working at the same time. The law further protects business owners by including liability under what would normally be covered by OSHA or other workplace laws, and ensures compliance by fining business owners who deny restroom access to patrons with a doctor’s note. Because the bill was written with input from Jill, it was created with an intentional lens on disability, working to address a specific need identified by the disabled community. Despite support from her representatives, senators, and the Retailers Association of Michigan, Jill had to spend seven years writing, advocating, and fighting for the Act to finally get passed on December 20, 2008.
Jill’s work is not limited to Michigan. Since the passage of Michigan’s act, Jill has worked with the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation to assist other state chapters across the country in passing similar laws. Now, bills modeled after Jill’s Restroom Access Act have been enacted in 20 states, providing bathroom access to millions of people and making all public activities (like shopping) more accessible. Additionally, Jill wrote a book titled “The First Year: Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis” aimed at people who have been recently diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel disease (IBD) (a diagnosis encompassing both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis). The book covers topics like assembling a healthcare team, workplace and public laws, living daily life, and learning to accept the challenges that come with the diagnosis. Because the vast majority of medical literature about IBD is written by gastroenterologists and other medical professionals, Jill’s book provides a unique and valuable viewpoint: that of a patient. By sharing her own experiences with Crohn’s disease alongside her medical expertise, Jill’s book provides a comprehensive and compassionate resource for people navigating an often oppressive and dismissive medical system. Jill inspires and empowers people to improve their health and wellness through education and systemic reform. Thanks to Jill’s willingness to share her stories and her legal advocacy, the world is a more accessible place.
2022 Honorable Mention
Amal Alhosban
An associate professor in computer science at the University of Michigan’s Flint campus, Dr. Amal Alhosban has spent her career increasing the accessibility of computer programs for students. Her most recent project, in partnership with Durant-Tuuri-Mott Elementary School, focused on designing computer applications for disabled students in K-12 schools that provided support in everyday activities. These apps helped students navigate their education, health, transportation options, shopping lists, and more. Amal’s other projects have had a similar focus using technology to make systems and information more accessible. Amal worked with Amtrak to make their ticket booking system more accessible, contributed to wheelmap.org to help wheelchair users navigate accessible sidewalks, and created a comprehensive scheduling and communication application to help people with learning disabilities monitor their educational progress in higher education settings.
Corinne Basler
U-M Alum Corinne Basler is a national leader in the disability scene. As the mother of a blind son, Corinne has spent much of her life raising awareness and advocating for accessibility and child welfare. Her hard work and dedication can be seen in the numerous leadership positions she has held. She was previously the vice chair of Boston Children’s Hospital Trust, a past board member of Cradles to Crayons, and currently serves as a US Board member of Save the Children. Additionally, she is the Chair and has served on the Board of Perkins School for the blind for almost 20 years, where she led a capital campaign to build a new technology building and student center, bringing computers to the school’s campus for the first time. In addition, she oversaw the creation of “Perkins Access”, which serves as a resource for the design and creation of accessible websites for all organizations.
Ellen Rambo
Ellen Rambo is a Training Specialist Associate who is passionate about accessibility for all. Her passion has led her to take on an informal role in Organizational Learning as the ""go-to"" person for all things related to accessibility within her unit, going above and beyond what is expected or required of her. Ellen works hard to keep accessibility front and center when the Organizational Learning team develops new training programs and support resources. She actively seeks out new ideas around accessibility, and has compiled information from a variety of research and experts, including the UM Accessibility Team. Moreover, Ellen models accessibility all the time so others can learn from her actions. With her knowledge and the connections she has built, Ellen has been instrumental in re-designing current training resources to be more accessible.
Laura Yakas
Dr. Laura Yakas has been described by her nominators as a visionary scholar, educator, activist, advocate, and performer. As a LEO Lecturer at the School of Social Work, Dr. Yakas goes above and beyond accessibility and ensures that her classrooms are affirming of disability and neurodiversity. . Her curriculums delve into topics of anti-saneism and Mad Pride, as well as their connections to other forms of anti-oppressive movements. She teaches a healing-centered pedagogy, and loves to facilitate transformative courses with a focus on promoting mental health care without stigma, punishment, or incarceration. Outside of the classroom, Dr. Yakas is an outspoken advocate for Mad Pride and disability justice. She educates her peers and supervisors on how to foster a neurodiversity-affirming mindset in classrooms. She also enjoys writing and performing radical musical comedy – because making fun of the world is a way to transform it!
Michael McKee
Dr. Michael McKee is the Director of MDisability, a group that focuses on all aspects of improving the lives of persons with disabilities – clinical, educational, scholarly, community and policy-based, in primary care. He also serves as the co-director of the Center for Disability Health & Wellness, which aims to develop and apply innovative research, clinical, and educational strategies to address inequities in healthcare access, quality, and outcomes experienced by disabled individuals. While his work covers a broad swatch of disability issues, he has a particular focus on Deaf and hard-of-hearing communities. He developed a model Deaf Health Clinic, provides ongoing monthly Deaf and hard-of-hearing community talks on various health topics and launched an ASL course for first-year medical students that covers communication as well as legal and cultural issues related to caring for Deaf patients. Dr. McKee’s investment in the disability and healthcare spaces has earned him recognition from both his students and his peers, who appreciate both his professional accolades and the personal respect and intentionality he brings to client care.
Print Accessibility Task Force
The Print Accessibility Task Force is made up of eight members from across the University. Together, bringing a variety of experiences and expertise, they developed guidelines for creating more accessible print communications. Given the University’s focus on web accessibility, print communications could easily have been overlooked, but this team ensures that Michigan’s print communications are available to everyone. In cooperation with the Equity, Civil Rights, and Title IX Office, and other campus experts, the Print Accessibility Task Force has suggestions and processes for converting design files to ADA-compliant PDFs, colorblind-friendly palettes for data visualization, and much more. The Task Force also works to ensure that the University community understands and implements the suggestions they’ve compiled. They have plans to host workshops in the future aimed at University communicators, and have worked hard to spread the word about accessible print communication. (The task force is comprised of Betsy Brown - Assistant Vice President for Marketing Communications, Martin Soave - Brand Identity Manager/Art Director, Jenna Smallidge - Graphic Design Coordinator, Phil Deaton - Digital Information Accessibility Coordinator, Carla Campbell - Research Technician, Jenna Tyson - Multimedia Designer, Melanie DelVecchio - Brand Strategist, Mathias-Philippe Badin - Creative Design Manager)
UMAISE
The University of Michigan Adaptive and Inclusive Sports Experience (UMAISE) provides a variety of recreational opportunities for the disabled community, including everything from martial arts to adaptive fishing. Their offerings cover traditional sports, like basketball and tennis, as well as unique opportunities for both leisure and exercise like adaptive tree climbing. Serving over 200 people, these programs advance the rights and visibility of disabled people and ensure that disabled athletes have a safe space to enjoy a healthy lifestyle. The UMAISE team works hard year-round to make these programs successful, striving to grow the program and continuing to offer new sports and recreational activities each season. And their work doesn’t end at the edge of campus; UMAISE has also worked with Ann Arbor Parks and Recreation and the City of Troy to help them expand programming that is inclusive and fun.
View the 2021 Award Presentation via Zoom Webinar.
The James T. Neubacher presentation webinar is available at this link. ASL and CART services will be provided.
Congratulations 2021 Neubacher Award Recipient, Vincent Pinti
It is an honor to give this year’s James T. Neubacher Award to Vincent Pinti. Vincent is an undergraduate student on Michigan’s Ann Arbor campus studying political science and Spanish. Throughout his time here, Vincent has raised the profile of disability advocacy among student government, and he has made significant progress in working against ableism and towards a more equitable campus.
Vincent is a member of the Central Student Government (CSG), where he consistently champions resolutions that make the University more accessible and inclusive for disabled students. Most recently, Vincent sponsored and successfully passed a resolution creating an internal scholarship for students working as personal care assistants (also known as personal assistants or PAs). This program addresses a labor shortage of PAs for disabled people who rely on them, and offers valuable experience to students going into healthcare and related professions. As a next phase of this work, Vincent has called on University administrators to create a database of PA jobs at U-M, to ease the labor of recruiting individual PAs (labor often done by disabled individuals). Pinti is additionally coordinating with SSD to establish a set of publically accessible guidelines for how to navigate state PA funding systems and Medicaid to ease the process of affording PAs.
Vincent’s push for accessibility on CSG is not limited to resolutions focused on disability; he brings an anti-ableist agenda and accessibility lens to every issue CSG considers. For example, when CSG was pushing for a plastic straw ban, Vincent made sure that disabled voices were included in the conversation. In addition, Vincent has successfully pushed for the establishment of a student disability coordinator position within CSG that regularly advises the President and the Assembly on disability issues while staking out a supportive agenda for the disability community. His valuable perspective has improved resolutions which cover topics from environmental sustainability to campus health and safety. His work has forged new connections between CSG and disability groups on campus, creating new community connections and more disability consciousness on the CSG Assembly.
Vincent is praised by peers and teachers for his initiative and activism. He has worked with staff and students to ensure that student organizations and events are more accessible, providing suggestions to ensure that every student is able to attend the programming they are interested in. Vincent has pressed for better emergency response preparations for disabled individuals living in campus dorms, and he has also advocated broadly for a more nuanced approach to ensuring accessibility for all students during the Covid-19 Pandemic and the particular stress it has placed on all students, but especially those with certain disabilities and chronic illness. Vincent is a visible and dynamic leader, a dedicated student, and a proud representative of the disabled community at U-M. His work is changing the University for the better.
Honorable Mentions
Oluwaferanmi O. Okanlami
Dr. Oluwaferanmi Okanlami is an Assistant Professor of Family Medicine, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, and Urology at Michigan Medicine. He is also the Director of Student Accessibility and Accommodation Services (SAAS), which oversees Services for Students with Disabilities, the U-M Adaptive Sports & Fitness Program, and the Testing and Accommodation Centers. He has gained both local and national attention for his disability advocacy. He consistently frames discussions and presentations around intersectional inclusion and accessibility, and represents both Michigan and the disabled community in a way that inspires many. Outside of his work as a doctor and adaptive sport professional, he also serves as the Spokesperson for Guardian Life in their Equal & Able Partnership, the Disabilities Issues representative on the steering committee for the Group on Diversity and Inclusion at the Association of American Medical Colleges, and he sits on the National Medical Association’s Council on Medical Legislation.
Remi Yergeau
Dr. Remi Yergeau is an Associate Professor of English and Associate Director of the Digital Studies Institute at the University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor campus. Dr. Yergeau has consistently used their position and institutional knowledge to advance anti-ableist initiatives. Yergeau’s book, Authoring Autism, was published in December 2017 and has since become a seminal text in critical autism studies and disability studies more broadly. Their groundbreaking research underscores the authority and agency of autistic individuals, and they recently secured funding to create a lab expanding their research on disability and access. Dr. Yergeau taught a graduate seminar on disability studies, including information on disability in the digital age, how disability can reconfigure technology, and vice versa. Yergeau was co-chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Status of Faculty & Staff With Disabilities, whose work ultimately led to a pilot program to hire disability accommodation navigators.
Hala Alazzawi
Hala Alazzawi is a University of Michigan-Dearborn alumna and current student at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. Throughout her educational career, she has been a fierce advocate for disability justice and inclusion. Her studies center on the intersection between disability, gender, and religion, which she has explored through class projects, extracurriculars, and employment opportunities. Hala built a website addressing intimate partner violence within the disabled community, with a specific focus on the unique challenges faced by disabled people in U.S. Middle Eastern communities. She worked to create an accessible alternative to the annual Take Back the Night march on the UM-Dearborn Campus. She has also contributed to the creation of more accessible health and wellness options for disabled communities, working as a Community Engagement Coordinator for the Detroit Health Department and currently serving as a member of the Healthy Dearborn Inclusive Health committee. Recently, Hala also started working with a disability justice organization called the Michigan Disability Rights Coalition as their gender Initiatives Coordinator.
Ann Jeffers
Dr. Ann Jeffers provides support for individuals with mental illness in a variety of settings. She is the President of the Board of Directors for Fresh Start Clubhouse, a Washtenaw-based nonprofit that works to provide opportunities and community for people living with mental illness. Under her leadership, Fresh Start is working to expand its reach to serve all people with mental health concerns, including students throughout the county. Dr. Jeffers is also an associate professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, and she serves on the Rackham Committee on Graduate Student Mental Health. Her writing on mental health and mental illness has been published in both popular and academic/literary publications, and describes the experience of mental illness while decreasing stigma and raising awareness.
GEO
The Graduate Employees Union (GEO) has used their bargaining power to uplift disability issues and ensure accessibility across all University of Michigan campuses. In doing so, they put intersectional demands of disability justice into practice, and demonstrate a broad coalition committed to leaving no one behind. Their work in the Fall of 2020 in response to the COVID pandemic included actions that ultimately led to substantial and important change in University procedures, including “workable pandemic childcare options, substantive support for international graduate students, and transparent COVID-19 testing protocols.” This work has continued in 2021 as GEO advocated for a simplified and accessible ADA and SSD accommodation process, as well as more inclusive pandemic accommodations for parents, and international students. GEO’s work to support disability issues at the University is especially impressive given the individual risk that each member undertakes when they choose to advocate for these changes.
Harvey “Chip” Evans
Harvey “Chip” Evans is an irreplaceable member of the University of Michigan Flint community, where he works as the Disability Services Coordinator for the Division of Student Affairs. As the lone staff member in the office of Disability and Accessibility Support Services, he has supported both individual accessibility accommodations and system changes at the school. Chip created guidelines for accessible campus events, gives regular presentations about best practices in accessibility, and built and manages the website for the office of Disability and Accessibility Support Services. The empowering tone used throughout the website is indicative of Chip’s anti-ableist work and advocacy, which has contributed to a more inclusive environment for UM-Flint students, faculty, and staff.
The Learning Experience Design Team at the Center for Academic Innovation
The Learning Experience Design Team at the Center for Academic Innovation (CAI) has gone above and beyond to ensure that their programming is accessible, anti-ableist, and affirming for individuals with disabilities. The courses they design attend to accessibility standards for online learning, which aligns with one of their team goals to increase accessibility in learning experiences and educational programming through their work at CAI. The team has contributed to a number of case studies and research projects aimed at highlighting accessible teaching practices and uplifting the importance of accessibility. They have also adopted a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice lens, which they use to ensure that their programming is intersectional and includes a focus on disability justice.
Congratulations to the 2020 James T. Neubacher Award Recipient - Christa Moran
The virtual award presentation is Thursday, Oct. 29, at 2:30 p.m. and will feature Certificates of Appreciation to 13 additional nominees. All are welcome to attend via this Zoom webinar.
See a PDF of the Neubacher Award Presentation Program.
Christa Moran has always had an interest in helping others. Growing up in a family of medical care professionals, family dinner discussions often focused on patients and their care.
When she heard about the claims of a deaf man’s family — that he died of cancer after a medical facility failed to give him a sign language interpreter, which kept him from fully understanding his cancer diagnosis — a light bulb went off in Moran’s head.
“It was something that just hit me. This is something that I need to do,” she said. “I need to put together all the areas I feel I have skills in and a passion for and do it. I threw myself into getting the training to be an interpreter.”
After intensive medical interpreter training and years of fieldwork, Moran is a supervising staff interpreter and trainer of medical interpreters at University of Michigan Hospital and this year’s James T. Neubacher Award recipient.
Read more about Christa Moran in the University Record.
2020 Certificate of Appreciation Recipients
Ethriam Cash Brammer
As Assistant Dean at Rackham Graduate School, Ethriam recently led the Rackham Graduate Student with Disability Needs Assessment Committee, the first of its kind at U-M, and nationally. This committee produced a report from its survey and focus groups, which provides evidence to identify the current gaps in meeting the needs of graduate students with disabilities for support, accommodations, community, and everything else that enables successful completion of their program of study.
Caitlin Burr
As Events and Communications Coordinator for the UROP Program, Caitlin brings accessibility to the forefront of her approach to planning, how she thinks about space and the ease to navigate it, and how our virtual spaces interact with tools for our students and faculty living with disabilities. She has also led the efforts for our communications and website management and has served as a leader in the LSA-wide CWES Steering Committee.
Dessa Cosma
Over the last several years, Dessa has incubated, and executed, plans to create a new disability activist organization, Detroit Disability Power. (DDP). DDP has quickly become an important new force for change in the city of Detroit and a leader in organizing. One example of their work: the Black Disabled Lives protest, which raised awareness of issues faced by Black Deaf and disabled people in Detroit. In addition to putting on an amazing event, they put out guidance to create safe and accessible protests in the time of COVID-19
Wendi Fornoff
Wendi is the lead web developer and designer for the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), part of the Institute for Social Research (ISR). She and her team have made every page of the ICPSR website ADA compliant, from design and functionality to color scheme and accessibility. She has made ICPSR’s social media posts accessible, and ensured that outside vendors building the registration system created an accessible product.
Ayesha Ghazi Edwin
Ayesha Ghazi Edwin is adjunct faculty and the ENGAGE Program Manager at the School of Social Work. She is also the Research and Fund Development Specialist at Detroit Disability Power. Ayesha is committed to making her classrooms inclusive and accessible for all students, and is committed to accessibility in all she does. In Fall 2019, Ayesha was appointed by Dean Lynn Videka to the Michigan Social Work Access and Inclusion Taskforce, which is dedicated to making the School of Social Work a more accessible and inclusive place for all.
Joshua Guberman
Josh has worked tirelessly to support and advocate for disabled students at University of Michigan. He is Graduate Chair of the SSD Student Advisory Board, and a member of the Student IDEA Board and Disability Culture at the University of Michigan. For example, Josh has worked with UMSI Doctoral Director to improve accommodations for disabled students working toward PhD milestones.
Dwight Richardson Kelly
Dwight performed truly outstanding work in the Winter 2020 semester as part of the Rackham Graduate School committee on a needs assessment for graduate students with disabilities. He contributed to goal setting, IRB application, drafting questionnaires, and detailed comments on the draft report. Dwight has continuously and thoughtfully advocated for graduate students with disabilities, informed by his own experiences.
Luke Kudryashov
Luke’s disability research and advocacy at U-M has helped to raise awareness and change culture within the departments where they are affiliated (English, Women’s and Gender Studies, School of Information). Luke is co-chair of Disability Culture at U-M, a student and staff led organization that creates disability community and advocacy, where they helped organize major events about disability and higher education in 2019 that have been influential on the U-M campus.
Mika Lavaque-Manty
Mika has led the way in making a twin focus on de-stigmatizing disability and illness and on promoting inclusivity and well being. He advocates for students on an individual level and, as LSA Honors program director, actively leads the program forward in its mission to nurture an inclusive and respectful community united in the pursuit of excellence.
Pam McGuinty
Pam brings her insights from the Office of DEI to her disability advocacy work and brings her attention to disability to her DEI work, strengthening both endeavors at the U-M. Pam has educated colleagues across the entire university about the importance of live captioning, how it works, and how to do it well, especially during our shift to remote work in response to the COVID pandemic.
Laura Murphy
Laura is a product designer practicing inclusive design, particularly for people who use wheelchairs. She continues to advocate for inclusive learning spaces in the college of Engineering and her PhD research focuses on improving engineering education and design practices to be more human-centered and inclusive.
Samuel Simpson
Sam has advocated for himself and enlisted support from allies around the university to draw attention to issues in accommodations and to work towards satisfactory resolutions. Future university employees will benefit from his initiative and efforts in advocating for change.
Esther Witte
Among other pedagogical projects they conduct, Esther is a CRLT inclusive teaching workshop facilitator; who designed a new workshop toward better support of accessible pedagogies in CRLT consultations and a more accessible work culture in CRLT operations, particularly during COVID-19 and remote work.
