Minutes
UCLA COMMITTEE ON DISABILITY
Tuesday, September 9, 2008

1. Introduction & Quorum
2. Minutes
3. Agenda
4. Subcommittee Reports
5. Campus Reports
6. Annual Reports
7. Announcements
8. Adjournment

I. Introduction & Quorum

Al Aubin, Mark Ackerman, Donna Bryan,  Patrick Burke Chad Brown, Joy Chantarasompoth, Mike Clark, Stephanie Fisher, Martine Hall, Jamie Hoffman, Jim McGlynn, Stephanie Fisher,  Eileen Fowler, Adrienne Malka, Wendy Motch,  Andrew Tai,  Alex Stavchanski

Excused: Kathy Molini, Sam Schaffel, Malinda Lee, Victor Pineda, Bert Cueva

II.Minutes

The Minutes of the July 8, 2008 meeting were reviewed and approved with the following correction:  Andrew Tai reported for DCP. This meeting did not have a quorum.

Introductions – Within the introduction, members gave their goals, idea, topics, and a speaker they would like to see come to one of UCOD meetings.   

The lists included, Charlotte Dunklin, Associate Director of Campus Human Resources – SAA,  Linda Sinclair, of SMC and Rosina M. Becerra, of UCLA Office for Faculty Diversity. 

Stephanie mentioned that recruiting a “P.R. person” would help UCOD to get the word out on awareness. 

Another suggestion was to invite committees like UCOD, from other campuses to come and talk about the things that they are facing.

III. Agenda

A. 2008-2009 Goals

Wendy Motch reported that the number one goal is recruitment and working with entities to make sure UCOD has solid representation throughout the year.  The Second goal is to look at the bylaws a project started in 2006 and bring it to a vote.  The third goal is to gain control of a solid understanding of how this committee is positioned within the university. 

UCOD has several vacancies available, within the committee, there are 18 voting members established by the bylaws, which includes 3 undergraduate students, 3 graduate students, 2 faculty members, 4 staff members, 2 alumni, and 4 community members, which constitutes the voting members of the University Committee on Disabilities.

In the June and July meetings, it was voted and approved allowing the exception that Wendy Motch and Adrienne Malka serve as co-chairs for this coming year.  The bylaws indicated you must be a voting member to serve as an officer.  Given that Wendy & Adrienne are available, able to contribute to the committee and dedicate the time necessary, the committee voted for this one-year interim plan.  

Wendy mentioned that they are working with the graduate student association and the undergraduate association for student appointments and believe that they will have the appointments in place for the October meeting. 

Wendy and Adrienne met with Rosina M. Becerra, Vice Provost of UCLA Office for Faculty Diversity and she indicated that UCOD’s role is to brief her and if there are, issues affecting the faculty, UCOD should report that information to her office.   Her office would then bring the relevant information to the Chancellor’s attention.  Stephanie Fisher clarified that UCOD officially reports to the Chancellor’s Advisory Group on Diversity. 

B. Subcommittee Leadership & Organizations

1. Communications Subcommittee

Wendy Motch thanked Jim McGlynn for accepting the role of chairing the Communication Subcommittee. Jim asked if anyone is interested in working on the communications subcommittee to see him after the UCOD meeting.

2. Programs' Activities' Committee

Jamie Hoffman has agreed to take over the chairing of this committee.  Jamie has been working throughout the developing a program for Disability Awareness Month in October and so far, there are nine activities lined-up.

3. Disability Awareness Month

Jamie Hoffman went on to say that the committee has been working on getting a schedule coordinated for Disability Awareness month with activities and programs slated for the week of October 27. 

IV. Campus Reports

A. ADA & 504 Compliance Office

Chad Brown and Monroe Gorden attended a meeting with Ali Tabrizi, the General Manager of Faculty Center to discuss the front entrance door, which is not accessible.   Chad added that they would make every effort to make certain the Board recognizes this problem. 

Chad and Monroe are doing walkthroughs at the lecture halls and other buildings on campus and are giving facilities guidelines on the ADA requirements

Tina Arora inquired on the ADA Compliance Office recruitment process. 
         
Jaime Hoffman mentioned that while attending an event with a friend who uses a wheelchair, they noticed that the Ackermann food line was not in compliance and the restroom was not accessible.

Eileen Fowler added that the brand new restroom in the new hospital adjacent to the cafeteria has a door, which is difficult to open, and is very heavy. 

Jim McGlynn added that the restroom on the first floor of the new hospital has usability issues and other accessibility issues.

Wendy Motch asked Chad Brown to do a follow-up and report to the committee.

B. Student Psychological Services – No Report

C. Disabled Students Union - No Report

D. Undergraduate Students Association - No Report

E. Graduate Student Association – No Report

F. Disabilities and Computing Program

Patrick Burke reported that In July the DCP Staff attended the UCCSC (Computing Support Conference). Patrick moderated a panel discussing ways to increase access to electronic information.

On August 22, the DCP hosted a workshop by Mark Turner of the Cal. State system Accessible Technology Initiative. The meeting, organized by OSD Director Kathy Molini, brought together disabled services staff from the Southern UC’s to learn about the Cal State database of accessible electronic textbooks.

Two of the most popular adaptive software programs have new versions, officially released at the end of September. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 promises more improvements in speech recognition. Kurzweil 3000 V 11 includes new features to assist writing for students with learning disabilities.

This summer the DCP is also taking part in a campus-wide test of Web-based conferencing software. These programs can be used for online meetings, or can be embedded in course websites to allow interactive online teaching. Of the three products tested, Wimba ( www.wimba.com ) had the best access features. However, “whiteboard” features were not accessible in any of the programs. Faculty or other presenters would need to do additional work (such as captioning or transcript) to make presentations fully accessible.

G. Office for Students with Disabilities - No Report

H. Tarjan Center &ndash No Report

I. UCLA Recreation

Jaime Hoffman reported that they had a great summer with programming and over two-hundred participants.  They are moving in the direction of wheelchair basketball and have a fleet of 10 sports wheelchairs. 

Wendy Motch added that the fall recreation quarterly is out and everyone should look at all the different activities and programs on hand. The UCLA Recreation website is- www.recreation.ucla.edu. 

J. Employee Disability Management Servies

Adrienne Malka reported that on a daily basis they have a caseload of employees, all of whom are going through the process of needing job site accommodations in order to stay at work.  They have done quite a bit of work, collaborating with DCP using Dragon Naturally Speaking for employees who have challenges with keyboarding, carpel tunnel.  Adrienne added that through the Injury Prevention Committee, there is a process, which employees or their departments can apply for funds.

V.    Other Reports:

Stephanie Fisher reported they are in the process of compiling information for the annual report for the academic year 2006‑2007 and that she wanted to get feedback from the committee.  With the completion 2006‑07, she would like permission to go back to the committee chairs as well as the ex‑officio members for a paragraph that incorporates activities for 2008 academic year to submit as a two‑year document.

Slated for the October 14, 2008 Meeting:  Update on the ADA amendments act

Update on the Graduate Student Orientation on disability information - Wendy Motch has been in contact with the Graduate Resource Center, and they mentioned that they would provide a table next to the Office for Students with Disabilities at the orientation to recruit for additional graduate student representatives. 

VI.    Announcement

Adjournment - Meeting adjourned at 4:15 p.m.

Next Meeting: Tuesday October 14, 2008 at the Faculty Center - Hacienda Room