Minutes
UCLA COMMITTEE ON DISABILITY
Tuesday, February 13, 2009

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

I. Introduction & Quorum

Mark Ackerman, Donna Bryan, Chad Brown, Patrick Burke, Joy Chantarasompoth, Mike Clark, Bert Cueva, Thomas Griffin, Martine Hall, Jamie Hoffman, Adrienne Malka, Jim McGlynn, Wendy Motch, Andrew Tai, Laura Sobchik, Alex Stavchanskiy

Excused: Eileen Fowler, Stephanie Fisher

II.Minutes

The minutes for January 13, 2009 approved with the corrections noted:  Martine Hall and Joy Chantarasompoth were both present at the meeting.

III. Agenda

A. Subcommittee Reports

1. Communication Committee

Jim McGlynn and Stephanie Fisher compiled and updated a draft of the 2006-2008 Annual Report and Jim reminded members to forward their inputs to him. He went on to say that they have been working on updating the website, trying to get some events posted. The Media Relations department is interviewing an individual to profile from the committee.

2. Membership Committee

Mike Clark reported that the definitive list of UCOD members is still a work in progress and that an e‑mail went out to everyone to indicate what they would like to be posted on the website.   He added that the proposed Annual Report looks as if people have a chance to put down their degrees, departments, and questions whether the undergraduate and graduate students want to put down their degrees and departments as well.

3. Programs & Activity Subcommittee

Jamie Hoffman mentioned that they are working on trying to come up with speakers and if anyone has ideas or interests, they would like to discuss, to let her know.

4. Bylaws Subcommittee

Donna Bryan reported that they have had four meetings and that they are trying to get the final draft of the Bylaws out for the March 10, 2009 meeting. She added that approving the Bylaws will be the responsibility of the voting members, and all committee members, including ex officio will be asked to submit verbal or written suggestions.

5. Faculty Outreach Subcommittee

The Outreach committee met to address the issue of student academic accommodations and the challenges of accessing accommodations. They reached consensus on two goals, the first goal: (1) to identify the appropriate entities to whom the UCOD should formally bring attention to this matter, and draft a letter to communicate concerns. (2) Identify the resources that currently exist to address this type of situation and make resources known. They also agreed that their focus is not advocacy but information sharing. They realized the need to gather more information about policy and legal aspects of this issue as the next steps. They will be engaging other entities such as OSD, Ombuds Office and the ADA/504 Compliance Office and their goal is to complete the work no later than the end of this academic year.

B. The OSD: Who We Are and What We Do

OSD Presentation – Dan Levitt reported that the OSD has been around since the 1940s, providing services to students with disabilities, whether those disabilities are permanent or temporary. One of the things they do is encourage students to be independent, and to help them realize their academic potential at UCLA. OSD serves 1500 students each year. It has been deemed to help the university meet its legal mandate as there are two laws OSD utilizes to determine services and provide support to students. Students with disabilities are qualified, meaning they meet the academic standards and technical standards of the university. As a person with a disability, they would have a limitation that substantially limits one or more of their major life activities; those activities are walking, seeing, hearing speaking, breathing, learning, and a few others. When a student comes to OSD to register, the documentation is evaluated and OSD determines the functional limitations and then assigns services and accommodations based on those limitations.

Confidentiality is maintained as if they were medical records. Students are helped to learn to advocate for themselves, and all the services OSD provides are absolutely free of charge. When a student comes to the OSD to register, they meet with a disability specialist. Depending on the nature of the disability, the student is assigned to work with one of the OSD specialists. Services are approved based on the limitations, and some services need to be requested each quarter or each semester.

Faculty plays a critical role in helping the university comply with its mandate. They often do not know they are legally involved in doing so, and from time to time OSD has to be involved. Sometimes professors do not understand the critical nature of an accommodation and sometimes they think it is an option. When they hear about the need for a reasonable accommodation, they think it is time consuming and inconvenient which factor into what is reasonable. Someone from OSD would discuss the meaning and what that service meant to a student with a disability and how they are qualified.

The presenter provided a handout of OSD’s annual report for the last fiscal year which cites having 700 professors involved in alternative testing arrangements. This was discussed as an example of the cooperation OSD has from faculty.

Michael Clark asked if a complaint went through the channels, through OSD, the Ombuds and the ADA and the student is not happy, if the OCR would be mentioned as an avenue.

The Committee members discussed the various avenues a student might pursue when accommodations are not met. Dan Levitt stated that if a student were still not happy after exhausting channels with the offices of OSD and ADA/504 Compliance, they could go to the Office of Civil Rights and file a complaint.

Wendy Motch asked that Chad Brown follow up with Monroe Gorden, the Acting Compliance Officer, regarding, if a student came to the ADA/504 office and expressed the concern about their level of satisfaction not being met for a reasonable accommodation what would be the next step. She added a student should know they have the opportunity to pursue this legally if they feel not accommodated. She added that there are government agencies that provide support referral and stated that, that information could be made available through the ADA/504 website, or a handout should be available if a student were to present a concern.

The OSD presentation concluded with additional discussion about the number of students satisfactorily serviced; OSD’s knowledge of those who were not and what happened to them and accessibility/availability of information.

IV. Campus Reports

A. ADA & 504 Compliance Office - No Report

B. Counseling & Psychological Services - No Report

C. Disabled Students Union - No Report

D. Undergraduate Students Association - No Report

E. Graduate Student Association

Lisa Mueller mentioned that they are interested in trying to investigate other groups on campus that might have an interest in some of the issues they have been addressing. Among the others on this campus, Laura mentioned she had heard something about a group of students who are organized informally that looks at issues facing students with disabilities on campus. They are trying to investigate the whereabouts and the nature of the organizations and bring them into the fold.

Wendy Motch mentioned that as a resource, the Center for Student Programming, which is located in Kerckhoff Hall, maintains a database of student organizations. She added that she talked to students and they are in formal groups that have come together and they are always welcome at these meeting.

Bert Cueva added that the second part of the report is from the GSA president, clarifying the GSA role on the UCOD committee, reading verbatim. We the graduate students on the UCOD committee have the following mantra to uphold to persons with disabilities on the university campus including students’ faculty et cetera. She stressed that for the Graduate Student Association, they are not looking at advocacy as the form of something separate from UCOD they are looking specifically at ADA/504 Federal and State Laws in addition to policies that are set up by UC that are supposed to be upheld. Therefore, those particular issues they are bringing to the table are not necessarily separate as student issues, but interconnected to what UCOD does.

F. Disabilities and Computing Program - No Report

G. Office for Students with Disabilities - No Report

H. Tarjan Center - No Report

I. UCLA Recreation - No Report

J. Employee Disability Management Services

Adrienne Malka reported that campus human resources created a brochure titled preventing and responding to violence in the community, and it lists information about threatening behavior, where to find assistance, managing threat, and referrals to phone numbers including the UCPD et cetera. She suggested putting this up as a link on the UCOD website.

VI.    Other Business:

VI.    Announcement

Adjournment - Meeting adjourned at 3:15 p.m.

Next Meeting: Tuesday April 14, 2009 at the Faculty Center - Hacienda Room