New to Zoom? Need some disability access support?

• A good friend of Zoom, Johnathan Mosen has created an audiobook for how to use Zoom on Windows with a screen reader. In light of the situation we are in, he has kindly made his audiobook free for download: https://mosen.org/zoom/
• A quick list of important accessibility-related keyboard commands: https://zoom.us/accessibility/faq#faq9
• A full list of keyboard shortcuts supported by Zoom: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/205683899-Hot-Keys-and-Keyboard-Shortcuts-for-Zoom
• For users who are deaf and speak sign language, consider using the Pinning/Spotlighting feature to keep the videos of interpreters in the same place  https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362743-Pin-Video

Are you like me with a ton of Zoom meetings scheduled every week?  Are you scrambling to find the link to register or the email that sent you the password? We are going to make it easy. Get an ADA every Day Access (ADA) Pass.

Buy an ADA 30 shirt and you will be put on the ADA Pass List to receive an email everyday with the password of the day and a schedule of upcoming events.  All events are free and a pass is not required, but otherwise you must register for each event to get a password.

The tshirt can be purchased at Teddy’s Ts.

We need kids events! Not everyday, but a few a week.  Tuesdays at 11 Michigan Arts Access is aiming to have a kid friendly art activity.  We’re now looking for people with favorite children’s picture books that depict people with disabilities. Then have them read them aloud via  Zoom. A 10 minute disability history lesson.  Meet x, a disability hero of our time.  How many times have you heard someone says I grew up with no role models? Be a role model – come talk about something that happened to you kids will remember.

• Gloria, The Gecko Attendant- A book reading by its author, Vanessa Castro.

If you want your rights respected, you need to know what they are. The ADA will be the focus, but any law that impacts your ability to have the life you deserve will be discussed.

July 31st, 2PM

Supported Decision Making, the ruling in Olmstead vs. LC furthered the scope of the ADA, however the promise conferred cannot be realized if people with disabilities do not have access to the support they need to lead self-determined lives and make their own decisions. As a result of the Olmstead decision more people with increasingly diverse disabilities are living in the community and support needs to be innovative and responsive. Supported decision making is a nimble tool that provides opportunities for people experiencing a variety of disabilities to exert control in their lives. This session will introduce the principles of supported decision-making and explore the connection to this landmark civil rights law.

John McCarty is an active self-advocate.  He presents on disability issues to a wide variety of audiences throughout Georgia and the US.  John is a 2019-2020 SARTAC Fellow and also works with the Georgia Advocacy Office (Georgia’s Protection and Advocacy organization) on Supported Decision Making; and he serves on their Supported Decision Making Advisory Council.  Additionally, John is board member of ReClif Community, a nonprofit that aims to provide typical life experiences for individuals living with autism.  He also actively participates in and was a founding member of Uniting for Change, a statewide advocacy group.  John believes that all individuals with disabilities should have the opportunity and the support they need to direct all aspects of their lives.

Dana Lloyd currently serves as director of the Developmental Disabilities program at the Georgia Advocacy Office (Georgia’s Protection and Advocacy organization) and prior to that she worked with families’ combating poverty and homelessness. Her professional career began at Hope House Foundation in Norfolk, VA. During her time there, Dana provided leadership to the agency and direct support professionals as they supported people with I/DD to live in their own apartments and have access to the good things in life through valued social roles and contributing to their community. Dana is passionate about justice work and committed to building communities where we all flourish.

August 5, 2PM

ADA Title 1:  Managing Your Health Condition Workplace Accommodations

Sheryl Ellis has more than 20 years of experience in human resources. She is a recognized expert in Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  She has provided HR services in a variety of industries including nonprofits, communications, IT, hospitality, and manufacturing, but it was only when she herself confronted health issues did she appreciate how little she knew about workplace accommodations.

Sheryl published Making It Work: Managing Your Health Condition Through ADA Workplace Accommodations (2020).

August 7, 2PM

Service Animals – Navigating Access to Work, Education, Health Care, Housing Transportation, Public and Private Services

Amy Maes, Associate Director for Disability Network Oakland & Macomb has been working with Michigan’s Disability Community for over 22 years.  Before working with DNOM, Amy served as the Leadership & Advocacy Consultant for Disability Network Michigan (DNM).  Amy is also the former Director of the Superior Alliance for Independent Living (SAIL) the CIL serving the entire Upper Peninsula.   Amy is also a practicing attorney licensed in the State of Michigan and served as Director of Litigation for Michigan Protection & Advocacy Services, Inc. (MPAS).

August 14, 2PM

ADA Title II, State and Local Governments.  This session will address the general non-discrimination requirements of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applying to state and local governments. The presenters will discuss the obligations for program access, effective communication, modifications in policies and procedures along with accessibility requirements. In addition, participants will have an opportunity to ask questions.

Peter Berg, Project Coordinator of Technical Assistance Great Lakes ADA Center has been coordinating and providing technical assistance as well as conducting training on various aspects of the ADA since he joined the Great Lakes Center in October of 2000.  He is a graduate of North Central College in Naperville, IL with a bachelor’s degree in History.  Prior to joining the Center he spent seven years with Dominick’s Finer Foods, the last two years as a Customer Service Manager.

Peter recently served as a member of the Illinois Attorney General’s Office Illinois Accessibility Code Task Force and is the former Chair of the Mayor’s Advisory Commission on Disability for the city of Naperville where he resides.  Peter was a 2010 recipient of the Chancellor’s Award of Merit and former Chair of the Chancellor’s Committee on the Status of Persons with Disabilities at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC).  In June of 2017, he completed the ADA Coordinator Training Certification Program (ACTCP) through the University of Missouri- College of Human and Environmental Sciences, School of Architectural Studies.

Brad Hastings, Advocacy and ADA Coordinator
Disability Network West Michigan  was hired in the spring of 2018, and  has been working with disability advocates, business leaders, and local governments to improve accessibility and provide technical assistance on the Americans with Disabilities Act throughout Disability Network West Michigan’s 5 county region. He is a graduate of Michigan State University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology, with a minor in Philosophy and Law. Prior to his time at Disability Network, Brad spent 5 years as the Community Food Programs Manager at TrueNorth Community Services, where he coordinated emergency food programs for low income individuals.

The arts are important to any community, but especially to the disability community. We will have arts of every kind – dance, poetry, mural making, films. Events will be interactive, performance, and/or theory. Geared to the young (at heart) to the seasoned professional.

Tuesday, July 28th, 2PM

Petra Kuppers, author of Gut Botany: using performance and poetry as disability culture methods. In this hour-long session, Petra will introduce viewers to her creative practice as a disability culture artist and a poet. Enjoy listening to a few poems from Gut Botany, a Made in Michigan poetry book from Wayne State University (2020 https://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/detail/gut-bota)August

Tuesday, August 4th, 2 PM

Daniel Cascardo’s  approach to art is to interpret life in a very positive and thought provoking manner through the use of uninhibited brush strokes, bright colors, patterns, symbols and various forms of nature, including fantastic birds and fish, that let your imagination soar. He will introduce to you his mural art, his method, and begin a project with you.

Plan to download a section of an art piece (not the one above) to color in as you choose. Create one together as a family or  do multiples on your own.  Everyone welcome.

Send your finished work back by August 6th  via email They will be combined with others to make a mural. A big reveal will take place on August 11th.

Tuesday, August 11, 2PM

The big reveal! What did the work of many become when put together.

Tuesday, August 18, 2PM

Jill Vyn and Chris Smit, DisArt

Once a week learn about cutting edge academic and disability justice research straight from the people making these discoveries. Brought to you without jargon or need for former knowledge.  Nothing about us, without us. Ask questions and discuss.

Thursday, July 30, 7PM EST

What is Disability Studies? 

Devva Kasnitz, trained as a cultural geographer and a medical anthropologist. She has worked in the area of disability studies for the last 35 years. She is a founding member of the Society for Disability Studies and its current director and an adjunct professor at the City University of New York. She has published more than 50 books, chapters, and  articles. 

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-94-017-9984-3

Thursday, August 6th, 7PM EST

Allies and Obstacles: Disability Activism and Parents of Children with Disabilities.

Disability rights organizations often cast parents as adversaries: overprotective and clueless about how to best advocate for their children’s rights in a society that marginalizes the disabled. Parents may see disability rights activists as unrealistic warriors in a social justice fight they don’t want to join, and try to protect their kids from injury in that battle.Learn what anthropology can tell us about this tense relationship.

Monday, August 10th, 2PM

Ableism: The Causes and Consequences of Disability Prejudice

Michelle Nario-Redmond is  is a Professor of Psychology at Hiram College, specializing in stereotyping, prejudice, and disability studies. Her research focuses on group identification and political advocacy, strategies of responding to prejudice, and the unintended consequences of simulating disability.  She is also a member of the band Swapmeet.

 

Thursday, August 13th, 7PM EST

Lydia X. Z. Brown is a disability justice advocate, organizer, and writer whose work has largely focused on violence against multiply-marginalized disabled people, especially institutionalization, incarceration, and policing. They are currently a Justice Catalyst Fellow at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, providing legal representation and self-advocacy education to Maryland students with disabilities facing school pushout, disproportionate discipline, and criminalization. Lydia is also a past Visiting Lecturer at Tufts University, where they taught a course on critical disability theory, public policy, and intersectional social movements, and past chairperson of the Massachusetts Developmental Disabilities Council.

 

https://autistichoya.net/bio/

 

Wednesday, August 19th, 2PM EST

Disability Culture 20/20

In the mid-1990s, I wrote this definition of “DisabilityCulture”: “People with disabilities have forged a group identity. We share a common history of oppression and a common bond of resilience. We generate  art, music, literature, and other expressions of our lives, our culture, infused from our experience of disability.  Most importantly, we are proud of ourselves as people with disabilities.  We claim our disabilities with pride as part of our identity. We are who we are:  we are people with disabilities.”

Thirty years later, in 2020, Disability Culture has evolved and continues to do so. With the impact of huge changes in all of our lives in 2020, this session will explore Disability Culture from its beginnings to its explosion within the era of social media to life in the year of the pandemic.

Steven E. Brown has worked in the field of disability
rights for several decades.In the 1980 a need for knowledge about the history, ideologies, and diverse expressions of people with disabilities, he and Lydia Gonzales Brown established the Institute on Disability Culture. It promotes pride in the history, activities, and cultural identity of individuals with disabilities throughout the world.

 

“The lessons are in the telling, they provide a framework and a dwelling.”  From the poem, “Tell Your Story,” by Steven E. Brown ©, All Rights Reserved, Institute on Disability Culture, 1994

 

http://www.instituteondisabilityculture.org/who-are-we.html

Thursday, August 21

Disability Rights Denied,  the first disabled American Revolutionaries.   Laurel Daen will discuss the exclusion of disabled people from many legal and political rights (marriage, voting, property ownership, and more) around the time of the American Revolution. We’ll discuss how these exclusions were implemented and how disabled people resisted and fought for greater access and equality.

Laurel Daen is a National Endowment for the Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow in Early American History and Culture at the College of William & Mary. She researches and writes about disability in American history, especially around the time of the American Revolution. Currently, she is finishing a book about disability and civil rights just after the nation’s founding. She is moving to Michigan this summer to join the University of Notre Dame as an Assistant Professor of American Studies.

Thursday, August 27, 2 PM EST

Jaipreet Virdi is a historian and professor at the University of Delaware. Deaf since age four, she focuses her research to examine how hearing loss has historically been viewed through medical and popular culture, and the different ways that technology impacts the lived experiences of disabled people. She is Board Member of the Disability History Association and currently manages the Association’s blog, All of Us. As an author, Virdi has published books, articles and popular essays on disability technology, deaf history, and medical care.

Wednesday, September 2, 2PM

“T4 Memorialization and the Holocaust in Germany Today”

This film explores the’ thoughts of a group of undergraduate students while touring contemporary memorials to disability mass murders in psychiatric institutions during World War II. The trip was part of a class on Disability and the Holocaust It was led by David Mitchell and Sharon Snyder and filmed by Cameron Snyder-Mitchell.

 

David T. Mitchell is a scholar, editor, history/film exhibition curator, and filmmaker. He has written three books. As an exhibition curator, he created “The Chicago Disability History Exhibit” (Vietnam Veterans Memorial Museum, 2006) and “DisArt Independent Film Festival”

(Grand Rapids, MI, 2015). As a filmmaker, he has produced four award-winning films of Disability arts and culture: “Vital Signs: Crip Culture Talks Back” (1995); “A World Without Bodies” (2002); “Self Preservation: Art of Riva Lehrer” (1995); and “Disability Takes on the Arts” (1996).

 

Cameron Snyder  Mitchell grew up in the small snow-covered own of Marquette, Michigan. He pursued a double major in Film and Visual Anthropology at Temple University, and made his first and second short documentaries “Mehul the Music Teacher” and “Branded” during his time there. While enrolled at Temple. Cameron started his own production company “CSM Productions” in 2013, the year he graduated. While directing, Cameron continues to freelance as a cinematographer and steadicam operator. Cameron makes an active effort to contribute new content to the film industry that represents minority viewpoints, including his most recent narrative short “The Co-Op” (Winner, Bergen International Film Festival) and feature length documentary “Disposable Humanity” (In Production). Both films endeavor to alter the representations of disabled people. Finally, some of his most recent work includes directing the music video “Heartbeat” (2019, featured on Rolling Stone India), camera operating for the Netflix special “A Little Bit Pregnant” featuring Danielle Brooks (“Orange is the New Black), and steadicam operating for the Hallmark Christmas film “Rediscovering Christmas” (2019, featuring Jessica Lowndes and BJ Britt).  You can learn more about his work at www.cameronsmitchell.com or by following him on instagram @csmdop.

 

Thursday, September 3rd, 2 PM

 

Dessa Cosma, executive director of Detroit Disability Power will speak about how political activism can be inclusive of people with disabilities.