ANNUAL REPORT FY98

CHANCELLOR'S COMMITTEE ON STATUS OF 
PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
Submitted by Co-Chairs: Mary R. Brown
Carlos Drazen

The 1997-1998 fiscal year proved to be a very
exciting and busy year for the CCSPD.  A large
number of staff expressed an interest in becoming a
part of the CCSPD.  This was CCSPD's most active
year.  The Committee met ten times and the
Executive Committee, composed of Co- Chairs,
Officers and Subcommittee Chairs met monthly. 

Our primary concern this year was the Office of
Disability Services.  Several members met with Vice
Chancellor Hundley to express concerns about the
delay in filling the DSO Coordinator position.  As
a result of that meeting, two of our members, Drew
Browning and Scott Feldman were appointed to the
search committee. Mr. Richard Allegra was offered
the position and will begin work July 13. 

HISTORY:  The CCSPD was formed in 1973 to address
accessibility in the context of the Rehabilitation
Act of 1973.  Concerns about the Americans with
Disabilities Act (A.D.A.) have become integral to
the mission of our Committee over the last six
years. 

MISSION AND VISION:  The mission of the
Chancellor's Committee on the Status of Persons
with Disabilities is to promote inclusion of
students, faculty and staff with disabilities at
the University of Illinois at Chicago.  The
Committee advises the Chancellor regarding
disability related issues and promotes advocacy and
change at the UIC by addressing the following
areas:  resource allocation, accessibility,
awareness programming and policy changes. 


SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS


CCSPD:

The Committee cosponsored the first ever symposium
on disabled athletes. "Time Out! Disabled Athletes
in Postsecondary Education"  was presented on
October 31. Presentation of this symposium with
guest speaker Kevin Lennon, compliance director of
the NCAA, and Adam Milani, professor of disability
law at Mercer University, provided information to
high school and college coaches on the ADA and NCAA
regulations.  The symposium brought together
coaches, the NCAA and attorneys to discuss the
ramifications of the ADA.  The symposium was
designed to point out inconsistencies between the
ADA and NCAA regulations. 

The CCSPD co-sponsored Gallery 312, a project by
the Department of Mental Health at DDHD which gave
developmentally disabled children a showing of
their artwork at a River West gallery.  Admission
was free to staff and faculty at UIC.  This showing
gave the campus an opportunity to see what was
being done by some of the programs on the West
Campus. 

The CCSPD is working with the Office of Disability
Services to get an amendment to the Public School
Code, which currently provides for print-impaired
students to receive textbooks in any medium from
kindergarten to 12th grade.  The proposed amendment
would expand the scope of the legislation to
include public universities.  CCSPD member, Laura
Adelman, a graduate assistant in the ODS, has
traveled to Springfield to meeting State Senator
Art Berman, author of the original legislation. 

The CCSPD sponsored a speaker


The CCSPD increased its active membership this
year, notably in student participation.  Most
meetings had at least twelve in attendance. 


CCSPD is sending several members of the Committee
to the AHEAD conference.  At this conference, the
members hope to explore options for programming and
garner new ideas from other higher education
institutions in regards to disability issues learn
how other higher education institutions


Treasurer, Lucy Cotugno:  Ms. Cotugno maintains
budget record, processes the Committee transactions
and monitors expenditures.  She reports that the
CCSPD stayed within budgetary guidelines for FY98. 


SUBCOMMITTEES:

Access, chaired by Scott Feldman:  The purpose of
this sub-committee is to promote structural and
programmatic access by students, faculty, and staff
with disabilities. The committee is submitted a
proposal to Sharon Hogan on library access by
persons with print impairments.  It calls for
provision of an accessible computer work-station in
the Main and Health Sciences libraries, along with
scanners and CCTV's for use in converting print to
accessible formats.  In addition, it calls for
dedicated student workers to facilitate retrieval
of library holdings by persons with print
impairments.  Ms. Hogan agreed to look into these
matters and report back in July. 

The Access Sub-committee and the CCSPD continue to
work with facilities on the continuing problem of
snow removal.  Pablo Acevade from Facilities was
invited to a CCSPD meeting to discuss these issues
and was asked to report back to the.  Access Sub-
Committee. 

Policy, chaired by Gail Fisher:  This sub-committee
will be dissolved FY98-99 and the policy
formulation body will be the Executive Committee. 
Gail Fisher will be the Policy Liaison to the
Executive Committee. 

Several policy issues were addressed this year by
the Policy Committee and the CCSPD as a whole.. 
The CCSPD has formalized its membership policy in
regards to defining active membership, membership
nomination, voting rights, attendance, etc.  A memo
to the Chancellor was drafted which requested that
we be able to appoint members each semester, to
assist us in recruiting members mid-year. addition,
the Committee has created liaison memberships.  The
CCSPD also formalized its election policy. 

Electronic Communications, chaired by Drew
Browning:  This is the second full year of
operating the CCSPD Web Site
(http://www.uic.edu/orgs/ccspd) and the first full
year of operating the CCSPD listservs.  The Web
site contains information about the CCSPD, its
programming and other events of interest to the UIC
community of persons with disabilities.  As a
disability resource directory, the site lists both
Campus resources, such as the Office of Disability
Services and general web resources, such as the
Association on Higher Education and Disability. 

This year the web site has also been used as a tool
for the Access Sub-committee to address specific
problems.  By documenting physical access barriers
on campus through photographs as well as text,
Access was able to communicate very effectively the
magnitude of the problems to the appropriate campus
offices. 

Cultural Climate, chaired by Joanne Gras:  The
focus of this committee is on educating the
faculty, staff and students at UIC regarding
disability "etiquette", that is, guidelines that
might help members of the University community in
their interaction with persons with disabilities. 
The Cultural Climate Committee expanded their
disability etiquette initiative begun last year by
distributing disability etiquette labels with
Freshman Orientation materials through the Student
Development Services Office as well as through the
Office of Disability Services and the Institute on
Disability and Human Development. 

The Committee has obtained permission to publish
disability etiquette points of information on
paycheck stubs at no cost and this year, was able
to get the messages printed on the commuter ticket
booklets. 

Programming, chaired by Mary Sue Torrance:  The
Program Subcommittee planned the following programs
this year. 

Career Planning Workshops by Karen Myers:  Karen
Myers is the disability specialist at DePaul
University and has a weekly segment on NBC_TV
morning show.  She made recommendations to students
with disabilities who were seniors or recently
graduated regarding successful job hunting.  She
also did a second workshop for freshman and
sophomore disabled students on who to prepare
themselves now for their impending job search
through internships and class loads. 

Extra Mile Luncheon:  Thirteen Faculty and staff
members with honored with an Extra Mile Award this
year.  This is the third annual award for faculty
and staff who go over and above accommodation to
assist students with disabilities.  This is a
student nominated award. 

Dance Detour Dance Troupe:  This a mixed abilities
dance company that features dancers in wheelchairs,
as well as "standing" dancers.  Approximately 100
students, faculty and staff enjoyed their
performance. The attendance was very gratifying in
view of the fact that the dance company was summer
programming.  It is likely that the Programming
Committee will ask them to return. 

Mara Bristo, Speaker:  Marca Bristo was invited to
be the keynote speaker at the CCSPD's first dinner
conference.  Ms. Bristo was recently featured in
Enable Magazine and chairs the National Council on
Disability.  The conference was held at Wishbone
restaurant and Ms. Bristo talked about her work
with the Council. 


Student Issues, chaired by Ricardo Fernandez:  This
new subcommittee was established for the purpose of
bringing student concerns to the CCSPD.  It worked
in establishing two new student disability groups
on campus.  One group serves any student with a
disability, while the Deaf Awareness (DAA) serves
deaf students and anyone interested in deaf
culture.  Both groups have received Recognized
Student Organization status and are planning a year
of special programs. 

The Student Issues Subcommittee also collaborated
with the Access Subcommittee to plan a Snow Route
for persons with disabilities. 



GRADUATE ASSISTANT:

The graduate assistant hired by the CCSPD for
FY97-98 was Heidi Waldinger.  She far exceeded our
expectations and could be used, without a doubt, as
a model for assistants for other committees.  She
worked primarily under the supervision of
Programming Chair, Mary Sue Torrance and the CCSPD
Co-chairs.  Her office hours were split between the
offices of Ms.  Torrance and Ms. Brown.  Besides
the administrative work of preparing minutes,
maintaining records, files, she coordinated meeting
dates and booked meeting rooms for the term. Ms. 
Waldinger also coordinated activities among the
various subcommittees and worked extensively and
was a member of the Programming Subcommittee, doing
much of the initial legwork necessary in
programming.  Not only did she excel in her
capacity as graduate assistant, but she fully
participated as a member of the CCSPD, working very
closely with the student members. 


PROPOSED ACTIVITIES/GOALS FOR  FY99

Last fiscal year focused extensively on student
issues; this year, CCSPD plans to shift the focus
to faculty and staff.  A primary goal will be to
increase disability awareness and to disseminate
information regarding accommodation, new
regulations, and compliance issues to faculty and
staff (including teaching assistants, graduate
assistants, Residence Life personnel, Student
Services personnel.  Two members, Jane Moore and
Carlos Drazen are designing and will be presenting
workshops that will address these issues.  This
year the CCSPD would like to establish an Education
Fund which will help achieve the goals previously
mentioned by co-sponsoring development workshops
and training opportunities with other campus units,
with the condition that they include a disability
component.  For example, the workshops for career
guidance personnel should include career guidance
for the disabled student. 

CCSPD plans to design and develop a new faculty
handbook on disability issues for the UIC
community.  The old one is outdated. 

The Committee will continue to monitor and work to
find solutions for ongoing problems with snow
removal, inadequate disabled parking, misuse of
disabled parking, timely repair of elevators and
physical access to buildings, classrooms and labs. 
Co-Chair C. Drazen will coordinate a need analysis
of disability awareness and information among UIC
faculty and staff.  Results of the need analysis
should serve to guide the CCSPD in future years. 

CCSPD would like to establish Liaison Memberships. 
Key departments, like Facilities, Grounds will be
asked to appoint a liaison with the CCSPD so that
when issues arise involving a particular
department, the CCSPD will be working continuously
with one person. 

The CCSPD would like to be able to recruit active,
voting members midyear, instead of at the beginning
of the Fall term.  The Committee is waiting for a
reply from the Chancellor's Office on the
resolution of this issue. 

The Committee plans to schedule another dinner
conference after the success of this year's
conference. 

The CCSPD will continue to promote awareness by
recognizing UIC faculty or staff who go that "extra
mile" to assist disabled students. 

The Programming Subcommittee hopes to get the CCSPD
more involved in large scale events on campus such
as Unity Month, Family Weekend, Black History Month
and Women's Heritage Month. 

Work has begun on creating an interactive map on
the CCSPD website to help people with disabilities
navigate our complex campus.  It will assist people
in determining accessible routes between buildings
and finding critical locations within buildings
such as accessible entrances, washrooms and TTY
telephones. 

The Access Subcommittee with continue to work with
Sharon Hogan to make the libraries more print
accessible. 

The Access Subcommittee will also take up the issue
of telecommunications for the deaf and hard of
hearing which will focus on installation of TTY's
in currently inaccessible parts of campus.  The
Subcommittee will also address the present
unreliability of campus shuttle life service for
persons in wheelchairs. 

The Committee will continue to work to increase
participation and diversity in the CCSPD.