Submitted by Co-Chairs: Mary R. Brown

Carlos Drazen

The 1998-99 CCSPD year was a demanding year, full of surprises, successes and interesting programs. Despite the health crises of several members, the CCSPD managed to meet its programming goals, even taking on (with short notice) an unscheduled project..... our mini film festival. This year, for example, the "Extra Mile" Award reached a wider berth of faculty and staff, recognizing members from the Departments of; Engineering, College of Medicine and Disability and Human Development. The year also marked a new direction for the CCSPD, steering away from the training and awareness fairs of the past and finding new projects and different groups with whom to collaborate.

HISTORY: The CCSPD was formed in 1972 to address accessibility in the context of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Concerns about the Americans with Disabilities Act have become integral to the mission of our Committee over the last six years.

MISSION STATEMENT: The mission statement was revised this year. See attachments.

• We sponsored a two day conference featuring Dr. Mark Nagler, Professor of Disability Studies, Rennison College, Waterloo Canada, who spoke worldwide Disability Awareness to the UIC community. Dr. Nagler is recognized internationally known and respected for his expertise in disability studies.

• In collaboration with ACCESS LIVING, the CCSPD screened a new film, "Dance Me To My Song," an Australian film about a woman with a disability, living independently with the help of caregivers. The film is one of the few that portrays a disabled person multidimensionally. At the screening, which was open to the UIC community and well attended by UIC faculty and staff, Heather Rose, the screenwriter and star of the film and Roger Ebert, Film Critic of the Chicago Sun-Times appeared on campus to discuss the film and introduce the star. This movie was part of his "Overlooked Film Festival" primarily held at UIUC. However, Mr. Ebert felt that this particular film should be shown in Chicago. The screening of this film was the first time in Chicago that a film was completely accessible. It was captioned, signers were available and arrangements were made for special interpreters for the blind. A very successful reception was held prior to the screening. Mr. Ebert seemed quite pleased with the way the screening was handled.

• The CCSPD welcomed back "Dance Detour," a mixed abilities dance troupe, to entertain the UIC Community. This event was attended by over 100 students and staff, as well as elementary and high school students who were being mentored by a community service group. The CCSPD arranged a tour of the campus for these students and provided literature from Admissions for them as well. The students were impressed enough to ask to be added to the Dance Detour mailing list for notification about future performances.

• The Committee joined in with other status committees in supporting Provost Hoffman’s Mentoring Initiative.

• This year development on the interactive map, which was begun last year by the CCSPD, was handed off to Capitol Programs and the Office of Access and Equity. This web based map will help people with disabilities navigate our complex campus. It will assist people in determining accessible routes between buildings and in finding critical locations within buildings such as accessible entrances, washrooms and TTY telephones.

• The Committee produced laminated priority seating signs incorporating the universal handicap logo. The priority seating signs are now prominently displayed in UIC shuttle buses.

• As we have in the past, the CCSPD sent a representative to the UIC TA Training to provide information on the laws and working with students with disabilities.

• The CCSPD revised its mission statement and specified its goals. (See attachments.)

• The Committee developed a membership policy which formalizes attendance requirements, member responsibilities, etc.

CCSPD Task Force: This ad hoc committee was formed to investigate and make recommendations to the full committee on long-standing and ongoing problems of physical access, attitudinal barriers and inadequacies in provision of services to persons with disabilities at UIC. Initially, the Task Force will address the following issues: improving library access, need to increase the staff and possibly the scope of the Office of Disability Services, relocation of the ODS and the need for the University to establish formal policies with regards to grounds, snow removal, parking, etc. The Committee will present these concerns in a future meeting with the Chancellor.

Access Door Labels: The Committee will also complete a second project this summer with the production of labels for power-bar disability access doors. These labels will instruct users to call the Facilities Management Routing Office for any malfunction relating to the power-bar disability access door.

Web Page: The CCSPD Web Site debuted in Spring 1996 and has served as an electronic information resource on disability issues for UIC community. It consists of information about the CCSPD, including our mission statement and goals, subcommittees, membership and current activities. The web site also lists current programs sponsored by the CCSPD and events of interest to the UIC community of people 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 (AHEAD).

Listserv: The internal listserv continues to be used by the membership to conduct committee business while the external listserv is used to post general announcements. A goal for next year is to encourage more subscriptions and to promote more open discussions on the external listserv.

Liaison Memberships: The CCSPD has established a non voting membership, in which we seek out liasons to the CCSPD from departments whose decisions impact on the lives of UIC’s disabled staff, faculty and students. These members would be the Committee contacts within various departments: Library, Physical Plant, Parking, Campus Unions, Motor Pool, Capital Programs, Human Resources, Athletics, Computer Center, Admissions, Career Center, Student Residential Housing, Wellness Program, Graduate Student Council.

Alternative Text Book sources: We are also working with the Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) in their national push to develop alternative text sources for college textbooks and journals. The AHEAD Task Force on Alternative Media for Visually-Impaired persons has appointed one of our members to their committee.

Snow Removal: This continues to be a very major access issue for the Committee. There is still a lot of campus wide inconsistency in the degree of snow removal. For example, during a major snowstorm in January, the Marshfield Building was completely accessible while other buildings were so inaccessible that disabled staff had to return home.

Our graduate assistant this year was Loletia Pope. Thanks to the generosity of the Institute, the CCSPD graduate assistant actually had an office this year with a phone and voice mail. Heidi Waldinger returned as our graduate assistant for the summer.

PLANS FOR 1999

The CCSPD is looking at more collaborations next year, working with DHD’s Outreach Training to provide a campus-wide Summer Institute on Disability Awareness. Working with other status committees to provide programs for African American History Month and Woman’s Heritage Month and providing expertise and information to more campus units on working with students and staff with disabilities, assistive technology and new regulations. We will continue to meet year round, not just the academic year.

• The Co-Chairs for 1999-00 will be Mary R. Brown and Larry Voss.
• Encore performance of Dance Detour.
• Possible music festival featuring disabled music groups.
• Continue to focus on disabled faculty and staff, as well as students.
• Continue to monitor and work to find solutions for ongoing problems with snow removal
• Fill the liaison membership positions.
• Dinner conference and workshop with another speaker. This has been very successful for two consecutive years.
• Formalized a job description for the Graduate Assistant and other positions with the CCSPD.
• Film festival collaboration after the success of the one this year.
• Extra Mile Award Luncheon.

The Co-Chairs would like to thank the CCSPD Treasurer, Subcommittee Chairpersons and members for their efforts and support during the past year.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary R. Brown, Co-Chair CCSPD

Carlos Drazen, Co-Chair CCSPD

Photos:

1. Dr. Nagler with Dr. Braddock at the Disability Awareness Workshop.

2. Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times Critic, at screening of Dance Me to My Song; with Carlos Drazen of CCSPD.

3. Roger Ebert with Heather Rose, star and screenwriter of Dance Me to My Song.

4. Roger Ebert with Barb Uniek and Mary Brown of CCSPD.

5. Carlos Drazen with Extra Mile Award Recipient, 1999.