Accessibility Executive Advisory Council to host accessibility forum
LAWRENCE — The Accessibility Executive Advisory Council at the University of Kansas will host its first-ever public forum on accessibility and disability issues Thursday, Nov. 14, at the Kansas Union.
The forum, which will run from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the Centennial Room, will provide attendees an overview of KU’s progress on activities and practices related to accessibility. The forum will also provide an opportunity for KU officials to answer questions and solicit feedback from attendees.
Much of the forum will cover material from the second annual report of the university’s Americans with Disabilities Act Review Task Force. KU created the task force in 2010 to evaluate the university’s policies and practices related to accessibility and to make recommendations for improvements.
The public forum will feature panelists representing each of six sub-groups the Review Task Force created to help organize its efforts: academic accommodations; employment; information technology; facilities; parking and transit; and student services.
Panelists include:
- Jim Modig – Design and Construction Management
- Kit Cole – Information Technology
- Mary Ann Rasnak – Academic Achievement and Access Center
- Donna Hultine – Parking and Transit
- Jamie Lloyd Simpson – Institutional Opportunity & Access
“The University of Kansas aspires to do more than merely comply with federal laws on access,” said Jamie Lloyd Simpson, director of accessibility & ADA education for IOA. “Our goal is to create a campus that is inclusive for people with disabilities through sustained attention to the ADA in the spirit in which it was designed.”
Accessibility and Executive Advisory Council members are also asking KU faculty, staff and students to take a brief online survey on accessibility issues. All responses are anonymous and analyzed in the aggregate for internal use only. Survey results will be discussed at the forum and will help guide the university's future efforts toward improving accessibility.
PARKING: Guests should park in the Mississippi Street Garage, just north of the Kansas Union. It has entrances and exits both at level one on Mississippi Street and on level 5 at Oread Avenue.