Spring 2024 Webinar Series

AHEAD is excited to offer another series of engaging, thought-provoking webinars! The Spring 2024 Webinar Series was created to address current issues that face AHEAD members at all career stages and at all institution types. AHEAD is welcoming more new and newer professionals than ever before, so we created some sessions with early career guidance. Other webinars are designed to provide deeper responses to recurring questions that arise on the AHEAD Community discussion boards and to address ongoing desires for trainings that further connections to other campus offices that support students. 

Unlike its other professional development offerings, AHEAD allows schools to purchase one webinar subscription to share within your institution, making them a valuable staff investment as well as an opportunity to invite other campus departments to participate. Select just the topics that you’re working with now or attend all 9 webinars to bring a diverse program of information by nationally-recognized presenters. Information about how to share the login within your institution is provided with your paid registration and must be distributed by colleagues by the paid registrant. You may view them live or watch recordings later, making the AHEAD webinars a flexible, low-cost, high impact professional development opportunity!

All webinars will be hosted in the Zoom webinar platform and have real time captioning available. ASL interpreters are also provided. 


Webinar Presentation Materials & Recordings

Presentation materials and the event recording will be available in the "Resources" tab located in the webinar description area on the eLearning platform and accessible to paid registrants, even if you purchased after the live event has ended. When available in advance, presentation materials will also be emailed to paid registrants before the live webinar event. Recordings of the webinars will be emailed to paid registrants after the live webinar event. The paid registrant is responsible for sharing these resources with individual colleagues (the paid registrant's AHEAD password is required to access purchases). AHEAD has created this guidance for accessing your purchased events (PDF Download). 
 
These links can be shared only within your disability office or with individuals in other offices you work with on your campus. AHEAD webinar recordings may not be reposted on non-AHEAD websites, distributed via newsletters or mass emails, or shown at campus training events, virtually or in-person. This is because AHEAD only has permission from the presenters to use their presentation and materials in a limited way for our members. Please contact the presenter(s) directly about presenting to your campus community. All rights reserved by AHEAD. Reposting permitted only with the express, written permission of AHEAD. Thank you for helping AHEAD protect the presenters' work and intellectual property.

CEUs
AHEAD does not pre-arrange for CEUs with any certifying bodies for its webinars, but we are happy to provide proof of attendance. If you plan to use a webinar for CEU credit, contact your certifying agency to learn what information is necessary for you to request independent CEUs. Contact AHEAD at profdev@ahead.org if you need any programming or presenter information that is not available on AHEAD’s website. To request a certificate of attendance, please contact profdev@ahead.org.
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Quick Links

Purchasing & Costs

Individual Webinars All 9 Webinars
AHEAD Members: $59 Each AHEAD Members: $499
Non-Members: $69 Each Non-Members: $599

 

Purchase Here

AHEAD’s  webinar registration system automatically sends an email receipt and individual emails for each webinar you select. Webinar-specific email messages include the Zoom link for the webinar and an option to add the session to your calendar. You will also receive reminder emails a few days before each webinar. 

AHEAD does not offer refunds on webinar purchases because complete recordings are available to watch at your convenience in the case of a scheduling conflict.  

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Webinar Titles & Description (All Times Eastern)

A.I. Unleashed: Transforming the Accessibility of Images, Graphics, and Math Through Alt Text Automation 

Kristin Kaylor, M.A., University of Alabama

Tuesday, February 6, 2-3:30 pm Eastern

How can you improve the quality of your alt text while reducing the amount of time spent writing it? This webinar guides accessibility professionals, digital content creators, and educators through using AI to generate accurate and intricate alternative text (alt text) (an accessibility requirement for all informative images). It will provide examples of standard prompts created for Bard and Chat GPT 4 that can be uploaded with an image to quickly create high quality text, reducing the time spent on manual writing. These prompts work for a wide range of images, including but not limited to: infographics, diagrams, charts, figurative images, general images, art appreciation images, tables, scatter plots, graphs, math, and complicated equations. Finally, participants will explore best practices for using AI in accessibility work. Ultimately, this webinar can empower participants to speed their accessibility processes and enhance their online course and web accessibility, making digital content more inclusive for those with visual, learning, and cognitive disabilities, as well as those with limited internet bandwidth.

Did you miss this live webinar? You can now purchase the recording and presentation materials!

Parent Whisperers: Tips for Fostering Positive Partnerships

Jane Thierfeld Brown Ed.D., University of Connecticut School of Law, Retired
Margaret Camp M.Ed., Clemson University
Jaime Butler M.Ed., Chattanooga State Community College
Katie Krieger M.A., C.A.G.S., University of North Carolina, Wilmington

Wednesday, February 21, 1-2:30 Eastern 

Parents of current students are often staunch advocates, and most are not well versed in higher education disability laws and reasonable accommodations. How do we educate parents to better serve students and prepare them for adult life? Our administrations are often quick to look for resolutions for parents who complain, often to the detriment of our policies. What can we do to increase administration's support and simultaneously work with students and educate parents? This panel, which includes participants from two-year, four-year and professional schools, will discuss creative strategies to address the issues, including de-escalation techniques.

Did you miss this live webinar? You can now purchase the recording and presentation materials!

Accessible Campus Events: Tools and Considerations 

Emily Singer Lucio, University of Maryland
Bree Callahan, University of Washington
Hannah Enenbach, AMDA College for the Performing Arts 

Tuesday, February 27, 1-2:30 Eastern 

From small performances to large commencement ceremonies, and all the guest lectures and hackathons in-between, higher education institutions strive to ensure events held on campus are accessible to anyone who wants to attend. However, coordinating among the multiple entities responsible for putting on events and determining who should be responsible for the various aspects can be challenging. This webinar will address multiple aspects of event access, including communication needs, physical spaces, digital mediums, and more. Focus will be placed on reducing the institution's reliance on the disability professionals to create access, and will provide actionable tools and processes for other campus entities to increase their comfort and ability to create events with meaningful access for all attendees, no matter their disabilities.

Did you miss this live webinar? You can now purchase the recording and presentation materials!

Applying Principles of Intersectionality in Serving BIPOC Disabled Students 

Karen Andrews, Brown University

Tuesday, March 5, 3-4:30 Eastern

It is time to reframe our thinking and best practices in disability services to better serve the diverse populations coming our way in higher education. Discrimination and exclusion are not resolved by focusing on a single issue or influence. This webinar will explore the useful framework of “Intersectionality” as it relates to equitable opportunities, legal compliance, accessibility, barrier elimination, and resources for serving BIPOC disabled students.

Did you miss this live webinar? You can now purchase the recording and presentation materials!

Looking Inwards: Self-Auditing your Office Towards Anti-Racism and Disability Justice 

Carleigh Kude, Stanford University
Roselyn Thomas, Stanford University
Heather Harris, Stanford University

Friday, March 15, 1-2:30 Eastern

For years, the field of disability services has been moving their hearts and minds towards a program model that espouses a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. But turning words into actions requires taking a hard look in the mirror and a courageous examination of our institutional practices, including the policies and processes of a Disability Services office, that exclude multiply marginalized students. This program will be an overview of the journey that our Disability Services Office took to initiate and execute an action plan towards anti-racism, including how we developed and carried out a self-audit, the findings and results from that work, and a guided workshop so that DSPs can develop this for their own places of work.

Did you miss this live webinar? You can now purchase the recording and presentation materials!

Paws and Reflect: Navigating Process and Decisions on Emotional Support and Service Animals

Chris Dallager, Mississippi State University
Sonia Badesha, University of South Carolina

Wednesday, March 20, 1-2:30 Eastern

Whether in housing, dining, or classrooms, students are bringing animals to campus more frequently. Join this discussion for guidance on how to address the different types of animals on campus. The presenters will cover how the ADA, Section 504, and the Fair Housing Act apply to different parts of campuses and how they act separately and together to control campus policy about animals on campus. Presenters will also address related issues including allergies, animal species, and conflicts with other animals and people. Plenty of time will be reserved for Q&A!

Did you miss this live webinar? You can now purchase the recording and presentation materials!

It’s About Time, Part I: Scrutinizing the Extra Time for Assignments Accommodation

Adam Meyer, University of Central Florida

Thursday, April 11, 2-3:30 Eastern

Over the past few years, it seems there has been an increase in the number of disabled students coming to disability offices with a history of having received “extra time for assignments” as an accommodation. Students who seek this accommodation are often either students with disabilities affecting focus or reading, including ADHD, LD, Autism, and TBI, or students with chronic health conditions who may miss assignment deadlines due to an exacerbation of their condition. Many received this accommodation in high school and expect it to continue in postsecondary education. However, is this accommodation always reasonable in college settings? This webinar will broadly explore when this accommodation is--and is not--reasonable, relative to our institutional responsibilities of equal access, equal opportunity, and nondiscrimination. It will also touch on the college’s significant obligations to work with faculty and students to implement it, when it is approved. This is the first of a two-part series: the second webinar will include a panel of disability professionals from a variety of school types and office sizes describing how they evaluate and implement accommodations that require interaction with faculty.

Did you miss this live webinar? You can now purchase the recording and presentation materials!

It’s About Time, Part II: A Panel Discussion About Requests for Extra Time for Assignments and Additional Absences

Jamie Axelrod, Northern Arizona University
Antonia DeMichiel, University of San Francisco
Kristy Harte, University at Buffalo
Adam Meyer, University of Central Florida
Michelle Mitchell, Lehigh Carbon Community College
Jenifer Montag, Marion Technical College

Wednesday, April 17, 2-4pm Eastern

This webinar offers an opportunity to hear from disability professionals from a variety of school types and office sizes describing how they evaluate and implement accommodations that require interaction with faculty. When offices have to say no to students who request this accommodation, how do they do it? What other accommodations or supports may be offered to those students? When the accommodation is approved, how is the communication structured? How do understaffed offices find the time for required negotiation with faculty? Are there templates or tricks to help facilitate and expedite the work? Join this conversation to hear how other offices are handling this complicated issue. This webinar will be two hours long, to allow plenty of time for discussion and Q&A.

Did you miss this live webinar? You can now purchase the recording and presentation materials!

How to Tell a Student No: Maintaining Empathy, Firmness, and Clarity in a Difficult Discussion

Michael Southern, University of Cincinnati
Chris Stone, Washington University in St. Louis

Tuesday, April 30, 1-2:30pm Eastern

Denying a student's request for a particular accommodation can be hard. This webinar will offer practical guidance regarding the process you should undertake before saying "no" to a request, how to word your response to the student, holding firm in the face of push-back from students and parents, and best practices for documenting your decision and communications. Whether you are in a one-person office or a large office setting, this webinar will offer helpful advice for navigating this sometimes sticky situation with sensitivity for the student's position and understanding of your role in the accommodations process.


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Presenter Bios

Karen Andrews, a person smiling with light skin, smiling wearing earrings, red glasses and a red blazer

Karen Andrews
Brown University 

Karen Andrews has over 12 years of higher education disability experience and more than 12 years of K-12 special education experience, Karen is a visionary leader in disability services. She has a passionate commitment to creating a culture of inclusion for everyone, recognizing the intersectionality of the disabled. She works to ensure equitable opportunities and compliance with federal laws, state regulations, best practices and University-wide and campus guidelines related to equal access, barrier elimination, and resources and services for disabled students. Karen’s work extends nationally as she serves on the Board of the Association for Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) as a Director-at-Large, is the current AHEAD Board liaison to the Knowledge and Practice Communities and is the former chair for the organization’s Race, Ethnicity, Diversity and Disability Special Interest Group. She is the 2022 awardee for the AHEAD Duraese Hall Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Award. Every day, Karen and her service animal, Dooley, show up to serve the Brown community in advancing the cause of disability as diversity. Karen earned a BS in Elementary and Special Education from Northern Arizona University and an M. Ed. in Adult Education and Development from Strayer University.
Jamie Axelrod, a person with light skin, short brown hair, wearing a blue collared shirt and smiling
Jamie Axelrod
Northern Arizona University

Jamie Axelrod, M.S. is the Director of Disability Resources at Northern Arizona University and a past-president of AHEAD. Jamie presents regularly on topics related to disability access and higher education, having expertise in disability law and policy, communication and information technology (ICT) access, and the reasonable accommodation process. Jamie is a respected contributor to professional listservs, having received the Fink-Ryan Award for the quality of his guidance, and a go-to consultant for complex issues. He has worked for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s athletic department, as a mental health therapist, and for Protection and Advocacy Systems, Inc., a disability rights advocacy law firm where he served as an advocate for individuals with disabilities who were claiming that their civil rights had been violated. Jamie has served as co-chair of Northern Arizona University’s Commission on Disability Access and Design and on AHEAD’s Board of Directors.


Sonia Badesha, a person with tan skin and long black hair, wearing a patterned blouse and smiling
Sonia Badesha
University of South Carollna

Sonia Badesha (she/her) is Director of the Student Disability Resource Center at the University of South Carolina. She earned her Master’s in Rehabilitation Counseling with a focus on Psychiatric Disabilities from USC in 2012 and maintains an active Certified Rehabilitation Counselor credential. She has worked with the SDRC since 2012, serving as consultant and advisor on matters of compliance, policy, and student accommodations. In her role as Director, she oversees disability related matters at South Carolina and facilitates accommodations for students with disabilities on the Columbia and Palmetto College campuses.


Jane Thierfeld Brown, a person with light skin and short dark hair, wearing glasses and a dark green blazer
Jane Thierfeld Brown

College Autism Spectrum


Jane Thierfeld Brown is Director of College Autism Spectrum, former Assistant Clinical Professor at Yale Child Study, Yale Medical School and retired Director of Student Services at the University of Connecticut School of Law. She has worked in Disability Services for 42 years. She holds an Ed.D from Columbia University, Teachers College and received an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Muhlenberg College in 2020. Dr. Brown consults with many families, students, school districts and institutions of higher education. She has appeared on Good Morning America, CBS News and NPR. She has co- authored “Students with Asperger’s: A Guide for College Professionals,” (2009) Published in Japanese 2017, “The Parent’s Guide to College for Students on the Autism Spectrum,” (2012) and “Behavior Management and Self-Regulation,” (2012) along with many textbook chapters and articles. She received the Ron Blosser Dedicated Service Award from AHEAD in 2019. Dr. Brown is married and has three children; the youngest is a 30 year old son with Autism.

Jaime Butler, a person with light skin and short dark hair, wearing glasses and a bow tie, smiling
Jaime Butler
Chattanooga State Community College

Jaime Butler (she/her) has 7+ years of experience in higher education disability services and currently serves as a counselor for the Center for Access & Disability Services at Chattanooga State Community College. Jaime has presented at the local, national, and international levels on strategies for supporting autistic folks and general neurodiversity education. Her educational background includes a master’s degree in both College Student Development and Clinical Mental Health. Jaime also provides mental health counseling for autistic individuals in the Chattanooga community.


Bree Callahan, a person with light skin and short light brown hair, wearing glasses and a purple sweater
Bree Callahan
University of Washington

Bree Callahan is the ADA Coordinator at the University of Washington and provides leadership, coordination, and oversight to advance the University’s strategic priorities relating to access and accessibility. She has over 20 years’ experience in higher education, determining accommodations and providing consultation on ADA compliance matters of digital, physical, and program access. Bree has presented at local, state, and national conferences on a variety of topics relating to disability and access, transition of students with disabilities to postsecondary education, and systemic change toward more inclusive campuses. She is also a Member At Large on AHEAD’s Board of Directors.

Margaret Camp, a person with light skin and blonde shoulder-length hair, grinning
Margaret Camp

Clemson University


Margaret Camp is the Director of Student Accessibility Services at Clemson University. A former School Psychologist, she has spent the past 20+ years working towards social justice for students with disabilities as an ADA Coordinator and disabled student advocate and representative on several campuses. She has served multiple positions with the national Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) and has mentored many new professionals. Margaret has presented at several national and state conferences and enjoys her personal research in disability in media, inclusion for neurodivergent students, and professional burnout and resilience.

Chris Dallagher, a person with light skin wearing a grey blazer
Chris Dallager

Mississippi State University


Chris Dallager (he/him) is Director of the Disability Resource Center and ACCESS at Mississippi State University. In addition to working at a large land grant institution, he has worked in the higher ed disability field at small private and public colleges and universities. Prior to working in higher ed, he served as a school psychologist, therapist, and as a program director for group homes for adults with intellectual disabilities. He is a past president of Minnesota AHEAD. He has presented at AHEAD on topics of concussion support, housing accommodations, and collaboration between disability and writing centers.

Antonia DeMichiel, a person with light skin and long light brown hair, smiling
Antonia DeMichiel
University of San Francisco

Antonia DeMichiel currently serves as a Disability Specialist in the Student Disability Services office at the University of San Francisco, where she also earned her Master’s in Higher Education and Student Affairs. Antonia has worked in Disability Services for five years at a variety of institution types including a public university and a small, private arts college. Her professional practice is deeply informed by her lived experience as a physical disabled woman and the principles of the social model of disability. She has previously presented at the NASPA Western Regional Conference and AHEAD on topics related to provision of services and disabled identity. Her chapter on her lived experience of tokenization among Disability Services staff appears in the book DISABLED Faculty and Staff in Higher Education: Intersecting Identities and Everyday Experience, edited by Dr. Mary Lee Vance and Dr. Beth Harrison.


Hannah Enebach, a person with light skin and short light brown hair, smiling
Hannah Enenbach
AMDA College and Conservatory of the Performing Arts

Hannah Enenbach, M.A. (she/her/hers) serves as the Director of Accessibility Services and ADA Coordinator at AMDA College of the Performing Arts, where she led the creation of the Accessibility Services Office in 2018. Hannah has ten years of experience in higher education and private organizations, where she has provided direct student support and accommodation assessment, built, and given faculty, staff, and student trainings on disability inclusion and justice, created and instituted campus policies related to accessibility, and more. Hannah earned her undergraduate degree in psychology and anthropology from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and her master’s degree in political psychology from the University of California at Irvine.


Heather Harris, a person with tan skin and dark hair in braids pulled back, wearing glasses
Heather Harris
Office of Accessible Education

Heather Harris (she/they) is a Disability Adviser in the Office of Accessible Education. They received their Bachelors in Deaf Studies from Gallaudet University and \their Masters in Disability Studies at CUNY. As a biracial, bisexual woman with a myriad of disabilities themselves, Heather believes in the importance of recognizing the intersectionality of all of our identities, rest as a form of resistance, and the deeply intertwined history of disability and racial justice.


A smiling, blonde, light-skinned person in a black top with a gold necklace with a "K" on it.
Kristy Harte
University at Buffalo

Kristy Harte serves as Director of Accessibility Resources for the University at Buffalo, in Buffalo, NY. In Kristy’s 16 years providing and promoting access at UB she has served on various committees, both statewide in New York, and locally in Buffalo, that bring attention to college readiness and transition to higher education. Being a former School Counselor, Kristy has always been interested in student transition into the University, through the University, and onto the student’s next goals. 


Kristin Juhrs Kaylor, a person with light skin and red long hair, smiling
Kristin Juhrs Kaylor
University of Alabama

Kristin Juhrs Kaylor, M.A. is the Senior Accessibility Instructional Designer at The University of Alabama, College of Continuing Studies. She has over 23 years of experience in education accessibility, 15 years of experience as an educator (online learning, publications, and teaching), and 10 years of instructional design experience. For the past 5 years, she has led The University of Alabama Online’s course accessibility efforts, making UA a national leader in online course accessibility. Kristin is a Certified Adobe PDF Accessibility Trainer. She holds Section 508 web standards and authoring accessible documents certificates through the Office of Accessible Systems & Technology, Department of Homeland Security. She recently authored the chapter, “The University of Alabama Online’s Digital Accessibility Course Development Process, Practices, and Tools,” for the QM book, A Guide to Digital Accessibility: Policies, Practices, and Professional Development. Kristin has presented/been selected to present on online course accessibility at OLC Accelerate, Accessing Higher Ground, CSUN Assistive Technology Conference, QM Connect, and Alabama Instructional Design Network (AIDN) Conferences.


Katie Krieger, a person with light skin and light brown wavy long hair, smiling
Katherine (Katie) Krieger
University of North Carolina Wilmington

Katherine (Katie) Krieger, M.A., C.A.G.S., is the Director of the Disability Resource Center at University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW).  She has a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study in Post-Secondary Disability Services, and a Master of Arts in Educational Psychology. Katie started her career as an elementary special education teacher, but quickly made her way to higher education disability services. She started out at Western Connecticut State, and then established the inaugural Accessibility and Accommodations office at St. Francis College, before making the move to North Carolina, first at East Carolina University, and now at UNCW. In her spare time, Katie can be found crocheting.


Carleigh Kude, a person with light skin and long dark brown hair, wearing a pink scarf, smiling
Carleigh Kude
Stanford School of Medicine

Carleigh Kude (she/her), is the Director of Disability Resources for the Stanford School of Medicine. Prior to specializing in health sciences and medical education, she served as the Director of Disability Advising at Stanford’s Office of Accessible Education. Carleigh’s calling to disability inclusion comes directly from her lived experience as a formerly homeless youth, a first-generation college student, and a woman with disabilities. She has a Master’s in Public Administration, a background in non-profit organizations, business operations, and management consulting. Carleigh is an avid reader and bicyclist.


Emily Singer Lucio, a person with light skin and medium length brown hair, smiling in the sun
Emily Singer Lucio
University of Maryland

Emily Singer Lucio has worked for a variety of institutions in higher education and disability since 1991. She has been a member of the Association of Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) since 1992 and served on the Board of Directors from 2007-2010. Emily received her BA in Public Policy Studies: Special Education-Legislation and Practice from The University of Michigan in 1992 and went on to receive her MA in Special Education from Eastern Michigan University in 1993. From August 2006-August 2015 Emily was the Director of Disability Support Services and The Catholic University of America. In 2015 Emily became the Director of ADA Compliance and Disability Services at Johns Hopkins University. In August 2021 Emily started as the first full time ADA Coordinator at The University of Maryland.   


Adam Meyer, a person with light skin and very short light brown hair with a beard, wearing glasses and smiling
Adam Meyer 
University of Central Florida

Adam Meyer is the Director of the Student Accessibility Services at the University of Central Florida. He has past experiences at Eastern Michigan University and at Saint Louis University while serving in this field since 2004. Adam was previously part of a national US Department of Education grant that explored ways in which concepts of social justice could be more regularly and routinely incorporated into the operations of the disability services office. Adam has presented at numerous conferences and multiple other AHEAD and AHEAD affiliate venues on rethinking documentation, social model of disability and office implementation, effective initial student interviews and interactive process facilitation, disability language and various leadership and influence strategies for disability office personnel. Adam served on the Association for Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) Board of Directors, now serves on the AHEAD external review team for campus program evaluations, and also does consulting and presentations with other disability offices and their campuses.

Michelle Mitchell, a person with light skin and long wavy dark brown hair, smiling
Michelle Mitchell
Lehigh Carbon Community College

Michelle Mitchell has worked over her lifetime to liberate others from barriers and provide a sense of belonging. Throughout Michelle’s story, she has impacted these two causes both personally and professionally: through advocacy in her K-12 school years, barrier removal in her higher education experience as she obtained her Baccalaureate and Master’s degree in Rehabilitation counselling, to creating a culture of belonging by implementing the first community college IPSE in Pennsylvania. Michelle does not shy away from hard work, and is a “bulldog” when she passionately believes in something. To Michelle, creating a meaningful experience that leads to a meaningful existence for ALL people is essential to our society’s survival. As a result, her nickname is the “Velvet Hammer.”


Jenifer Montag, a person with light skin and long straight brown hair, smiling
Jenifer Montag
Marion Technical College

Jenifer Montag, Ed.D. is the director of Disability Services, working to facilitate access and inclusion for college students with disabilities. Her research is on facilitating accommodations for disabled students who are enrolled in a college’s education program within the prison setting. With over 20 years of disability service experience in a variety of higher education institutions, she appreciates the challenge of providing accommodations in the highly secure, non-standard learning environment of the prisons.  

Michael Southern
Michael Southern
University of Cincinnati

Michael S. Southern is Director of Accessibility Resources at the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, OH. He’s held this position that since January 2011. Michael has worked with students with disabilities for over 25 years as a Vocational Rehabilitation counselor at the Kentucky Department of Vocational Rehabilitation and as Director of Disability Services at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky. While in Bowling Green, Michael served as President and Vice President for the Mayors Commission for Person with Disabilities, providing advocacy and resource to the community regarding the education and employment needs of person with disabilities. Michael is often called on to share his expertise on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to present strategies for students with disabilities transitioning from high school as well as presenting to faculty and staff on creating an equitable and educational experiences for all students with disabilities within the post-secondary environment. Michael served for 6 years on the Ohio-AHEAD (OH-AHEAD) Executive Board. He has presented on multiple occasions at the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion yearly conference at the University of Cincinnati and mostly recently, served as Staff Senator to ensure equitable practices was being established for both represented and unrepresented staff at his institution. Michael's degrees are in Rehabilitation Counseling and Services with an emphasis on Therapeutic Program Planning for persons with disabilities from Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky.

Chris Stone, a person who is bald with light skin and a short beard, smiling
Chris Stone
Washington University  in St. Louis

Chris Stone, Ed.D. is Director of Disability Resources at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Stone leads Disability Resources in its efforts to assist disabled students in meeting their academic and personal development goals and supports the University in the broader mission of inclusivity and opportunity for disabled students. Following graduation from Central College (Pella, IA), Chris taught 7-12 Literature and Language Arts and coached track and cross-country before attending St. Ambrose University (Davenport, IA) and earning his M Ed: Post-Secondary Disabilities Services. Chris completed his Ed D from George Washington University, in Washington, DC. Chris previously served on the board of the Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) and the North Carolina affiliate of AHEAD (NCAHEAD), and currently is the President of Missouri AHEAD. He has presented at a number of national and international conferences, co-chaired AHEAD’s annual conference (2016), and acted as the Accessibility Advisor for the ACPA Convention (2022). Of particular note, Dr. Stone gave a keynote address and was a featured presenter at the Inaugural Inclusion School conference in Guayaquil, Ecuador in 2020.

Roselyn Thomas, a person with dark brown skin and dark short hair, wearing large earrings and glasses, smiling
Roselyn Thomas
OAE

Roselyn Thomas (they/them, she/her), is a Disability Adviser with OAE. She studied Sociology and African and African American Studies as an undergraduate and Sociology as a graduate student. Roselyn has been a long-time leader within Stanford Student Affairs and her journey to working in disability services stems from a long-term commitment to mental health and well-being as a racial and gender justice issue. Roselyn approached her work with students in a way that acknowledges the interplay between our individual lived experiences and positionality within systems of oppression. She centers students' experience of disability in context of the other identities they hold and/or marginalizations they experience.

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