Spring 2014 Professional Development Focuses on Accessibility

The College’s spring 2014 Professional Development activities focused on strengthening the culture for students with unique or complex learning needs.

During the opening session on Jan. 6, Bill Welsh, executive director for the Office of Disability Services at Rutgers University, delivered the keynote, "Creating an Environment that is Usable by All".

The presentation included a brief tutorial demonstrating how to use Microsoft Word tools to create documents that are easily accessible to those with special learning needs. Afterward, Welsh led a workshop for the President’s Cabinet on “Best Practices for Accessible Technology and Information.”

Jocelyn E. Sirkis, director of Professional Development, coordinated the Professional Development event and others that took place that week.

“What we know is that when we make our courses and our processes accessible to people with disabilities, we also typically make them better for all users,” Sirkis said.

In panel discussions and workshops, students, faculty and staff discussed the challenges of living with disabilities and offered the tools and strategies for making the learning environment more accessible. Workshop titles included “More than Life without Sound: ASL (American Sign Language),” “Being Deaf and a World of Visual Adaptation” and “Get to Know Us: A Person- first Panel.”