OK-AHEAD announces Fall Conference to be held in Tulsa

The Oklahoma Association on Higher Education and Disability (OK-AHEAD) will hold its fall conference,"The Americans with Disabilities Act Comes of Age: Ten Years and Counting", November 13, at the Tulsa Community College Northeast Campus, 3727 East Apache, Tulsa.

The conference will focus on the impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on education, public spaces, domestic design, product design, communications, technology, and on American culture in general.

The ADA was enacted to end discrimination, reduce barriers to employment, and ensure physical and programmatic access to education for people with disabilities. The Smithsonian National Museum of American History's Disability Rights and American Culture Exhibit describes ADA as "one of the most significant civil rights documents of the 20th Century".

Rachel Kosoy, Training Director for the Southwest Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center, will take conference participants on a historical tour of the disability rights movement and provide practical information for organizations and post-secondary institutions to meet their ADA Transition Plan goals.

Kosoy has a Masters in Education Degree from Harvard University, where she focused on the psycho-educational development of children with chronic illness.

She currently provides training and technical assistance on the ADA throughout a five-state region.

Jason Boston, OK-AHEAD Board member and University of Central Oklahoma student; Joe Fallin, Public Information Director, Oklahoma Council for the Blind; .Kirby Hodges, Program Development Specialist, University of Oklahoma Center for Public Management; and Helen Kutz, Senior Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, Department of Rehabilitation Services, will discuss the topic, "Access to Education, Then and Now." The panelists, all of whom are individuals with disabilities, will discuss their personal experiences with curricula, physical design, and access to higher education.

To prepare institutions for the significant impact that the technological requirements of newly-amended Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 will have on post-secondary education, Linda Jaco and Susan Baldwin, both of ABLE Tech, and Vince Cianfrone, of NanoPac will offer workshops about the regulations. The workshops will provide demonstrations of the most recent developments in adaptive technology hardware and software.

Conference registration is $60.00. For conference registration and information, please contact Don Hastings, at 918/955-7471, or Shelli Dismang at 918/595-7428.