SPEAKER 0 Thank you for our representatives from the IT and academic technologies for being here. So for those of you who are attending online, you should receive the handouts via email this morning. And so I know Jackie and Lauren will be referencing those throughout their presentation for the recording of the presentation and other materials those will be available on, I learned 24 hours following the presentation. So we also send a follow up email where you should have those resources as well. Without any further ado, I will hand it over to Jackie and Lauren, and thank you so much for being here today. SPEAKER 1 Can everyone can everyone hear me okay? Yes. Perfect. And just to give everyone a fair warning, this screen is not working. So if I am facing this way, that is why, because I made notes and we have to look at those because I don't have note cards. So my apologies. So today everyone is here for the carrying out of the I teach values supporting your students with accommodations. And I'm Jackie Needler, the director of the Accessibility Services Center. SPEAKER 2 And I am Lauren Reese, the academic accessibility counselor working with Jackie. UNKNOWN Here we go. Okay. SPEAKER 1 So we are seeing a large increase of students disclosing disabilities. So from fall of 2022 to the spring of 2023, there was a 30%, well, 31% increase in registered students with the office, according to Meeks, at all in since 2017. The increase of students requesting accommodations has been steadily increasing. And this comes as no surprise due to the opportunities for individuals with disabilities who are seeking out higher education opportunities, specifically in the higher education with Health Sciences field. And there has been a push for nationwide initiatives in assisting to reduce the stigmas and barriers presented to students with disabilities. And here at Unmc, it's clear that our efforts are starting to impact the rates of disclosure and access to the resources that are needed. So we hope through our efforts these numbers will continue to grow and that Unmc will naturally be known for their ability to educate learners with disabilities. And we are obviously getting closer to meeting that need that already exists. So today we are going to provide an overview of what our office does. Integrating the IT values into the ASCs mission, best practices for faculty, and then a session for Q&A. So now we will provide the ASCs overview. SPEAKER 2 Okay. So what is the ASC? The Accessibility Services Center provides reasonable accommodations and services for students with short term or long term disabilities to ensure equal access to their education. So each accommodation service is an interactive process provided on a case by case basis to ensure the needs of the student are being met properly. So you're going to hear this over and over again today. It's not a blanket approach. This is all done on a case by case basis, depending on the needs and barriers. So and you'll also see the word reasonable come up a lot. And now Jackie will discuss what that means. SPEAKER 1 So we never outwardly defined what reasonable is. It is generally considered anything that is possible within reason. It is something that does not constitute a financial hardship for the institution, nor fundamentally alters the nature of a program. So determine the determination of a reasonable accommodation is achieved by the ASC after completing the interactive process and then IT consultations with the student program and then key stakeholders of the institution. And then we look at the guiding regulations to make sure that we are in practice and within the law. SPEAKER 2 So there are four guiding regulations that our office abides by. The first is section 504, and this laid the foundation of protections for those with disabilities. It indicated that a qualified person with a disability is one who can meet the essential requirements of a program, even if doing so requires reasonable modifications of policies, practices and services. Next, we have the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA was established in 1990 and was then amended to include more individuals with disabilities in 2008. The ADA prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in the public sector, including education. The amendment clarified a broader definition of disability and included additional major life activities that would allow more individuals to qualify for accommodations. Finally, we have the Office of Civil Rights or OCR guidance and litigation. So for this, due to changes in technology, assistive devices and previous accommodation approvals, legality and accommodations is ever changing. So the ASC keeps up to date with the latest trends and case law related to litigation which has occurred at other universities. SPEAKER 1 And now we'll talk about factors that cannot influence accommodation decisions. And so one of those is cost. So the potential expense of an accommodation and the financial burden that may be incurred are usually not factors that can be considered when determining an accommodation. Only when the cost exceeds a significant portion of an overall university's budget is when it's considered a financial burden. So, for example, when looking at unmc, we'd be looking at the billion dollar budget that we have. Another factor then is relating it to the real world. So a school cannot consider a student's possible post-graduation employment as options when making the decision to admit or retain the student. The only legitimate concern is whether the student is able to meet the requirements to compete to complete the degree program. The students ability to demonstrate mastery of the required skills, even in a nonstandard manner, is the only relevant consideration for the school. Next is licensing exams. And so we understand that board exams and other gateway exams during or even following often have their own standards that are often much more stringent than what we have for students to get granted those accommodations. So when we work with students during the interactive process, we inform them during that time that those processes are often much more stringent. So we work with them for those times to get those accommodations. And during that process and Lauren will go over a little bit more about that. The next is setting precedent. There are some concerns that establishing accommodations may be setting a precedent, and so every accommodation request must be considered separately in the light of the student's disability experience and functional limitations. So schools must not allow concern over what a future students may need to dictate the accommodations for a student currently under consideration. So each student must meet the entry criteria for the program, ensuring that the students who enter the program are then qualified to be there by the standards that the program has established. SPEAKER 2 Okay. So now services provided by the ASC. First we develop accommodation plans. So we work with students who register with the office to determine if accommodations are appropriate for the medical condition or disability and the barriers presented by these. If deemed appropriate, the ASC works with the student to develop an accommodation plan that is unique to their disability and meets their needs. Next we have accommodation, compliance and implementation, so we work with faculty and staff to ensure accommodations are being implemented appropriately. There may be times that the ASC reaches out. If a student believes that an accommodation isn't being met, then if appropriate, the ASC will advise faculty to ensure proper implement implementation. So this could be in the classroom lab or clinical settings. Next, we have collaboration and consultation services. There may be times when requested accommodations are not standard and in this case the ASD may reach out to the faculty or program leaders to discuss whether the accommodation is reasonable. It is the ASX's rule to ensure that all requests are taken into consideration. Then we have advocacy coaching and licensure Board accommodation prep. The ASC works with students to develop advocacy skills during their educational journey. Once they graduate, they will be responsible for requesting accommodations on board exams and in the workplace. So we understand that each board exam is different. In regard to the documentation and steps students must take to request accommodations. We will work with students to be proactive in gathering that information early and properly. However, it's up to the student to follow through with this request process. Then finally, outreach and training services. So similar to what we are doing today, we work to provide an education piece so that faculty and staff have a better understanding of accommodations and the role that the ASC plays for students. We are happy to establish meetings and collaborate to better assist our students. SPEAKER 1 So how can students qualify for accommodations? Students can qualify due to a diagnosed disability or medical condition, and we follow the same criteria that the ADA or their website, the ADA to org defines disability, which is as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity. So once a student has that documentation, we then develop an accommodation plan based on the length in which the accommodations are needed. So that can be either short term, provisional or permanent. So if a student, for example, has a broken leg, that would probably result in more of a short term accommodation plan where if a student was diagnosed with ADHD, that would be more of a permanent accommodation plan. And there are a variety of different disabilities or medical conditions that a student can be granted reasonable accommodations for. And we really look at those in four different categories and then decide what accommodations then are needed. And we look at those in the physical mobility, psychological, neurological or neurodiverse, the learning and then medical buckets. And just to go through some of those diagnoses. Those could be deaf, hard of hearing, blind, low vision, anxiety, depression, PTSD, ADHD, autism, dyslexia, diabetes, IBS, Ms. fibromyalgia injuries, and then that can also be pregnancy support in collaboration with Title nine and the GSC. SPEAKER 2 Okay, so now that we've provided an overview of the ASC, we will discuss how we have integrated the I teach values into the mission of our office. SPEAKER 1 So looking at the mission statement, we cultivate an accessible, inclusive community where students with permanent and temporary disabilities have an equal opportunity to participate in all aspects of campus life. We facilitate student advocacy learning and access through partnerships with students, faculty and staff. SPEAKER 2 So we'll start with innovation. So accommodation decisions are made on a case by case basis and develop to assist students in overcoming disability related barriers. Blanket accommodations again, are never implemented. It's important to understand that each individual student has unique needs, challenges and barriers that they are presenting. So although two students could have the same diagnosis, they could present differently and have different barriers. So that said, we have been constantly looking for ways to streamline and develop a concrete process for students to follow. Additionally, our website has been evolving to assist students, faculty and staff and to make them aware of what resources are available. So for students who have a need for clinical based accommodations, we have developed a clinical accommodation plan and we will go into further detail about didactic versus clinical plans. A little bit later. Okay. So just to continue with innovation, we have applied this by streamlining the accommodation request process into four steps. So the first one is self disclosure. So the student must self disclose and complete a self identification form online. This allows them to provide us with demographic information, their disability diagnosis and accommodations that they are requesting. Next is documentation. The student must provide documentation from a treating provider and this should contain the diagnosis as well as recommendations for accommodations. Once we have those two completed, we can do the intake, which is step three. We will schedule this with the student and if appropriate, this is where we develop their accommodation plan. And finally, step four implementation. So once approved, students must discuss implementation with appropriate faculty members by sharing their plan with them. And it's important to note that students can initiate this process at any time. However, accommodations are never retroactive. And sorry, Jackie, just to give a comparison between the didactic or academic plans and the clinical plans. I'm sure a lot of you have seen the academic plans they provide a they provide the student accommodations and an overview of those. Additionally, an accommodation coach is at the bottom of the plan which describes the accommodation and then details student and faculty responsibilities. So this is a binding agreement between the university and the student. Then onto the clinical plans. These are also established on a case by case basis unique to a clinical setting or environment, and they also ensure equal access. But there are more parties involved here the student, the ASC office, the program director, and then the site coordinator and site educator as well. SPEAKER 1 So going on to tea and the I teach values is teamwork. And so we collaborate with various partners around the university on all campuses to ensure that the needs of students and perspectives of accommodations are being brought to the table in all of our discussions. And the ASC is happy to work with all of the campus partners on ideas and initiatives that you may have. And so we encourage faculty to reach out to us. If there's any questions or any ideas about implementation or resources that you may have. We have started to give presentations highlighting the function of our office to faculty and staff upon request of colleges. And additionally, we've started to work with academic affairs to adjust to address recommendations for technical standard or essential function revisions. And then additionally, we have been doing a lot of consultations with faculty. So to address those consultations, one example that may bring the need for that consultation is due to nonstandard accommodation requests. And so to bring forward to light that what that means is usually the ASC reviews accommodations in two separate ways the standard accommodation or a standard request and a non standard request. And a standard request would be simply like a classroom accommodation of testing requests, preferential seating, things that typically would not fundamentally alter the classroom experience, and then a non standard request which has the opportunity to fundamentally alter, which could be those clinical accommodations, flexible attendance that has a policy change. So consultations may involve the ASC requesting further information about the program so we could be requesting information about learning outcomes, program curriculum, program policies, technical standards or essential functions, graduation and accreditation requirements, and then clinical demands. And then we also want to note two that with adjustments to accommodations that could be necessary due to a student's disability or treatment regimen. So this can lead to further consultation down the road with the program to discuss the reasonableness or referral to student affairs. SPEAKER 2 So the next area is excellence. The ASC seeks out best practices and trends when it comes to accommodating students while also ensuring that the program's fundamental learning objectives are being met. And additionally, we want to make sure we're following the best practices given current law, research and input from other peer institutions. And we are well connected in health science, disability in in the health science disability field through memberships, listservs and participation in conferences. We are part of various initiatives related to docs with disabilities and this spotlight stories about practitioners with disabilities and their journeys. Many of these individuals bring the perspective of being both a patient and a practitioner. Docs with Disabilities has also developed the Disability Resource Professional Academy or Academy to educate disability resource providers and best practices. SPEAKER 1 So next, we're going on to accountability and the ASC is data driven, which which our focus allows us to fully review our efforts and adjust when we need to to make sure our stakeholders needs are being met. And as many are starting to notice, we're focusing our efforts to encompass the more unique needs and requests that we are starting to get. And we've increased our efforts of visibility throughout the university, which helps to reduce the stigma related to those with disabilities. And in addition, increased visibility can lead to an earlier disclosure promoting equal access and creating a safer space for students to disclose and inquire more information about our services. So you all have a data handout, I think, on the last, last page. So that really just breaks down what the number of students we have in each of our programs. Giving you an overview of that. And so on this next slide, maybe. As of spring. We didn't want to pull the fall data yet because we don't have all of our students registered yet. So clockwise, this is the number of students in each college. So we have 16 in public health, 68 in allied health, 24 in dentistry, 40 in graduate studies, 25 in medicine, 118 in nursing, and then 28 in pharmacy. So we have a good chunk of students in each college on their size. So we are working with the entire tire college campus. Maybe. And then another way we are working on accountability is the development of our accommodation plan packet. And this is really focusing on accountability to with our students. So we developed this accommodation plan packet. So students who have registered as of July 1st, 2023 receive this quote unquote packet and in it is one their accommodation plan. So that obviously will have their it typically is their didactic accommodation plan because that clinical plan comes a little bit later when they are going into the clinical setting. But it will also include this accommodation procedure document. And this document is new. It outlines the responsibilities that they have when they're utilizing their accommodations while on campus or online and making sure that they're being implemented appropriately and knowing that they need what they need to do to make sure that they are getting that equal access. And then if students do get testing accommodations, then if appropriate, they have this test practicing document. And then this is a document that gives students a better understanding of how to use that for exam soft canvas and then external resources to and then those two documents are also located on our website under student resources. And the best thing about this all is that they have to sign these through DocuSign. So they are signing off on all of this information. It's downloaded and then sent to their emails and then as well into our case management system. So it's in their files as well. So it's very nice and they are able to keep that. For their entirety at Unmc. SPEAKER 2 Okay. And the next area is courage. Courage relates to sometimes having those uncomfortable but necessary conversations. So we will initiate conversations with faculty and program leaders regarding appropriate accommodation implementation. And sometimes these conversations lead to policy changes. We discuss technical standards and essential function revision with program leaders, and we have discussions about nontraditional clinical accommodation plans and ensuring patient safety. So to continue with patient safety and courage, once the ASC has determined that an accommodation request does not fundamentally alter the program, we must consider patient safety. Health science programs have a responsibility to consider the health and safety of patients when determining reasonable accommodations. So ADA regulations caution that the school must ensure that its safety requirements are based on actual risks, not mere speculation, stereotypes or generalizations about individuals with disabilities. When determining whether an individual poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others, we must make an individualized assessment. It's based on reasonable judgment that relies on current medical knowledge or best objective evidence. It should assess the nature, duration and severity of the risk. So what is the probability that the potential injury will actually occur and whether reasonable modifications of policies, practices or procedures or the provision of auxiliary aids or services will mitigate the risk. So ultimately there has to be a genuine patient, patient safety issue present to fully deny the student. SPEAKER 1 And lastly to wrap up is healing. And so we are here. Our office is here to advocate for the needs of students with disabilities by improving the student outcomes and removing the barriers and providing supports and resources that are needed for our students. So one of the biggest ways we do that is the development of accommodation plans, both didactic and in the clinical settings. Again, we've talked about those board and certification accommodation requests and that support and then we do a lot of referral to the Docs with Disabilities Initiative. There is a Docs with Disabilities podcast that has a plethora of different docs with disabilities who go through and talk about their story from school all the way up to practicing. And then there's also Lisa Meeks is starting a mentorship too, for a lot of docs who are starting to graduate and go out into the workforce. SPEAKER 2 Okay, now we can move on to best practices for faculty so you can refer to the provided handout for additional details. But Jackie will go over the main points of those. SPEAKER 1 So yes, there is a handout with these best practices, but we just wanted to highlight a few of these for you. The main five topics that we wanted for today is the use of inclusive language. So we want to ensure that the language on your programs website is welcoming and inclusive. So making sure that you are using our syllabi statement that's located on our website and not using terms like special accommodations or saying that accommodations have an unfair advantage. Second promptly responding to requests. So students are responsible for sending their accommodation plans to you. So when they do that, make sure that you are responding and setting up a plan of action of how to how do you want them to let let them know of exams and things like that for implementing those accommodations? Second is respecting confidentiality and privacy. So registered students are not required to disclose a diagnosis to you. We know and understand that a lot of you are practitioners, but you are not to diagnose them. And this includes any medical details and accommodation. Plans are shared with faculty and staff on a strict need to know basis. And so students are some students may disclose to some faculty and not disclose to others. So please do not discuss. You may have a cohort of students who decide to only disclose to half and not to the other. So please keep that on a need to know with the only the faculty that you are teaching with in that specific course. On the discriminatory avoid using discriminatory language and treatment. So what not to do? Have a denial of opportunities and response to the need to know for a particular accommodation. Do not request additional work or further processes not required of all students or request additional documentation from the student related to their disability. And then utilize universal design classroom strategies. So if questions are being asked, repeat those back to the audience. That's just a good universal design. Strategy, ensure PDFs, PowerPoint slides, notes and images are all accessible and on canvas before the class starts. And then I know this is a hard one, but recording lecture is also a great way for students to access the course material if they do not catch it the first time. Students who are deaf or hard of hearing if they have a learning disability, are neurodiverse Recording the lecture allows them to go back and be able to review that at a later time and get that material. SPEAKER 2 Okay. So referring a student to the ASC. So what should you do if you suspect a student has a disability? Approach the student privately to discuss your concerns. As previously discussed confidentiality. Confidentiality must always be respected. Steer the conversation away from disability and focus on behaviors and examples of academic performance. And then if you feel comfortable, connect the student with the ASC via email. And that's up there. Unmc ASC at unmc Edu. And finally, an example of a careful approach to a referral might be saying something like In my experience, the staff at the Accessibility Services Center have helped students who have similar concerns. Would you like me to connect you to their office? Something like that. But if you all have any more questions about referrals, please let us know. SPEAKER 1 And now we will open it up to a Q&A session and then we will leave our contact information here. SPEAKER 0 I just have a quick comment. Can you all hear me? Okay. So in your name tag, you will see two QR codes. One is for upcoming events, the one that says, help us, help you. That's for our survey. And so we'll appreciate by the end of the session, if you could take the survey. It just takes one minute. Thank you. SPEAKER 3 Yes. Thank you. SPEAKER 4 So what about residents? Does your office help residents also? SPEAKER 5 Their employees and. SPEAKER 1 Yes, they're their employees, so they fall under that employee. SPEAKER 6 So that was my question is, is I know that you serve students. What is your counterpart in regards to Unmc for faculty and staff? SPEAKER 1 So that so the counterpart from faculty and staff would go to h.R. And then they would go to i believe my counterpart is Linda Cunningham. But then you would work with. Faculty and requesting accommodations there. SPEAKER 7 I wouldn't. SPEAKER 8 Question that. Sorry. Are you looking back there? I. SPEAKER 2 I think there's something here. SPEAKER 8 Go ahead. SPEAKER 9 I'm not doing this right. SPEAKER 8 Somewhat related. So we have many folks who are students, but they're not technically our students. But we might do clinical training for them or internships or externship experiences where they're doing some training with us, but they they're not getting their degrees from us. Do we also make accommodations or work with you to support those students? SPEAKER 1 So if they. Oh, it's so if students are getting like if they're doing an internship practicum through Unmc, it's my understanding that, yes, they get accommodations since they are at our site. I'll have Dr.. S11 And I'll chime in. I know many of you, but maybe not all of you. Phil Covington, Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Success. So I oversee ASC. I also serve as the ADA 504 coordinator for students at the university. So typically what we are going to do in a scenario like that is it's ultimately the obligation of their host, their home institution, not the host institution. So we will work back with them to connect. Ultimately, if for some reason that institution's unwilling to support them, we'll figure out a way to make it happen. But ultimately, that coordination ties to where it is they're enrolled and the obligation rests with that institution. SPEAKER 6 I think a couple of comments. I think you might have noticed increases in requests for accommodations for your colleagues as well. So we should probably include Lynda Cunningham, especially during the pandemic. We saw all kinds of increases in that way. So we'll have to include. But if you have questions about your colleagues needed assistance, reach out to h.r. Two two questions in general. Can you tell us what often trips up faculty when we're dealing with accommodations? Some of our frequent mistakes that we make. Don't be shy and or anybody in the audience who wants to disclose the mistake that you've made in your past life before. You are as wise as you are today. You can share that, but also can you with your pulse on the national scene or the global scene. What is the financial ramifications if we don't do this right legally? What are the what are the ramifications if we mess this up globally? Globally? Maybe, Phil, you might have that data, too. Off the top of your head. UNKNOWN Certain common faculty trips. SPEAKER 1 So Lorna and I have been here for a year, so I don't know the exact trip ups from we can say from a year I would. Let me think on that for a moment. S11 I'll tell you, man, it's one of them that I have dealt with, having been here a little over six years, is that unfortunately we still have faculty. So number one, it's great that so many of you are here today, whether you're in person or online. We now crown you as ambassadors for sharing this news with your colleagues, especially as you may have learned a few new things about how things happen today. One of the most common is we still have faculty who believe that when an accommodation plan is presented to them, they have the choice of which elements they will choose to implement for the student in that class in which they will not. At times they will acquiesce pretty quickly to say, Oh, I didn't realize it was an option. Others will fight. And so then they get to have a conversation with me and we get into things like, Well, so let's convene a meeting with your department chair or your dean and talk about how long you're going to work here, because this isn't an optional issue. This is federally mandated. We'll do everything we can to support you in implementing it, but just because it hasn't always been that way doesn't mean things have not changed. So we need your cooperation and to provide this so that the student has the playing field level, that's that's probably one of the most common others is a hesitance to reach out to our team. Now part of it to the point that that Jackie just made Jackie and Lauren have both been with us just a little over a year. We had a team when we were in partnership with you. And oh, for those who experienced that, they were with us for about a year and then back before that was the good work that Kelly Swoboda did. But she did it on a very much of a shoestring with literally ten hours a week of her effort was devoted so to now being a position we've got two full time folks is a game changer and they're still double timing it every day. But we continue to see kind of the attitudinal changes and people getting used to where things are at. But people are still hesitant. I'm not really sure what this means. Please reach out if you are not confident in what a good implementation looks like, reach out to the team and they'll happy. Be happy to do the consultations that have been mentioned. SPEAKER 1 From a payment or payment, but from a. If you do not implement it, it could be millions of dollars. I know a few schools just in Omaha who have not implemented it. Who've had lawsuits have been in the multimillion dollar range. So if it goes to the Office of Civil Rights, it quickly, quickly adds up. And it is very dependent on if our office is is doing our job. And I think we are doing a good job. Phil, I hope you think we are, too. But it is then on like like Phil said, if the faculty is pushing back and saying, No, I'm not doing this, then it's on the faculty then to. S12 Okay. Yeah, I would just. S11 You know, and the other risk is because the OCR in this case is the Office of Civil Rights at the US Department of Education. You get to a point where you break enough rules in a big enough way. That's also the same group that has control over federal funds for financial aid for us, for example. So any time you run afoul of federal guidance and federal expectations, very quickly, they start having conversations about putting all federal funding. So then it's not just federal funding for financial aid. It's also federal research funding. The imagine, if you will, if we had no federal financial aid and no federal research dollars, all of us would be job searching the because the institution collapses in that scenario. So have the good news is, have they ever gone to that level and yanked funding from an institution? No, they we don't want to be the test case. They so we we certainly work hard on compliance and understanding that it's messy because there's humans involved and we're not all going to be perfect every day. So. S13 One potential error I've seen is, is when a student does have an accommodation and has spoken to a faculty member either on the phone or via email, that type of thing. And then in a classroom such as this, after the class ends, then the instructor calls the person to the front to discuss their their accessibility or their accommodation need. And in my view, that would be an error. Yes. SPEAKER 3 Yes. Yes. SPEAKER 2 Goes back to the confidentiality piece. Definitely. Yes. S14 Can you talk a little bit about accommodating a student, but not over accommodating if. SPEAKER 1 Yes. So students have to meet the same requirements within the course. So if a student is requesting more than what they have on that accommodation plan, that is a time to say, listen, you are requesting more than what is on your plan. Maybe it's time to go back to the ASC because we this is something that I can't accommodate and that is on that fact sheet. That's something that we talk about because a lot of students then are thinking, Oh, if this has been accommodated, can this be accommodated? So that's some referring them back to us only accommodate what is on that sheet. That's what they've been approved for. So if we need to have further discussions, we are happy to do so because we've we've approved them based on our our intake process, our documentation that they have and really have sat down with them and communicated with that. So just making sure that that that has been established beforehand. And then if you if they are requesting and you're like, I don't know if this is this is okay, come and talk to us. And we are more than happy to communicate and really talk to you about that. S11 Another common trip up. I'm glad you brought that up because that is a piece. S12 Because the. S11 Reality is we have amazing faculty who are very empathetic. And so something that seems well, yeah, that seems reasonable. But if it's not in the plan now, in the eyes of the US Department of Education, you have just afforded them accommodation as if they have additional functional limitations and maybe an additional disability. And now the student has reasonable accommodation that every faculty member for the entirety of their remainder at the institution should be expected to provide that same, even though it's not in the written accommodation plan. So that's a tough line. It really seems reasonable, but to plan doesn't call for it if it's not called for it in a plan and it's not something you do or would do for every other student in your class, whether they have an accommodation plan or not, don't do it. SPEAKER 1 Send them back to us. Yes, that's when in doubt, send them to us. SPEAKER 0 I think there was a question in the back here, Kimberly, and then we can go to the front. S15 Thanks, Kim. Sorry to pick on you, Dr. Covington. My questions for you, too. With the number of students we have now requesting accommodation and individualized plans, often that conflict with each other, we find ourselves stretched thin in staffing and space to meet all of those individual student needs. So do you know if plans to create a testing center here on campus to help us ensure that we're meeting all of these students needs with the limitations of faculty and space that we have? S11 Plans firm? No. Lots of conversations about it and high desire for it. Yes. I will tell you, we've had an opportunity, so we are in a much better place as we prepare for expansion on the Carnegie campus, that those are very active conversations to make sure we are able to address that. It's easy to do when you've got big new space being built and a partner who's willing to share their space as you and is. It is more difficult, as you know well here and then the nature of that testing becomes even more tricky. So when that testing involves time and the gross anatomy lab. Aha. Well, and that's one of the challenges we know the we know that every time we have to have the lab offline for everybody else to meet the needs of an individual student or a very small group of students, that's time. It's not available to all of our other students. We also know the OCR response is going to be so they your ability, you must meet the needs of that student. So, so figuring out what that looks like, yes, I think that's a place that advocacy from faculty, from a broad base, from the colleges will help us not only just in general didactic exams. Some colleges have the ability to handle that just based on space available. Others, it's a real struggle We continue to look for ways to try to support. Is it a known issue? Yes. Is there immediate plan in place? Because. So could we do it? Yeah, we start grabbing classrooms like this, for example, and taking them offline. Well, then we hear from faculty because now you get to teach in the evenings and on the weekends because we've taken so many classrooms off. And so it's a it's a really tricky balance to try to figure out how to make all of that happen. But an excellent point. I wish I could tell you. Yes, it'll be solved three months from now. It's a thing that we'll have to continue to wrestle with. But again, more advocacy for more people will help. You know, the often the squeaky wheel gets the grease. And so we may need to do a little more squeaking. SPEAKER 0 Great question, Kimberly. We had yes, the person in the front. And then we're going to take a couple of questions from the folks on line. S16 I was wondering if you could speak a little to accommodations at clinical sites. How soon in the planning process do they get involved to be aware that they're going to be hosting a student that has these accommodations? And also, what happens if we get pushback from that site saying that because of our staffing, our layout, what have you, we can't make this accommodation. SPEAKER 1 So we typically we inform the student when they do need clinical accommodations to let us know as soon as possible and then we get the program involved. I'd say at least a couple of months ahead of time, 3 to 4 months ahead of time. And then we reach out to the site right then to say, is this something that we can do so we can get that ball rolling? We have not. And I have been in the Health Sciences Disability Services field for six years now, and I have once had a site say, no, we can't. And then Legal got involved and they then they said, Oh, we can. And then here we never had have have had that issue. Typically sites, once we sit down with them and say this is what the accommodation is, this is what the student is bringing forth. Typically sites are okay. Yep, we can accommodate this. This is going to be no problem. It's usually not an issue. And I think moving forward it's going to be less of an issue because of all of and I have been saying docs with disabilities a thousand times, but the docs or disabilities Push has done a huge, huge increase of the amount of providers who have been going out into the workforce. And we just had a student to go to rural Nebraska who was like, Oh, this is kind of cool. You have someone who has a disability in rural Nebraska. They liked that. They had that inclusivity out there. So I think it's really just really bringing that holistic approach to them that I don't foresee a problem. And if we do, we would get legal involved, in my opinion. Well, we'd get involved and then legal if needed. S11 And we'd also look at how reasonable is it to find an alternate site? Yes, they I mean, there may be some things that just by the nature that physically space does not accommodate, we are not going to be in a place that we're mandating to one of our partner clinical agencies that they've got to renovate or, you know, things along those lines. Obviously, they probably need to, but we're not going to be in a position to do that. SPEAKER 6 But one of the things that's dramatically changed as far as faculty skill level is ramping up how you're thinking about building your materials for accessibility. We have tons of experts in this room, but that is yeah, that's Hugh Austin, coach Lakota College of Nursing helping for sure the IT the IT academic technologies team Melissa Julie Mike's in the front row for sure they can help you all you have to do is 100 call them to think about how you want to just improve your overall practices. That is a skill set in and of itself and one that's missing for a lot of faculty today. So it's a backfill. If you are in the teaching academy, you can go to the teaching academy and everybody in this room should become a member of the teaching academy. Just a little plug for the teaching Academy. There's also resources and help there. But that's a that's something that we're all going to have to ramp up significantly as time goes on, for sure. S13 Right. And I know on the handout, this is Melissa Dyer's on the handout, it was noted that PowerPoint and and the office suite have accessibility tools that you can run it through and make sure that it's accessible. Also within canvas, we do have two add ons. One is called I always say Wrong Anthology Alley, and then the second one is within Canvas. There also is an accessibility checker, so there's really no reason why your course shouldn't be accessible to abide by universal design. And it's helpful for people even without accommodations. SPEAKER 0 So I just want to make sure our audience, online audience is opportunity to participate. We have one comment and two questions. Peggy just has a comment saying, although not technically an error, one of the opportunities we see for faculty to create accessible curricular materials at the time of development, rather than they're waiting for a request for accommodations. Proactive, accessible curriculum. Development rather than reactive curriculum development. And then a question from JJ. Is recording of lectures mandatory? SPEAKER 1 It would be dependent on the accommodation for that student. And if it's. If the room. There's a lot of factors that go into that. If the room has the capability, if it's lecture only, and no simulation is within that. And. There's no patient information that's being shared. And I'm probably forgetting more information on that. S11 And some of it's going to depend on your departmental or college policy. Some will say, yes, everything gets recorded. SPEAKER 0 So the answer is it depends and probably from what I gather and basis. SPEAKER 1 Yeah. SPEAKER 0 Yeah. So, JJ, hopefully you were able to hear that. And if you have any further questions, you can reach out to either Jackie or Lauren. Peggy has another question. You're welcome. Is there a required amount of advanced lead time to prepare for a student accommodation request? SPEAKER 1 I would. So we we inform students so advanced lead time for accommodation request I we tell students that it can take up to two weeks to implement an accommodation. This. I guess I would want to know what specifically the accommodation is that would need to be implemented in that case because it would be dependent on that. SPEAKER 6 What is the communication process with students? Is this part of like student orientation or how do you send something to them all students over the summer? Or when when do they start percolating or putting things into action? SPEAKER 1 So an orientation students get an intro video to all of the student success offices so they are aware of the ASC. Right at orientation. S11 And it's also part of the onboarding checklists that we have all of them run through that if that's something that they are in need of. Most of them who utilize accommodations here have had them before. The what we see very common, though, here is even students who have had it through K 12 through an undergraduate experience get here and say, you know, I'm so close to the workforce, I know I'm brilliant beyond measure. I can handle this without accommodations. And then they get and as faculty I see lots of head shaking. Yup. They get six eight weeks into that first term and realize, Whoa, this is rougher than I thought it was going to be to try to go without it. And so then they're reaching out and then they're scrambling and trying to get things into place quickly because I got an exam in six more days. You know, sometimes we're able to make it happen, sometimes we're not. So that's why we try to say that two weeks may be necessary. It's not always necessary, but that's our general guide. S17 Is there anything that staff can support or do as you are looking for these accommodations, whether it's technology or otherwise classroom support? SPEAKER 1 I couldn't hear. Could you repeat that? I'm sorry. I can't. S17 I'm looking for information. If House staff can support for classroom or technology for the students, if they are asking questions about accommodation. SPEAKER 1 I think the biggest one is just for referring students to our office and letting them know that our office exists. Like Phil indicated, a lot of them start out because they've they were able to go through their undergraduate career and didn't have to utilize accommodations. A lot are aware of our office, but I think that they do not need to utilize accommodations because they haven't had to before. Then the academic rigor gets harder when they get here and then they realize, okay, yes, I do need to utilize accommodations. So then they come to our office. So just letting them know that this service is available. So letting like Lauren indicated, there's folks at the ASC who have experience working with students and referring them our way. We're happy to do so and we can get them established if they qualify for accommodations and getting them a plan in place. S11 And on the technology front, if you know of new tools that are out there that have come that might be useful, let us know. I mean, we we keep our eyes and ears open and learn from colleagues across the country. I will say Lauren introduced the concept of the DRP Academy, which started for the first time. Jackie didn't pat herself on the back, but Jackie was in the inaugural class of that. That happened at UCLA this past year. And so she continues to be mentored by more senior folks in the field as well. And so we leverage those connections all the time, but we can't know all the things all the time. So Dr. Coach Lakota in particular, we know you're you are at the leading edge of things in universal design that can help us in lots of ways. So if you're aware of things that might be helpful. Absolutely. We'd love to hear about it. SPEAKER 6 Shameless plug tomorrow. Tomorrow, people. Tomorrow for the first in the morning, we're going to have a whole bunch of people that are going to do a refresh on teaching technology. So if you need to do a reset reboot tomorrow, that's it. Come tomorrow. Faculty Comments. S18 There's one more question. Yeah. Sorry. I know we're running short on time. I was just curious, in addition to getting the accommodation, which is great, and I think we all want to honor that. What role is there for either your office or maybe caps in helping students?