On February 23rd, 2023, NDC hosted Looking AHEAD for Spring Semester — Graduation, Internships, Study Abroad, Campus Access, a webinar on how planning, creativity, flexibility, and partnership can lead to positive and accessible experiences for deaf students. A foundational aspect of this discussion was emphasizing that accessibility is also not limited to enrolled students on campus. Having accessibility and accommodation measures in place for the entire campus community can be powerful in uniting local constituents. If you missed the webinar, don’t worry! The recorded webinar can be found below and is available for you to watch right now.
Throughout this webinar, participants were encouraged to evaluate their campus’ accessibility for deaf people and utilize knowledge gained from this webinar to implement solutions that strengthen inclusion and engagement of deaf students on campus.This session also supported participants as they identified strategies for coordinating accommodations for study abroad experiences, developed a plan of action to work in partnership with students and internship sites to implement accommodations, and create task lists for planning accessible graduation experiences for deaf students and visitors.
Full video description: https://tinyurl.com/yc5hfmcj
“It is important to recognize the open process that should be happening among staff and students. There are a lot of nuances to consider when a student is receiving accommodations on campus. You want to frequently check in with that student, check in with the interpreters, make sure that everyone is satisfied with the interpreter’s competency with the course content. You want to make sure that everything shown in the classroom media-wise is captioned, and that any on campus events are accessible for deaf audiences.”
Looking Ahead for Spring Semester: Collaborative Interactive Processing
Benjamin Suits Baer, Accessibility Resource Specialist
National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes
“We also recommend Disability Services departments partner with student run organizations so that they can model what access should look like and what these student organizations should be planning for. Remember to check in frequently with deaf students. That interactive process with the students never stops. Consider your surrounding community and any access decisions for events such as graduation ceremonies or theater productions.”
Looking Ahead for Spring Semester: Be Flexible with Students
Tia Ivanko (MA, NIC, ADAC), Co-Director
National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes
“We also have to think about communication, recognizing that deaf people’s communication preferences differ and may change based on the situation, their experience and what’s happening in the moment. That dialog is important and for DSS service providers it’s important to be flexible. We have to think outside the box and be creative with what is possible. That dialog only happens with the students’ involvement.”
Looking Ahead for Spring Semester: Studying Abroad & Accessibility
Lore Kinast (EdD), Director of Strategic Support
National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes
“We know that planning to study abroad is a very detailed and long process. It’s very different than scheduling typical classroom accommodations. We encourage you to do this planning very proactively as early as possible. Also work with the collaborative approach in mind. That’s critical to make that experience accessible and inclusive to the deaf student.”
If you have any questions, please contact our Help Team at help@nationaldeafcenter.org. Check back for future webinars, listening sessions, and other events on this and many other topics. We look forward to seeing you at our next event!
