Teleconference: Accessible Conference and Meeting Spaces for All

Posted by on September 3, 2007

We are pleased to announce September teleconference on Wide Open Spaces: Accessible Conference and Meeting Spaces for All.

Date:
Thursday, September 6th, from 3 ? 4 pm EST

Description:
Is your organization planning a conference? Want to branch out to include people with disabilities who are serving as service members/volunteers but you don?t know how or are unsure what to do to ensure the site is accessible? We have two presenters, Meredith Aalto and Mat McCollough, who will share tips on what to bear in mind when planning a conference that would be accessible to all people from service members, staff members and even baby boomers (either staff or Senior Corps members) who are acquiring disabilities as they age. Concrete samples will be given of what questions to ask of hotels or conference locations. Creative alternatives will be mentioned here as well. Resources will be shared during the call.

Both presenters have experiences with accessibility issues, including ADA compliance site visits for several meeting facilities, managing an accessibility booth at the Point of Light/Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) National Conference for multiple years, and conducting training activities and events that offer the most inclusive learning environment for all participants, with and without disabilities.

Presenters:
Meredith Aalto has extensive experience in community capacity building. In 2001, she brought her passion to the Institute for Community Inclusion where she became a member of Community Capacity Building (CCB) team. She used her skills and talents in information technology to help diverse grassroots organizations connect families with children with disabilities to necessary resources within their communities. Recently having joined the National Service Inclusion Project, she broadened her expertise by applying service inclusion concepts into an online course on access and inclusion and posts informational articles through a variety of email distribution lists directed to the National Service communities.

Mathew (Mat) McCollough, MPA, serves as a Project Specialist, Grants Manager and trainer for the National Service Inclusion Project (NSIP). Mat also serves as Editor of two AUCD (Association of University Centers on Disabilities) online publications: the monthly AUCDigest newsletter and the biweekly Funding Opportunities Webpage. In addition, he provides support to the Multicultural Council and the Abuse and Neglect special interest group. Mat’s background is in public administration and education with Bachelor and Master degrees from James Madison University and American University.

Please email nsip@umb.edu to RSVP by Tuesday, September 4th with the following info:
– Name
– Organization
– Email
– Phone
– If you require CART* to participate, please also indicate that in your email
– Feel free to add questions/comments you would like the presenters to touch on about accessible conference.

Elesheva Soloff will send out a confirmation email to those who RSVP by Wednesday afternoon, September 5th, with a toll-free number and resources.

*CART service provides instantaneous translation of the speech text using real-time software. Teleconference participants receive caption services over the web. This is an accommodation we provide to participants who are Deaf or hard of hearing.