PRESENTER DEVELOPMENT SERIES #2 TRANSCRIPT

Good afternoon and thank you for being a part of this second Presenter Development Series webinar –

Inclusive Language and Universal Design. Congratulations again on having your proposal accepted.

My name is Ray Plaza, I use he/him/his pronouns, and I have the privilege of serving as the ACPA17

Program Chair. I am joined today by fellow members of the Program team, and I’ll ask them to

introduce themselves.

Hi I’m Jackie Koerner, I am serving as the review training and education coordinator for the ACPA17

program team, and professionally I’m a visiting scholar with San Francisco State University. Hi everyone,

my name is Wayne Glass, I use he/him/his pronouns, I’m currently a Residence Hall Director at

Macalester College, and I serve as an Equity & Inclusion Advisory Board member and I directly work with

the programming team. Hi everyone, my name is Tom Murray, I use he/him/his pronouns. I’m the

spotlight sessions coordinator for ACPA17, and I work at the University of Arizona in enrollment

management, working with freshman transition programs. Thank you Tom, Jackie, and Wayne, and

they will serve as your primary facilitators for today’s session.

This new series is designed to better support and prepare presenters for the Convention. This portion

complements the earlier webinar series focused on Program Development. The goal is to provide

presenters, each of you, an opportunity to ask questions as well as to focus on the valuable skill of

presenting. Our first webinar focused on setting the stage for a successful presentation, and that is

available on the convention website. For those of you new to the GoToMeeting platform – you will be

muted and at different times, I will unmute and provide the opportunity for questions. Feel free to use

the question box as well. Please be aware of the background noise when we unmute. This webinar is

being recorded and the slides and transcript will be available on the ACPA17 convention website so that

this can serve as a resource for you and for your fellow co-presenters. We anticipate that this will be

available by Friday of this week.

Today’s webinar is focused on setting the stage for your presentation in March 2017 by focusing

specifically on the use of inclusive language when presenting, as well as providing a review of Universal

Design principles. As I mentioned earlier, this is an opportunity for you to ask live questions of Tom,

Jackie, Wayne, myself, and other members of the program team that are on the webinar as well.

As you review the webinar, you may notice different colors on the side and shapes. These correspond to

particular focus areas that have been consistent throughout the webinar series. For example, the blue

color bar is typically the introductory slides, also designated by a star, while the orange bars, are the

main focus of the webinar, designated by a diamond.

In thinking about what it means to be a skillful presenter, studies have identified 28 qualities that a good

presenter not only exhibits but also embodies. Over the next few webinars, we will be reviewing these

different qualities. We reviewed the first six in the first webinar, which is now available online.

Today, we want to look at the second set of six qualities (in alpha order). We’ve included the citation on

the slide. The next six would be qualities in terms of being clear, as a presenter, in terms of your

language, your diction, and getting that information across. The next skill is someone who is

commanding – you have a command of the audience. Not in the same, not in the sense that you are a

brutal dictator, but you have presence in the room when you’re presenting, you have that command of

the audience, and I think that really relates to being confident as well in that regard. Ray, can I interject

for a second? Sure. I don’t think our attendees can see the slides right now. They can’t? No, we’re

getting a few messages and I didn’t want you to get too… there you go. Well, do you want me to

restart? I don’t think you need to, I just didn’t want to get too far into it, and it’s up now, so we should

be good. OK we apologize for that. As I was saying, we were reviewing the qualities of a skillful

presenter. We talked about clear commanding, and that really relates to being confident, that you know

the stuff that you are presenting, and I think that comes across, and that really relates to being credible.

You’ve studied this, you’ve researched this, this part of why you wanted to make this presentation, and I

think that comes across as well. And then also dynamic, and that’s really related to these comments in

terms of how you’re managing the room, the interaction with the audience, and then the last one is

effective. Are you effective in all of these different roles? And when you go to the link there, it really

gets into more specifics there, but we just wanted to highlight some different qualities of what it means

to be a skillful presenter. At this point, I do want to shift over to the main focus of this webinar, really

focusing on inclusive language and universal design principles, so Jackie.

Thank you Ray. Again everyone, I’m Jackie Koerner (She/her/hers pronouns) and I am a visiting scholar

at San Francisco State University. My focus there is reviewing the material archives with the Longmore

Institute on Disability. I’m going to talk to you about considering ability during your session development

and during your session. First let’s talk about learning styles. Everyone learns differently. In a group,

there are many different learning styles. Some are visual learners, while others learn best while doing a

hands-on project. Try to offer something up for each learning style to get the best reach because you

really want people to take home your message and apply it at their own campuses. Disabilities are

unique to the individual. Yes, many people may have the same disability, but the way it impacts their

lives varies! The impact a disability has on a person may vary from day-to-day as well. I know that

something that I had found out thoroughly through my research, and it’s amazing how much it can vary.

So while someone may be having a “good day”, they also might be having a “bad day”, and may have to

have other needs at that time. Definitely be flexible! If someone reaches out to you about their needs,

be as accommodating as you can in the moment. This may be changing the font to a more readable font

or speaking more slowly and clearly. Don’t assume! If you want to know how to best accommodate

someone, just ask! It’s not right to assume someone needs to be accommodated in a certain way -

examples may include pushing someone’s wheelchair without asking, or grabbing hold of someone who

has a visual disability to help them around a space. These are all well-meaning gestures, but may be also

very unwelcome! If you see someone who has a disability, and you want to ask about accommodating

them, don’t yell from the front of the room. A better manner would be to approach them once they’ve

gotten settled in a one-on-one conversation, and really ask them if they need certain accomodations or

how you can better support them and their needs during your session. If they are using an interpreter or

a personal assistant, you want to speak directly to the person, not their companion. Disabilities can

impact the way a person learns, but they do not affect a person’s intelligence. And now on this next

slide, here are some things to remember. Use person-first language. If you must mention a person’s

disability, refer to their disability with person-first language. Disability is part of their identity, but not

their whole identity. Person-first language would be like “a person who uses a wheelchair,” “Judith is a

woman who is blind,” etc. Some people do prefer disability-first language. For example, “a disabled

person” instead of “a person with a disability.” If the person does prefer disability first, then they’ll

correct you. Most people find person-first most appropriate for referring to their disability identity.

Now let’s talk about service animals. Service animals are busy at work. I know people love pets – I

certainly do, but these pets have a job to do. Making noises to get the animal’s attention, offering food,

or petting without permission could distract the service animal from their job. Think about how hard it

would be to focus with someone calling your name or petting you while you’re working. This ultimately

could put someone in danger. Service animals have all kinds of jobs - they can help a person monitor

their diabetes, provide support for a person with depression, or help a person navigate a crowded space

- and are not always Labrador Retrievers. Service animals come from all parts of the animal kingdom!

Treat the service animals as an extension of their person and respect their personal space. They are an

extremely bonded team and the service animals need to focus their attention on their person. And for

some folks, I know we’ve all seen this one, and I’m sure a lot of you are saying oh I get it, you don’t

always need to speak louder to individuals with disabilities. Not all people with disabilities need you to

speak louder and/or slower. So just be aware of your behaviors so that we’re conscious and constantly

working on those. Always ask before providing assistance. Like I said earlier, even well-meaning actions

can be unwanted. As I said in the last slide, don’t make assumptions about someone’s abilities or

intelligence. On the next slide, we’re going to talk about how disabilities can be invisible. Not all

disabilities have a physical manifestation. Disabilities like dyslexia, dysgraphia, individuals who might

have, say, diabetes. These are not disabilities that would have an outwardly physical presence. Don’t

assume because you don’t see anyone with a disability in your session, that there are no people with

disabilities in the room. You can openly invite people to let you know if they need accommodations

during your session. You could have a slide up, as people are coming in the room, or say “please feel free

to approach me if you need accommodations”, that’s certainly acceptable. I did that in my session last

time I presented, and I actually had three people come up to me asking for specific situations – and I was

glad to help them out as best as I could during that time. This might include facing them when you talk,

speaking louder if you are a quiet speaker, speaking slower if you are a fast speaker, I know some of us

get the heart racing and we speed up when we talk or get really excited, but we really need to slow

down; or some people may simply want copies of your materials emailed to them after the session, so

they can use, perhaps, the screen reader, or digest the material when they’re able to focus on it or

reread it a couple times. On the next slide, we’re going to talk about taking comments as positive. We

all have a tendency to go in defensive mode when someone points out our mistakes or poor behavior.

Remember, people wouldn’t say anything if they did not care about your session or your personal

growth. These are learning opportunities! Do not let this caring gesture pass you by. You don’t want to

miss the piece of humanity this person is trying to share with you. If someone speaks up during the

session, thank them for the comment, apologize briefly, and ask to chat after the session to appreciate

their comment more. Don’t spend a lot of time back tracking about what was said. What’s done was

done and moving forward with appreciating the person for bringing your attention to this is the right

thing to do. Now on the next slide, I want to follow up with a few things to think about. You want to

think about program in flexibility from the start! This would be able to allow you to be comfortable with

adjusting things if someone comes up to you and says they need a bigger font or a darker font, or your

font is just, the color’s not working for me. So be able to change that on the fly – I know we work so

hard on our presentations and get the colors and formatting just right, but sometimes the information

getting across is more important than color choice. Are your handouts clear and legible? I know some

of us have copies that have been copied and copied over and over again, or we want to fit them all on

one page of paper, but we really want to think about – can the information be easily accessed by these

people we’re presenting to. Do your presentation slides match what you’ll be speaking aloud? That’s

something to think about too, for people who might be reading the material, or their learning style

might lend to it, or their disability limits them to reading the material to better digest it. Do your

presentation slides use color, pictures, or videos? Are those pieces accessible to the people attending

your session? Is your font large and easily read? Universal Design can help and is great for all situations

regardless of the audience! And, just so luckily enough, we have Tom on the call, and he’s going to talk

about Universal Design and expand on Universal Design principles.

Thanks Jackie, so everyone again, my name is Tom Murray. I work at the University of Arizona where I

have been for about 10 years. My first position on campus here was in Disability Resources, and it was

there that I started to learn a lot about the concept of Universal Design. Universal design is being

intentional about designing environments that are accessible to the most amount of people under the

most amount of circumstances. As a concept, universal design is rooted in disability activism as related

to architecture and best practices for built environments. It has since been applied to other types of

environments, like learning environments, where we think about how we can apply universal design

concepts to learning. I often have folks who are dubious about universal design, and often times the

concern is that it is going to be more work. I always like to consider these points when thinking about

trying to create a universally designed experience rather than providing accommodations, as Universal

Design is often less work in the long run. Accommodations are reactive, while universal design is

proactive. Rather than waiting for someone to experience a barrier and then providing an

accommodation (which may or may not even be sufficient in mitigating that barrier), a universally

designed environment predicts the barriers people may face and eliminates them in the design of the

environment itself. So, for example, rather than building a door and then retrofitting that door with a

blue button that opens it, a door that opens automatically on approach predicts the need to open the

door without physical manipulation and eliminates that need. Accommodations are exclusive, while

universal design is inclusive. As an instructor at U of A, Disability Resources offers me the ability to have

an exam proctored with extra time in a separate space. However, that experience excludes some

students from the experience that everyone else is getting, like the ability to ask me clarifying questions.

As an inclusive universal design practice, I offer double time for all of my students so that those with

time and a half or double time don’t need to have an isolated exam.

This example also demonstrates how accommodations are provided for a few, while universal design is

good for everyone. If I stuck to accommodations for test taking time, then only students who have a

diagnosed disability and are registered with disability resources get to benefit. However, double time is

also beneficial for students with test anxiety, those with undiagnosed learning disabilities, etc.

Accommodations are often consumable, while universal design is sustainable. If I relied on volunteer

note takers to take notes for students with a note taking accommodation, then every time I encounter a

student with that accommodation, I have to generate that accommodation again. If I have notes online

for the whole class, then I can sustain that semester to semester – just updating the notes as I go.

Accommodations also focus on the individual, while universal design focuses on the environment.

Rather than focusing on how I can find a solution to one person’s “problem,” – and I use the word

“problem” in quotes as an example of an accommodation mentality – universal design shifts the

“problem” from the person to the environment I am creating and as such places the responsibility on

me as the environment creator. Now, universal design is a tough concept for many folks because it

seems like no matter how hard you try, the environment is not universally accessible. I like to think of

universal design as a limit function in mathematics – not to be unpleasant for those of you who hate

math. If you think of a graph in math that gets closer and closer to zero, but never gets there, that can

be a good representation of universal design. Chances are that in every environment, no matter how

much thought is put into it, there will be some person in some circumstance that faces a barrier.

However, we want to be continuously moving towards that limit function of universal design. Universal

design is a process and a goal, but it is an iterative process. You want to predict the barriers to access

and remove them before implementation. But then you want to evaluate what was successful and what

could be changed, which requires that you be open to feedback so that you can make it better the next

time, which is something that Jackie alluded to earlier. I would like to offer an example from my recent

past on this iterative process. At convention just last year, my co-presenter and I played music during

time when folks were working individually. As it turned out, that music had lyrics and one of our

participants gave us the feedback after the session that it was difficult for her to do the activity because

as a person with ADHD, the lyrics made it hard for her to focus. Now as someone who has been working

on universal design for a while, it didn’t feel particularly good to get that feedback and know that I had

introduced a barrier; however, that feedback is crucial for me to be able to make my environment better

next time. So here are the original seven principles for universal design. Equitable use means that

people should be able to use the environment in the same way - so not a separate entrance at the side

or back of the building, as many of our buildings on college campuses have. Flexibility in use describes a

physical space that can adapt to different needs, like desks that adjust to different heights. Simple and

intuitive use suggests that users should need little to no instruction, they should know how to do it on

their own. We want to make sure that information is perceptible to those with a variety of perception

abilities, so including auditory information in addition to visual. Spaces should have a high tolerance for

error and require low physical effort. And you want to consider the physical space and its size, both for

use and approach. Now some of these original concepts may seem not relevant to a session at

convention. However, are we considering flexibility in use when we say, “raise your hand if…”? How do

we separate folks into groups during activities, and are we considering how they may need to move

around the space? So while you may not need to consider all of these at a session, I would suggest that a

number of them are relevant to planning a session at convention. As I mentioned earlier, there are also

come principles specific to the creating of universally designed learning. We want to be able to be sure

that we are using multiple means of representation. We should not be relying solely on visual

information or solely on auditory information, but provide information in multiple ways. In this webinar,

for example, we are using visual information with the PowerPoint, auditory information with the

narration, and the recording will be supplemented with a transcript of the narration to make it visual.

It is also important for us to offer multiple means of action and expression. What are the activities that

folks are doing, and are they all of the same type? Or do you mix it up? This is where universal design as

a concept can reach far beyond the scope of disability. Consider extraversion and introversion. Are all of

your activities designed where folks are talking in groups (which is a very extraverted activity), or do you

have time for individual reflection and one-on-one conversation? Finally, providing multiple means of

engagement. Some folks learn by jumping in and participating in an activity or presenting to a large

group, while others learn best by observing. While we want folks to stretch themselves by stepping out

of their comfort zone, requiring them to do it in high stress situations actually can impede learning. So

some things to consider for convention… first, please review the universal design… I think we went one

slide too far, there we go, review the universal design document that is on the convention website

under Curriculum and then Resources for Presenters. There are many technical tips there that we

couldn’t possibly cover today. Some of the basics, though, are listed here. We ask that you use

PowerPoint over Prezi. Prezi tends to be inaccessible to many screen readers and often adds

unnecessary visual distractions. New versions of PowerPoint for PCs also have an accessibility checker to

help you make it more universally designed. There are instructions in the presenter resource, available

online, for how to use it, and it can tell you if something in your file will impede accessibility. The

guidelines available on the Resources for Presenters page also have guidelines for font, both in terms of

print materials as well and for powerpoints, such as using sans serif fonts like Arial or Calibri. You are

also encouraged to be intentional about sounds, transitions, animations. Do they enhance the delivery

of your information? If not, then they simply add barriers. If you are going to use a video, I want to ask

you to make sure it is captioned. Consider different abilities and learning styles when developing

activities to ensure that folks are included in your session. There are some questions to ask yourself in

the universal design resource regarding in-session activities, like considering the types of communication

required to participate, as well as ways to address different learning methods. Finally, we always want

to be sure we are using inclusive language, and for that topic I will turn this over to my colleague Wayne.

Beautiful, thank you so much Tom. Again, hello everyone, my name is Wayne, and I use He / Him / His

pronouns, and I am a Residence Hall Director at Macalester College. Within ACPA, I serve as an Equity &

Inclusion Advisory Board Member directly connected to the ACPA 17 Convention Program Team that

includes but is not limited to General Programs, Genius Labs, and Pecha Kuchas, and so on and so forth.

If you would like to stay connected, I would love to be friends on Twitter – you’re welcome to follow me

at @WayneGlass1. To wrap up today’s conversation, I will be spending some time talking about

‘Inclusive Language,’ what role it plays in our day-to-day personal and professional lives, as well as how

we can practice mindfulness in ways we dialogue with one another. Very similar to Spider Man’s saying

“With great power, comes great responsibility,” this concept applies to how we communicate with

others. Higher Education and Student Affairs is a very communicative field. Thus, what we say and how

we say it can and will have a significant impact on how are perceived by others as well as have positive

or harmful depending on a plethora of factors (such as privileged identities and positional influences).

We must continue to challenge ourselves and others’ thinking so that it positively reflects the ways we

communicate. Making assumptions is a ‘natural’ behavior that connects to the protective mechanisms in

our brain (such as the ‘fight or flight’ hormones). Assuming empowers us to make sometime appropriate

/ accurate thoughts about a situation, thus preventing us from putting our minds and bodies in harm’s

way. However, assuming, as it relates to one’s identities is problematic, and can have detrimental

outcomes if it surfaces in the day-to-day interactions with folks who may hold different backgrounds

and/or lived-experiences than our own. Therefore, we need to continue to work on unlearning thoughts

and behaviors that are problematic and feed into racism, homophobia, misogyny, classism, sexism, and

the list goes on. The conscious act of ‘unlearning’ can be challenging and requires a lot of self-work,

reflection, and intentional action. We all hold or have held thoughts and ideations that are problematic,

as a result of different systems we grew up with as well as conditioning we engaged with. Placing blame

on what once is, however, not an acceptable excuse for feeding into and supporting oppressive

language. Therefore, we must be intentional about self-monitoring; qualitative, and/or quantitatively.

Looking at this research-wise, qualitative Self-Monitoring consists of paying attention to the quality of

things that are happening (such as how something makes you feel). Quantitative Self-Monitoring,

however, focuses on counting the amount of behaviors of methods of communication that could be

perceived as problematic, and, ultimately, deciding what time and energy you want to spend on a

particular behavior or behaviors. Each of these methods of self-monitoring can be useful when thinking

about how and why we think and interact (verbally and nonverbally) with one another. As a result of

being intentional about where our thoughts and behaviors stem from, we can, ostensibly, work on the

‘root’ of the problem. This can directly correlate to communicating in ways that are racist, sexist,

homophobic, misogynist, heterosexist, ageist, classist, and the list goes on. So therefore we must

remain identity conscious. As professionals in this field and as we navigate the day-to-day, it is

absolutely imperative that we remain identity conscious as we engage with folks at, and beyond,

Convention. Identity plays a role in how we navigate absolutely every facet of our lives, and to ignore

one’s multiple, intersecting identities is to ignore a whole person. I say this because I think that a lot

folks want to compartmentalize and/or engage with folks solely based on visible identities OR

assumptive identities. Similar to previous notions that I have made, it is essential that we all continue to

work on unlearning this behavior and thought processes, due to how harmful and volatile it is. Using

myself as an example of a Queer person, there are a plethora of assumptions folks want to make about

me and how I may (or may not) choose to live my life. For example, I ‘typically’ present myself in what

American society would perceive as ‘borderline-masculine.’ Thus, one would assume I like sports are or

are very hypermasculine in that way, or utilize He/Him/His pronouns. Now, while I do primarily use

He/Him/His pronouns, there have been several periods in my life where I also used They/Them/Their

pronouns because of not wanting to solely stick to an ascribed identity of what it means to be male and

male-bodied as well as continuing advocate for They/Them/Their pronouns as single gender pronouns

used by many people. On the next slide, we’ll see some inclusive language examples. First of all, thank

you so much Dr. Dian Squire for coming up with this amazing article – I provided the link below so folks

can engage with this, whether it’s after the particular presentation today or during the presentation, so

feel free to check that out. Dr. Dian Squire is an amazing person and I truly advocate for him. So as you

can see, we’re looking at items that speak to Sexist, Ableist, Classist, and Genderist, language and

phrases that we may utilize ourselves and/or may show up at Convention. While I recognize that this

content is going to be uploaded on ACPA’s website, I would like to acknowledge that some folks may be

engaging over the phone, so I am going to read through the examples provided. “You guys” is

problematic in the sense that it’s Sexist, we’re assuming that everyone is a male bodied person. I’m

from the south, so I’m very comfortable using y’all, or you all, but I do not want to assume other folks’

identity or gender expression by saying “you guys”. Walk to each corner of the room is problematic

because it is Ableist; we have folks, as we were talking about previously, that differ from physical

abilities and attributes of themselves, so while we’re saying “walk” is being Ableist towards those that

are physically able to use their legs in the way walking would assume. Thinking about LGBT success on

campus, pronouns are great. I want to think that we want to be mindful about who we’re talking to,

how we’re engaging with folks, because pronouns are so important. It definitely speaks to what it

means to be a person who is an advocate for pronouns, so definitely want to consider those items.

Looking at the notion of Ableist language, so “look up here” – I know that when we are doing

presentations or having conversations with folks, “looking” – what does that mean for folks who may

not have full range of motion as it relates to their neck. These are just some things to think about. The

best graduate preparation programs require students to partake in a full-time summer internship, so

looking at the internship aspect of socioeconomic status. When I was in graduate school, it didn’t

require me to be a part of a summer internship opportunity, but it was something to be mindful of that I

could engage with a internship in my institution and it would not cost me any money and I would still get

the same amount of credit. It’s a short walk to the restaurant in the Short North. So this is another

example of Ableist bodied language, so thinking about walking. As we’re navigating convention, I know

there have been places I have been physically had to walk to, or I wouldn’t be able to get there. I

recognize that different parts of the world, for example, ADA doesn’t exist in Canada, so when we were

at ACPA in 2016, it looked differently as it relates to access. These are just some things to think about. If

we think about a first year student’s engagement in the classroom, he/she may feel ill equipped to

discuss diversity and social justice problems. Looking at genderist language – so he and she. I think

that’s, as I was talking about before with pronouns, I personally will use they/them/their pronouns until

I absolutely am certain that I know the person’s pronouns; and if they prefer they/them/theirs, that’s

great; I will definitely use those pronouns, because I would never want to misgender anyone because it’s

completely inappropriate and oppressive in that way. So now we’re going to transition into our

Question & Answer portion of this respective presentation. Based on the content that we have provided,

what are some questions folks might have that were listed, as well as some things that may not have

been listed, for the good of the order? So with that I will yield the floor.

As I shared before, if it’s easier, if you have a question please indicate by raising your hand. I want to try

to unmute, but I’m afraid of the background noise, but feel free to use this time if you have any

questions about what Tom, Jackie, and Wayne have just shared. This is an opportunity to ask questions.

Does anyone have any questions? Seeing none, we’ll go ahead, I’m going to unmute everyone, and we’ll

just go ahead and go on to the next slide – so thanks again Wayne, Tom, and Jackie.

At this point, just some reminders - in terms of Tools that are available, in February, the program team

will provide a formal template of recommended language to share at the beginning of your

presentation. These will include the formal land acknowledgement, the process for evaluation, and

those related pieces, so be on the lookout for that. In addition, you may have received an email earlier

today about the early registration deadline which is Friday; the final deadline is February 3. As

presenters, you are encouraged to register as soon as you can, and then yesterday each of you should

have received your time and space notifications as those were sent out yesterday afternoon.

At this point we have another q&a time, and this is open to any question you have in regards to

convention, etc, I’m going to unmute everyone again, to sort of see and remember, there’s no bad

question in this process but we want to provide you with a chance to ask any question. We did have a

question earlier about those of you that are doing research papers – Ric Montelongo and Jason Garvey

will be reaching out to all of the research paper presenters about those details. But are there other

questions you may have about ACPA or about presentations, about time and space, etc, that you want

to ask? This is an opportunity to engage with members of the program committee.

Anyone have any questions?

I’ll ask, go ahead and unmute everyone, but I’ll ask Jackie, Tom, and Wayne, maybe for you to share one

final piece of advice for presenters as they think about this topic about inclusive language and Universal

Design. Something that I probably should have mentioned when I first started talking is that no one is

perfect; we’re going to make mistakes, it happens, and acknowledging it and productively moving

forward – wallowing in it is not going to be productive, so I think that’s something to be mindful of.

Also, asking – if you’re not sure, ask. I think that’s definitely great; wanting to make sure we’re doing

the best way we can to work with the groups that are all a part of our spaces, and a part of our

convention. We’re all in this together, and we’re all here to have a transformative experience, and I

think that working in community is essential.

Well, since Wayne just stole my answer, I will say that one thing I think, when we finish doing a

presentation, a session at convention, or any session anywhere, many of us are good at reflecting on

what went well, what didn’t go well in terms of content or in terms of activities; the one thing I would

encourage people to do is to add Universal Design, inclusive language, to your evaluative process at the

end of it, because it is a nonstop process of getting better – so if you’re intentional about thinking after

you do any class or any workshop or any program, how could that have been more universally designed,

then you’re on a really great track to move your programs forward, getting ever closer to that elusive

goal of truly Universal Design.

And we had a question come through in terms of colorblindness, so what recommendations would you

have in terms of for those individuals who don’t see color, which is why in this presentation we included

the shapes as well, but what suggestions would you have? My suggestion is to not rely on color as an

indicator. It is a, for folks who can’t see color, or a full range of color, it’s an easy way for us to

distinguish between things, and it doesn’t mean you can’t use color, but as Ray pointed out, we do have

the purple, we have the color coded bars on the sides, but we also have shapes. And we also actually

have text at the bottom of the slides for screen readers who are not relying on one type of perception,

and that’s a great universal design concept, is using multiple methods of perception to transmit

information. And I’ll just piggyback on that a little bit, about colorblindness. A good teaching is just

keep it high contrast; I know some who really like to use color, as Tom was saying, but, and a lot of

people think black and white is boring, but really I think it’s about information that you need to get

across. Is it information, and the content is dynamic? I think that’s really going to speak louder than any

powerpoint slide would. And then also for accessibility pieces, I am super excited to say that the

Coalition on Disability with ACPA has developed an accessibility guide, and this on the website for the

convention, and I encourage you all to look at that; there’s also a publication that was produced on the

website as well about Universal Design, and I want to say it’s about ten pages but it’s really good meaty

content about how to be inclusive, and I know some people looking over the presentation may not catch

things, so encourage your friends, colleagues, comrades to look over your presentation, ask the hard

questions before you get to convention because I know I am super guilty of editing right there on the

convention floor too, so if you can get ahead of the game and produce your content ahead of time and

review it, then I think it will be better. So procrastinators, rile against your procrastination, because I

know I’ll be trying that too. Thank you Jackie, thank you Tom, thank you Wayne for responding to that;

I’m going to go ahead and start the wrap-up process.

I just want to highlight, this is our second webinar; our third webinar will be coming up this upcoming

January 2017, and that webinar will focus on engagement opportunities. One of the things we heard

after Montreal was a lot of “pair and share”, so we want to talk about other ways to develop

engagemenet opportunities within your presentation – and I know that Tom mentioned this a little bit in

this presentation, but different learning styles as well. We’ll have another webinar on February 7 th, and

then March 7th. All webinars are at 4pm Eastern time blocks. But I also get the sense that there’s a

desire for just a general q&a time with members of the program team, so we’ll be working on getting

something scheduled for right at the start of the year so that if anyone has any questions about anything

related to their program, that they can ask that without going to one of these formal webinar

presentations.

In terms assistance, know that members of the program team are available between now and

convention; we have a hashtag, #acpaprogramhelp; please feel free to reach out to Danielle Morgan

Acosta, our Convention Chair. Myself, I’ve included our respective emails, and then the convention

programs email, conventionprograms@acpa.nche.edu, and one of us will respond accordingly to that.

We also have a list of program team contacts; so I know there was a question about research papers,

feel free to reach out to those listed as coordinators and they can provide additional information for

you; the list is also available on the website. Again, convention will be coming up March 26-29, 201. For

more information, please reach out to the website; we do have a program resource portal for

presenters that will include copies of this presentation, the first webinar, and other resources that are

available. We want to thank you again for spending your time, we know it’s a busy time of the academic

year to wrap up with finals, etc. So thanks again for being a part of our call today, and feel free to look

out for the recording available later this week on the website. Thanks again, and good luck as you get to

finalize your presentations. And thanks again to Tom, Jackie, and Wayne for facilitating today – thanks

again.