Ohio State will host a conference on disability Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Multiple Perspectives conference will explore the experiences of a wide variety of people with mental and physical disabilities.
The conference will celebrate its 10th anniversary and the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The conference, with the theme “Future History,” will review the progress in accessibility that has been made throughout the years and examine what changes are still needed.
The conference, organized by the ADA coordinator’s office, will include several lectures each day on topics as diverse as accessibility in the virtual world, autism, veterans with disabilities, the Declaration of Independence, genetic discrimination and the problem with Microsoft PowerPoint.
At 2:30 p.m. today, President E. Gordon Gee, State Attorney General Richard Cordray and others will sign a proclamation recognizing the 20th anniversary of the ADA in a public ceremony.
OSU has already committed itself to accessibility and equality, according to the ADA coordinator’s office website.
Accessibility is important to the university because more than 11 percent of postsecondary students have some type of disability, according to the Department of Education’s National Postsecondary Student Aid Study in 2003-2004.
OSU’s compliance with the ADA is a major step toward accessibility. The ADA mandates equal access to employment, services, buildings and technology.
The ADA can’t mandate social equality, but that isn’t an issue, according to the OSU Bias Assessment and Response Team.
Of the 23 bias-related incidents reported to team in the 2008 academic year, none were related to disabilities.
