With or Without Accommodations: Using Technical Standards for Equity and Transparency in Clinical and Professional Programs
In clinical and professional programs, students often learn by doing — they may be expected to administer patient care, student teach, or staff legal clinics. In this context, clear, accurate, and inclusive technical standards — statements of non-academic requirements for completion of an educational program — can be critically important for students with disabilities and those who support them. Learn about UIC’s past, current and future work to ensure that all health science and professional programs at UIC have a set of easily accessible technical standards that reflect UIC’s mission of access to excellence.
After attending this session participants will be able to:
Define "technical standards" a refer to examples from other institutions
Review technical standards to flag and remove unnecessarily exclusive language
Create a plan for creation or review of standards at their own college
Sophia has been the Disability Resource Center Director at the University of Illinois at Chicago since December of 2018. She believes strongly that universally accessible education is fundamental to a socially just society, and is honored to be of service to students at UIC. Prior to joining the UIC community, Sophia served as the Disability Access Center Director at Kennedy-King College, where she managed student accommodations, trained faculty on accessibility and Universal Design, and served as advisor for the Access Ability Alliance, KKC’s campus disability pride club.
Fun facts: Sophia is from Tacoma, Washington. She loves gardening, biking, reading, and performance art! She enjoys spending time buddy biking and hanging out in the art studio at Envision Unlimited Westtown and participating in community-driven zoning as a volunteer for Somos Logan Square.
Sophia Hamilton
The Academic Excellence Framework (AEF) clearly prioritizes the skills, activities, initiatives, roles, and goals that directly support consistently strong teaching and learning at City Colleges of Chicago.
