Mike Roseberry received his BA in Economics from The University of Texas at Austin and later earned his J.D. at the University of Colorado-Boulder School of Law in 2003. He currently serves at the ADA Coordinator for the CU-Boulder campus as part of the office of Human Resources. 

What does the ADA Coordinator for the CU-Boulder campus do?

I work to make sure that the university complies with most aspects of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). I say the ADA Coordinator is responsible most aspects of ADA compliance, because Disability Services fulfills a particularly important role by ensuring that students with disabilities receive appropriate academic accommodations.

My job includes providing accommodations for faculty and staff with disabilities and providing guidance and consultation to university departments and employees on ADA-related issues. I conduct trainings on leave and accommodation topics for supervisors, collaborate on access-related issues with departments around campus (especially Facilities Management), and help to ensure that members of the university community and general public with disabilities are able to access events on campus. I work with Housing and Dining Services on residential accommodation issues, too. It's a wide-ranging role that allows me to interface with people across the campus community; I find that aspect of it particularly engaging, since days can vary from one to the next and I get to know all kinds of folks.

How did your education and career path lead to work in accessibility policy and infrastructure? 

I've had an interest in civil rights-related topics since law school, and my first full-time position after graduation was as an investigator for the Colorado Civil Rights Division. I investigated employment discrimination claims, though almost exclusively from my desk; it wasn't the most glamorous job. In 2006, I took a position as an Investigator in the CU-Boulder Office of Discrimination and Harassment (now the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance). In 2007, the longtime ADA Coordinator for the university retired, and the role was moved over to Human Resources. 

I initially had a split appointment between my investigator position and the ADA Coordinator role, but the program eventually grew to the point where I assumed ADA compliance responsibilities on a full-time basis. My background was really in the employment discrimination and legal arena, and I had very little experience actually working with people with disabilities coming into the position.  Needless to say, I've gained some experience since. I hope to continue to grow the program into a full-fledged office.

Why is work in accessibility and ADA compliance important? How does your work benefit people with disabilities at CU-Boulder and the university community as a whole?

While the ADA is broad and very technical statute, it is a civil rights law at heart. It was intended to integrate people with disabilities into all aspects of daily life, including employment, government services, public transportation, telecommunications, and physical access. The ADA was not the first civil rights law for people with disabilities; it was preceded by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which was really the first law to view people with disabilities as a class of the public. Previously, disabilities had been viewed in silos, categorized by different disability type and the services they required. The Rehabilitation Act and the ADA recognized that people with different types of disabilities had a shared experience being systematically discriminated against, and provided protection from discrimination for all people with disabilities.   

The ADA as such impacts the campus in a number of ways, from the way the university constructs buildings to hiring practices to academic accommodations for students with disabilities.  I think of the work that I do as implementing the ADA on our campus, and in that sense my work helps ensure faculty and staff with disabilities receive appropriate accommodations.  Likewise, ADA also ensures members of the campus community with disabilities can access events on campus like guest lectures, Conference on World Affairs sessions, and football games.
  

What opportunities does this work present to graduate students preparing for new careers, and how can they hone their skills and contacts now to prepare for a job in accessibility and compliance?

There are opportunities in disability compliance in student services, working in a disability services office, where an M.A./M.S. in rehabilitation or counseling, or something similar, would be valuable. For an ADA Coordinator, I've found having a law degree helpful, and I would imagine a compliance-focused master's degree would likewise be useful. The emerging field in accessibility is technological access; web developers and IT professionals who develop expertise in accessibility will be well-position to add value to organizations in the future, as this becomes an increasingly visible and important topic.

How much of your work is dealing with infrastructure, and how much of it is dealing with people? How do you balance the two, and what skills have you had to develop in order to meet both requirements? 

One of the things that I like about my job is that in some ways, all of my work involves dealing with people, whether I am providing an accommodation for a person with a disability or developing an accessible path of travel during construction with a project manager from Facilities Management. The balance between broad access, infrastructure concerns, and employment-side issues varies, but is probably somewhere close to 50/50 on average, with maybe slight favor toward working with employees.    

How does being a CU-Boulder alumnus help you in your current position, and what career development resources do you recommend to graduate students who wish to go into your line of work?

Being an alumnus gives me insight into the CU-Boulder campus culture, and I remember what it is like to be a student here. As a student here, I utilized the law school's Career Development Office, which is helpful in exposing law students to the variety of career options available to lawyers outside of traditional practice be it working as an attorney for the federal government, working in a policy setting, or in a non-practicing job in something like human resources or compliance. They also have a mentor-mentee program that not only offers great networking opportunities, but also gives students a chance to learn practical aspects of legal work -- an experience that can sometimes be lacking in law school. Career Services offers similar help to students outside of the law school.  

Brittany Otter graduated from Western Washington University with a degree in Political Science, Philosophy and Economics in 2011 and completed her Masters of Science in Student Affairs and Higher Education Colorado State University in May. She now works for Disability Services here at CU-Boulder.

What is your role at Disability Services, and how did you come to choose the career you did?

As a Disability Access Coordinator, my work is three-fold: I address accommodations and advocacy, and raise awareness on the CU-Boulder campus. Disability Access Coordinators work with students to evaluate their documentation and how their disability impacts them academically to determine if an accommodation is reasonable. The goal of a reasonable accommodation is to provide a level playing field for a student to be able to exhibit their knowledge and abilities alongside their nondisabled peers, while at the same time meeting all essential requirements and standards of the course. I also advocate for students on issues they come across while attending CU-Boulder that may prevent them from having an equitable or accessible college experience, whether it is working with campus policies, communication difficulties with faculty, or finding support resources for their situation needs. I want students to leave the university with the skills they need to self-advocate in their post-graduation endeavors. I also work with faculty and staff across campus to provide awareness and skills training on classroom accommodations, Universal Design instructional techniques, and how to create accessible and usable programs and services.

I had intended to attend law school but eventually realized that my passion was working with people on an ongoing basis, and not necessarily with practicing law. I now work with all of my passions--law and ADA compliance and helping students with disabilities throughout their educational careers.

How did your school and career path lead to work in accessibility in the classroom and job placement for people with disabilities?

Growing up, I did not actively dream of working with students with disabilities; I just wanted to be someone who mattered to others. Even as a senior in college, I was unsure where my career would take me (if that sounds like anyone out there, it's ok!). Looking back, it is actually a surprise to me that I now work in an office called "Disability Services" because as a freshman I did not like being pinned down to that term. When I first arrived on campus, I just had major surgery related to my disability and used a wheelchair for the first time. I could no longer hide my disability from others, and I could not pretend it was not real anymore. I met some other students with similar disabilities and thought; well they seem to be doing just fine. Embracing disability opened up doors for me I did not know existed and I soon found a great community of support and tons of professional development experiences that led to my current career. 

As a student at Western Washington University, I created the Students for Disability Awareness club. This club created a community of students with disabilities, provided a positive image of disability, advocated for students, and planned events on campus. Our members described it as "putting disability on the map of diversity." I served as Vice President and Coordinator of the Disability Awareness Week for four years, and in my junior year, created the Disability Outreach Center (DOC). The DOC was a safe space, free of judgment, where students with or without disabilities could come to get resources, talk to someone, attend events, and more. Throughout my undergraduate career, I worked on many projects such as a campus accessibility assessment, trained faculty and staff on campus regarding access and etiquette, and provided workshops and presentations on disability in the media, self-advocacy, and disability and culture. All of these experiences were a springboard that launched me into higher education and disability as a career. I just didn't know it yet.

After graduation, I volunteered with AmeriCorps while I tried to figure out my life. The Disability Resources for Students Director at WWU told me "it was a shame I wasn't graduating with a master's degree or he would hire me." I didn't take it to heart at first, but I later realized that having a Masters was important for moving up in higher education, so I pursued my Masters in Student Affairs and Higher Education. At the time, I thought I would end up working in campus activities or with leadership programs due to my undergraduate experience. Then I interned in the Disability Services office at CU-Boulder for a year and realized that this was where I needed to be. I remembered all of the coordinators and supports through my undergraduate experience that made such a difference for me and realized that this was my calling all along. As a Disability Access Coordinator, I could be someone who mattered to others. I could be someone to support them along their educational path, with all the twists and turns included. In the end, I found my passion and the best of all worlds all wrapped up into one.

What role does living with a disability play in your professional identity?

In my current position, my disability is a source of solidarity with students. I can say to them, "hey, I have been through this process too" or "I get it" and, when appropriate, share a little about my experiences. Sometimes, when students hear my story, they tend to be less nervous to offer information about theirs because they know I have been in a similar situation. While I know I will never have the same experience with disability as they do, it is useful to have firsthand experience to empathize and relate to them.

What do graduate students who plan to teach at the university level need to learn about Universal Design to ensure an accessible learning environment for their classes? What resources are available online?

To borrow a quote from Ron Mace, Universal Design (UD) is "The design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design." Let us take a moment to think of what that could mean. Curb cuts are often a physical accommodation to allow access for wheelchairs, scooters, or other assistive technology devices. However, curb cuts are actually good for everyone, whether you are traveling and carrying a suitcase, skateboarding or rollerblading, or just find it easier to walk from one end of the intersection to the other. Universal Design is not just for people with disabilities-UD is useful for every person in our world. We are talking about access for all.

To take it to the classroom, one of my favorite UD techniques for students with ADHD is "chunking", or putting information into concise, coherent digestible chunks of information. This is useful for students with ADHD because it is easier to keep attention and focus on many small units of a lecture with short breaks, than one long, never-ending speech. I mean, I think we can all remember those boring classes where professors just seemed to talk on end for what seemed like forever in a monotone, unchanging voice that put us to sleep, even if we don't have ADHD. Instead, it is useful for us all as adult learners to have information presented in a way that is easy to understand, short and to the point, and then apply the information directly to a situation. This might seem obvious to some of us, and for some of those stellar instructors out there, you might even call it a "best practice" because it is just what you do anyways. But this is something that is, from the very design of the curriculum created to be accessible and usable for all learners.

There are many resources out there to help introduce UD, but my favorite is from my alma mater, Colorado State. Their ACCESS website provides UD teaching resources in many formats, including video. They also have some great videos for do-it yourself captioning, websites, presentations, and more. They also have Disability Modules that explain some disabilities, what they are, some institutional accommodations a student might need, some assistive technology a student might use, and also some teaching strategies. So if you clicked on Autism Spectrum Disorders and then went to "Teaching Strategies", one of the strategies suggested is to provide notice for class routine or room changes in advance. Remember, this is just a resource on a website, and the most accurate information you will ever get about a student's needs is from asking the student.

I also recommend these websites:

• University of Connecticut's Nine Principles of Universal Design for Instruction 
• The Ohio State University's Partnership Grant 
• The DO-IT Project at the University of Washington
• CATEA Project from the University of Georgia

What is the Workforce Recruitment Program (WRP), and how does it benefit CU-Boulder's graduate students in their career search?

The WRP is a nationwide employment opportunity specifically for students with disabilities. The typical job search process that many students undertake is to log into Career websites at their institution or on private databases like monster.com to search for job openings. If you have done this, you know it can take hours to even find a job you qualify for, not to mention the extra time it can take to type up a cover letter, tweak your resume, and submit all the references and any other materials - and all of this by the deadline. Through WRP, students only submit one online application, resume, and transcript and interview with a WRP recruiter. Then the recruiter provides their information to all of the participating federal employers and contractors, such as Lockheed Martin, Environmental Protection Agency, NCAR, and Department of Justice. Then the employers themselves search for an applicant, call them up, and offer them an interview or even a job on the spot. It is an incredible opportunity! Of course, I would not suggest that graduate students rely on WRP as their only source of job opportunities, but it can be a huge supplement to any job search.

Although I am new to WRP this year, Disability Services and Career Services have been collaborating on WRP for a long time. After students submit their applications and resumes, I offer self-advocacy meetings for any student participating in WRP. Self-advocacy is a huge part of the job process and encompasses everything from being able to identify accommodations you need in a job to knowing your rights and responsibilities as a person with a disability. If I were to state it simply, self-advocacy is getting what you need, how and when you need it. I try to meet students where they are at by asking them to fill out a pre-meeting inventory of their skills. Based on that inventory, we discuss the topics for which they feel they need the most support. The conversation looks different each time because each individual is different, has different needs, fears, and goals. I also provide them with resources so they can find further information when future questions or issues arise.

Why is work in accessibility, disability advocacy and career placement important? How does your work benefit people with disabilities at CU-Boulder and the university community as a whole?

To answer this question completely would take more words that I have. However, in a short answer to this question, accessibility and disability advocacy in education and the job market are important for two main reasons, 1) it supports economic growth and development and 2) it creates a more equitable society.

First, the fact that unemployment and poverty rates of people with disabilities in this country are significantly higher than the population without disabilities is stunning. The workforce participation rate of working age people with disabilities is only 31.6% in 2012, compared to 76.5% working age people without disabilities (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Final Rule Preamble, 2012). Furthermore, the unemployment rates were 15% and 8% respectively in 2012. Poverty rates were 28.8% for people with disabilities age 18-64 and 12.5% for people without disabilities age 18-64 (BLS, 2012). Programs like WRP exist to reduce employment barriers for people with disabilities while providing a more equitable, qualified, and diverse workforce.  In a sense, these regulations about employment actually create jobs, which bolster the economy and provides more earning power for this population.

Second, it places value, both socially and economically, on the lives of people with disabilities. It acknowledges that people with disabilities, just like everyone else, have capabilities, skills, and knowledge that can contribute to our society. While I might have a disability that affects my ability to walk, run, or jump, I also have skills related to planning and coordination, supervision, and customer service. Sometimes my disability means that I achieve some things differently, and in a world where diversity and difference surrounds us, it is only right to provide our new leaders with the tools and resources to be adaptable and welcoming of these differences since the future workforce will be as diverse and different as ever.

What career development resources and advice can you recommend to graduate students who wish to go into your line of work?

The best advice that someone ever gave me was "do anything". There are many ways to get into this field, whether through clinical backgrounds, higher education backgrounds, or having a true passion for helping students with disabilities. I suggest getting involved any way you can by:

• Attending conferences such as Accessing Higher Ground here at CU-Boulder;
• Looking into professional organizations such as the Association of Higher Education and Disability;
• Volunteering for events such as Disability Awareness Weeks;
• Volunteering or interning with Disability Services offices;
• Joining disability awareness organizations or creating one of your own;
• Attending workshops and events available on campus;
• Requesting disability-related training for your department or as a professional development opportunity;
• Subscribing to magazines and journals like the Careers & the Disabled or the Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability (JPED);
• Having a working knowledge of resources out there for people with disabilities in the workforce, such as the Job Accommodation Network or the Office of Disability and Employment Policy;
• Pursuing graduate studies, elective coursework, and/or research in disability studies, higher education, counseling/rehabilitation counseling, psychology, and related fields.