Accessibility Updates

Serving Students With Autism

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On Sept. 14, the office of the provost and student affairs co-sponsored a professional development opportunity promoting accessibility in our campus community. Two consultants from the College Autism Network, Dr. Lee Burdette Williams and Dr. Bradley Cox, facilitated a joint session entitled: Serving Students With Autism — Strategies for Inclusion, Engagement and Success.

Three takeaways from the presentation

  • Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a hard-wired, brain-based difference, not a disease or disorder to be “cured,” but differences to be understood and supported.
  • The common characteristics of ASD are not moral failings.
  • Students with ASD want to learn and succeed, and have overcome tremendous odds to be in college in the first place.

For additional information on the presentation and neurodiversity, review the attached PowerPoint presentation.

Shattering the silences: Words matter: The evolving language of disability

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A Disability Equity Week Event
Shattering the Silences:
Words Matter: The Evolving Language of Disability

Tuesday, October 30
5:00pm-7:00pm
PSU Ballroom East

When is person first language appropriate?
Professor of English and Coordinator of the Disabilities Studies Program, Dr. Shannon Wooden, will elaborate on how even widely acceptable language reflects pervasive, and not always positive, attitudes toward people with disabilities. Noting that stigma that can be reinforced by certain language choices, Dr. Wooden will also discuss how fear of using the wrong words may silence what should be insightful and productive conversations about disability.

Sponsored by Missouri State University Division for Diversity and Inclusion and Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning

Register through MyLearning Connection
For additional information, contact the FCTL at 836-3059 or fctl@missouristate.edu.
To request disability accommodations, please contact the Office for Institutional Equity and Compliance at (417) 836-4252, toll-free at (877)967-8636 or equity@missouristate.edu.

This post was originally published to the diversity blog.