Call for Speakers

The National Educational Association of Disabled Students (NEADS) is pleased to announce our 2008 National Conference, “Learning Today, Leading Tomorrow.” It will take place at the Delta Ottawa Hotel and Suites from November 14-16, 2008.

We are seeking speaker proposals to address our four workshop themes :

Job Search Strategies: Competing in the Job Market
Enhancing Opportunities in Science and Technology Related Fields
Solutions to Library/Print Material Access
Key Issues on Campus: Perspectives from Students with Disabilities

This conference will focus on solutions in order to drive change. We are seeking proposals that will, wherever possible, not only identify key issues or challenges, but also bring forward solutions.

We encourage speakers representing a diverse range of opinions and experiences, including:

high school, college and university students with disabilities;
educators at the high school and post-secondary levels;
service providers, librarians and other post-secondary professionals; and
employees with disabilities and employers.

Workshop Format

The format for each workshop -- except for the Job Search Strategies panel -- will be a moderated panel discussion, followed by a question and answer period. After a short health break, the session moderators and the panel will engage the audience in a more open group discussion.

Proposal Instructions

Proposals must be no more than 500 words in length. To be considered, each proposal must contain the following elements:

A presentation title.
A concise summary of your proposed presentation.
A statement of the issue(s) you will be addressing in your proposed presentation.
A summary of the solution(s).
The intended benefits that students with disabilities and the rest of the audience can expect to “take home” from participating in your presentation.

In addition to the proposal, please also include:

A C.V. or résumé, and
A cover sheet to be no longer than 250 words that explains why you believe you are an ideal candidate to present at the 2008 National Conference.

Note: successful candidates will be presenting as part of a 4-5 person panel. Each presentation must be no more than 15 minutes long. Proposals written to utilize the entire workshop time (i.e. in excess of 15 minutes) will NOT be accepted.

Deadline and Submission Instructions

The deadline is June 5, 2008. Please submit your speaker proposal, résumé/CV, and cover sheet online at www.neads.ca/conference2008/speaker

Submit your Expressions of interest Online

Workshop Descriptions

Job Search Strategies: Competing in the Job Market

Making an effective transition from school to work is vital for Canadian post-secondary students and graduates with disabilities. In recognition of this, NEADS developed the Job Search Strategies project. The project provides forums throughout Canada (Fall, 2005 – Spring, 2009) with the purpose of offering practical job search strategies that can help post-secondary students and recent graduates with disabilities pursue their career goals. The forums provide opportunities to bring together employers, job seekers with disabilities and service providers.

A Job Search Strategies workshop will be offered as part of the National Conference. Please consider sharing important job search strategies that can help make a difference for post-secondary students and recent graduates with disabilities. We are seeking proposals from the following perspectives:

Employers or HR professionals who can share insights on the job search process.
Employees with disabilities who can share their experiences with career development.
Service providers who specialize in assisting job seekers.
Post-secondary students or recent graduates with disabilities who have first-hand employment experience (i.e. summer job, internship, volunteer placement, etc.)
Graduate students who have a disability and can share their experiences in pursuing graduate studies and career goals.

The selection committee is looking for topic proposals which will offer job seekers practical techniques that can enhance their job search / career development. Subjects to be addressed may include:

Conducting an effective job search
Preparing for an interview
Disclosing a disability in the workplace
Arranging for workplace accommodations
First-hand employment experiences.

Enhancing Opportunities for Post-Secondary Students and Graduates with Disabilities in Science and Technology Related Fields

Currently, the science and technology sectors of the economy are responsible for the creation of the vast majority of new jobs in Canada. Persons with disabilities are under-represented within science and technology-related programs of study in post-secondary education. Anecdotal evidence indicates that, while a significant fraction of students with disabilities would like to pursue careers in science and technology, a number of barriers combine to prevent them from doing so. Thus, persons with disabilities are under-represented in the basic physical and life sciences and technology fields in the workforce.

While research has been conducted on factors affecting the inclusion of the general student population in science and technology-related programs, very little work has been done to highlight the issues and challenges faced by students and employees with disabilities within this sector. This workshop will attempt to address these issues by developing answers to the following questions:

What reasons are there for the under-representation of students with disabilities in the sciences within post-secondary education?
What are the best ways to encourage and facilitate the entry and inclusion of students with disabilities into science and technology fields?
Are there “best practices” or success stories that teachers have in order to ensure that a student with a disability may successfully complete a science education? What are these “best practices” at the secondary and post-secondary (including graduate) levels?
Are there “best practices” or success stories of employees with disabilities in science and technology-related jobs?
What are the typical experiences of students and employees with disabilities in science and technology-related fields?
What can NEADS do to enhance the opportunities for inclusion and participation of students and employees with disabilities in science and technology-related fields?

We seek perspectives from:

Post-secondary students in science and technology-related fields, who can share their success stories.
Employees with disabilities who can share their experiences with career development in science and technology.
Educators (secondary school level or post-secondary) who can share lessons learned from teaching students with disabilities in science and technology.
Service providers who specialize in providing academic and disability-related accommodations to students/employees in science and technology-related fields.
Graduate students who have a disability and can share their experiences in pursuing graduate studies and career goals.
Employers who have hired persons with disabilities in science and technology-related jobs.

Solutions to Library/Print Material Access for Post-Secondary Students with Disabilities

Access to information is a fundamental right of all Canadians. Since only three percent of the world's literature is converted into multiple formats, post-secondary students with print disabilities are dependent on programs, service providers and librarians to obtain the information and materials they need to meet their course requirements. Program completion at the post-secondary level is the most direct way to ensure employability and integration for people with disabilities into the economic and social mainstream of Canadian society.

This workshop allows us to explore these issues three years after the landmark 2005 NEADS study “Access to Academic Materials for Print Disabled Post-Secondary Students”. Several new initiatives on provincial and national scales have been developed to address the issues of access to library and print materials. Solutions to access problems in receiving academic materials in accessible formats will be offered in several key areas in an interactive session involving students, librarians, service providers and other stakeholders.

The following key questions will be addressed in this workshop:

How are academic materials in alternate formats being delivered to Canada's post-secondary students?
What are the strengths of this delivery system? What are the weaknesses?
What role do different groups play in improving the delivery of these materials: students, librarians, service providers, non-governmental organizations, government and governmental agencies, publishers?
Are there model programs in this area in the post-secondary community?
Does computer technology level the playing field and present opportunities for improved access in the future?
How can NEADS play a role in the future in addressing access to alternate format materials as a fundamental right in post-secondary education?
What roles do university and college libraries play? What role does the public library system play?

We seek perspectives from:

Post-secondary students, who can share their success stories in accessing academic and library materials in alternative format.
Educators (secondary school level or post-secondary) who can share lessons learned from the provision of alternative format materials.
Service providers who specialize in providing academic and disability-related accommodations and alternative format materials to students with disabilities.
Librarians who have succeeded in ensuring the provision of materials in alternative formats.
Graduate students who have a disability and can share their experiences in pursuing graduate studies and career goals.

Key Issues on Campus: Perspectives from Students with Disabilities

While it would be great if NEADS knew how to solve all of today’s on-campus issues, the reality is, with so many students, coming from different backgrounds and situations, with a variety of disabilities, attending colleges and universities of all types and sizes, this is almost impossible. With this in mind, the goal of this workshop is to call upon individuals to present on a current campus issue that has affected either themselves, or students with disabilities broadly, and how the issue can be proactively solved.

We are seeking presentations that do not focus strictly on the nature of a problem. More importantly, we want to know how the problem can be solved in a practical way. We want to know:

What was the problem that you faced?
How did/would you solve the problem?
Who, if anyone, did/would you need to partner with to solve the problem?
What lessons have you learned from this experience?
If you are still working to solve the issue, what, if anything, is standing in the way of it being solved?
Do you think your solution can be applied elsewhere?
If so, what lessons do you think students, faculty, community members and service providers can learn from your experiences?

We are leaving it up to presenters to determine the variety of subjects that will be discussed in this workshop. Issues can be personal or campus-wide; financial, academic, extra- or co-curricular, technological, attitudinal or physical in nature. We encourage students to be creative with their presentations – we are looking for novelty, innovation and difference.