8:00 am - 9:00 am Check In with Breakfast 

9:00 am - 9:30 am Welcome and Icebreaker

9:30 am - 10:45 am Keynote: Resisting Trans Hate with Radical Care

Presenter: Galen Smith(they/them)
This year, over 500 pieces of anti-trans legislation have been introduced in state legislatures while Minnesota has become a refuge for trans people seeking health care and other protections. How can you best support your trans and non-binary students, learners and colleagues right now? Building relationships of radical care that honor interdependence, respect boundaries, allow for vulnerability, are aligned with integrity and nourish creativity is one way we can ensure full participation in higher education for ALL people with disabilities. Through storytelling and conversation we will learn how we can resist this wave of trans hate by practicing radical care.

11 am 12:00 pm Session 1: Keynote Discussion

Facilitator: Galen Smith(they/them)

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm Lunch

1:00 pm - 2:15 pm Session 2: Disability History 101: Helpful History for Disability Professionals

Presenters: Matt Axelson(he/they) & Diane Elizabeth Rusk Lee(she/her)

Join Matt Axelson & Diane Lee as they take you on an abbreviated journey of the history of disability in the United States. It's critical to know and reflect on our roots to be able to envision our future! Highlights will include discussion of key figures in Disability History; institutionalization; the relationship between veterans and the development of disability programs; the 504 sit-in and other Disability Justice protests; intersectionality; the ADA/2008 amendments; Disability Pride movements; current content creators; and some even some recent legislation 

2:30 pm - 3:30 pm Session 3: ADA Title I: Employment Protection for Persons with Disabilities and How the ADAAA improved the ADA Presenters: David Larson (he/him)

MN AHEAD describes itself as providing “support and education to professionals working with secondary and post-secondary students with disabilities.”  Most of those students eventually will be employed and may already be employed.  As part of our educational mission, we can advise students regarding the types of disability-related issues they may encounter in the workplace and the protections that are available.  After the ADA was enacted, the United States Supreme Court interpreted the legislation very restrictively.  Congress responded by passing the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA).  Although this new legislation recaptured the original intent and purpose of the ADA, it did raise new questions.  This session will explain how the ADAAA clarified and expanded the protections provided by Title I.  We will address questions that include what “regarded as having an impairment” means and what employers must do when it comes to reasonable accommodations.  Because most of you are employees yourselves, much of the discussion may not only be helpful to the students you serve, but also to you.