Chattanooga State Community College will host the 3rd Annual Signal Centers Accessibility Awareness Summit, Thursday, May 20 at 10:00 a.m. ET. This all-digital event, free to all participants, is held in conjunction with Global Accessibility Awareness Day and presented live via Zoom with both captioning and interpreters provided.

A series of six breakout sessions featuring accessibility experts and leaders in their fields will inspire transformative conversations about the inclusion of individuals with different abilities as well as accessibility innovations and ideas.

The keynote speaker will be San Francisco-based architect, Chris Downey, whose life changed dramatically following the removal of brain tumor that left him blind. Downey courageously found a way to continue his career by using a printer that could emboss architectural drawings so that he could read and understand by touch. His keynote: Architecture for the Blind is based on Universal Design, which was coined by architect Ronald Mace to describe the concept of “designing all products and the built environment be aesthetic and useable to the greatest extent possible.”

Following the Architecture for the Blind keynote at 10:00 a.m., additional sessions include:

Accessibility and Aging Roundtable, 11:00-11:50 a.m.
Geoff Millener, Enterprise Center; Pam Evans, SE Tennessee Area Agency on Aging & Disabilities; Edna Varner, consultant, Public Education Foundation
Accessibility in Practice Roundtable, 11:50 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
Donna McConnico, CEO Signal Centers, Live guests and sponsors
Accessibility Accesses, Challenges and a Path Forward, 12:15 to 12:45 p.m.
Rebecca Ashford, president, Chattanooga State; Bryan Johnson, Hamilton County Schools; Leigha Friener, speech pathologist, LeBonheur Hospital
A Personal Accessibility Story, 1:00 to 1:30 p.m.
Mia Ives-Rublee, director, Disability Justice Initiative at American Progress
The Changing Reality of Disability in America, 1:40 to 2:20 p.m.
Valerie Fletcher, CEO, Institute of Human Centered Design

The free, live summit was made possible by these sponsors: McKee Family Bakery, UNUM, EPB, Council on Developmental Disabilities, Partnership for Family, Children and Adults, TVA, eSight, and BlueCross BlueShield Tennessee.

Register for the event at https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_cWT0kRj2SCyXPyl7VzSGhg