Join the National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange staff along with Jessica Ramquist, CIEE Alumnus, for "Leadership Solutions: Including Students with Disabilities in Study Abroad." We will be exploring the role of organizational leadership and institutional commitment when including students with disabilities on study abroad, and will provide strategies leaders can use to set policies, remove barriers, and promote inclusive values with overseas partners to ensure that the life-changing benefits of international experiences are equally available to all participants.

Presenters will examine strategies for including students with disabilities in study abroad, and suggest best practices to proactively establish policies and procedures to reduce barriers that can be exclusionary for students with disabilities, such as health insurance policies, funding disability-related accommodations, creating partnership agreements, and developing organizational commitment to inclusion at all levels of study abroad programs.

Participants will learn how to approach more complex disability-related accommodations such as Personal Care Attendants (PCAs), sign language interpreters, and adaptive equipment, understand the role of organizational commitment and leadership in working through complex situations involving students with disabilities going abroad, and identify resources and replicable models to promote inclusive exchange programs.

The audience will be able to examine policies and models currently implemented by institutions or by third party providers to ensure they reduce barriers and enable students with disabilities to participate fully.