Interest Group Education

AHEAD works because of you, our members. Every day, we receive requests for information on hot topics such as open enrollment, documentation needs for students with psychiatric disabilities, transition issues, job placement, etc. These are not new questions, they are ones arise for all of us in the day to day operations. But there is a way that we can organize and help one another. SIG's, or Special Interest Groups, are AHEAD members organized around an interest or concern. SIG's provide leadership to the AHEAD membership by providing information and referral, organizing professional development opportunities, and networking around a particular topic.

Consider setting up a discussion forum; if you're active in a SIG (or would like to be) request a listserv on a topic of interest or join an existing one. Or perhaps you'd like to learn more, below is a list of the SIGs that have been established over time. Contact the leaders and see how you can get involved. You can review the SIG Policy and Guidelines here. Contact the AHEAD office for more information.

Responds to members' concerns about education, communication and training for persons charged with ADA compliance for their campuses. Contact:

Offers practical strategies on how to empower students and human resource managers to recruit, hire, train, and promote qualified college graduates with disabilities in today's diversified work force. Contacts:

Serves as a forum for dissemination of information and promotion of shared problem solving around the unique issues concerning disabilities and community and junior colleges. Contacts:

Promotes postsecondary education equity for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing. Contacts:

Promotes an awareness of the discipline of disability studies and provides a forum for discussion of current issues and trends in disability studies. AHEAD members who are interested in the field of disability studies are encouraged to attend Disability Studies SIG meetings and join the Society for Disability Studies, Contacts:

Purpose is to help bridge the GAP experienced by many service providers and students with disabilities in graduate and professional programs. Contacts:

Purpose is to collaboratively address the current and salient issues of students with learning disabilities (LD) and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) in the postsecondary setting and the professionals who work with them. Contacts:

The LGBTQA Special Interest Group (SIG) will serve two primary groups of AHEAD members, 1) those who are LGBTQA-identified, and 2) those who would like more information on the LGBTQ community so as to better serve those students on our respective campuses. Contacts:

The Private Colleges SIG offers AHEAD members representing private colleges and universities an opportunity to create a network of DS providers at these types of schools and address the issues and concerns unique to our institutions. This group serves as an advocate for private colleges and informs the AHEAD administration of issues relevant to us. Contacts:

The mission of the Mental Health Disability Special Interest Group is to improve services and the campus climate for students with psychiatric disabilities. This is accomplished by establishing a network for disability service providers, providing a forum to get answers to their questions, sharing useful resources, and developing and promoting the use of best practices to provide equal access to higher education for students with psychiatric disabilities. Contacts:

Aims to increase the awareness of AHEAD members on issues of diversity pertaining to students from historically underrepresented groups. Contacts:

The AHEAD Special Interest Group on Technology provides a means for members to learn about, and get connected with, resources that are critical to the intersection of disability and technology in higher education today.

The purpose of the Technology Special Interest Group (SIG) is twofold:

1. To facilitate collaboration and connections between members who are curious about, or engaged within, work related to accessibility of technology at colleges and universities.
2. To provide a means by which members can identify resources helpful to their professional work

Current Chairs: