Jump Into Accessibility:
Deep Dive Day 2024

Tuesday, November 19, 8:30am-12:30pm
Woodland Park Zoo (in-person only)

Calling All Accessibility Advocates

Join SCAC at the 2nd annual Deep Dive Day mini-conference to power up your accessibility skills! This active learning opportunity on Tuesday, November 19 from 8:30 am-12:30 pm at the Woodland Park Zoo will cover these important accessibility topics:

  • Calling All Accessibility Advocates: Moving from Compliance to Greater Inclusion

  • Assessing your organization’s accessibility strengths

  • Advocating for accessibility within your organization

  • Overcoming transportation barriers

  • Building relationships with people with disabilities

Each topic will be led by experts in the field, with the goal to provide practical tools that cultural professionals can apply to their accessibility strategies. Coffee and snacks will be provided.

Speakers and facilitators include: Carrie Griffin Basas - Keynote Speaker (CoDesign Works), Tanja Baumann (Henry Art Gallery), Cecelia Black (Disability Rights Washington), Katie Borgia (Think Company), Troy Coalman (Henry Art Gallery), Alexander Jones (Woodland Park Zoo), Jessica Lotz (Friends of Waterfront Seattle), Sean Marihugh (Microsoft), Nico Onoda-McGuire (Friends of Waterfront Seattle), Frankie Wolf (W3C-Accessibility Guidelines Working Group)

Full agenda and speaker bios will be available closer to the event. 

Tickets: Tickets cost $30 and REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED by November 11th. We want all folks interested in making accessibility a priority in your organization to attend. If cost is a barrier to your participation, please reach out to us at seattlecac@gmail.com. Tickets include access to the opening keynote, all sessions, and refreshments.

Accessibility: Captioning and ASL interpreters provided and assisted listening devices will be available for check out. 

For further accessibility information or to request additional accommodations, please contact us by email at seattlecac@gmail.com by November 4th.

Agenda

8:30 - 9:00 am
Keynote: Calling All Accessibility Advocates: Moving from Compliance to Greater Inclusion
Carrie Griffin Basas, Founder, CoDesign Works

9:00 - 9:30 am
Assessing Your Organization’s Accessibility Strengths
Frankie Wolfe, Founder, Accessibility Buddy & Expert, WC3

9:30-9:50 am
Break

9:50-10:20 am
Advocating for Accessibility Within Your Organization
Moderator: Troy Coalman, Director of Development, Henry Art Gallery
Panelists:
Katie Borgia, Committee Member, SCAC & User Experience Designer, Think Company
Tanja Baumann, Committee Member, SCAC & Director of Communications & Public Relationships, Henry Art Gallery
Nico Onoda-McGuire, Senior Manager of Community Impact, Friends of Waterfront Park

10:20-10:30 am
Break

10:30-11:00 am
Overcoming Transportation Barriers
Cecelia Black, Seattle Transit Organizer, Disability Mobility Initiative

11:00-11:30 am
Building Relationships with People with Disabilities
Sean Marihugh, Senior Program Manager, Microsoft

11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Networking

Black and white photo of white woman in her late 40s with light-colored hair, denim jacket, and plaid dress, standing in nature

Speakers

Keynote Speaker: Carrie Griffin Basas, Founder, CoDesign Works

Carrie Griffin Basas (she/her or they/them) is a disability rights attorney and organizational consultant. She is the founder of CoDesign Works. From 2022-2024, she led Disability Law Colorado and Disability Rights Washington. Prior to those executive director roles, she served as Governor’s Inslee’s Director of the Washington State Governor’s Office of the Education Ombuds for seven years. In addition to public service, she has been a law professor, specializing in disability rights, employment law, criminal justice, and ethics. Carrie is also a graduate of Swarthmore College (B.A. with Honors), University of Washington (M.Ed.), and Harvard Law School (J.D. ‘02).

Carrie is a disabled person, mother of a disabled high schooler, and first-generation college graduate. Carrie has served as an advisor to the National Association of Law Students with Disabilities, a Commissioner on the American Bar Association’s Commission on Disability Rights, and a board member for nonprofits and foundations focused on human rights, gender justice, and youth success. As part of her desire to merge research and practice, she published a book of mentoring advice (“Lawyers, Lead On”) from the current generation of lawyers with disabilities to the next generation. She has also published extensively on issues of accessibility, incarceration, health stigma, advocacy fatigue, and racial justice.

Cecelia (she/her) is a white woman in her mid-thirties with long wavy hair pushed to one side wearing a white sleeveless top, sitting in front of a black background.

  • Seattle Transit Organizer, Disability Mobility Initiative

    Cecelia (she/her) is a wheelchair user, quadriplegic, artist and community organizer for Disability Mobility Initiative (DMI) at Disability Rights Washington, where she works with nondrivers and people with disabilities to advocate for transportation justice.  Outside of DMI, Cecelia is a photographer, plays on Seattle Slam’s wheelchair rugby team, is a member of Sound Transit’s Citizens Accessibility Advisory Committee and serves on Be:Seattle’s Board of Directors.  In 2022, Cecelia created “(de)Constructing: Access Tests” an ongoing video-based art project about sidewalk accessibility with past exhibitions at The River, 4Culture, and Soil.

Tanja (she/her) is a white woman with short, blond hair standing in front of a textile art piece

  • Director of Communications & Public Relations, Henry Art Gallery

Sean Marihugh (he/him) is a white male with long curly brown hair and a mustache, and is seated in a power wheelchair.

  • Senior Program Manager, Microsoft

    Sean has worked in the accessibility space for more than a decade, much of that time spent with Microsoft, an industry leader in accessibility. In addition to his “day job” of working with assistive technology companies and finding ways for them to leverage AI, Sean is building his personal brand and a consulting portfolio. Combining tech industry experience with a love of adaptive sports and the need for authentic disability representation at all levels of organizations, Sean’s goals are to make accessibility approachable and tangible for any role and organization.

Frankie (they/them) is a nonbinary tattooed human with short auburn-turning-silver hair wearing a navy blue shirt with a leaf print and a pickle colored vest and lime green earrings shaped like birds.

  • Founder, Accessibility Buddy

    Frankie Wolf (they/them) is the founder of Accessibility Buddy and an invited expert to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). As part of the Accessibility Guidelines Working group, Frankie is one of the authors of the upcoming Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 3.0. They contribute to additional accessibility guidance and educational materials in their work on Cognitive and Learning Disabilities Accessibility Task Force, the Advancing Accessibility Resources Community Group, and the Global Inclusion Community Group.

Katie is a white woman with long brown hair in a ponytail wearing a black and white plaid dress standing in front of a gray background.

  • User Experience Designer, Think Company

    Katie (she/her) is a user experience designer at Think Company, a UX design consultancy. She previously volunteered as a design team lead for HuskyADAPT, a student organization at the University of Washington that promotes building accessible design solutions with community co-designers. She is passionate about creating accessible digital and physical design experiences.

Troy Coalman, a man in black suit with gray hair and goatee smiles at camera

  • Director of Development, Henry Art Gallery

    Troy Coalman (he/him) is the Director of Development for the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington, a position that encompasses his personal and professional passions. His role provides strategic leadership and oversight of the Henry’s philanthropic efforts to fund Washington’s oldest and premier contemporary art museum. 

    Troy’s two-decade plus career in fundraising has spanned all facets of the sector. He has worked with causes ranging from the arts, education, domestic violence, LGBT activism, homelessness, economic development, and community building from Seattle to Florida, Philadelphia to San Francisco. His career also includes extensive experience in public relations (specializing in crisis management), marketing, and advertising.  

    Troy has served the fundraising sector on the Board of Director of AFP Advancement Northwest, and committees with AFP International. He is an active speaker and instructor on fundraising principles and techniques as well as accessibility. He has also published on the subject of accessibility and is an outspoken advocate for the disabled community.

    Current he serves on the ArtsFund Community Accelerator Grant Panel, is an advisor to the Seattle Cultural Accessibility Consortium and an Instructor in the University of Washington Fundraising certificate program.  

    Being gay, legally blind, bi-racial, and over 50, Troy lives life at the intersections of access, diversity, equity, & inclusion where is he passionate about being an advocate for change and a brighter future for all. 

Nico, with long brown hair, wearing a black blaze and white shirt looks at the camera

  • Senior Manager of Community Impact, Friends of Waterfront Park

COVID Safety Plan

Jump Into Accessibility: A Deep Dive Day is a mask-affirmative, non-judgmental space where we aim to work together to accommodate each other's individual and communal needs. Although we encourage participants to consider masking to protect everyone from airborne illnesses, we also acknowledge that everyone's needs are different. While masking can provide benefits, it can also result in barriers to communication and participation.  

We invite our attendees to make the choice that is right for them, while asking for support from others to meet those needs. We also know that comfort levels or needs may shift during the conference. Our team will have a limited supply of KN95 masks at Registration should you need one.

We will continue to follow the latest safety guidelines from the CDC and King County. Any updates to the policy will be posted on this page and registrants will be notified.  For more information, please contact us at seattlecac@gmail.com. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What if I forget to bring a mask or decide I need to wear one?
Our team will have a limited supply of KN95 masks at Registration should you need one.

What other protocols are in place at the venue?
Operable windows in the venue will be open for increased airflow. Speakers will be six feet away from audience members, but will remain unmasked during their presentations.

What happens if I feel unwell or test positive?
If you are feeling unwell, please do not attend the event. If you test positive, do not attend the event. Our team will work with you to find the best solution to your needs and circumstances. 

Will testing be available on-site? 
Due to the half-day timing of the event, we will not be providing COVID tests onsite. We encourage folks that believe they have been exposed to COVID to test immediately. If you test positive for COVID after attending the event, we request that you inform SCAC so that we can reach out to other attendees.

If I register and then no longer feel safe coming in person, what can I do?
Please contact our team if things change and you no longer can or are willing to attend the mini-conference. We have a flexible refund policy in place, and will share takeaways after the event.

What happens if I come to the conference and I decide I'm not comfortable being there in person?
Please see staff at Registration or contact us at seattlecac@gmail.com. A member of our team will get back to you as soon as possible about options. 

I still have questions. Who can I contact?
Please contact seattlecac@gmail.com.

Sponsors

Green box with white zebra stripes over the words Woodland Park Zoo
An outline of Washington state is filled with colorful geometric shapes, white text reads ARTSWA
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The word ArtsFund in black lettering, to the right in orange lettering a sprouting plant and diagonal line create an A.
Seattle Foundation logo: A circle surrounding two hearts intertwined to make a knot, top half in blue and the bottom half in green;