Shelley Kaplan's Bio

Shelley Kaplan is the Director of the DBTAC: Southeast ADA Center, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute of Syracuse University. The Southeast DBTAC, funded in 1991, is one of ten regional information centers on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) of the U.S. Department of Education. Located on the campus of Georgia Tech, Ms. Kaplan is responsible for establishing effective ADA networks across the eight southeastern states served by the project to ensure the availability of accurate ADA information and technical assistance over the long term.
Ms. Kaplan has authored two fully accessible web-based tutorials entitled, “Welcoming Customers with Disabilities to the One Stop Center” and “ADA Basics.” These courses build awareness and knowledge about the benefits of full inclusion of individuals with disabilities into the rich fabric of American life.

Ms. Kaplan is the former Director The SMART Exchange, an innovative Regional Information Exchange project funded by NIDRR that identified exemplary assistive technology (AT) practices in the Southeast. The SMART Exchange provided technical assistance to agencies interested in replicating AT practices identified as successful in service delivery to people with disabilities. Other former positions include: Executive Director of Easter Seal Children’s Center and Director of Speech and Language Programs for the Georgia Easter Seal Society.

Ms. Kaplan has extensive experience in developing effective systems for the delivery of information, technical assistance, and training.  Her experience in operating service delivery programs has resulted in successful programs designed to maximize independence and choice for people with disabilities. Her marketing skills have helped various programs become well known throughout the Southeast Region.  Ms. Kaplan is a frequent speaker at national, regional and state conferences on wide range of topics including the ADA, AT, systems change, innovative information dissemination and technical assistance/training methods, and project management.

Ms. Kaplan has a Master’s of Science degree in Communication Disorders and is a licensed Speech and Language Pathologist. She holds a Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech and Language Pathology from the American Association of Speech-Hearing-Language Association (ASHA).

Course Development 

• ADA Building Blocks, Online course for ADA Leadership, Southeast Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center, October, 2000.
   
• Serving Customers with Disabilities, Online course for the US Department of Labor, January 2002.

Key Presentations 

• Increasing Participation By Customers with Disabilities at One Stop Centers, Southeast Region Center Directors Assn Annual Meeting, Jacksonville, April 12-13, 2002.
   
• Welcoming and Serving Customers with Disabilities, Roundtable Series, U.S. Dept. of Labor, Journey to Excellence Conference, Orlando, January 14-15, 2002
   
• Accessibility Training for One-Stop Staff, Employment Security Com, Columbia, Jan 22-24, 2002
   
• Designing an Effective Technical Assistance Program, CATEA, Atlanta,  Sept, 2001.