Disability Futures

As a clinician, I also know all too well that autism is a disability that can make daily activities difficult. One out of ten autistics cannot speak, nine out of ten have no regular job and four out of five autistic adults are still dependent on their parents. Most face the harsh consequences of living in a world that has not been constructed around their priorities and interests.

But in my experience, autism can also be an advantage. In certain settings, autistic individuals can fare extremely well. One such setting is scientific research. For the past seven years, I have been a close collaborator of an autistic woman, Michelle Dawson. She has shown me that autism, when combined with extreme intelligence and an interest in science, can be an incredible boon to a research lab.

Clinical people struggle with the concept of disability as a identity and a source of personal pride.

This week we can celebrate a major victory against torture of people with disabilities in the United States.   The Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services (DDS) adopted new regulations last week that greatly restrict the intentional use of pain as a form of treatment – including the use of electric shock, seclusion, and restraints on young children and adults with disabilities. As documented by a recent report by Disability Rights International (DRI), Torture Not Treatment, The Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC), based in Canton, Massachusetts, has used these practices, called “aversive treatment” for decades.

Like many other women, women with disabilities in Bandung, Indonesia, have the desire to leave the home and to work - in other words, to live independently. Independent living for women with disabilities is about "greater self-determination" and encompasses everything in their whole lives (Priestley, 2001, p. 10). Self-determined women with disabilities decide upon and strive for what they want to achieve without allowing others to interfere with the goals they have set for themselves.

This paper begins to describe the how women with physical disabilities self-determine and achieve independent living in Indonesia, a developing country. As an Indonesian woman with a mobility disability, I am more knowledgeable about lives of women with physical disabilities there. Two other women, Sari and Tini (pseudonyms), consented to participate in a research project of which this is a part. My work in Münster, Germany, during July through October 2001 has helped me to see that while some of the general problems are the same, the specific nature and solutions differ.

Disability Sanctuary is a dedicated Online community for people with Physical, Mental, Cognitive, Developmental, Emotional & Sensory Disabilities. Find and ask questions, offer advice & information about health, work, benefits & Disability insurance issue's. Benefits include - Chat Forums, Media Threads, Current Affairs, Comps, User Alerts, Newsfeeds, Like Posts System, Recipes & much more.

There are 306,800 people with disabilities covered by Medicaid in Michigan. Michigan spent $11,521 on each Medicaid recipient with a disability in 2007.

17% of all people covered by Medicaid in Michigan have a disability, while the national percentage is 15%.

The state spends only 41% of all the money it spends on Medicaid on services for people with disabilities, however, which is lower than the national percentage of spending on these services (42%).

The National Arc's new website "Medicaid Reference Desk". The link is to the Michigan section.

My Medicaid Matters Rally 2011

All the action from the rally last month.

Researchers from Stanford University examined patterns of brain activation in patients with chronic pain using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during two common cognitive strategies, external focus of attention and reappraisal.

Findings showed each cognitive strategy involved a different brain system with only a small amount of overlap. During external focus of attention, subjects are asked to draw their focus away from the pain. Brain activity was observed mainly in the cortical areas. While during reappraisal, subjects are instructed to change the interpretation of the pain from threatening to non-threatening. Activity was found in deep brain structures, as well as in some cortical regions. Only one area was observed to be active during both strategies.

Welcome to the National Gateway to Self-Determination Web Portal, a clearinghouse on resources, training, and information on Self-Determination. This site provides a single access for self-advocates, professionals, policy-makers and the general public on the current best practices and evidence-based activities in enhancing self-determination in the lives of people with developmental and intellectual disabilities, as well as any individual.

Judith Snow, MA is a social inventor and an advocate for Inclusion – communities that welcome the participation of a wide diversity of people. She is also a visual artist and Founding Director of Laser Eagles, an organization making creative activity available through personal assistance to artists with diverse ability.

Domestic violence victims lose a total of nearly 8 million days of paid work a year, the equivalent of more than 32,000 full-time jobs.* The Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence (CAEPV) and Verizon Wireless have joined forces to increase employer and employee awareness of domestic violence as a workplace issue, and offer tools to respond to it through the CAEPV HopeLine® from Verizon Webinar Series.

The series consists of three webinars which will run through December. Domestic Violence and the Workplace: Three Case Studies in Practice, which was held last Friday, Sept. 23, 2011, examined current practices of employers addressing domestic violence as a workplace issue from three unique perspectives. Over 500 individuals attended this first in the series web conference, which reached capacity within weeks of the series announcement.