Disability Futures

The intersex condition happens in one out of 2,000 kids. Surgery is usually done while the children are quite young so parents can help the child identify with the chosen sex.

The Crawfords believe the surgery robs children born “intersex” (formerly known as hermaphrodite) of the ability to naturally identify with a gender when they’re older.

As Newser reports, the Crawfords want children who are born intersex to have a say in their medical fate:

Born with “true hermaphroditism” or both male and female anatomy—including a penis, vagina, testicle, and ovarian tissue—doctors had performed surgery to remove MC’s male anatomy two months before the Crawfords took him home. The surgery wasn’t so unusual.

MSN reports that this case is the first of its kind in the nation. The Southern Poverty Law Center is representing the Crawfords.

Inspired by this injustice, I decided to create a quick tips sheet for women and girls with disabilities to consider when engaging with media makers in an effort to strengthen disability advocacy, shatter stereotypes, dispel myths and become full participants in media opportunities. The tips are best used as an advocacy tool when tailored to meet the specific advocacy goals and objectives of the individuals applying them. This sheet is not meant to serve as an exhaustive account of all media relations considerations but rather as a living document that will grow over time with contributions from shared experiences and further compilations of best practices.

If you wish to share your disability advocacy communications ideas, experiences or suggestions please contact Justice Shorter at JusticeShorter@gmail.com .

The best year of their lives. That's how Lori and Dale Sloothaakdescribe their life together since their wedding day.

"We love each other oodles," Dale said, sitting beside Lori in the apartment they share on Hope Network's East Beltline campus. Their wedding is the first between clients in the agency's brain injury program.

"We get along really well together," Lori said. "It's unbelievable how good."

Life together as husband and wife has been even better than they hoped.

"It's changed my attitude," Lori said. "I was really down in the dumps. Now, I'm happy."

They are still living their "happily ever after," Dale said

Educating members of the public and legal professionals about the benefits of facility dogs

Guiding governmental agencies (prosecutor offices and law enforcement agencies) and nonprofit organizations (child advocacy centers and victim advocacy groups) in program development using a best practices model

Supporting nonprofit service dog organizations that train and place facility dogs

Encouraging and facilitating scientific research on the use of facility dogs

Distributing over 200 introductory DVD's to help agencies decide if a facility dog program is right for them.

Speaking to thousands of people in person at conferences, workshops, and training presentations.

Providing comprehensive consultation on program development via phone and email.

Fostering program development for more than 50 successful facility dog programs.

Please join us in making the criminal justice system more humane.

Retailers will be the first to tell you the jean and denim market is experiencing a steep decline in revenue. The main culprit? Athleisure. Retailers are scrambling, making quick decisions about whether to phase jeans out in favor of a product that contradictorily marries athletic and leisure wear. Some insiders worry an athleisure bubble is forming, that it’s nothing more than a trend. But it is a quick and effective revenue bolster. So what is a retailer to do? Perhaps the answer lies in the disability community.

According to researchers for the Technical Assistance Collaborative and the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities’ Housing Task Force, “This housing affordability crisis deprives hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities of a basic human need: a place of their own to call home.”

Under the Fair Housing Act, Section 504, and the ADA, tenants with disabilities are legally entitled to reasonable accommodations to enable us to live independently. But all too often, those of us who wish to rent one of these properties must either pay for accommodations for our disabilities by ourselves or file a complaint with the federal Office of Civil Rights.

When I was younger, I always hoped that one day I’d read a book about someone just like me.

I did find characters who were pretty similar to me – the brunette teenage girls who loved reading and writing – but there was always one important trait that I could never find in any protagonist of all the books I read when I grew up.

I could never find a book with a main character who had my disability.

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN), the nation’s leading advocacy organization by and for autistic individuals ourselves, applauds the recent announcement by the United States Department of Justice and Department of Health and Human Services regarding their partnership to help child welfare agencies remain in compliance with federal civil rights laws. We urge the Departments in particular to ensure that people who use alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) methods have the opportunity to communicate during the process of child or adult protection services investigations make decisions about their own lives.

Kellie Boyd has always liked helping people. That’s why she studied psychology at Michigan State University and then earned a master’s degree in counseling from MSU. She has worked most of her career with nonprofit organizations focused on counseling and assisting those in need.

As her career developed, Boyd has taken on more administrative leadership positions and currently is executive director of Disability Network Oakland & Macomb.

That’s when she realized that to be more effective she needed to go back to college for a degree—but not one in psychology and counseling. She needed to better understand the business side of nonprofit work.

“I never had a business background, just a background in social work. But I was running the organization and needed more understanding of finance and accounting, as well as strategy,” Boyd said. “After six years in the organization, I knew I wanted to be a better leader. I knew I could learn more.”