A mom-to-be learned the baby she was carrying had Down syndrome. She asked a significant question to a Down syndrome advocacy group, and they answered her with this beautiful video where 15 people shared their wisdom.
World Down Syndrome Day is March 21.
“Disability is everywhere, once you know how to look for it,” Garland-Thomson said.
“And we’re still learning how to look for it,” added the other keynote speaker, Michael Bérubé, an English professor at Pennsylvania State University who focuses on disability studies, along with other topics.
“How many people think of Harry Potter as a disability narrative?” Bérubé asked. He used the Harry Potter books – more on that later – and other popular stories to show how authors convey ideas about disability through characters and plots, even when readers might not be consciously aware of it.
Although anyone could be or become disabled, this broad and varied category has all too often been left out of discussions of civil rights, said Krentz, who is deaf and teaches American Sign Language and American literature.
How light therapy can treat disorders from depression to Alzheimer’s disease.
Light therapy has become standard for treating seasonal depression like Sherman’s. The idea that light has a benevolent influence on mood during the dark days of winter instinctively makes sense: As hazardous as sunbathing is, it certainly feels good. Now, research into the circadian underpinnings of chronic depression, bipolar disorder, Alzheimer’s disease, and fatigue suggests that light could help these patients readjust too.
This has only been an issue for 2 decades.....
Under a new bill proposed in the U.S. Senate, the amount of money that Supplemental Security Income recipients could save without losing access to their benefits would rise for the first time in over two decades.
Currently, individuals who receive SSI can have no more than $2,000 in cash or liquid assets at any given time without forfeiting their eligibility for benefits.
The legislation, introduced late last week, calls for that asset limit to increase to $10,000.
The bill would also eliminate restrictions that currently disallow friends and family from providing financial, food and housing support to those receiving SSI and the measure would boost the amount of income beneficiaries could earn without losing out on benefits.
When I was a high school junior, I signed up to go to a leadership conference in Washington D.C. I didn’t really know what it was about, except that if you were a student with a disability you got to go on a free trip to DC. I was shocked to arrive and find out that it was a conference for people with disabilities to learn about disability rights. The thing I avoided so long was in my face.
Surprisingly, it was refreshing. It was the first time I felt like I didn’t have to work hard to hide my difference. Like I could just breathe deeper, a full exhale inhale breath. I felt like I wasn’t a freak. I learned the history of disabled people advocating for rights, and I felt like I could be a part of a movement, that by having a disability, I inherited a legacy of struggle, passion, and advocacy. I committed my life to disability rights at that point, and have worked in the movement since.
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We are very active in community projects that includes regional and state-wide initiatives.
Because of the Deep Learning of this past winter.....
If you end up at a different topic, select emergency preparedness from the top menu.
Emergency preparedness and response services are provided by Federal, State and local government and are considered public accommodation. Therefore all services provided before, during and after an emergency should not discriminate and should ensure equal access for individuals with disabilities.
In the wake of each of these disasters, the lack of assistance and the lack of equal access to individuals with disabilities has been glaringly obvious to those of us affected personally by disability and those in the community who have firsthand knowledge of disability. They died because they refused to evacuate to shelters immediately, knowing that many were inaccessible and that at a minimum, they would have no accessible cot to lay their head or a bathroom to use. In short, their needs would not be met. In some cases they were turned away by shelter staff refusing their equipment and/or service animals. Individuals with cognitive and developmental disabilities had no quiet or safe place to rest among the hundreds in mass care shelters. The “special needs” shelters only allow the individual and one family member, thereby separating a family in crisis. Center for Independent Living staff, and other service providers with years of experience (people who know and understand functional needs) were refused access to the shelters in many areas. During emergency preparedness and response, people with disabilities, their families and caregivers have been systematically and consistently discriminated against by State and local government and public accommodations in direct violation of their rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Individuals with disabilities are dying because the laws put into effect to protect them are ignored. This is a crisis that needs immediate attention!
Can I hear you say Hallelujah!!
Federal housing officials are putting $120 million on the table to help thousands of people with disabilities access rental assistance.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said Tuesday that state housing agencies can apply now through May 5 for a share of the funding that’s intended to help prevent homelessness and unnecessary institutionalization of those with disabilities.
The money is available under HUD’s Section 811 Project Rental Assistance Demonstration Program, an initiative created through a 2010 law designed to expand community-based housing options for people with disabilities.