Habitat for Humanity has announced that it will be implementing an aging-in-place program through the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing (JHSON), enabling more communities nationwide to improve the lives of low-income, older adults.
The Community Aging in Place—Advancing Better Living for Elders (CAPABLE) program was co-developed by JHSON endowed professor for health equity and social justice Sarah L. Szanton to support aging-in-place services for low-income older adults. JHSON and Habitat for Humanity will be working together to expand Habitat’s current work improving homes to include collaborating with health professionals to address the home’s usability, safety, and the health of its owner.
Szanton, PhD, ANP, FAAN, tells Newswise.com, “This will help bring even more services to low-income, older adults, who often have reduced access to primary care and little financial means to provide necessary updates that can make their homes safer. It will be of great benefit to Habitat’s vision for housing and stability for individuals and families and another opportunity to expand CAPABLE’s reach.”
JHSON and Habitat for Humanity have selected six cities to measure improvement and analyze results of the implementation. CAPABLE is currently used in 22 cities in 11 states and Australia. The program is a research-based intervention that helps increase strength, mobility, and safety of older adults through home visits from a nurse, occupational therapist, and handyman. Patients in the program set their own functional goals while the CAPABLE program helps to improve their living environment, helping to decrease disability and depression, and improve self-care among participants.
To learn more about Johns Hopkins School of Nursing’s partnership with Habitat for Humanity to bring the CAPABLE program to more older adults in new cities, visit here.
A 2017 report by the McKinsey Global Institute documented that companies with a “true long-term mindset” perform better on financial indicators than peer organizations with a more short-term focus. Companies such as Ford and Verizon have reinvigorated themselves by forestalling short-term worries to concentrate on long-term goals. In light of these lessons from the business world, those of us who care for children find our health care system’s myopic focus on short-term cost savings concerning. Health care systems focussignificant resources on programs for the top 5 percent of health care spenders (who are overwhelmingly adults with chronic conditions), while overlooking the needs of children. This spending pattern may cut costs quickly, but it ignores the fact that building the healthy adults of tomorrow requires investing in children (particularly young children) today. We advocate that Medicaid in all states include a quality metric related to school success—such as school readiness—thereby incentivizing health systems to collaborate with educational partners to promote population-based child well-being.
With regard to child health, the US consistently ranks below other wealthy nations. Since the 1980s, the child mortality rate in the US has exceeded those of 19 developed nations—including Australia, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom—despite higher per capita health spending. Children in the US also suffer from chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes at higher rates than children living in most other highly developed nations.
Advances in neuroscience indicate that early childhood experiences influence both the foundational architecture and long-term functioning of the brain. A child’s experience with the physical, social, and emotional milieu is embedded biologically and influences health, behavior, and learning across the lifespan. Specifically, protective early experiences promote positive coping skills and good health, whereas insecure experiences can lead to maladaptive coping skills and poor health. Decades of research demonstrate that children deprived of a strong developmental foundation are more likely to experience negative health outcomes in adolescence (for example, pregnancy and substance abuse) and in adulthood (for example, obesity, coronary artery disease, and depression). Data concurrently demonstrate our ability to improve these outcomes for vulnerable children and to generate benefits to society that far exceed program costs. Nobel Laureate economist James Heckman documents that improving the experiences and environments of children ages 0–5 years provides a return on investment of up to 13 percent—translating to billions of dollars in net benefit to society.
Marketed as inspiration porn, but many of the films are good in themselves....
The only distributor of films exclusively featuring people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Sproutflix films have been used in agencies, universities and libraries to educate, enlighten and entertain.
After a year and a half hiatus and a lot of worried customers, the adaptive clothing line IZ Adaptive, founded by Canadian designer Izzy Camilleri, will be relaunching in September.
IZ Adaptive, first launched in 2009, built a devoted following among wheelchair users by offering clothing that was both fashionable and designed to be easy to put on and fit right while seated. Though existing customers loved the clothes, the brand had issues with marketing and scaling up its efforts, according to Camilleri.
“In the adaptive world, you end up selling directly to the consumer, so it makes scale very difficult,” says Camilleri. When IZ Adaptive started, she says, “there were absolutely no wholesale opportunities for me. I tried, but for retailers, it was just a category that nobody had ever heard of.”
Instead of wholesaling its clothes to retail chains, the business worked on slowly adding to its customer base, one by one. It built a loyal following, but the business model was costly and difficult to sustain. Camilleri says that when IZ Adaptive shut its doors in 2016, it was never supposed to be permanent, but rather a break to remodel the business for long term sustainability. “We really needed to stop and restructure and take a few steps back … we needed to take it to the next level, and we couldn’t do that in the model we were in,” she says. “Now with the relaunch, I’m able to use everything we learned from before, and so I have a really fantastic starting point.”
And so it begins....
Amazon is acquiring online pharmacy PillPack in a deal that is already shaking up the drugstore industry.
The move is the strongest indication yet of Amazon's intent to push further into the health-care industry. It threatens to remove one of the few distinguishing factors pharmacy chains have relied on to fend off Amazon, the sale of prescription drugs. Retailers like Walgreens Boots Alliance, CVS Health and Rite Aid have seen their so-called front of store sales threatened as shoppers increasingly buy household staples online or from convenience stores.
PillPack, which organizes and delivers packages of medications for consumers, is licensed to ship prescriptions in 49 states, according to its website.
"Yes, it's a declaration of intent from Amazon," Walgreens Boots Alliance CEO Stefano Pessina acknowledged to analysts in a planned call to discuss its quarterly earnings, according to an initial transcript from FactSet. "[But] the pharmacy world is much more complex than the delivery of a certain [pills or] packages."
Keller’s moving, persuasive writing is eloquent and uncompromising and should be taught alongside that of other great American rhetoricians. Consider, for example, the passage below from a letter she wrote in 1916 to Oswald Villard, then Vice-President of the NAACP:
Ashamed in my very soul I behold in my own beloved south-land the tears of those who are oppressed, those who must bring up their sons and daughters in bondage to be servants, because others have their fields and vineyards, and on the side of the oppressor is power. I feel with those suffering, toiling millions, I am thwarted with them. Every attempt to keep them down and crush their spirit is a betrayal of my faith that good is stronger than evil, and light stronger than darkness…. My spirit groans with all the deaf and blind of the world, I feel their chains chafing my limbs. I am disenfranchised with every wage-slave. I am overthrown, hurt, oppressed, beaten to the earth by the strong, ruthless ones who have taken away their inheritance. The wrongs of the poor endure ring fiercely in my soul, and I shall never rest until they are lifted into the light, and given their fair share in the blessings of life that God meant for us all alike.
It is difficult to choose any one passage from the letter because the whole is written with such expressive feeling. This is but one document among many hundreds in the new Helen Keller archive at the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), which has digitized letters, essays, speeches, photographs, and much more from Keller’s long, tireless career as a writer and public speaker. Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the archive includes over 250,000 digital images of her work from the late 19th century to well into the 20th. There are many films of Keller, photos like that of her and her dog Sieglinde at the top, a collection of her correspondence with Mark Twain, and much more.
oday’s episode features a conversation with two disabled actors working in New York City: Shannon Devido and Ryan Haddad. Both are triple threats– actors, writers, and performers. You’ll hear them talk about why they love acting and how they broke into the entertainment industry. We also discuss disability representation in media and why actually disabled actors should play disabled characters.
I heard "end of life as we know it"....
An audiologist has an explanation for why everyone on the internet can’t stop asking: “Yanny” or “Laurel”?
“This all comes down to the brain,” says Dr. Kevin Franck, director of audiology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear. “The fact that brains go in one way and some brains go in the other means that we’re all just wired a bit differently based on our experiences.”
The viral audio clip — which some listeners interpret as a deep male voice saying, “Yanny,” and others hear as a higher-pitched voiced saying, “Laurel” — popped up on Reddit this week and quickly plunged the internet into fierce debate, the likes of which have not been since 2015’s furor over “the Dress.”
Franck explains that the Yanny vs. Laurel debate likely hits on a number of cognitive processes that the brain uses to assign meaning to sound, though he stresses that he doesn’t know exactly how the file was made. (The New York Times reports that the whole thing can be traced back to an 18-year-old in Georgia who got the clip on Vocabulary.com.)
In a world of rapidly advancing technology it’s crucial to ensure companies and organizations are doing their best to make digital developments accessible to everyone.
While browsing the internet, catching up on social media, or texting on mobile devices might seem like second nature to some, accessibility-related barriers prevent millions of people with disabilities from easily using basic forms of technology and, in some cases, even discourage them from going online.
In 2012, Global Accessibility Awareness Day was launched to help highlight the need for increased digital accessibility.
In recent years we've seen some amazing action taken — from the creation of virtual marches, which give those with physical disabilities a place to protest online, to more advanced social media tools, like Facebook's face recognition and automatic alt-text tools, which help blind users and people with low vision better identify posts and people in photographs. But there's still a lot of room for improvement when it comes to disability inclusion.
Approximately 10 percent of the world’s population have a disability, according to the United Nations, which means around 650 million people are faced with daily challenges when using digital devices. Here's everything you need to know about the yearly GAAD celebration.
The Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) is a day dedicated to celebrating existing digital accessibility efforts, and also fostering conversations on the importance of inclusion to inspire further action amongst designers, developers, and tech leaders.
GAAD, celebrated on May 17 this year, is held annually on the third Thursday of May. 2018 will mark the seventh year it's being observed worldwide.
This may come as a surprise, but Global Accessibility Awareness Day was inspired by a single blog post written by Los Angeles-based web developer, Joe Devon, back in 2011.
The post, titled "CHALLENGE: Accessibility know-how needs to go mainstream with developers. NOW," was a bold call to action in which Devon brought attention to the lack of readily available information about online accessibility.
Voices is a free and open journal collecting together voices and opinions of people with a disability and those that support them.
A free and open journal collecting together voices and opinions of people with a disability and those that support them.
Welcome to the first edition of “Voices” a free and open collection of thoughts and opinions from across the world as written by people with a disability and those that support them. The idea of the magazine or journal was to provide a platform where the writings of the authors could be shared and to provide a channel to an audience who might never find the individual blogs and features reproduced. It offers a showcase of the rich diversity of thought and emotion amongst the community to broaden understanding and recognize the breadth of opinions expressed.
The idea behind “Voices” evolved from a series of focus groups and interviews held with people with a disability during the autumn and winter of 2017. The focus groups were undertaken across a series of projects around technology and people with a disability. From those events the need for greater information and the sharing of experience, challenges and responses emerged. “Voices” by drawing together diverse perspectives is one response to this.
In future issues we will be seeking to broaden still further the voices published and shared within the journal, inviting perspectives from people with a disability from across the world.
Camping as a wheelchair user can present many unique challenges, but few that a little planning and common sense can’t overcome. Over many camping trips I have fine-tuned a low-on-luxury approach that allows me, a C7-8 quad, to enjoy the wilderness and find that mental refreshment that only nature can provide. Here are seven tried-and-true techniques and equipment solutions.
Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on one of the few tents designed for accessibility, a simple tarp can keep you out of the elements, provide ample coverage and be set up in a variety of ways to optimize views or privacy. Correctly set up, tarps make it easy to roll in and out and remove concerns about damaging the lip of a tent. There is a learning curve to setup, and it’s critical to know the ground and tree conditions where you are camping and whether a tarp-based setup will work there.
A sizeable cot will be an excellent upgrade to your sleeping setup, making transfers easier and more stable and helping protect your skin. A foam pad will further boost your sleeping comfort and warmth. I also use my extra travel ROHO cushion under my hips to ensure a good night’s rest. If space is no obstacle, a queen-sized cot will bring more comfort and mobility. Lastly, cots are more reliable and quicker to set up than an oversized air mattress.
I can recall no more terrifying a moment in the woods then waking up stuck in a sleeping bag. Tiny zippers and thin nylon just don’t mix well, especially for those with limited dexterity.
A backcountry quilt is made of the same materials as a traditional sleeping bag, but it doesn’t have a zipper and does have a pocket for your feet. I have used a backcountry quilt for well over a thousand miles of backpacking and now use it in the front country as bedding. If I am hot, it is easy to vent. If I’m cold, I tuck the quilt around me. You can get a very high quality custom quilt for less than or the same amount as a high end sleeping bag, due to less material and labor.
Complex rehab power chairs are fantastic when it comes to performance and comfort, from suspension to power seating. However, among their biggest limitations is transportability. Traveling with a power chair can be challenging. However, all is not lost. There is a new generation of very affordable portable power chairs that can serve as secondary travel mobility options for even those who typically use complex rehab power chairs.
WHILL burst into the mobility market several years ago with the Model A, followed by the more funding-compliant Model M. What made the WHILL line unique was its avant-garde look and its use of omni wheels on the front, giving it remarkable maneuverability for a rear-wheel drive, full-size power chair. What held it back was its lack of features found on complex rehab power chairs, and a staggeringly high base price. Fortunately, the WHILL team recognized its successes and shortcomings and dramatically changed its approach. The result is the Model Ci, which hits a market sweet spot.
The Model Ci’s patented front omni wheels give the distinct advantage of eliminating swiveling casters. This allows the use of a larger wheel without interfering with the user’s foot placement. It also allows for extraordinary maneuverability. The Model Ci is about the length of a compact scooter, but due to the omni wheels, it turns in half of the space needed by a travel scooter. This maneuverability is among the biggest benefits of the unit.
From there, WHILL departed from its prior platform and made a slimline design that is sleek and portable. A simple but supportive seat with joystick and controls integrated into the armrests provides meaningful positioning for most users — at least for part time use. As for portability, the frame quickly disassembles into three separate pieces, easily fitting into a taxi’s trunk. Speeds up to 5 mph and a range of 10 miles are powered by a 10Ah lithium-ion battery.
Among the most groundbreaking features of the Model Ci is its Bluetooth connectivity with an iPhone. The app not only displays all of the chair’s data, but also allows driving it via your phone remotely, so you can fetch it from across the room or wherever it may be, within reason.
The Model Ci has a MSRP of a mere $3,999, available through SpinLife.com and other online mobility retailers. That’s a lot of product for the money. So, how do they do it so cost-effectively? The answer is, although it’s marketed to wheelchair users, they make it clear that it’s a “personal electric vehicle” that hasn’t been submitted or tested as an FDA-regulated medical device. With WHILL’s exceptional reputation, this shouldn’t be a deterrent to the buyer, but it certainly has reduced the design and manufacturing costs dramatically. In all, it’s a fantastic portable power chair at a reasonable price.
They say you should go into a job interview with a firm, confident handshake. Paralysis has made my handshake floppy and weak, but it remains confident. I always reach for the handshake, even when the recipient is skeptical and awkward at touching my hands. I deserve the dignity of touch.
So, I drop stuff all the time and I look funny when I eat.
When I wave to children, it looks like I’m waving a fist and they wave back with a fist, too.
Everything that is childproof is impossible to open and therefore quad-proof.
Opening a bag of potato chips requires a combination of mouth/hands/chest tag-team skills.
In the morning, the palms of my hands have a stinky, sweaty smell from being closed all night.
I’ve learned to be accurate at knuckle texting.
The lady who does my manicure always messes up at least once because my fingers will spasm.
Most of the zippers on my jackets and bags have rings so I can loop in with my thumb and open them.
I love speaker phone.
I’m totally predictable when playing Rock, Paper, Scissors.
My hands have personified touch. They are utilitarian. They act sassy. They express tenderness. They exude confidence. They elicit sensuality.
I started listening to podcasts about two years ago when I was looking to alleviate my insomnia; the first show I found was Denzel Washington is the Greatest Actor of All Time Period with W. Kamau Bell and Kevin Avery. Being a Denzealot myself (who isn’t?), I was hooked by these hilarious and insightful dudes breaking down the best of Denzel’s work.
Then I started checking out other podcasts, like Stuff You Should Know, The Black Tapes, and Welcome to Night Vale. They all fascinated me in different ways, but I longed for the disability voice I wasn’t hearing in these shows. I wanted to know where all the crips were, and how I could support their work on the digital airwaves.
Through research and word-of-mouth, I discovered these rich, powerful, illuminating shows produced by crips. That’s why I created this living resource showcasing podcasts by disabled people. Our words hold value, and more folks need to pay attention.
Today’s episode is about paratransit with guests Denise DiNoto and Jess Moye. Our last episode was about public transit and paratransit is specific type taken by some people with disabilities and older adults. Denise and Jessica share their experiences using paratransit services from their local communities and how much labor they expend just to be able to go out and do what they want to do.
Since winning NPR's Tiny Desk Contest in 2016, Gaelynn Lea has been touring nonstop, sharing her violin music and disability advocacy nationwide. Lea, a classically trained violinist, was born with brittle-bones disease. At age ten, an orchestra performed at her school, and she immediately fell in love with the music. The following year, she joined the school's orchestra, where a teacher taught her how to adapt her instrument, playing it in an upright position instead of under the chin; she's been performing with the violin ever since. While she didn't start out playing music to champion a cause, she hopes her performances will raise awareness about both disability pride and some challenges people with disabilities regularly face that are too rarely discussed.
Westword caught up with Lea to talk about her music, looping pedals and disability activism.
It’s easy to complain about public transit, but for so many populations, including low-income people, older adults, and people with disabilities, it’s the only option available.
Today’s episode is about public transit focusing on two systems: MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) and the MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) in New York City.
Maria Sotnikova and Alejandra Ospina are my guests and they share their experiences using different forms of transit from these two systems. They’ll also talk about larger systemic issues about accessibility and infrastructure in these two metropolitan areas.
Apple wants to introduce new emojis to better represent people with disabilities.
A guide dog, a wheelchair user and prosthetic limbs are just some of the symbols it's suggested.
It said very few of the current emoji options "speak to the life experiences of those with disabilities".
"Adding emoji emblematic to users' life experiences helps foster a diverse culture that is inclusive of disability," it added.
Apple's submitted its proposal to the Unicode Consortium, the organisation which reviews requests for new emoji characters.
In its submission Apple said: "Currently, emoji provide a wide range of options, but may not represent the experiences of those with disabilities.
"Diversifying the options available helps fill a significant gap and provides a more inclusive experience for all."
It's made 13 suggestions of emojis to introduce.
Apple said: "This is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all possible depictions of disabilities, but to provide an initial starting point for greater representation for diversity within the emoji universe."
Are you Neurodiverse? You can help improve cognitive accessibility standards by taking this survey...
Visiting a hospital emergency room for medical attention can make anyone feel vulnerable. But for transgender patients, the experience can be even more harrowing. Gaps in staff knowledge about transgender health contribute to patients’ uncertainty about receiving prejudice-free, competent care. That in turn leads to alarming statistics about the well-being of the transgender community.
Today, roughly 0.6 to 0.7 percent of the American population identifies as transgender, and these people have disproportionately high rates of illness and death—in part due to widespread reluctance to seek out emergency treatment and even routine checkups over concerns about the quality of care. (Here's how science is helping us understand gender.)
In a study in the February edition of the Annals of Emergency Medicine, transgender adults who visited the ER overwhelmingly reported that health care providers lacked competency in issues specific to the transgender community. For instance, many providers did not understand the meaning of “transgender,” and they lacked experience with and knowledge in trans-specific treatment, such as the effects of hormone therapy or complications from reassignment surgery.
Today’s episode is damn funny with comedians Maysoon Zayid and Danielle Perez. Maysoon and Danielle share how they got started in comedy, the barriers they face in the entertainment industry, what they find funny, and the role of comedians in resisting oppression.
[Google doc] [PDF]
In view of the death yesterday by an Uber self-driving care, this survey is timely....
Michigan wants to lead the nation in building and designing self-driving cars. Michigan Protection & Advocacy Service, Inc. (MPAS) wants to make sure people with disabilities and others can use self-driving cars just like anyone else. Please take the following survey so MPAS can tell car builders and public agencies what people need to have access to self-driving cars.
This survey is anonymous and confidential.
Thanks and a hat tip to T. Squires.....
Experiencing stigma, the severity of a disability and a person's age and income level help determine whether someone with an impairment considers themselves to be a person with a disability, and experiencing stigma predicts whether those individuals will ultimately develop disability pride, new research from Oregon State University shows.
"Roughly 15 percent of the world's population has some kind of disability but just a fraction of those people actually identify themselves as people with disabilities. Disability identity is a critical step in accepting a disability and helps to reduce the stigma surrounding the label," said Kathleen Bogart, an assistant professor of psychology in the College of Liberal Arts at Oregon State University.
Those who self-identify are also more likely to develop pride in their disability, a shift in thinking that can help build resilience and change public attitudes about the "disabled" label, said Bogart, an expert on ableism, or prejudice about disabilities, whose research focuses on the psychosocial implications of disabilities.
"The challenge with disability as a label is that it's so mired in stigma that people don't want that label," she said. "Can we reduce the stigma and reframe the label as a neutral label that is just useful as a category, like male or female? Or taking it even further, can we shift the label to the point where people have pride in that label?"
Bogart explored issues around disability self-identification and disability pride in two new studies published recently in the journal Rehabilitation Psychology.
Airbnb has made some changes to its platform in order to make it easier for people with disabilities to find accommodations that suit their needs. The 21 new accessibility filters Airbnb has added enable people to find homes and apartments that have step-free entry to rooms, entryways wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair, elevators, roll-in showers with a chair and more.
Airbnb guests were previously able to search for wheelchair accessible listings, but that was it. In order to determine the appropriate filters, Airbnb worked with the California Council of the Blind, California Foundation for Independent Living Centers and the National Council on Independent Living.
Airbnb’s willingness to be inclusive of people with disabilities comes in light of Lyft and Uber facing lawsuits over the lack of options available for people who use wheelchairs. Moving forward, Airbnb says it will work with its hosts and guests to ensure the filters are useful and accurate.
“The introduction of the new accessibility features and filters to all hosts and guests is just the first stage in our journey to improve accessibility at Airbnb,” Airbnb Accessibility Product and Program Manager Srin Madipalli said in a blog post. “We encourage everyone to use them and send through their feedback.”
Navigating city centers, as well as bus and train stations can sometimes be complicated for those in a wheelchair or with other mobility needs. To help those, Google Maps now offers a selectable Wheelchair Accessible route option, hopefully leading to easier trips around town for those who need it.
To access this function, type your desired destination into Google Maps, tap Directions, then select the public transportation icon. Once there, tap Options and under the Routes section, you will find “wheelchair accessible” as a new route type. When you select this option, Google Maps will show you a list of possible routes that take mobility needs into consideration.
According to Google, this feature is rolling out in major metropolitan transit centers around the world, starting with London, New York, Tokyo, Mexico City, Boston, and Sydney. As Google continues to work with transportation agencies around the world, this list will continue to grow.
Anybody have any experience with Via...
Via, the app-based ride-sharing service, is replacing bus services for an entire town in Texas, according to CBS This Morning. It’s the latest evidence of US cities forgoing investments in public transportation in favor of partnerships with privately held technology startups.
Under the deal, residents of Arlington, Texas, who own a smartphone can use Via’s app to summon one of 10 commuter vans that will be operating primarily in the city’s downtown area. Fares will only be $3 a ride, or $10 for a weekly pass, thanks to direct subsidies from the city. Via will replace a fleet of charter buses that had been operating in Arlington for four years.
Asked by CBS if he sees buses and light rail as “passé,” Arlington mayor Jeff Williams said, “Absolutely. I think with the new technology that’s coming on you’re going to see very little light rail built because this is so much cheaper.”
In 2017, Rooted in Rights teamed up with the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) to create a Disability Rights Storytelling Fellowship. The Fellowship is open to all U.S. residents and fellows can work from anywhere. During the six months of the fellowship, the Fellow will create two Storytellers videos and share them with followers on the Rooted in Rights and AAPD social media channels. Additionally, the Fellow will participate in trainings on disability history and contemporary issues, video production, and video chats with media makers. More on the fellowship here.
Media representation matters — as does opportunities for creatives with disabilities. According to the Ruderman Family Foundation, while 20 percent of the population has a disability, less than 2 percent of TV characters do.
If you parent a child with Down syndrome or have a loved one with with an extra chromosome, perhaps you understand why it is so important to see people with Down syndrome and other disabilities in the entertainment business.
The first time I saw someone with Down syndrome on TV was Chris Burke in the show “Life Goes On.” At the time, it seemed he was the only actor with Down syndrome, but over time, we have seen more and more actors with Down syndrome grace our favorite shows or movies.
Here are 25 actors who have Down syndrome.