DREAM Weekly Email: December 6-12, 2020

DREAM Weekly Email, Disability and Higher Education in the News: December 6-12, 2020
 
From DREAM: Disability Rights, Education, Activism, and Mentoring
Sponsored by the National Center for College Students with Disabilities and
the Association on Higher Education And Disability (AHEAD)
This week’s newsletter and archived newsletters are available at www.DREAMCollegeDisability.org
 
 
Top Five News Items This Week (see attached Word document for full newsletter with links):

• Students are raising concerns about the new online Bar Exam, including racial and disability barriers, but the National Conference of Bar Examiners have silenced some by implying that the students’ “unprofessional” complaints may affect their admission to the bar.
• Faculty and graduate student instructors with disabilities at Emerson College say they are struggling with accommodation requests to teach online, and requests are often not granted.
• The first master’s degree program in Mad Studies has started at Queen Margaret University in Scotland.
• A Global Disability Rights Map from the University of Tennessee shows disability policies for countries around the world, including information about education.
• The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has made permanent changes to rules about getting prescriptions (including ADHD medications) without an in-person meeting, affecting college students, staff, and faculty now living miles away from their doctors.

 
 
General News:

• Students have created a new Alliance of Disabilities and Chronic Illnesses in Medicine, a national organization to support medical students with disabilities.
• A national 100K Mentor Challenge has started – it matches traditionally marginalized college students (including those with disabilities) to Fortune 500 mentors.
• The National Law Review breaks down the Harrisburg Area Community College case  where the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled that whether medical marijuana did not have to be allowed as a disability accommodation under Pennsylvania state law.
• Some colleges are replacing Spring break with “wellness days,” but some students are pushing back, and some students may need support in knowing what they need for their mental health.
• The first disability studies minor cohort at the University of Maryland are using their knowledge to fight ableism and work for change in their chosen fields.
• A state investigation in Florida found that Sarasota County School District inappropriately channeled children with disabilities into “Access Point” programs for significantly disabled children; students graduating from these programs have a modified diploma and are not eligible for college or military service.
• A list of disability studies resources join other online information promoting “inclusive excellence” at The American Council of Learned Societies.
• A Cyber-Autism Pilot Program at Mercyhurst University will prepare autistic students for cybersecurity careers; the project is a collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers.
• “Student with ‘Benefits” at Texas Women’s University is a new interactive theater performance created by Talia Grizmacher for her master’s thesis; it explores invisible disabilities, microaggressions, and privilege.
• The “Boots 2 Bushels” program through the University of Maine and Agribility will help farmers, loggers, and fishmen with a disability work in agricultural fields.
• Diabetic service dog Mona is the first to receive a “dog-ree” from the University of West Georgia, when her owner Maggie Leptrone received her degree at graduation.
• Medical education courses at Georgetown should include disability studies, says student Esther Kang in an op-ed for The Hoya.
• For students with ADHD struggling to manage medication or understand its usage, there’s a new online interactive video series and digital course that’s designed to help.
• University of Michigan students talk about the pros and cons of online learning for students with disabilities related to vision and hearing.
• A $500,000 donation from Greensboro College alums will be used for a scholarship and campus improvements, including better wheelchair access to its main building.
• To show its support students with autism, Texas A&M University Commerce is launching a new Atypical Ambassadors program, and recently hosted a lecture by Theirfeld Brown about college students with autism.

 
 
COVID-19 News:

• As winter and darker days and nights arrive during the pandemic, the mental health effects on students, faculty, and staff may reach epidemic proportions.
• Biden has chosen Dr. Rochelle Walensky to lead the CDC - she has sounded alarms about problems with COVID testing in higher education and the lack of guidance for colleges, concerns about high risk students and professors, and eeroding trust in the CDC.
• Arizona is one of only 12 states to specifically identify people with disabilities when determining priority groups for COVID vaccinations, but there is still confusion about shots for people with intellectual disabilities, university students, and university staff and faculty – a problem happening across the country.

 
 
Politics:

• Disability Rights North Carolina chair Bryan Dooley encourages wheelchair-using NC Representative-elect Madison Cawthorn to change his messages about disability, disabled people being able to go to college, and Nazi legacies.
• As President-Elect Biden considers nominees for Cabinet positions, disability advocates have spoken out against potential Secretary of Education nominee Eskelsen García, for past comments about children with disabilities; disability groups have called for greater representation in Biden’s administration, noting that only four of the 500 people in his transition team have disabilities.

 
 
International News

• After his own experience as a grant application with a disability, Australian professor Justin Yerbury helped overall the National Health and Medical Research Council’s process so applicants can discuss disability as an issue that may affect their productivity or career.

·         Walid Al-Zaidi is the first blind professor in Tunisia and was the first blind governmental minister in the Arab World since 1950.

• Concerns about visually impaired University of the West Indies student Jasmine Deen being the victim of a predator after she has been missing for nine months, raising awareness of neglect and abuse among people with disabilities.
• Irish student Niamh Ní Hoireabhaird thought her independence was over when she arrived at Trinity University with a new wheelchair, but now she’s the Student Union’s Officer for Students with Disabilities.

·         Blind and visually impaired law students in India will now be able to take accessibility programs that teach technology and skills for law school.

• Blind Palestinian immigrant Reja-e Busailah, an English professor at Indiana University Kokomo, died on December 6; he was known for his teaching, his work abroad, and his founding of a school for the blind in Kuwait.
• Para Sport Against Stigma is a new partnership between UK and Malawi universities, with a goal of using sports to change attitudes about disability in Ghana, Malawi, and Zambia.
• Former midwifery student Sarah Walker has settled a disability discrimination case against Queen’s University Belfast; as a former midwifery student with CP who experienced difficulty getting accommodations and resuming her studies after a two-week hospitalization.
• In India, a professor with a disability, friends, and family have helped Mohammad Usman accomplish his dream of attending medical school despite discrimination from others over his physical disabilities from polio.

 
 
Student Stories

• “I’m always the only scientist in the room in a wheelchair,” says student Eleanor Beidatsch from the University of New England.
• A list of the “Top 10 Veterinary Professionals Under 30” features:
• Jessica Hirsch, who set up a “Disability Liaison position at Tufts University’s Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine; and
• Tatiana Rogers at Colorado State University, who is working to improve gender equity and the mental health of vet students.
• Deaf student Caroline Yuk became the first University of Alabama Student in more than 40 years to receive the Marshall Scholarship for study in the UK.
• Richmond, Virginia has $137 million reserved for new transit funding, and Virginia Commonwealth graduate student Rebekah Cazares is helping them figure out how those funds can improve travel for people with disabilities.
• Rodrick Brown got his degree from Limestone University after facing many disability-related obstacles along the way and becoming an advocate for students with disabilities; he hopes to use his first job to pay off college debts and get the diploma he worked so hard to earn.
• Battling anorexia since high school, cross-country runner Emma Rogers says she is thankful The College of William and Mary pushed her to get residential treatment that helped her return to health and athletics.
• Turning her own foster care experience into a career helping kids in care, deaf student Maci Kean is a “graduation success story” at Florida International University.

 
 
Faculty and Staff Stories:

• Maintenance mechanic Kevin Phillips was committed to keeping the College of Southern Maryland accessible and encouraging students with disabilities; a new scholarship fund in his honor will help students with tuition, fees, and related disability materials.
• Timothy Koets, former Grand Rapids Community College assistant professor, will be sentenced to a minimum of 19  months in prison for charges related to the death of his autistic son, who drowned in the backyard pool after Koets left to teach classes.
• Boston University’s new Student Conflict Resolution Program will be headed up by Stacey Harris, former associate director of BU’s Disability & Access Services.
• Brigham Young University awarded the Distinguished Faculty Lecturer Award to Ramona Hopkins, who said her neurological research started after trying to find resources for her son’s brain injuries.
• The interim president of Flagler College will be former Jacksonville mayor John Delaney, who has a Master’s degree in the education of deaf and hard-of-hearing students.

 
 
 
 
For more information about DREAM, send an email to DREAM@ahead.org.  This newsletter is available in other formats upon request.  DREAM and the NCCSD are funded through a grant to AHEAD from the US Dept. of Education (P116D150005).
 
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DREAM and the NCCSD acknowledge, with respect, the Waccamaw Siouan Tribe -- the Indigenous people on whose ancestral lands DREAM and the NCCSD are based.  We hope our work honors them.