DREAM Weekly E-Mail: May 26-June 1, 2019

​DREAM Weekly Email, Disability and Higher Education in the News: May 26-June 1, 2019
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)
 
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Just a reminder: the DREAM Weekly Email just has highlights from the news – to access the full version:

• Read the attached Word document (with active links)
• Visit our visual and graphic-based version of the news at http://www.nccsdonline.org/news.html
• Read the news online with searchable archives at https://www.dreamcollegedisability.org/this-weeks-news-in-disability-and-higher-education

 
Having trouble accessing an article?  Check with your campus library or reach out to us ([email protected]).
 
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Disability and higher education in the news (in no particular order):
 
* Attorneys general of 51 states and territories urged Secretary of Education DeVos to automatically erase the student loan debt of disabled veterans, instead of burdening them with paperwork that can be “insurmountable:” https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/24/attorneys-general-devos-cancel-debt-disabled-veterans-1472656
 
* You may have seen videos of billionaire Robert F. Smith paying off student loan debts for everyone in the 2019 Morehouse College graduating class, but one student with sickle cell anemia was particularly grateful for the boost, and he plans to make higher ed more accessible for other students with disabilities: https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/heidi-stevens/ct-life-stevens-friday-morehouse-alum-student-debt-sickle-cell-0524-story.html
 
* A new research study reports that students with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) generally have better health management skills than their peers without IBD, but they also have greater difficulty adjusting to college: https://www.healio.com/gastroenterology/inflammatory-bowel-disease/news/online/%7B892b1cad-7f89-4fa2-aad7-2f5f9946deba%7D/students-with-ibd-have-trouble-adjusting-to-college
 
* The short video “My Dad Matthew” is available on YouTube; Elijah talks a little bit about his dad Matthew, a disability advocate, researcher, and instructor at Northern Arizona University (video is captioned but not audio described): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsVzlyD7ArM
 
* Finding a therapist as a college student can mean thinking about whether to find one near home or campus, dealing with insurance, understanding degrees and qualifications, and knowing what to ask – so Psychology Today offers some helpful tips: https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/campus-crunch/201905/finding-therapist-your-college-student
 
* Blind Vanderbilt student James Boehm started a non-profit called “You Cane Give,” which refurbishes used canes for blind people and distributes them around the world (video is captioned but not audio described): https://news.vanderbilt.edu/2019/05/29/recent-peabody-graduate-transforming-lives-of-the-sight-impaired/
 
* NPR interviewed Dr. Anthony Rostain, who’s book The Stressed Years of Their Lives discusses the “inordinate amount” of anxiety among college students, with much of it just from efforts at “surviving college and doing well” (there is a transcript available): https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/05/28/727509438/college-students-and-their-parents-face-a-campus-mental-health-epidemic
 
* Her Down syndrome made it difficult to take the ACT and SAT to qualify for scholarships, but Faith Duncan still received four different scholarships to attend Valencia Community College, with hopes of transferring to Florida State University and completing a bachelor’s degree in American Sign Language: http://www.aroundosceola.com/news/amazing-faith-st-cloud-girl-with-down-syndrome-excels-heads/article_36955e6a-8186-11e9-ba6a-d7d24f1be289.html
 
* Britney Bresman set up “DeafMed” social media accounts to teach others about deaf and hard-of-hearing nurses like her, and to help make their paths through med school a little easier: https://nurse.org/articles/being-a-deaf-hearing-loss-nurse/
 
* The caption said “When you realize that when you get to work tomorrow no students will be there,” with a picture of cheering baseball players celebrating, but the seemingly funny tweet led to a long #SAchat twitter discussion about student affairs staff, mental health and wellness, self-care with 80-hour work weeks, and if student affairs staff are practicing the social justice they’re preaching: https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/student-affairs-and-technology/satirical-tweet-causes-epic-sachat-reaction
 
* The U.S. Army (@USArmy) asked “How has serving impacted you?” on Twitter, and veterans took over the thread to share harrowing stories about PTSD and mental health among veterans, including stories about how it affected their college careers (just a heads up - some tweets are very graphic or raw): https://twitter.com/USArmy/status/1131704927963766785
 
* Inside Higher Ed’s “Disability in Grad School” series is wrapping up after many years, and here’s what the author wants you to remember from their work: https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/gradhacker/wrapping-disability-grad-school-series
 
* Indigenous woman Collette Bourgonje has been inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame; she was the first female student in a wheelchair to graduate from any physical education program at any Canadian university, and was the first Canadian woman to compete in the Summer and Winter Paralympic games: https://thestarphoenix.com/sports/local-sports/sask-paralympian-colette-bourgonje-among-canadas-sports-hall-of-fame-2019-inductees
 
* Wealthy students get more disability accommodations, but does that mean they’re getting unfair accommodations?  Or does it mean low-income students aren’t getting what they need? https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2019/05/28/new-scrutiny-patterns-which-wealthier-students-are-more-likely-get
 
* UC Berkeley professor C. S. Giscombe writes about having a prosthetic arm, how it affects his poetry, and his black, middle-class upbringing that called his arm an “inconvenience”: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/23/opinion/the-amputee-cyclists-art-of-self-repair.html
 
* Often far from home, college students in Iowa struggle with shortages of mental health resources and psychiatrists, especially in rural areas: https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/health/mental-health-care-iowa-college-university-students-20190525
 
* The Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) has released the latest versions of its professional standards and self-assessment guides, which include standards for disability resource and services offices: https://www.cas.edu/store_home.asp
 
* Wonik Son graduated from Harvard this year, and has a passion for researching images of injured, ill, and disabled people in photographs, building a historical narrative and bringing his own experience with disability into his work: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/05/harvard-grad-pictures-history-through-a-personal-lens/
 
* Autistic students are now 12% of all registered students with disabilities at El Camino College: https://eccunion.com/news/2019/05/29/students-with-autism-spectrum-disorder-make-up-12-of-disabled-student-population-at-el-camino-college/
 
* The Hechinger Report looks at students over age 25, who are often recruited but left to figure everything out on their own – on top of kids, jobs, bills, and sometimes a disability: https://hechingerreport.org/universities-that-are-recruiting-older-students-often-leave-them-floundering/
 
* The National Deaf Center’s Adult Education Task Force released information about tutoring deaf students (http://www.nationaldeafcenter.org/tutoring), and a report on undergraduate enrollment of deaf students in the U.S. (http://www.nationaldeafcenter.org/enrollmentdata)
 
* It’s been standard practice for campuses to allow students to file sexual assault complaints without revealing their name, but now universities are fighting back, asking courts to dismiss cases unless students use their actual names, regardless of how it affects survivors’ mental health: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/29/us/college-sexual-assault-anonymous.html
 
* Faculty member JoDell Heroux is working to create a disability studies certificate at Central Michigan University, starting with a course on disability history: https://www.themorningsun.com/news/cmu-course-challenges-historical-stereotypes-about-disabilities/article_1cfcab7e-7f2a-11e9-aed9-0784fb8919d1.html
 
* Rahul Desikan was a clinician and researcher studying ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) at the University of California at San Francisco, but now he studies it from the perspective of someone who has the disease in a “new, condensed life:” https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/i-want-out-of-this-body-i-cant-move-talk-or-breathe-on-my-own-but-im-still-in-there-thinking-remembering-my-old-life/2019/04/26/75836ff0-57b9-11e9-9136-f8e636f1f6df_story.html?utm_term=.73b2b1b8b166
 
* Students with learning disabilities, autism, and ADHD have an increasing number of options for employment after college (podcast does not have a transcript): https://www.vpr.org/post/job-options-increasing-college-graduates-autism-learning-disabilities#stream/0
 
* Anita Silvers, professor of philosophy at San Francisco State University, died at age 78, after a distinguished career as a disability scholar and activist who argued that disability rights should be viewed in the same way as other civil rights: https://philosophynow.org/issues/132/News_June_July_2019
 
* After acquiring a disability and becoming a wheelchair user while working on her M.D./Ph.D. at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Jill Konowich has graduated, and she says her disability changed her approach toward her patients: https://news.rutgers.edu/debilitating-illness-doesnt-stop-rutgers-new-jersey-medical-school-graduate/20190527#.XPBErohKh3g
 
* Northern Illinois University worked with the company providing university printers to modify every printer at 20 locations to be wheelchair accessible: https://www.niutoday.info/2019/05/27/niu-improves-printer-access/
 
* University of Chicago student Livia Miller uses the campus newspaper to call for more counseling services, noting that “without mental health resources, there is no life of the mind:” https://www.chicagomaroon.com/article/2019/5/25/without-mental-health-resources-life-mind/
 
* Claudia Rodriguez immigrated from Mexico and dealt with numerous challenges, including domestic abuse, being a teenage mom, and difficulty getting treatment for her ADHD, but she has graduated with a degree in cosmetology and is about to be licensed as an ordained minister: https://www.dglobe.com/news/education/4618087-overcoming-adversity-learning-disability-lifes-obstacles-fuel-rodriguez
 
* University of Michigan researchers who developed the Healthy Minds Network have announced the creation of “Sage,” a new mental health online platform designed for college students: https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/healthy-minds-creators-unveil-mhealth-resource-for-college-students
 
* Egyptian activists are raising questions about the rights of people with disabilities, including access to all levels of education, and how the reality isn’t matching the promise of new laws: https://www.worldcrunch.com/culture-society/egypt39s-disabled-demand-new-laws-changed-attitudes
 
* Two new degrees will be offered this fall that may be of interest to people in disability fields:

• The University College London created a new Master’s degree program in “Disability, Design, and Innovation,” focusing on disability, design, and technology: http://www.eurekamagazine.co.uk/design-engineering-features/technology/worlds-first-msc-in-global-disability-innovation-has-been-launched/215760/
• This fall SUNY at Cobleskill will offer a bachelor’s degree in “canine training and management,” amid a surge of demand for service dogs: https://www.mcall.com/news/pennsylvania/mc-nws-ny-dog-degree-20190528-vk3xk4lcmrf3raeyg6x3wjjlmm-story.html

 
* Natasha Abrahart is one of 11 students who have died from suicide at Bristol University in the UK; her parents explain why they are suing the university, and why they believe her death could have been prevented: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/practically-perfect-daughter-neednt-have-died/
 
* California State University, San Bernardino welcomed speaker Eli Clare to speak about disability pride and shame, as part of its annual Ability Awareness Fair, which literally had students lining up out the door: https://coyotechronicle.net/ability-awareness-fair-2/
 
* Oxford University hosted a week of programming exploring the “intersection of sex, gender, disability, sexuality, and race” in STEM fields: https://cherwell.org/2019/05/29/university-hosts-week-of-events-highlighting-diversity-in-stem/
 
 
 
A Few Other Items of Possible Interest:
 
* Did Leonardo Da Vinci have ADHD? A researcher at King’s College lays out the evidence: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190523202604.htm
 
* “I’m not an activist, I just give a f***” says Aaron Philip, the first black, trans, disabled model signed to a major modeling agency: https://www.cnn.com/style/article/aaron-philip-dazed-beauty/index.html
 
* It’s time to use “person-centered language” instead of “person-first language” when discussing disability, says Alex Kapitan: https://radicalcopyeditor.com/2017/07/03/person-centered-language/
 
* Essence looks at Black celebrities who have spoken out about their own experiences with mental illness and how they’re making a difference (videos are not captioned or audio described): https://www.essence.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/black-celebs-help-erase-mental-health-stigmas-encourage-therapy/#108414
 
* Under a new federal rule, health providers (including personal care attendants and sign language interpreters in medical settings) are allowed to refuse services and care that go against their beliefs, including refusing to treat transgender people or not providing information about birth control; 20 states have already filed suit in opposition to the rule: https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2019/05/28/disability-advocates-conscience-rule-trouble/26687/
 
* Dr. Jess is trying to fight the stigma of all things related to mental health, with a focus on reaching the Black community, using Instagram to spread her message and winning a stamp of approval from none other than Beyoncé herself (video is captioned but not audio described): https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Wellness/doctor-social-media-raise-mental-health-awareness-beyonce/story?id=63209726
 
* People who live with “invisible disabilities” face others’ judgment about them supposedly not looking disabled enough, but still facing disability discrimination: https://www.npr.org/2015/03/08/391517412/people-with-invisible-disabilities-fight-for-understanding
 
* Autistic activist Lei Wiley-Mydske has started working to create “neurodiversity libraries,” and she has a few suggestions if you want to start your own collection (the article has a link to her PowerPoint presentation on the topic, as well): https://targetingautismlibs.com/2019/05/22/lei-wiley-mydske-shares-the-true-meaning-of-autism-acceptance-and-the-importance-of-neurodiversity-libraries/
 
* Nashville is building tiny houses for disabled residents with low incomes: https://www.newschannel5.com/news/affordable-tiny-homes-built-specifically-for-disabled-residents
 
* Two historians talk about how the Third Reich used U.S. eugenic laws and science to create extermination programs for people with disabilities during the Holocaust (the podcast includes a transcript): https://digpodcast.org/2019/05/19/nazi-eugenics/
 
* A permanent monument in New York City will honor Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, two transgender activists who worked on LGBTQ, homelessness, and HIV/AIDS issues: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/29/arts/transgender-monument-stonewall.html
 
* Angela Young is the first Ms. Wheelchair South Carolina since 2012 – she applied as an independent candidate because the state has no annual competition: https://www.postandcourier.com/features/after-a-seven-year-absence-sc-gets-a-ms-wheelchair/article_9962624c-7be4-11e9-9cb0-335c93b16c6f.html
 
* In the second season of David Letterman’s Netflix series, Kanye West talks about his bipolar diagnosis, medication, and stigma about mental health: https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/28/entertainment/kanye-west-bipolar-letterman-interview/index.html
 
* Bustle explains 20 facts about ADHD “no one ever told you:” https://www.bustle.com/p/20-facts-about-adhd-no-one-ever-tells-you-17907406
 
* When chronic illnesses cause dental problems, inequities with dental insurance and difficulties finding good dentists can create a perfect storm of problems: https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/chronic-illness-causes-dental-issues-180220645.html
 
* DC Universe’s “Doom Patrol” has a particularly “nuanced” representation of disability, including internalized ableism: https://www.polygon.com/2019/5/23/18636134/doom-patrol-disability-representation-dc-universe
 
* The U.S. Supreme Court allowed a low court ruling to stand and will wait for additional rulings from lower courts before taking on the issue of abortion, which means that for now Indiana can’t ban abortions on the basis of sex, race, or disability: https://abc11.com/court-allows-indiana-to-require-burial-of-fetal-remains-but-not-ban-some-abortions/5320526/
 
* Club 1111 in Baltimore is a nightclub for adults with disabilities, and hundreds are gathering at the place where they “feel free” (videos are not captioned or audio described): https://www.baltimoresun.com/health/bs-md-club-for-people-with-disabilties-20190523-story.html
 
* Rev. Denise Karuth, a disability activist who helped make the Boston’s MBTA transportation more accessible, passed away at age 64: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2019/05/23/legally-blind-and-wheelchair-rev-denise-karuth-tirelessly-advocated-for-disabled/NYa9KlkWqvq3U1OaXJUpIK/story.html
 
* National wheelchair basketball player Jimmy Jeffreys has published an “Adventures with Ted” comic book to raise awareness about the birth defect that caused him to be born without legs (news clip is not captioned or audio described): https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/paterson-press/2019/05/23/jimmy-jeffreys-paterson-nj-wheelchair-hoopster-comic-book-author/1205321001/
 
 
 
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By the way, please don't presume DREAM, the National Center for College Students with Disabilities (NCCSD), AHEAD, or the U.S. Department of Education agree with or support everything in these links we send out - we're just passing along the information so you can form your own opinions.  Thanks.
 
DREAM and the NCCSD are funded by a grant to AHEAD from the U.S. Department of Education (P116D150005).