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DREAM Weekly Email, Disability and Higher Education in the News: April 3-16, 2016
From DREAM: Disability Rights, Education, Activism, and Mentoring Sponsored by the Association on Higher Education And Disability (AHEAD) and the National Center for College Students with Disabilities ------------------------------- Weekly Email Update on Issues Related to Disability and Higher Education Week of April 3-16, 2016 ------------------------------- Disability and higher education in the news (in no particular order): * The US Department of Education will be forgiving $7.7 billion worth of student debt for permanently disabled students and former students through the Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) program: http://www.universityherald.com/articles/29029/20160414/president-obama-forgive-student-loans-disabled-americans.htm. Details and differences between “total disability” determinations from the VA and Social Security are explained on the program’s website – be sure to check on the tax implications, since the forgiven debt may be considered “income” by the IRS, and taxed accordingly: https://disabilitydischarge.com/Faqs * Vanderbilt University disability activists held an “Accessibility Map-a-Thon” to collect data for a map of accessible places on campus, while raising understanding of disability and promoting campus-wide awareness of the intersectional nature of disability: http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/vanderbilt-activists-try-to-create-a-more-accessible-campus-for-the-disabled-by-mapping-it-from-their-perspective/Content?oid=6576044 * The New Yorker reviewed the new book A Body, Undone: Living on After Great Pain by Wesleyan University professor Christina Crosby; it says her memoir of disability after a bike accident shows “how messy, precarious, and queer…life in a body can be”: http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/a-professors-memoir-of-life-inside-a-ravaged-body * University of Toledo disability studies faculty member Liat Ben-Moshe has won the Western Social Science Association’s New Scholar Award for her work on disability and incarceration: http://utnews.utoledo.edu/index.php/04_13_2016/ut-professor-receives-national-recognition * In an external review of the Georgetown University’s disability services and academic support office, there is criticism of the office being underfunded, understaffed, and located in a place that is inaccessible to wheelchairs: http://www.thehoya.com/arc-weaknesses-revealed/ * An article in Nature explains how scientists and researchers with disabilities around the world face challenges in getting an education and getting jobs, with examples including Henry “Hoby” Wedler, a blind student pursuing a doctorate in organic chemistry at UC-Davis: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v532/n7597/full/nj7597-137a.html * Doctoral student Rachel Kallem Whitman writes about having bipolar and the importance of BAMFs (Bad Ass Mother F***ers) in your life as reminders that you’re not alone: https://medium.com/@RKallemWhitman/life-as-a-bipolar-bamf-2f29a1bc840a#.crpurovdx * Gallaudet University stood by alum Nyle DiMarco as things heated up for him on “Dancing With the Stars” and with his new foundation to support language development in Deaf children – after concerns from the Alexander Graham Bell Association (which promotes speech, cochlear implants, and lip-reading instead of ASL), the Deaf community responded quickly and vigorously:
* Issues with emotional support and comfort animals are heating up across the U.S. as students force administrators to address the issue. Davidson College in North Carolina and Kenyon College in Ohio both announced new policies and procedures for emotional support animals; at Kenyon, this includes establishing “animal-free” housing. At Kansas State University, veterans are mourning the suicide of fellow vet and student Jacob Horton, while protesting the campus policies that prevented him from having a support animal on campus.
* Coming home from a study abroad trip to Costa Rica, Kalamazoo College student Kylah Simmons was detained by US Customs officials because she stuttered in her responses to their questions – she’s now created an explanatory “I Am a Person Who Stutters” card for people to carry with them: http://wmuk.org/post/kalamazoo-college-student-creates-educational-card-help-those-who-stutter * The Mercury News detailed investigations of 19 employees at UC-Berkeley who have violated the sexual misconduct policy since 2011, including Scott Anderson, a disability counselor who sent sexual emails to a student with a psychiatric disability and resigned after the campus announced its intention to dismiss: http://www.buzzfeed.com/maryanngeorgantopoulos/documents-detail-uc-berkeley-employees-violating-schools-sex#.rakjLvax5e * Naomi Carolan is a student at Boston University and she has anxiety – she explains her difficulties in accessing mental health services on campus and notes that “students’ lives are on the line” with long wait times for services: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ibrahim-rashid/mental-health-takes-a-hit_b_9597890.html * NPR had a profile of Caroline Solomon, a professor biology at Gallaudet University who is inspiring Deaf students to pursue scientific careers: http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/05/20/406148448/in-the-classroom-and-on-the-river-modeling-success-in-science * After years of student protests, the University of Edinburgh in Scotland will finally launch a formal review of its disability services: http://www.studentnewspaper.org/university-of-edinburgh-to-hold-review-of-disability-services-after-student-pressure/ * Morris Brown College, an HBCU in Georgia, received a $900,000 grant to fight HIV infections among young Black adults: http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2016/04/morris_brown_college_receives_900_000_to_fight_hiv_in_atlanta.html * For National ASL Day, the Burger King next to Gallaudet University transformed into an ASL restaurant, including a giant signing Burger King who signed with customers: https://www.facebook.com/TheDailyMoth/videos/505900642945174/ * Rebecca Haynes-Bordas was an award-winnning educator and staff member of Purdue University, but she is now suing the university for discrimination, alleging the campus revealed medical information to her co-workers. refused to make any disability accommodations, and fired her only because she became a paraplegic after a complex back surgery: http://www.indystar.com/story/news/2016/04/08/lawsuit-purdue-discriminated-against-disabled-employee/82661446/ * The Tennessee Promise program will provide students with two years of tuition-free attendance at any community or technical college in the state, but State Senator Lee Harris and his research analyst notes that students with disabilities may need more time to finish a degree: http://www.dnj.com/story/opinion/2016/04/13/make-tn-promise-work-students-disabilities/82979842/ * The Office of Disability Services at Rollins College in Florida has set up new policies for students and faculty to negotiate formal plans for issues with attendance, assignments, and tests if students are hospitalized or have other disability-related absences: http://www.thesandspur.org/disability-services-takes-step-forward/ * Disability scholar and disability rights attorney Michael Waterstone is the new dean of Loyola Marymount University Law School: http://mynewsla.com/education/2016/04/13/expert-on-rights-of-disabled-named-new-lmu-law-school-dean/ * Craig Burns, interim director of Boston College’s counseling services, has developed a Resiliency Project to not only increase resiliency in students, but also to help students and faculty resolve issues that don’t necessarily need to be handled by counselors: http://bcheights.com/news/2016/resiliency-project-aims-to-improve-student-mental-health/ * Coe College student Steph Zech is featured in an article about what dyscalculia is and how little we know about it: http://discovermagazine.com/2013/julyaug/20-learning-disability-dyscalculia-explains-how-a-smart-kid-can-be-so-bad-at-math * The University of Leeds in the UK is creating a “hub” for disability law courses and research: http://universitybusiness.co.uk/Article/university-launches-disability-law-hub * After initial support from groups including The Ohio State University and Kent State Univerity, a new non-profit ATSP organization has formed as an Association of Transcribers and Speech-to-Text Providers for deaf and hard-of-hearing people: https://transcribingnetwork.org/about-atsp/ * The University of Oregon will offer a new minor in disability studies starting in the fall of 2017: http://around.uoregon.edu/content/new-disability-studies-minor-be-offered-fall * Two lawsuits regarding college football players are heading to court:
And a few related items of possible interest to college students: * The Northern Ontario First Nation of Attawapiskat has declared a state of emergency after over 100 attempted suicides in the community: http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2016/04/13/attawapiskat-first-nation-declares-state-emergency-after-101-suicide-attempts-164138 * Planning an exhibition, museum exhibit or art show? Check out the “Smithsonian Guidelines for Accessible Exhibition Design” at http://accessible.si.edu/pdf/Smithsonian%20Guidelines%20for%20accessible%20design.pdf * Dr. James Marion Sims is considered the “Father of Modern Gynecology,” but his work was built upon medical experimentation on African American enslaved women (audio file with transcript available): http://www.npr.org/2016/02/16/466942135/remembering-anarcha-lucy-and-betsey-the-mothers-of-modern-gynecology * Google has selected 30 organizations around the world to receive a total of more than $20 million dollars to increase independence for people with disabilities: https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2016/04/13/google-awards-millions-initiative/22171/ * 13 deaf and hard-of-hearing attorneys were admitted to the Supreme Court bar in a special ceremony involving Chief Justice John Roberts: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/supreme-court-swear-large-group-deaf-lawyers-38325598 * The new film “Yes We Fuck” is getting attention at the British Film Institute’s Flare festival for a no-holds look at disability and sexuality – here’s an interview with the director and a preview for the film (clip is graphic, but also captioned – no audio description, though): http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/30563/1/the-film-making-us-face-the-idea-that-disabled-people-have-sex * Being told to pray it away or man up? An article explores why Black men with depression aren’t talking about their experiences or getting help they need: http://mic.com/articles/140601/black-men-and-depression-how-expectations-and-mental-health-care-fail-sufferers#.oZqNwAZBC * There were dozens of arrests last week as ADAPT staged a protest at the White House to call for greater movement of people with disabilities out of institutions and nursing homes: https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2016/04/11/disability-advocates-arrested-2/22159/ * If you’re wondering how to be an ally to someone experiencing microagressions, here’s an essay from Inside Higher Ed with some advice: https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2016/04/13/how-be-ally-someone-experiencing-microaggressions-essay * Nina G, the world’s only stand-up comedian who stutters, shares a story about trying to get accommodations as a kid in Catholic school, and how she empowered herself with a little revenge against a problematic teacher – DREAM in no way endorses this method of self-empowerment, no matter how much we laughed (video captioned without audio description): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aawZedExnzM * Curious about technology for Deaf-Blind people and how they use it? Check out this video from the Helen Keller National Center (interpreted, captioned, and audio described): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L_CNzDtLgU * The BBC is streaming its segment exploring the world of disability “Devotees” who are attracted to disability – is this a form of perversion and exploitation, or just another form of erotic pleasure? (video has no captions or audio description): http://theconversation.com/pleasure-porn-and-power-rethinking-sex-and-disability-57446 * A Canadian tribunal has ruled that in some cases, miscarriage may be a disability: http://www.self.com/trending/2016/04/a-canada-tribunal-ruled-that-miscarriage-can-count-as-a-disability/ This week’s issue of the DREAM weekly e-mail is available at the DREAM website, with archived back issues available, as well (http://www.dreamcollegedisability.org). For more information about DREAM or AHEAD contact Wendy Harbour ([email protected]). To subscribe or unsubscribe, please go to http://ahead-listserve.org/mailman/listinfo/dream_ahead-listserve.org. Wendy Harbour can also handle requests to subscribe or unsubscribe. By the way, please don't presume DREAM, AHEAD, or the National Center for College Students with Disabilities agree with everything in these links we send out - we're just passing along the information so you can form your own opinions. Thanks. Comments are closed.
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