DREAM Weekly Email, Disability and Higher Education in the News: April 9-15, 2017
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) ------------------------------- Weekly Email Update on Issues Related to Disability and Higher Education Weeks of April 9-15, 2017 ------------------------------- Disability and higher education in the news (in no particular order): * High school students may unintentionally disclose a disability while applying for college if their transcripts show brief periods at “therapeutic” schools for students with mental or emotional illnesses, and one blogger says this sort of disclosure may deserve more national attention and legal actions: http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/indirect-disclosure-of-psychological-or-emotional-disabilities/education * Deaf and hearing researchers fight to keep Native American Plains Indian Sign Language (“Hand Talk”) alive – it was used for hundreds of years by deaf Natives and to help tribes across North America communicate (videos captioned but not audio described): https://www.voanews.com/a/native-american-hand-talker-fight-to-keep-signed-language-alive/3794333.html * New research says disability simulations do far more harm than good, even though many campuses use simulations to teach about disability (see example this week from Edinboro University http://events.edinboro.edu/EventList.aspx?fromdate=4/12/2017&todate=4/18/2017&display=Week&type=public&eventidn=3324&view=EventDetails&information_id=7827): https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-04/hc-nrs041117.php * 35% of faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have experienced bullying, and faculty with disabilities reported significantly higher rates of “hostile and intimidating behavior”: http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/education/university/survey-incidence-of-bullying-among-uw-madison-faculty-is-surprising/article_307ce9cd-a63f-5b48-9854-38b6f6b616d1.html * Updated guidelines came out about how to write and report about people with disabilities and is expected to influence higher education faculty and students, since the last version’s recommendations were adopted by groups like the Associated Press Stylebook, the APA, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science: http://rtcil.org/products/media/guidelines * Disabled teenager Samuel Habib made a movie about disability rights activist Judy Heumann, and she talks about her college years and how she became an activist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXKgZqrA9Ho * The April 2017 AHEAD-Veteran Newsfeed is out, with a spotlight on Maureen Elias, an autistic veteran and student at Bowie State University: https://www.ahead.org/SIGs/veterans * “Disabled?” No... “Not disabled?” No... Loyola University Chicago lecturer Howard Axelrod explores labels and the language of disability identity: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/12/opinion/seeing-outside-the-disability-box.html?_r=0 * Joseph Chikunie is president of the Association of Indigenous People with Disabilities (AIPD), and although his father didn’t want him to have an education because of his disability, Chikunie went on to get a doctorate and now operates AIPD out of a university: http://www.niyitabiti.net/2017/04/my-father-didnt-want-me-in-school-because-i-was-disabled-chikunie-unilag-lecturer/ * ABLE accounts are just starting to roll out across the U.S., helping people with disabilities save money without jeopardizing other benefits, but a bipartisan group of lawmakers already wants to improve the ABLE Act, with one bill proposing that families be able to roll over ABLE accounts to 529 college savings plans: https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2017/04/10/congress-weighs-expanding-able-act/23557/ * George Washington University is seeing soaring rates of students registered with disabilities, including a 60% increase in the number of students with chronic health conditions, and a 39% increase for students with mental health conditions; now the office is conducting a review to see if they can support the growth without additional resources: https://www.gwhatchet.com/2017/04/09/number-of-students-registered-for-disability-support-hits-all-time-high/ * Regina Root is a professor at William and Mary who was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2014, and now she shares information about faculty with disabilities and how difficult it is to get accommodations: http://blueandgraypress.com/2017/04/12/professor-vocalizes-reality-of-coping-with-disability-as-a-faculty-member/ And a few related items of possible interest to college students: * Jazz Pianist Horace Parlan passed away at age 86; he played with a unique style after a bout with polio left him unable to use two fingers on one hand: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/01/arts/music/horace-parlan-jazz-pianist-dies-at-86.html?_r=0 (You can learn more about him through this BBC documentary, although it has no captions or audio description: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02whftg) * As the nation rages out at United for its treatment of David Dao (http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/13/travel/united-passenger-pulled-off-flight-lawsuit-family-attorney-speak/), people with disabilities are reminding everyone that airlines have treated us badly for decades. Just this week:
* Apparently even dolls experience ableism. Barbie’s wheelchair-using friend Becky has been discontinued because Mattel couldn’t figure out how to make the Dream House accessible: https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-04-09/becky-barbies-wheelchair-bound-friend-was-discontinued-heres-why * The White House budget director says Social Security disability is “very wasteful,” implying that Trump may reverse course on his promise to not cut the program: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/04/07/white-house-budget-directors-claim-that-social-security-disability-is-very-wasteful/?utm_term=.7febf427d115 * Crowd-funding to cover health care costs sounds good, but does it mean only popular people deserve to live? Longreads collected articles and readings exploring that question: https://longreads.com/2017/04/05/how-to-save-a-life-a-reading-list-about-crowdfunding-health-care/ * NOS Magazine featured articles by authors suggesting the Disability Rights Movement must be pro-life (http://nosmag.org/the-disability-rights-movement-should-be-pro-life/) or pro-choice (http://nosmag.org/disability-rights-must-be-pro-choice/) * Take a tour of the only vet clinic in the U.S. where vets and vet technicians all sign (video is captioned for the signing impaired, but no audio description): http://joelbarish.com/video/four-paws-a-signing-veterinary-clinic/ * David Perry writes about saving the environment and clashes with accessibility, noting that many people with disabilities depend on packaged foods, plastic cups and straws that environmentalists would like to eliminate: https://psmag.com/saving-the-oceans-with-my-son-and-adrian-grenier-4df68b13caba * Sometimes you bring an extra suitcase while traveling, and sometimes you bring along a mental illness, but that’s not always a bad thing: http://www.bbc.com/news/disability-39489898 * Michelle Quested is the first nurse with a wheelchair to be providing direct “frontline” care in the UK: http://metro.co.uk/2017/04/08/woman-becomes-first-frontline-nurse-in-a-wheelchair-6562833/ * Movies could show realistic depictions of mental illness and promote awareness, so why aren’t they doing it? https://inews.co.uk/essentials/culture/film/hollywood-mental-illness-treatment-characters/ * A gym instructor called autistic Ketan Aggarwal “stupid,” so he went to the library, taught himself about disability discrimination law, and successfully won his case after representing himself: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/autistic-man-ketan-aggarwal-wins-case-virgn-active-taught-himself-law-instructor-called-him-stupid-a7652856.html * Gerardo Salinas Enriquez has a radio program about disability called “Con Vision” (“With Vision”), now available through Facebook live-streaming (show is in Spanish only, without captions or audio description) – you can see an episode at https://www.facebook.com/gerardo.salinas.92775 * “Bottleneck courses” are huge lectures with hundreds of students and low passing rates that “bottleneck” students’ progress; San Diego State hired the best students in Psychology 101 to provide Supplemental Instruction about studying, using active learning techniques, and it’s working – only 4% of students using the service have to re-take the course, compared with 18% of those who didn’t participate: http://www.kpbs.org/news/2017/apr/12/sdsu-program-helps-freshmen-learn-college-student-/ * #LiveOn is a new anti-suicide movement from the Disability Rights Center – you can see videos and learn more at http://liveon.net/ * After three months, Secretary DeVos has hired nine senior staff members. Some are controversial appointments (hiring Candice Jackson at the Office of Civil Rights after she said women accusing Trump of sexual assault were “fake victims”); others are surprising (Jason Botel is a progressive Democrat and Black Lives Matter supporter); and some are reassuring (James Manning brings extensive experience with higher ed): https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/04/13/department-education-makes-first-official-senior-hires (FYI; James Manning also co-authored a 2006 Dear Colleague letter encouraging campuses to better serve students with disabilities by creating contracts with Vocational Rehabilitation, even though that was not required by law - https://ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/GEN0619.html) * ICU nurse Tilda Shalof collected medicine caps, IV tubes and syringe covers to make a huge colorful mural for the hospital where she works: https://www.thestar.com/life/2017/04/03/nurse-spent-28-years-collecting-medical-waste-to-create-a-massive-medical-art-mural.html * Binge-watching TV or setting an album to repeat for days can be a way to hyperfixate and deal with anxiety and depression: https://themighty.com/2017/03/hyperfixation-obsessions-anxiety-depression/ * Heather Kirn Lanier writes about her pregnancy and quest for a “SuperBaby” and how she dealt with birthing a daughter with a disability: http://velamag.com/superbabies-dont-cry/ * White nationalism and the alt-right thrive on coded language, including “libtard,” which slams liberals and people with disabilities: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-coded-language-of-the-alt-right-is-helping-to-power-its-rise/2017/04/07/5f269a82-1ba4-11e7-bcc2-7d1a0973e7b2_story.html?utm_term=.e4c9133ef70e * Can’t imagine life without the Internet? Then you’ll be surprised to learn that almost one-quarter of disabled people in the U.S. never go online, and compared to nondisabled people, they are 20% less likely to own a computer, smartphone or tablet: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/07/disabled-americans-are-less-likely-to-use-technology/ 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, the National Center for College Students with Disabilities, or AHEAD agree with everything in these links we send out - we're just passing along the information so you can form your own opinions. Thanks. 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