​DREAM Weekly Email: March 20-26, 2016

DREAM Weekly Email, Disability and Higher Education in the News: March 20-26, 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
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Weekly Email Update on Issues Related to Disability and Higher Education 
Week of March 20-26, 2016
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​Disability and higher education in the news (in no particular order):
 
* In many ways, the work of Ed Roberts as a student at UC Berkeley in the early 1960s laid the groundwork for all existing college disability services offices – now you can watch a 1989 video of him talking about college and other aspects of his life on a “60 Minutes” (video has captions but no audio description): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxidR5SZXxA
 
* When disability services offices provide testing accommodations, is that a service for the faculty or a service for students? That’s the question at the University of Iowa, where backlash continues over the disability services office asking faculty to provide accommodations on tests as the office eliminates all testing services in the wake of budget cuts: http://daily-iowan.com/2016/03/24/ui-axes-special-testing-for-students-with-disabilities/
 
* Between her film and multimedia courses, University of Virginia student Michelle Miles wrote to administrators to complain about access barriers she was seeing on campus, and they responded by appointing her to the University’s Committee on Persons with Disabilities: https://news.virginia.edu/content/student-spotlight-michelle-miles-brings-amazing-eye-uva-accessibility
 
* Student activism is on the rise across the country, but there are significant mental and academic costs for students, and stigma for those who seek help (note: this March 16 article is only available by subscription to The Chronicle of Higher Education, but most campus libraries have free ways to access it): http://chronicle.com/article/The-MentalAcademic-Costs/235711
 
* Gallaudet University professor Teresa Blankmeyer Burke ponders how Deaf and disabled academics on the tenure track are affected by time and a tenure clock that doesn’t consider access and accommodations: https://possibilitiesandfingersnaps.wordpress.com/2016/03/20/time-speedviewing-and-deaf-academics/
 
* The American Association of University Professors has issued a report called “The History, Uses and Abuses of Title IX” to discuss threats to academic freedom and free speech; among other things, it “slams” trigger warnings and protests the firing of Teresa Buchanan at Louisiana State University for language that violated sexual harassment policies and the Americans with Disabilities Act: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/03/24/aaup-critiques-education-department-crackdown-sexual-assault-and-harassment?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=d63245c26a-WNU20160325&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-d63245c26a-198891893
 
* CNN profiled artist Amanda Lipp, and her experiences with psychosis and bipolar that came to head during her freshman year at Chico State University in California – the article discusses her family’s fight against stigma and the search for affordable compassionate care: http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/21/health/bipolar-healthcare-parity/index.html
 
* The African Union has launched a new scholarship program for African college students with disabilities to study at the Master’s level, to address significant educational and employment disparities: http://www.herald.co.zw/plight-of-the-african-disabled-youth/
 
* Alice Wong, staff research associate at UC San Francisco, has been honored with one of two Paul G. Hearne Leadership Awards from the American Association of People with Disabilities – you can check out her Disability Visibility Project at http://disabilityvisibilityproject.com/ and read more about her award at http://universityofcalifornia.edu/news/alice-wong-wins-national-disabilities-organization-award
 
* ABLE Accounts haven’t even started yet, and already a bipartisan group in Congress is working to expand the program, including allowing families to rollover money from a 529 college savings plan into an ABLE account for a child with a disability: https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2016/03/22/congress-tweaks-able-accounts/22074/
 
* With midterms and finals approaching, many college students are turning to peers to buy prescription drugs for ADHD, so it is worth noting that it won’t help with academics, it’s a felony to buy them, and at some places like Indiana University, it can lead to expulsion: http://www.idsnews.com/article/2016/03/stimulant-misuse-increases-as-midterms-and-finals-loom
 
* Brandon Purcell and his parents are suing Tulane University in Louisiana over a failure to accommodate Brandon’s learning disability, as well as disability-related harassment and abuse from his football coach and other players: http://louisianarecord.com/stories/510702574-tulane-player-alleges-discrimination-because-of-learning-disability
 
* The student group Disability Inclusion and Awareness will be presenting a formal report to Oklahoma University administration on current issues facing campus students with disabilities, noting “the largest issue facing students with disabilities is faculty ignorance”: http://www.oudaily.com/news/jabar-shumate-to-meet-with-ou-student-disability-group-to/article_545f1c1e-f21a-11e5-907b-077d00d6d704.html
 
* As a veteran, Great Falls College-Montana State University student Lucas Volkomener says that both a campus Veterans Center and a Disabilities Services office has helped accommodate his traumatic brain injury and other scars from war, noting a lot of veterans have disabilities but “sometimes it takes a veteran to recognize those disabilities” (video has captions but no audio description): http://www.krtv.com/story/31551808/great-falls-college-msu-spotlight-student-lucas-volkomener
 
* Republican lawmakers in Tennessee have withdrawn a bill to eliminate all funding for the University of Tennessee Knoxville’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion, which was perceived as anti-Christian (it’s not noted in the article, but the Office also oversees disability services and the ADA Coordinator): http://diverseeducation.com/article/82821/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elqTrackId=a475faa0ee964217b570993119b0558a&elq=f8af86328cbb4baba7c324a16447969d&elqaid=88&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=771
 
* Bud Buckhout at Syracuse University runs InclusiveU for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and says that higher education inclusion is having positive academic and social effects on campus that extend beyond the program: http://dailyorange.com/2016/03/inclusiveu-director-helps-rethink-syracuse-university-academics
 
* University of Pennsylvania professor Heather Love gave an in-depth interview about her work in Queer studies and disability studies (which she defines in the interview): http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/current/2016-03-24/interviews/qa-heather-love
 
* NPR’s Missouri station interviewed students and staff from the Autism Mentor Program at Missouri University, talking about how it started and why it seems to be helping autistic students socially, academically, and emotionally (audio clips and transcripts are available): http://kbia.org/post/intersection-autism-mentor-program-mu
 
* Indiana State University is creating a disability services advisory board with faculty and student representatives – it will work on cross-campus issues for students with disabilities (we offer a heads up to people using screen readers – there are many formatting typos in the article): http://www.isustudentmedia.com/indiana_statesman/news/administration/article_bb20b91a-f28f-11e5-a5fa-efc240eb8682.html
 
* At the University of Pennsylvania, a group of faculty is going through intensive “I CARE” training from counselors to help students with mental health crises; professors will disseminate information to their colleges on campus and serve as “Wellness Ambassadors” during the upcoming year: http://www.thedp.com/article/2016/03/faculty-wellness-ambassador-program
 
* Syracuse University’s Daily Orange newspaper covered some of the current efforts to improve accessibility, and ways to continue moving the campus forward, including disability as part of the Chancellor’s Academic Strategic Plan: http://dailyorange.com/2016/03/syracuse-university-continues-work-on-accessibility-but-some-say-more-needs-to-be-done/
 
* What happens when you move a disability services office?  In Ohio, Youngstown State University administrators and students have differing perspectives on the process and whether it was worth it, according to two articles in the student newspaper: http://www.thejambar.com/moving-disability-services/ and http://www.thejambar.com/editorial-disconnect-disability-services/
 
* Harvard University’s undergraduate Student Life Committee is focusing on campus accessibility in a broad sense, including better awareness of disability issues and more gender-neutral bathrooms: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/3/22/uc-student-life-accessibility/
 
* Ohio University student James Howard is under arrest and has withdrawn from classes after assaulting a university staff member and possessing a gun; he was banned from owning a weapon due to previous involuntary commitment to a mental health facility: http://www.wfmj.com/story/31547941/canfield-man-jailed-for-alleged-ohio-university-assault
 
* Last week, Alert Day events were held on many campuses; sponsored by the American Diabetes Association for everyone, many college students took the opportunity to educate themselves and others about the challenges in being a diabetic college student: http://www.collegian.psu.edu/news/campus/article_20f82da6-efaa-11e5-a405-037c3993b17f.html
 
* A local newspaper in Southern Maryland discussed how college students with disabilities use disability services and profiles several students at local campuses: http://www.somdnews.com/breaking/helping-students-with-disabilities-succeed/article_3b055ba4-f894-599e-909d-a18bda0e8375.html
 
 
And a few related items of possible interest to college students:
 
* A new report from the Ruderman Foundation says that “police have become the default responders to mental health calls,” noting that half of people killed by police have a disability: https://news.virginia.edu/content/student-spotlight-michelle-miles-brings-amazing-eye-uva-accessibility
 
* Autistic activist Lei Wiley-Mydske offers helpful tongue-in-cheek suggestions about how to be a “self advocate” disability organizations will respect, with tips like “Be inspirational as eff!” and “Stop pointing out barriers to access!”: http://autistictimestwo.blogspot.com/
 
* Rapper Phife Dawg, founder of “A Tribe Called Quest,” died this past week at age 45 from diabetes; he described himself as a “funky diabetic” in the single “Oh My God”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phife_Dawg
 
* For job-hunting college grads with disabilities, South Dakota might be looking pretty good, after a new report by the Institute on Disability gave it top ranking in a state-by-state analysis of employment trends for people with disabilities (in case you were wondering, West Virginia got the worse score): https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2016/03/25/best-worst-disability-employment/22087/
 
* “Dancing with the Stars” is featuring “America’s Next Top Model” winner Nyle DiMarco, who is Deaf and uses American Sign Language – he is currently tied with two others for first place: http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/22/entertainment/dancing-with-the-stars-season-22-premiere-feat/index.html
 
* Several items related to access and technology this week:

• At the Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference in San Diego next week, more and more people are wanting to know about accessibility for the Internet, and are setting up everything from “empathy labs” to demonstrate access features, to presentations about using artificial intelligence for better access (ironically the video is not captioned or audio described, and one commenter noted the pictures don’t have alt tags so screen readers can “read” them): http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/03/23/facebook-accessibility-people-with-disabilities/82026554/

 
* Internet, books, apps, films…it’s all great, but much of it remains off-limits to people who are blind and visually impaired.  How can you help?  Well, Catherine Kudlick at San Francisco State University answers that question in a blog from the Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability: https://longmoreinstitute.wordpress.com/2016/03/03/access-is-in-the-air/
 
* Apps may be the next target for disability lawsuits, as they are becoming more popular and accessibility is not keeping pace: http://techcrunch.com/2016/03/20/will-apps-become-the-next-disability-lawsuit-target/
 
* Students at the University of Minnesota have designed a specialized backpack for children with autism, with “hugging chest” straps and pockets for weights or sensory tools – while marketed toward children, DREAM suspects some adults may also appreciate them: http://www.today.com/health/nesel-pack-backpack-designed-bring-comfort-children-autism-t82426
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 (wendy@ahead.org).
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.