DREAM Weekly Email: March 5-11, 2017

​DREAM Weekly, Disability and Higher Education in the News: March 5-11, 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)
 
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Weekly Update on Issues Related to Disability and Higher Education 
Week of March 5-11, 2017
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Disability and higher education in the news (in no particular order):
 
* This week was National Eating Disorder Awareness Week:

• Read Brittany Webb’s story about taking a leave from college to get treatment, and realizing the first step toward recovery was battling stigma and shame: https://www.bustle.com/p/entering-eating-disorder-treatment-showed-me-the-truth-about-these-6-recovery-myths-41513
• “Love the vessel that holds your soul,” says Martina Maya-Callen, who stripped down to a nude bodysuit for a performance art piece, asking her peers on campus to write positive messages on her body to break the stigma of eating disorders: http://www.teenvogue.com/story/college-student-raises-awareness-for-eating-disorder

 
* Tens of thousands of MOOC videos, online lectures, and podcasts will no longer be available to the public on UC-Berkeley websites, with the university restricting usage (and then captioning upon request) rather than making all content accessible and complying with an order from the U.S. Department of Justice:

• A summary of the case: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/03/06/u-california-berkeley-delete-publicly-available-educational-content
• A response by The Daily Californian student newspaper: http://www.dailycal.org/2017/03/07/erasing-problem-not-equate-fixing/

 
* This fall, six students with intellectual and developmental disabilities will move into a new University of Delaware living learning community focused on disability studies – the other nine students on the hall will be incoming freshmen from a variety of majors: http://udreview.com/18523-2/
 
* A cultural center for disabled students, ASL courses, disability studies, and campus planning for accessibility – all these recommendations are part of a new report from Yale College Council’s Task Force on Disability Resources: http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2017/03/09/ycc-task-force-calls-for-more-disabilities-resources/
 
* Many students don’t know they can take a semester or year of leave to treat mental and emotional illnesses, as explained in the University of Illinois newspaper : http://dailyillini.com/news/2017/03/06/withdrawal-process-allows-students-time-treat-mental-health/
 
* What’s it like being deaf in a college of hearing people?  Here’s a collection of stories by people sharing their experiences (videos are captioned but not audio described): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmuhZYTRGXY
 
* Students with ADHD at Oklahoma University share stories about how medication made a difference for them, and how they fight stigma and myths about ADHD medications: http://www.oudaily.com/news/ou-students-with-adhd-emphasize-life-changing-value-of-prescription/article_17c68824-0069-11e7-b574-7b29d005b069.html
 
* Harry Dydo is a busy man at Syracuse University, as a manager for the basketball team and a student in the campus InclusiveU program for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities: http://www.syracuse.com/orangebasketball/index.ssf/2017/03/meet_harry_dydo_the_syracuse_basketball_manager_with_a_big_heart_and_special_nee.html
 
* One year after de-funding the entire Office for Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville (which included programs for students with disabilities), state legislators voted to create a campus Office of Intellectual Diversity, voicing concerns that conservatives aren’t feeling welcomed on campus: http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2017/03/01/lawmakers-move-start-intellectual-diversity-office-ut/98601840/
 
* How do online instructors design accessible courses for people with disabilities?  Inside Higher Ed followed doctoral student Jessie Male as he explored those issues in his first online course in disability studies: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/03/07/how-one-instructor-pursuing-accessibility-online-education?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=31ca3c8528-DNU20170307&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-31ca3c8528-199704081&mc_cid=31ca3c8528&mc_eid=2d09c28f74
 
* Noting poor services and a lack of interest in disability at Amherst College (as well a quote about “overcoming adversity” on the Accessibility Services website), the on-campus Roosevelt Institute began doing research, finding multiple issues requiring “immediate attention,” with recommendations for providing basic accommodations, as well as broader efforts to improve campus climate: http://amherststudent.amherst.edu/?q=article/2017/03/08/invisibility-disability-amherst
 
* In January, the U.S. Department of Education published a Transition Guide for students and youth with disabilities interested in postsecondary education and employment: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/transition/products/postsecondary-transition-guide-2017.pdf
 
* The country of Samoa has its first full-time faculty member with a disability – Faaolo Utumapu is blind and will teach media and journalism courses: http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/326012/samoa-university-employs-blind-lecturer
 
* Living with diabetes on a college campus can mean challenges with dining halls, stress,  partying, and other situations like trying to figure out where to store insulin (DREAM notes that services and accommodations for diabetics are not mentioned, but are an option): https://mcquad.org/2017/03/07/insulin-and-education-living-with-diabetes-in-college/
 
* A new online Certificate in Sexual Health program is training medical professionals about the relationship between sexual health and disability, and it is so popular that the program accepted a second cohort of students mid-year: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/disability-university-alberta-research-program-sexual-health-1.4013181
 
* NPR profiled Reagan Roush and students with autism at Indiana University in the College Internship Program, which is designed to help them navigate college life (for the same price as tuition at Harvard University): http://wboi.org/post/meet-students-autism-facing-college-head#stream/0
 
* Sunita Sancheti travels across India, working to make tourist sites and universities more accessible to people with physical disabilities: http://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/meet-sunita-a-wheelchair-user-who-defies-disability-to-travel-across-and-inspire-people-272984.html
 
* Project SEARCH has set up a new program providing work opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities on the campus of The University of Southern Mississippi: http://www.studentprintz.com/project-search-emphasizes-ability-not-disability/
 
* Major construction projects are underway at San Antonio College to improve accessibility, including changing out bricks with concrete stamped to look like bricks; like many campuses, though, constant vigilance is necessary to keep access-improving construction from impeding access: http://theranger.org/2017/03/06/concrete-bricks-intended-to-improve-mobility/ 
 
* Rio has daily gunfights in broad daylight, affecting innocent bystanders; Luciana Novaes was shot while going to classes at her university, and is now the first paraplegic councilwoman for Rio, working on ways to reduce the violence: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-38730121
 
* March 12 is Disabled Access Day in the UK, and many campuses are hosting events – here’s one example: http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/education/university_to_open_its_doors_for_disabled_access_day_2017_1_4921419
 
* Marshall University in West Virginia has intensive services and programming for students who are autistic, and now they are replicating the program at nearby Concord University: http://www.bdtonline.com/news/concord-partners-with-w-va-autism-training-center/article_65aa8020-feea-11e6-b5e7-db4e884bfc6d.html
 
 
And a few related items of possible interest to college students:

* Without warning, as college financial aid deadlines loom, the U.S. Department of Education and the IRS suddenly suspended a data-retrieval tool that helps families auto-fill information from tax returns into the national financial aid form known as FAFSA – the government says there were security concerns: http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/citing-security-fears-irs-suspends-key-tool-in-financial-aid-process/  
 
* ABC and ESPN will broadcast portions of the 2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games from Austria, including the opening ceremony on March 18: https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2016/10/25/abc-espn-special-olympics/22934/
 
* The Smithsonian Museum is using virtual reality to make an art exhibit accessible to people who use wheelchairs – the first time any museum has used VR in this way: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2017/03/09/people-in-wheelchairs-could-not-see-one-of-the-u-s-s-most-exciting-art-exhibits-so-the-museum-found-an-innovative-solution/?utm_term=.f5e9e4602a86
 
* #BlackDisabledGirlMagic at Ramp Your Voice! Focuses on Kathy Woods, a Black fashion designer for little people: http://rampyourvoice.com/news/
 
* Trans, disabled, and struggling to find a place to pee – Christian McMahon writes about how his experiences with bathrooms are now unfortunately shared by thousands of others: https://www.buzzfeed.com/christianmcmahon/im-trans-disabled-and-tired-of-fighting-to-get-into-bathroom?utm_term=.scE97RyEy#.dxED5NGjG
 
* The House of Representatives has released its new health care proposal, but nearly 20 percent of people with disabilities could lose insurance coverage: http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a53710/disabled-americans-republicare-health-care/
 
* Wheelchair Man is a comic book superhero created by Mohammad Sayed to share his experiences becoming paralyzed in Afghanistan as a child, being abandoned by his family, getting medical care in the U.S. and eventually becoming a U.S. citizen: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-39044623
 
* Learn more about extraordinary people from history who had mental illnesses, autism, or dyslexia (slide show has no audio descriptions): http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/09/health/learning-disabilities-mental-health-genius-parenting/  
 
* Many of President Trump’s policies seem to be a “disaster” for people with disabilities: https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/poverty/news/2017/03/08/427629/5-ways-president-trumps-agenda-disaster-people-disabilities/
 
* New research is studying addiction and alcoholism among people with autism, suggesting that risk increases for people with high IQs and those who also have ADHD: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/03/autism-and-addiction/518289/
 
 
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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]).

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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.