DREAM Weekly: October 29-November 11, 2017

* DOUBLE ISSUE THIS WEEEK COVERING TWO WEEKS! *
 
Disability and higher education in the news (in no particular order):
 
* The youngest senator in Australia’s history also happens to be a 23-year old Macquarie University student and disability activist with cerebral palsy: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-07/jordon-steele-john-takes-scott-ludlams-senate-seat/9121840
 
* In a case attracting national attention, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is hearing arguments in the case of MIT graduate student Han Duy Nguyen, and whether the university can be held liable for his suicide and should have acted if they knew about his problems with mental health: http://www.wbur.org/edify/2017/11/07/mit-suicide-college-liability-case
 
* NPR’s All Things Considered has a new series called ”Been There,” about people whose lives are changing in major ways, and two episodes will deal with college students who have disabilities – eating disorders the week of 11/13 and autism the week of 11/27: http://www.witf.org/on-air/2017/11/been-there.php
 
* Yale’s increasing its visibility of disability, with the Disability Empowerment for Yale (DEFY) student group and American Sign Language (ASL) courses starting up for the first time: https://yaleherald.com/signs-of-change-3f77d616370b
 
* Doing international research in another spoken language can be challenging, but Deaf Syracuse University professor Michael Schwartz shares his equally challenging experiences doing research when the signed languages are different: https://www.tangatagroup.org/blog/2017/8/10/the-challenges-in-interviewing-in-a-foreign-language
 
* Only 7 of New Jersey’s 18 community colleges have any kind of health center offering physical and mental health resources, which has a big impact on students in crisis: http://www.mcccvoice.org/mental_health_crisis/ 
 
* The Office of Civil Rights found Simmons College in Boston in violation of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the student newspaper is outraged about the violation and the lack of communication about the case: https://simmonsvoice.com/2017/11/08/editorial-simmons-in-violation-of-rehabilitation-act-of-1973/
 
* Marion Steff from McGill University in Canada worked through Academics Without Borders to improve disability resources at the State Islamic University in Indonesia, the country’s only campus with disability services: http://www.awb-usf.org/awb-projects/indonesia-creating-educational-opportunities-for-students-with-disabilities/
 
* An in-depth article looks at eating disorders among students at the University of Wisconsin, where the rates of anorexia are twice the national average: https://badgerherald.com/features/2017/11/07/body-hate-and-eating-disorders-paired-with-pressures-of-campus-plague-the-minds-of-uw-students/
 
* New York state created a new Paid Family Leave law giving all employees in NY access to paid medical leave, but it doesn’t apply to private educators; faculty and staff at Ithaca College (a private college) are asking the campus to follow the law, anyway: https://theithacan.org/news/ic-administration-considering-changing-family-leave-benefits-for-faculty/
 
* Regents rejected a proposal for a bachelor’s degree in disability studies at Arizona State University, and one student (and mom of a person with a disability) believes they should reconsider their decision: http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/arizona-board-of-regents-rejects-disability-studies-major-9847001
 
* The first ever Miss Washington contestant with a disability, Madeline Irwin from Washington State University, competed with a disability platform and wore blue in her events to reference blue disability parking placards: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5058463/Miss-Washington-contestant-uses-disability-platform.html
 
* The Best Buddies service organization at the University of Miami in Florida is working to establish a minor in disability studies, hoping to get students on campus thinking about disability as more than just a service learning opportunity: https://www.themiamihurricane.com/2017/11/09/disability-studies-minor-would-bring-um-closer-to-its-goal-of-inclusivity/
 
* Low expectations and poor special education services are keeping college-bound students with disabilities from getting the education they need: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/special-needs-students_us_5a05f9bae4b0e37d2f3759f0
 
* Veterans going to college can receive counseling at any of the 300 federally-funded Vet Centers across the U.S., but many vets don’t know the Centers even exist: http://triblive.com/local/regional/12925222-74/vets-struggling-to-adjust-to-civilian-life-often-dont-know-where-to
 
* Dia De Los Muertos (the Day of the Dead) at San Antonio College was dedicated to people who lost their lives to HIV/AIDS: http://theranger.org/2017/11/09/altar-honors-people-who-have-died-of-hivaids/
 
* Most students with disabilities don’t get a college degree, and The Hechinger Report blames high schools for not teaching the “soft skills” (like time management and self-advocacy) that students need to succeed: http://hechingerreport.org/vast-majority-students-disabilities-dont-get-college-degree/
 
* “Activists” plastered Lexi Baskin’s car with fliers, shaming her for being lazy and illegally parking in disability parking at the University of Kentucky – but she is being treated for cancer and wasn’t parking illegally at all: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/university-kentucky-student-harassed-handicapped-placard-article-1.3622242
 
* Former University of Hartford professor Travis Tucker, who is Black, is suing the campus for failing to protect him from a student with mental illness who allegedly stalked him for seven years, while a white professor complained about the same student and received help right away: http://wnpr.org/post/former-university-hartford-professor-suing-school-discrimination
 
* The University of Leeds in the UK launched the Finkelstein Lecture Series in memory of the disabled academic whose work became the “social model of disability,” but then they invited controversy by asking one of Finkelstein’s biggest critics to be the first lecturer: https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/university-apologises-after-asking-social-model-critic-to-deliver-first-finkelstein-lecture/
 
* Psychologists are seeing a rise in new types of eating disorders among college students, including drunkorexia, the reverse freshman 15, and orthoexia: http://www.thebatt.com/news/recognizing-a-spectrum-of-various-eating-disorders/article_7cc02c14-c44d-11e7-aa82-afc4a9bce0dc.html
 
* Malaysia’s Higher Education Ministry has created a new program to help postsecondary graduates with disabilities get jobs: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/higher-education-ministry-to-ensure-job-opportunities-for-disabled-graduate#rZrfEGdR87cC3Shg.97
 
* After getting much support from friends and staff, former Ferrum College football player Daronte Rollins decided to return to school after a car accident, making him the only paraplegic student on campus: http://www.roanoke.com/sports/colleges/accident-robbed-daronte-rollins-of-football-but-not-his-ferrum/article_2a75edc1-8d51-5ff4-87a7-8e33f94b7243.html
 
* The Washington Examiner reports that Oberlin College is hiring Social Justice Education Facilitators to “indoctrinate” peers about oppression, diversity, and inclusion: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/oberlin-college-is-hiring-students-to-be-social-activists/article/2640262
 
* Notable awards:

• UC Berkeley’s Brad Bailey won a Student Academy Award for his film about Hale Zukas, a disability activist and Berkeley alum who “helped make Berkeley the birthplace of the disability rights movement” (no transcript available for audio): https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2017/10/28/meet-the-berkeley-man-who-helped-lead-the-disability-rights-movement/
• What affects the relationship between a supervisor and an employee with a disability?  David Dwertmann, professor of management at Rutgers, won a state-level Bright Idea Award for his research exploring that topic: https://news.camden.rutgers.edu/2017/11/rutgers-camden-business-professor-receives-bright-idea-award/
• Sarah Rose at the University of Texas Arlington was honored by the state of New York for her work on how people with disabilities were working but over time still came to be viewed as unproductive: https://www.uta.edu/news/releases/2017/11/sarah-rose-award.php

 
* Wanting to fight the violence and inequality she saw as a deaf child, Kenyan disability activist Ashura Michael is studying at the University of Nairobi while running the Free a Girl’s World Network: http://www.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/mynetwork/My-ability-is-stronger-than-my-disability/3141096-4180838-65cj6rz/index.html
 
* Big 10 university libraries have formed an alliance to address in accessibility of library e-resources: https://www.btaa.org/projects/library/accessibility/reports
 
* Colby College in Maine struggles with accessibility issues on campus, and the “hilly, icy terrain” is not helping matters: http://colbyechonews.com/campus-defends-accessibility/
 
* Wesleyan’s student newspaper interviewed visiting American Sign Language (ASL) professor Joseph Basile and discussed his disability advocacy work: http://wesleyanargus.com/2017/11/07/visiting-asl-instructor-joseph-basile-reminiscences-over-years-of-disability-rights-advocacy/ 
 
* Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is expanding their disability services office and hiring more staff to meet increasing demand for services: http://www.alestlelive.com/site/about.html
 
 
And a few related items of possible interest to college students:

* Two men with scooters.  The huge marble floor of the U.S. Capitol rotunda.  Too much temptation to resist.  Watch Republican congressmen Steve Scalise and Sam Johnson race each other through the rotunda (video has simple captions and no audio description of both of them having a good time): http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/11/09/steve-scalise-and-sam-johnson-hold-scooter-race-through-capitol-building-rotunda
 
* Read this in-depth story (with pictures) about “the longest non-violent occupation of a federal building in United States history,” and it was by people with disabilities trying to get Section 504 signed into law: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/504-sit-in-san-francisco-1977-disability-rights-advocacy  
 
* Disability and sexual harassment – Wendy Lu writes in Teen Vogue about how the two are intertwined: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/disability-and-sexual-harassment
 
* Actor Derek Theler stars in the new Marvel Series New Warriors and is also talking openly about living with diabetes: http://thecelebritycafe.com/2017/11/derek-theler-talks-new-marvel-series-how-he-warriorsup-against-diabetes/
 
* Jennifer Brea lives with the rare chronic illness ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) but many people don’t even believe her disease exists, so she made a film from her bed teleconferencing with other people who have ME: http://www.bbc.com/news/stories-41888146
 
* You can see 16 regular characters with disabilities on various TV shows, but that still doesn’t reflect real life: https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2017/11/09/tv-including-disabilities/24410/
 
* Former NFL player Aaron Hernandez died in prison at age 27, and a new report says his brain had the most severe CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) damage ever found in a young person: http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/09/health/aaron-hernandez-brain-cte/index.html
 
* If you fly Turkish Airlines, you can get your boarding pass printed in Braille: https://www.blindbargains.com/bargains.php?m=17943
 
* More than half of Black people with disabilities will be arrested before they reach the age of 30, with one researcher saying the rates are so high “the experience of arrest [is almost] fundamental to the experience of being black and having a disability;” the same study noted that young people with disabilities in general are 13 percent more likely to be arrested than nondisabled people: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/10/young-people-with-disabilities-more-likely-to-be-arrested.html
 
* “I totally embrace my stutter – it makes me who I am,” says Astros baseball player George Springer: http://mashable.com/2017/10/26/george-springer-houston-astros-stutter-advocacy/#vmUbZAQaFPqx
 
* Georgetown grad Tiffany Yu founded Diversability to “rebrand disability” – see an interview with her about disability and diversity in the workplace (video has captions but no audio description): http://www.marieclaire.com/career-advice/a13392643/tiffany-yu-diversability/
 
* Ten-year old Rosamaria Hernandez was arrested by immigration authorities after having gallbladder surgery, drawing attention to experiences of undocumented disabled people living in the U.S.: http://nosmag.org/freerosa-case-shines-a-light-on-undocumented-and-disabled-rosamaria-hernandez/
 
* If you happen to visit Tanzania, be sure to check out this café where all the staff are deaf (video has captions but no audio description); http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-africa-41861346/tanzanian-cafe-where-all-the-staff-are-deaf
 
* Little person Shani Dhanda in the UK was turned down for over 100 jobs until she stopped disclosing her disability in applications: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/woman-standing-just-3ft-10ins-11484965
 
* In the wake of another mass shooting in Texas, Newsweek and Al Jazeera News  both published articles explaining despite public perceptions to the contrary, most mass shootings are not committed by people with mental illnesses: http://www.newsweek.com/mass-shootings-mental-illness-wrong-708081 and http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/11/mass-shootings-committed-mentally-ill-171111162521074.html
 
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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.