DREAM Weekly: September 10-16, 2017

​DREAM Weekly, Disability and Higher Education in the News: September 10-16, 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 September 10-16, 2017
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Disability and higher education in the news (in no particular order):
 
* What are the stages of disability identity development?  Vanderbilt University Professor Anjali Forber-Pratt interviewed college students with disabilities and searched existing research to find out: http://vkc.mc.vanderbilt.edu/notables/2017/07/finding-ourselves-what-we-know-about-disability-identity-development/
 
* What are the ethics and legalities of medication side effects?  When are medications a form of cheating?  And when are the side effects themselves disabilities?  Students, disability services offices, and faculty wrestle with the questions and consequences: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/7xxyxd/prescription-drug-side-effects-disability
 
* Student pilot and wounded warrior Tim Mathiesen convinced his flight instructor to load up their plane and fly emergency supplies to other wounded warriors stranded in Florida by Hurricane Irma: http://wkrn.com/2017/09/08/student-pilot-makes-quick-trip-to-fla-to-deliver-supplies-to-soldiers/
 
* “I get to class…and I am Nancy the filmmaker, not Nancy the patient,” says Nancy Pickett at Chapman University’s film school, about her life with gastroparesis, IVs, and feeding tubes: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4831244/Girl-paralyzed-digestive-attends-college.html
 
* The University of Illinois fired a professor with a 41-year teaching career after he refused to accommodate a student with a disability and suggested “the University needs to rethink having people such as you”: https://dailyillini.com/news/campus/2017/09/12/ui-professor-leaves-refusing-accommodate-student/
 
* Students created an inclusive home while teaching about disability at American University Hillel’s first Disability Inclusion Shabbat: http://newvoices.org/2017/08/23/teaching-disability-inclusion-one-shabbat-at-a-time/
 
* A bipartisan group in Congress introduced legislation to improve higher education access for homeless youth and youth in foster care (both of which have high proportions of chronic illness, mental illness, and disability): http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/bipartisan-bill-aims-to-provide-support-for-homeless-students/120004?cid=db&elqTrackId=077bb1d015d442f58017daab30d62e88&elq=4621ff045b084c56aca7419bd4764bcc&elqaid=15576&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=6665
 
* Wright State University professor Julie Williams received the Distinguished Contributions to the Advancement of Disability Issues Award from the American Psychological Association in August for her “significant and enduring” impact on “inclusion of people with disabilities:” http://www.whio.com/news/wsu-professor-wins-national-award-for-advancing-disability-issues/qFoDQf3fuO3wdAwTQIs9pN/
 
* Emotional support animals are more than pets, and they can prevent additional medical and mental health complications for students with disabilities: http://www.kansan.com/news/university-students-find-comfort-in-emotional-support-animals/article_de720860-8834-11e7-aa85-bb54a8fdf8e3.html
 
* After being seizure-free for almost a year and a half, Rutgers University’s offensive coordinator Jerry Kill has been hospitalized after having an epileptic seizure, but the team has contingency plans and accommodations in place: http://www.eastoregonian.com/rutgers-offensive-coordinator-jerry-kill-has-seizure-eo-ap-webfeeds-news-college-sports65f8df9caf9d40bdb9d6eea590e4931c
 
* A 170-foot glass elevator on a hill was going to provide accessibility, connect to an observation deck, and make Lafayette College’s expanding campus easier to navigate, but plans are on hold, leaving the area inaccessible while “more important projects” take priority, including construction of a parking lot: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/easton/index.ssf/2017/09/lafayettes_plan_for_huge_outdo.html
 
* Finding a job was no problem after a Scottish beauty school graduate with autism got a little help preparing for interviews and transition to her work placement: http://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow-news/glasgow-lives-emma-21-coatbridge-13610815
 
* An orthopedics journal has published an editorial suggesting that orthopedic surgeons dissociate themselves from football at all levels of the sport (including the college level) due to the high risks of brain injuries for players: http://www.philly.com/philly/health/health-news/concussion-football-cte-eagles-rothman-20170912.html
 
* Penn State student Elijah Armstrong faced discrimination when his high school refused to give him accommodations for his seizures, and now he’s helping others in the same situation by studying civil rights, public policy, and disability studies in college: http://www.collegian.psu.edu/news/campus/article_bde2ab38-8864-11e7-ad16-f75977e89b76.html
 
* Thanks to a new federal grant, three new postdoc positions have opened up at Washington State University for academic researchers with disabilities studying health policies and services for people with disabilities: https://news.wsu.edu/2017/09/11/fellowships-for-researchers/
 
* The federal government has opened an investigation after a male student accused Ball State University of discrimination on the basis of sex and disability, saying the campus did not properly handle his complaint of sexual assault by another male student: http://www.indystar.com/story/news/education/2017/08/23/ball-state-under-investigation-handling-male-on-male-sexual-assault-claim/591710001/
 
* Autistic teenager James Parker enrolled in a further education transition course in the UK and had a great week, but was then told not to return, due to his “higher level of support” and “funding” than the school was willing to provide: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/sep/11/autistic-boy-turned-away-from-norwich-college-days-after-starting-course
 
* A blind student in China was offered all-expense-paid housing off-campus, but denied on-campus housing out of concerns for his safety and ability to live in a dorm: http://www.sixthtone.com/news/1000728/visually-impaired-student-denied-college-dorm-room
 
* In August, a professor of disability studies at the University of Texas Dallas was one of the recipients of the Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award for quality instruction; Sabrina Starnaman teaches ”American literature, disability studies, gender, urbanism, speculative fiction, and literature of science”: http://www.utdallas.edu/news/2017/8/24-32666_Professors-Receive-Regents-Outstanding-Teaching-Aw_story-wide.html?WT.mc_id=NewsHomePage
 
* Marshall University has an intensive program for students with autism, run by the West Virginia Autism Training Center, and now that program will be replicated at Concord University: http://www.bdtonline.com/news/cu-replicates-program-supporting-students-diagnosed-with-asd/article_eedeaa4c-8937-11e7-aa1a-bbb8928dd756.html
 
 
And a few related items of possible interest to college students:
 
* Graduate student and “Dreamer” Karla Cornejo Villavicencio shares her dissertation research about DACA and the psychic toll of Trump’s DACA decision, when undocumented life in America is already hard on the mind and body: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/08/opinion/sunday/mental-health-daca.html?elqTrackId=aaa691c4556b4b2fbd400836360849fb&elq=33025b3da3d84bd4ada0675ef038ec8c&elqaid=15517&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=6641
 
* Lady Gaga has opened up about her fibromyalgia, and a new Netflix documentary will share more about it: http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/12/entertainment/lady-gaga-fibromyalgia/index.html
 
* Self-driving cars are cool, but self-driving wheelchairs are pretty cool, too.  Researchers in Japan have developed the first electric wheelchair that automatically drives to any destination: http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201709110003.html
 
* Want to be an ally for people with disabilities?  This article from Bustle explains the evidence for why disability simulations don’t work, but also suggests a few other options: https://www.bustle.com/p/disability-simulators-dont-work-but-there-are-other-ways-to-be-able-bodied-ally-75727
 
* With two hurricanes hitting the U.S. within weeks of each other, people are asking what happens to sick, disabled and elderly people during natural disasters (https://www.bustle.com/p/what-happens-to-the-sick-disabled-elderly-during-hurricanes-2312012) and while county and state prisons evacuated prisoners, federal prisons left people in waist-high water without food or medication (http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/12/opinions/prisoners-pet-irma-opinion-jones-jackson/index.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 (wendy@ahead.org).
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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.