DREAM Weekly: September 17-23, 2017

​DREAM Weekly, Disability and Higher Education in the News: September 17-23, 2017
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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 17-23, 2017
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Disability and higher education in the news (in no particular order):
 
* The University of Missouri-Kansas City revealed the results of last year’s campus climate survey, which included questions about disabilities; the results were similar to other major universities but provided information about students, faculty and staff with disabilities that is not readily available from other campuses, including that only 30% of UMKC students with disabilities register for services, and only 29% of UMKC faculty with disabilities receive accommodations: http://info.umkc.edu/unews/climate-survey-unveils-concerns/
 
* Students at the University of Illinois are moving forward with plans for a disability cultural house on campus, which would also function as a social and community hub for students with disabilities: https://dailyillini.com/news/2017/09/18/students-disabilities-call-social-community/
 
* The Georgia Institute of Technology is mourning the death of student Scout Schultz, who was shot and killed by a campus police officer last Saturday; they were a highly respected student leader and the shooting leaves many questions about what happened, mental health resources for student leaders and gender queer students, as well as de-escalation and weapons training for campus security officers:

• The full story is here: http://www.chronicle.com/article/At-Georgia-Tech-Tensions-Over/241240?cid=db&elqTrackId=089f355cd4eb41bd8b6c80421f63724b&elq=f81fef8706ad4036b51d997ff05439cf&elqaid=15680&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=6730
• CNN covered a variety of reactions and protests: http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/19/us/georgia-tech-protest-slain-student/index.html
• More about LGBTQ mental health needs on campuses around the US: https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/death-georgia-tech-student-highlights-lgbtq-mental-health-needs-n802621
• More about the lack of training for campus officers, including the one at Georgia Tech: http://www.newsweek.com/georgia-tech-cop-who-shot-lgbt-student-wasnt-trained-dealing-mentally-ill-668191

 
* A new Disability Rights Coalition at Vassar College replaces the previous organization ACCESS to be more intersectional and focused on activism: http://miscellanynews.org/2017/09/13/features/org-of-the-week-drc-envisions-broader-dialogue/
 
*  Kavita Krishnaswamy defended her dissertation at the University of Maryland by using a robot; she builds assistive technologies for people with disabilities because she has needs them, too: https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2017/09/19/student-assistive-disabilities/24187/
 
* Use of smartphone apps, increased diversity of mental health professionals, community partnerships…these are just a few of the recommendations that are being adopted by the Utah State Board of Regents, to improve the mental health needs of students at all of the state’s public colleges and universities: https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865688910/Regents-approve-plan-to-improve-mental-health-services-on-Utah-college-campuses.html
 
* What is the field of “health humanities”?  The University of Toronto’s Andrea Charise explains how the humanities and critical social sciences intersect with health sciences to form this emerging field that is completely unique: https://www.utoronto.ca/news/health-humanities-u-t-expert-behind-multidisciplinary-program
 
* Shawn Aleong enrolled in Temple University’s Academy for Adult Learning for young adults with intellectual disabilities, but is quickly becoming well known for his work off campus as a disability rights activist and member of the city’s Police Advisory Commission: http://temple-news.com/lifestyle/student-advocates-citywide-disability-rights/
 
* More details continue to emerge related to University of Illinois professor Michael Schlesinger, who is on paid administrative leave after refusing to accommodate a student.  He had copied his entire course on emails telling a disability services professional that “although you have a doctorate…I doubt that you teach…I doubt that you do research,” referencing his own 41 years of experience and Nobel prize as proper grounds for making accommodations decisions (a quick tip from DREAM: Nobel prizes don’t make you an expert on disability accommodations): https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/09/15/atmospheric-scientist-illinois-leave-after-refusing-provide-lecture-slides-student
 
* Gonzaga University in Spokane trained over 200 IT content managers this past summer as part of a major re-vamp of the university’s entire website and its 13,000 pages, to focus on disability accessibility and efficiency: http://www.gonzagabulletin.com/announcements/article_59422556-98ee-11e7-8120-bbc25c2b7f93.html
 
* Learn about Able Flight at Purdue University, a program that teaches people with disabilities how to become pilots, often using adaptive equipment in the planes to make that possible (video has captioning but no audio description): http://indianapublicmedia.org/news/purdue-program-people-disabilities-wings-127316/
 
* An autistic student isn’t taking medication, the student goes into a crisis, there is an incident in a recreation complex on campus, and the student is banned for life from ever entering that building again.  Now, eight years later, the student wants to attend campus event in that building but the college says no.  That’s what happened to Melanie Barnett, and she’s filing a human rights complaint against Durham College for her right to attend events there: https://www.durhamregion.com/news-story/7551673-former-durham-college-student-seeks-to-overturn-lifetime-ban-from-campus-building/
 
* Dr. Arlene Kanter of Syracuse University is working with faculty at Haifa University in Israel to assess new college disability support centers that have been established by the Israeli government to support students with disabilities at 40 of the country’s 60 private colleges: https://news.syr.edu/2017/09/arlene-kanter-continues-revolutionary-research-on-services-for-students-with-disabilities-in-israel/
 
* “It’s time for us to take some giant steps toward making our great university the best it can possibly be,” said University of North Carolina Greensboro Chancellor Gilliam, but the editor of the campus newspaper says that  the campus is doing a poor job in helping students with physical disabilities take these…ahem…”giant steps”: https://carolinianuncg.com/2017/09/20/getting-stepped-on-in-uncgs-giant-steps/
 
* Researchers around the world say students with learning disabilities who want to learn foreign languages in college should understand their specific strengths and how they learn best, and then apply those understandings to foreign language learning: https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/students-with-learning-disabilities-can-learn-new-languages/3991760.html
 
* More colleges are reaching out to support students who are coming from foster care systems, knowing they often have mental and emotional health conditions, that they rarely have supportive parents or guardians, and that they usually have other complicated challenges colleges are not equipped to address: http://www.chronicle.com/article/From-Foster-Care-to-Freshman/241207?cid=cc&utm_source=cc&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=9f693789917b448a8f7d18b848523424&elq=36bba294e93e486bab62f331ce936139&elqaid=15673&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=6723
 
* Students at the University of Illinois are using National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month to spread the Center for Disability Rights’ LiveOn suicide prevention campaign, raising awareness of suicide prevention and mental health issues in people with disabilities: https://dailyillini.com/news/2017/09/18/ui-student-highlighting-importance-mental-health-among-students-disabilities/
 
* As part of disability awareness week, the University of Namibia hosted an inclusive fashion show with local models and people with disabilities: https://www.namibian.com.na/59417/read/Unam-fashion-show-celebrates-inclusivity
 
* Ellen Samuels tells Wisconsin Public Radio that living on “crip time” means everyday life as a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of English means schedules and time and routines are never actually routine (radio program is audio only with no transcript available): https://www.wpr.org/living-disability-means-nothing-runs-clockwork
 
* Despite research saying professors should ban laptops and force students to take notes by hand, a columnist at St. John’s University student newspaper says laptop bans are actually ableist: https://www.torchonline.com/opinion/2017/09/20/pet-pyves/
 
* More than $1 billion dollars of legislative money at the University of Arizona will go toward improving disability access over a 10-year period, thanks to efforts of the student body, working closely with the Disability Resource Center and UA facility management: http://www.wildcat.arizona.edu/article/2017/09/ua-plans-to-spend-deferred-maintenance-money-on-disability-access
 
* Database manager Gary Elias is suing Arizona State University, saying that after they set up effective accommodations for his sleep apnea, a new supervisor revoked them, leading to poor performance reviews and his eventual dismissal: http://www.statepress.com/article/2017/09/spcampus-sleep-apnea-lawsuit
 
* What may have seemed like simple parking changes have raised the ire of locals and disabled people, with the campus removing meters and requiring permits instead, meaning people with disabilities can no longer park on the street in those spaces: https://royalpurplenews.com/21574/news/parking-changes-sore-spot-common-council/

 
And a few related items of possible interest to college students:
 
* The International Paralympic Committee has postponed its World Championships in powerlifting and swimming following the earthquake in Mexico City, the first time championship games have ever been postponed in the history of the games: http://www.bbc.com/sport/disability-sport/41331550
 
* Learn about the “Deaf Kanye West” who interprets Chance the Rapper shows, finding himself in part of a larger movement about what it means to “interpret” music for Deaf people: https://www.gq.com/story/chance-the-rapper-sign-language-deafinitely-dope?elqTrackId=e6e21f7bb76942f9ba167bb648a9787a&elq=0513b9b3d21840759e8709f01074e72c&elqaid=15720&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=6750
 
* The BBC has investigated the International Palympic Committee and whether several athletes and coaches are deliberately exaggerating disabilities in an effort to play the system in a process they liken to doping scandals in other professional sports: http://www.bbc.com/sport/disability-sport/41253174
 
* A group of former Obama education officials have created an organization to file lawsuits on behalf of students who want to challenge recent decisions by the Trump administration as they roll back student protections related to civil rights, student loan discharge applications, non-profit colleges, and sexual assault:  https://www.apnews.com/8285d4b36bc244c09abd958b1d567f2a?elqTrackId=e2bd69404fce4739bac85b404869d595&elq=0513b9b3d21840759e8709f01074e72c&elqaid=15720&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=6750
 
* In Calgary, 15 teams worked for a continuous 72 hours for the third annual “makeathon event” where local engineers, designers, and people with disabilities worked together to create open-source solutions for everyday challenges in the community: http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/Disability-and-engineering-communities-pair-up-for-assistive-technology-hackathon-1002390212
 
* PHARM Dog USA trains service dogs to help disabled farmers, including opening gates, carrying buckets, and retrieving tools: https://modernfarmer.com/2017/09/pharm-dog-usa-nonprofit-trains-dogs-specifically-to-help-disabled-farmers/
 
* A couple of quirky cool people with disabilities from history popped up in the media recently:

• The Smithsonian featured an article about firebrand Quaker anti-slavery activist and little person Benjamin Lay, who was doing vegan diets and performance art centuries before hippies or hipsters tried either of them: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/quaker-comet-greatest-abolitionist-never-heard-180964401/
• Google honored Samuel Johnson, who had facial disfigurements and a wickedly dry sense of humor as he put together the first real dictionary of the English language in the 1750s, with a definition of “dull” as “not delightful; as, to make dictionaries is dull work”: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/0/samuel-johnson-father-modern-dictionary-funniest-entries/?WT.mc_id=tmg_share_em

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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.