DREAM Weekly Email: September 9-15, 2018

​Summer Edition: DREAM Weekly, Disability and Higher Education in the News: September 9-15, 2018

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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** We’re back after a break during August!  Happy fall term, everyone!  **
 
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Disability and higher education in the news (in no particular order):
 
* Welcome to fall!  Let’s take a look at those disability access statements with “Check Your Syllabus 101:” https://anthrodendum.org/2018/08/13/check-your-syllabus-101-disability-access-statements/
 
* Hurricane Florence swept through the Carolinas and Southeast U.S. – the NCCSD posted resources for affected faculty, students, and staff with disabilities (and check out our crisis resources at www.NCCSDClearinghouse.org if you need them):  http://www.nccsdonline.org/weathercrises.html
 
* In a new study, 20% of 67,000 college students reported high stress, which was associated with mental health problems and suicidal thoughts or attempts; the researchers note that students – especially students in minority groups – are not seeking treatment enough, but colleges could also do more to improve services and help students address stress levels: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/1-in-5-college-students-so-stressed-they-consider-suicide/
 
* Academics with disabilities are still rare, but it’s important to figure out why and what can be done to change that: http://news.aag.org/2018/09/researchers-with-disabilities-in-the-academic-system/
 
* Three Asian-American women talk about their stories of mental illness and how they dealt with stigma from their cultures, including Koko Nishi, a psychologist who works in the counseling center at San Diego State University (video is captioned but not audio described): http://sandhillsexpress.com/abc_health/new-generation-of-asianamerican-women-are-fighting-to-normalize-mental-health-treatment-abcid36108756/
 
* Ashutosh Purswani, age 17, fought all the way up to the Supreme Court of India, but won the right to become the first visually impaired medical student in the country – he was granted admission under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act: https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/17-year-old-ahmedabad-boy-becomes-the-first-to-get-admission-in-medical-college-under-disabilities-act-352274.html
 
* If you’re an organ donor, you can use medical leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, says the U.S. Department of Labor, which is good news for recent liver-transplant recipient and St. Cloud State professor Bel Kambach, who said some donors weren’t able to help her because they couldn’t get time off work: https://www.sctimes.com/story/news/2018/08/30/organ-donor-family-leave-u-s-department-labor-minnesota/1143653002/
 
* The Ontario Human Rights Commission released a new Policy on Accessible Education for Students with Disabilities, including a broader definition of disability and information for students about their human rights; it comes in the wake of controversial mandatory leave policies at the University of Toronto for students with mental and emotional illnesses: https://thevarsity.ca/2018/09/10/ontario-human-rights-commission-releases-new-policy-on-accessible-education/
 
* Cornell University is creating a new Well-Being Network with counseling, health services, chaplains, and academic support offices to introduce comprehensive services for addressing students experiencing mental illness while supporting general mental health in all students: https://news.cornellcollege.edu/2018/09/cornell-creates-cutting-edge-mental-health-well-program/
 
* Students at Johns Hopkins have been working for change and the university is responding, but students with disabilities note that the fight against ableism requires nondisabled students to participate, too: http://www.jhunewsletter.com/article/2018/09/to-fight-ableism-hold-yourself-and-the-university-accountable
 
* Professors at the University of Maryland are busy making course websites more accessible, with new policies training instructors – some of them are noticing that access changes benefit all students: http://www.dbknews.com/2018/09/07/umd-students-disabilities-website-accessibility-elms/
 
* A new report in Samoa says only 7% of people with disabilities attend higher education (compared with 14% of nondisabled Samoans): https://universitymagazine.ca/best-college-students-learning-disabilities-america-2018/
 
* Washington College in Maryland had two psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners, but both retired and the college has not been able to replace them, forcing students who need prescriptions to turn to off-campus providers: http://elm.washcoll.edu/index.php/2018/09/nurse-practicioners-retire-from-health-center/
 
* Goalball, a Paralympic sport, continues to spread at colleges around the world, with a new team starting up this week at James Cook University in Australia: https://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/news/townsville/james-cook-university-adds-disability-inclusive-sport/news-story/cbba81f8e586a0ddc0d58fa1dca88de1
 
* Do you have a chronic illness?  Azusa Pacific University shared some tips, including resources about STRONG, its campus support group for students with chronic illnesses and disabilities: https://www.apu.edu/articles/5-tips-for-managing-chronic-illness-your-first-year-at-college/
 
* Readers shared their experiences living in dorms with students in crisis, after a New York Times article about colleges requiring students with mental health crises to take medical leaves – many noted that loud music and other issues are more of a problem: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/06/reader-center/mental-health-crisis-in-your-dorm.html
 
* Are campuses really wheelchair accessible?  One man investigates whether wheelchair access at Harvard and the University of Washington measures up to their claims about inclusion: https://www.theravive.com/today/post/uw-harvard-among-universities-lagging-in-ada-compliance-0003290.aspx
 
* Grinnell College English professor Ralph James Savarese talks about his new book and explorations of autistic literature: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/09/12/professor-discusses-his-new-book-reading-classic-novels-people-autism
 
* Bond – The Bureau of Neurodiversity is a new club at Lord Fairfax Community College in Virginia that creates an environment for neurodiverse students to be themselves: https://www.localdvm.com/news/virginia/student-club-at-gives-those-with-disorders-and-disabilities-a-special-place-to-bond/1407504241
 
* She complained about campus mental health services and the lack of any campus counselors before and after a student suicide, and then the college refused to renew her contract, so now former engineering professor Christina Drake is suing Florida Polytechnic University: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/09/14/she-spoke-out-against-termination-her-campuss-only-mental-health-counselor-student?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=633e5262b8-DNU_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-633e5262b8-198891893&mc_cid=633e5262b8&mc_eid=a51c972f65
 
* New accessible apartments are available for disabled college students from Long Beach City College, although students are required to be able to “live independently”: https://abc7.com/education/affordable-housing-units-built-for-long-beach-college-students-with-disabilities/4169144/
 
* After she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, former law professor Lynda Dodd claims City College of New York undermined her tenure process and refused to provide accommodations; a district judge has ruled the case may move forward: https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/2018/09/10/ex-law-prof-gets-green-light-in-bias-case-against-cuny/?slreturn=20180814081922
 
* This is Us, The Handmaid’s Tale and other TV shows are portraying mental illness and reducing stigma about mental health…or are they? A psychiatrist worries viewers are being misled, and the article notes 25% of college students use TV as their main source of information about mental illness: https://www.instyle.com/mental-health-on-tv
 
* The Aira app service uses smartphones to connect visually impaired people with live people who “see” for them and provide navigation and information; the app is spreading on college campuses and airports, and now is being used by Wegmann’s grocery chain on the East coast: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/09/12/645221590/blind-grocery-shoppers-access-second-set-of-eyes-through-app-at-wegmans
 
* Here’s 10 tips for managing inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in college, including apps and ideas for making a safe living space: https://healthblog.uofmhealth.org/digestive-health/ibd-college-10-easy-ways-students-can-manage
 
* The head of mental health for Universities UK says prospective college students should declare all mental health conditions in the common form used in the UK’s college application process, and that it should not have to be disclosed as a “disability” because that carries too much stigma: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/university-application-mental-health-ucas-forms-students-steve-west-uuk-bristol-suicides-a8527266.html
                                                       
* People with disabilities face barriers to talking about sex and sexual expression, but universities are researching the ways technology and social media can make things easier, like a closed Facebook group at Deakin University for LGBTQI people with intellectual disabilities: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-08-sex-technology-disability-complicated.html
 
* Rutgers professor Jasbir Puar has won the 2018 Alison Piepmeier Book Prize from the national Women’s Studies Association for her controversial book The Right to Maim, which accused Israeli armed forces deliberately disabling Palestinians in order to control them: https://www.algemeiner.com/2018/09/12/book-accusing-israel-of-sparing-palestinian-lives-in-order-to-control-them-wins-womens-studies-award/
 
* The UK has a DARE (Disability Access Route to Education) college access program for students whose disabilities affected their grades in high school, and the number of students using the program has doubled to 3,542 since 2012: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/more-disabled-students-using-dare-points-scheme-c7qznmm2n
 
* Qatar Red Crescent Society celebrated its first work to improve higher education services for people with disabilities in Gaza: https://www.gulf-times.com/story/605347/QRCS-concludes-mega-programmes-in-Gaza
 
* Hamline University professor of religion Deanna Thompson has written a new book about her diagnosis of Stage IV cancer and how it co-exists with her Christian faith: http://monitorsaintpaul.com/hamline-professor-writes-book-on-cancer-trauma-and-ministry/
 
* China is reporting a rise in the number of college students with disabilities, with 10,818 students with disabilities admitted this year:
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-09/09/c_137455880.htm
 
* A student with ADHD and a sleep disorder is suing Carnegie Mellon University for discrimination after the campus allegedly discouraged him from using disability accommodations, subjected him to a different grading system in one course, and denied him an appeal when he failed two courses: https://pennrecord.com/stories/511559582-carnegie-mellon-university-sued-for-allegedly-violating-the-americans-with-disabilities-act
 
* The Chronicle of Higher Education profiles MiraCosta College, a community college in California with a diverse student body that is actively working on creating a welcoming environment for all students, including those with disabilities: https://www.chronicle.com/article/This-College-Is-on-the-Front/244461?cid=cc&utm_source=cc&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=696013e3fb7441b1a2a7252110c98758&elq=911b6563efcf4234ae7a21d13d04dac1&elqaid=20457&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=9620
 
A Few Other Items of Possible Interest:
 
* Filmmaker Jason DaSilva created a film for the New York Times about his experience of trying to move to Texas and get the same 24/7 attendant care and independence through Medicaid that he gets in New York, but other states wanted to put him in a nursing home (film is captioned but not audio described): https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000005868795/how-healthcare-makes-disability-a-trap.html
 
* The new movie Operation Finale details the hunt for Nazi Adolf Eichmann, but it leaves out the real story of who found him – a blind man and his daughter: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/08/30/what-operation-finale-gets-totally-wrong-about-the-hunt-for-nazi-adolf-eichmann/?utm_term=.2604af24d020
 
* After Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a book, she got advice from a reader about using an implant to manage her diabetes, and now she’s published two more books about her life and diabetes – while wearing an implant: https://www.usnews.com/news/news/articles/2018-09-01/supreme-court-justice-sonia-sotomayor-out-with-2-new-books
 
* Journalist Bob Woodward has released Fear, a new book about the Trump presidency which includes anecdotes about Trump calling his attorney general “mentally retarded” and Trump’s personal attorney saying he could not testify to investigators because he is “mentally incapacitated:” https://www.rawstory.com/2018/09/trumps-former-lawyer-told-president-disabled-explain-cant-testify-mueller/
 
* 17-year old Aaron Philip is a trans Black quadriplegic model working to make the runway represent people like her (video is captioned but not audio described): https://nowthisnews.com/videos/pop/trans-model-aaron-philip-advocates-for-disabilities-on-the-runway
 
* After learning about disability history in school, 12th graders from Massachusetts wrote a NY Times editorial calling for a national museum of disability history: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/opinion/national-museum-disability-american-history.html
 
* Doctors have diagnosed the Mona Lisa with hyperlipidemia and hypothyroidism, using “the art of diagnosis with the diagnosis of art:” http://fortune.com/2018/09/10/mona-lisa-medical-mystery/
 
* Two Netflix series will highlight characters with disabilities:
* Actor Arthur Hughes was cast as a wheelchair user in The Innocents series on Netflix – he convinced them to change the character to match his disability of radial dysplasia: https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/netflix-the-innocents-arthur-hughes/
* Atypical will include five characters with autism who will be featured as peers of the main character, who is also autistic but not played by an actor with a disability: https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2018/09/11/actors-autism-netflix-atypical/25474/
 
* Newsweek reported that Donald Trump ordered the removal of braille in Trump Tower because “no blind people” would live in his building, even after architects told him he had to include it to comply with federal law: https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-braille-blind-people-1118601
 
* Crime novelist author Amanda Kyle Williams died of cancer on August 31 at age 61; as an out lesbian and dyslexic, she often said dyslexia was “the most beautiful word she ever heard” because the diagnosis helped her positively change how she felt about herself and the world: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/07/obituaries/amanda-kyle-wiliams-dead.html
 
* Netflix film “The After Party” is under criticism for the protagonist having a seizure and then being mocked on social media as #SEEZJAHBOY: https://www.collegemedianetwork.com/after-party-netflix-epilepsy-controversy/
 
* Disability activists are protesting the nomination of Brett Kavanagh for the U.S. Supreme Court:

• Liz Weintraub testified at Senate confirmation hearings about Kavanagh’s 2007 Doe v. D.C. decision where people with disabilities were given elective surgeries without their consent: https://progressive.org/dispatches/kavanaughs-callousness-and-why-it-matters-180912/ with the full captioned video at https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4748281/liz-weintraub-testimony
• The Bazelon Center has put out a press release opposing the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh, given his record on the Affordable Care Act and civil rights for people with disabilities: http://www.bazelon.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Kavanaugh-Disability-Report-2018.pdf

 
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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 (NCCSD), AHEAD, or the U.S. Department of Education agree with or support everything in these links we send out - we're just passing along the information so you can form your own opinions.  Thanks.
 
DREAM and the NCCSD are funded by a grant to AHEAD from the U.S. Department of Education (P116D150005).