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The DREAM/NCCSD Weekly News

Timely News about Disability and Higher Education

DREAM Weekly on Disability and Higher Education in the News: January 29-February 4, 2017

2/3/2017

 
DREAM Weekly: Disability and Higher Education in the News, January 29 - February 4, 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
Weeks of January 29 - February 4, 2017
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Disability and higher education in the news (in no particular order):

* A new study of the National Science Foundation (NSF) shows that students with disabilities were as likely as other students to enroll in science fields and also equally likely to get financial aid for college: https://goo.gl/f9VIfL

* The DIAGRAM (Digital Image And Graphic Resources for Accessible Materials) Center at Benetech and the National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) has published Image Description Guidelines and best practices for STEM, humanities, and social sciences: http://diagramcenter.org/table-of-contents-2.html

* Student-run 34th Street magazine interviewed Penn State University students with physical disabilities about physical and social campus accessibility: https://goo.gl/N1s3dp

* On diverse campuses, students, faculty and staff should make sure that everyone feels safe, welcomed and respected, according to the student-led newspaper of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE). Increasing our knowledge of various disabilities can assist us to be considerate and inclusive of others in our community: https://goo.gl/tSmweM

* In January 2017, the UK Department of Education published guidelines for higher education titled, “Inclusive Teaching and Learning in Higher Education as a Route to Excellence:” https://goo.gl/ojnplF

* Colleges and universities are finding ways to support students with autism, who are believed to be under-identified and an ever-growing population: https://goo.gl/RXkSHv

* The THRIVE program supports students on the autism spectrum at the University of North Florida to transition successfully at college: https://goo.gl/eL8KzC

* Eli Clare, activist and author of Brilliant Imperfection: Grappling with Cure, spoke at the University of Toledo about the widespread concepts of the disabled as being “defected” and needing to be “fixed:” https://goo.gl/DqC6Rz

* Participants in the Bridge to Earning, Learning & Living (B.E.L.L.) program talk about the transition from high school to college and careers for students with intellectual disabilities on the Need to Know, a program of the Rochester, NY PBS station: https://goo.gl/ldEm83

* Deadlines are coming up on many award opportunities for postsecondary students with disabilities. Here’s some information about a few of them:
  • 2017 Autism Campus Inclusion Summer Leadership Academy (applications due February 19) - The ACI Summer Leadership Academy prepares autistic students to do disability advocacy at their colleges: https://goo.gl/OVOVLc
  • 2017 Disability Rights Storytellers Fellowship (applications due March 15) - The Disability Rights Storytellers Fellowship provides the opportunity for an individual with a disability to learn and apply skills in digital media storytelling and disability advocacy: https://goo.gl/CxeO7G
  • Blind college students can apply for one of 30 merit-based scholarships from the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), each worth between $3000 and $12000 (applications due March 31): https://nfb.org/scholarships. The American Federation of the Blind (AFB) also offers several scholarships (deadline April 1): https://goo.gl/9F7Rhe
  • National Center for College Students with Disabilities (NCCSD) Student Video Competition (accessible YouTube or Vimeo videos must be submitted by April 17) - All student video producers are invited to submit their creative, innovative and AMAZING YouTube or Vimeo videos for college students who have disabilities or chronic illnesses, or those who are culturally Deaf: http://www.nccsdonline.org/video-competition.html

Of possible interest to college students with disabilities:

* Lawsuits filed against the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) and helmet maker Riddell, Inc., seek damages for health care costs, lost wages and other personal injury damages on behalf of former high school and college football players across the country who sustained brain damage while playing football: https://goo.gl/ouPjnt

* A class action lawsuit against the producers of Hamilton and the owners of the theater in which it is playing turns the spotlight on accessibility on Broadway. Some Broadway theaters have on-demand accessible services available at any performance while others are only available intermittently: goo.gl/7AWzS3

* The WORLD Policy Analysis Center at UCLA produced statistics, charts and maps after a far-reaching analysis of countries' efforts, since the adoption of CRPD, to enact and address global rights, laws and policies that affect persons with disabilities: https://goo.gl/0cxUwE

* The rise in the use of service and support animals calls for strategies that can help allergy sufferers and those with dog trauma to be safer and more included alongside those who are comforted by animals: https://goo.gl/NDNirJ

* An entrepreneur with Down syndrome, who graduated from a program at Clemson University, started her own cookie company after two years of futile attempts to find a job in an office or a bakery. She wants to share her success by hiring others with disabilities: https://goo.gl/Fa8k0y

* Last weekend, colleges and universities scrambled to respond to Trump’s January 27th immigration order banning citizens of 7 Muslim-majority Middle Eastern countries from the U.S. The following selection of stories report some of the after-effects of the ban on international students and college campuses:
  • University Of Michigan Defies Trump Prejudice By Refusing To Release Immigration Status Of Students: https://goo.gl/Y5A5dp
  • Shock, Despair, and Outrage: Academics condemn trump’s immigration crackdown: https://goo.gl/XS7e31
  • Countries Ban Disabled People from Immigrating: https://goo.gl/A7PeB4
  • What You Need to Know About Colleges and the Immigration Ban: https://goo.gl/zEHTcB
  • Stranded and Stuck: Students and scholars are among those affected by a sweeping executive order banning entry into the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority nations: https://goo.gl/pDL8ws
  • The Would-Be Harvard Infectious Disease Researcher Banned from the United States: https://goo.gl/adMhy1
  • Build a Wall around Public Benefits, and Make Immigrants’ Relatives Pay for It: https://goo.gl/Gp5i6J
  • Trump’s Immigration Order Could Affect Thousands Of College Students: According to IIE's #OpenDoorsReport, more than 17,000 students from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen are currently studying or working on visas in the United States: https://goo.gl/VNy92P
  • 10 Ways to Support Students Facing Immigration Crises: https://goo.gl/Axz3ob
  • Campus Fallout From the Trump Order: https://goo.gl/5axjG6
* A blog post by Janet Lord for The Tangata Group about Disability and Trump states, “America cannot be great if it is inaccessible to Americans with disabilities:” https://goo.gl/GquwG3. Learn more about the recently founded Tangata Group and read other blog posts at https://www.tangatagroup.org/

* People with disabilities continue to produce stories and resources to support the Affordable Care Act in wake of Republican promises to repeal it:
  • Three young women who owe their lives to the Affordable Care Act share their stories. The ACA provided them affordable insurance coverage and better preventive care as it has millions of other women: https://goo.gl/M6QqCC
  • The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network (ASAN) just published an Affordable Care Act toolkit for self-advocates, the first in a series of accessible policy and advocacy resources that they will produce this year. These resources will equip self-advocates to participate in important conversations about their lives and the services they rely on: https://goo.gl/quYI5C
* Millions of Americans go untreated because of misconceptions and shame regarding mental illness. Issues of stigma need to be illiminated to remove barriers to mental health treatment: https://goo.gl/MrzUNQ

* The Job Accommodation Network (JAN) recently released a free online workplace accommodation toolkit. It provides employers, consultants, employees, and co-workers with resources to create a more disability-inclusive and compliant workplace:
http://prod.askjan.org/toolkit/#


* Disability Rights International (DRI) filed a groundbreaking case against the Mexican government to seek recognition of the right to community integration for people with disabilities who have been locked in institutions: https://goo.gl/cfdnLU

* New text reading and spell-checking features in Microsoft Word make it easier for people with dyslexia to read other people's work and proofread their own: https://goo.gl/nFmcnO

* The Apple iPad offers numerous applications designed to meet the needs of people with learning disabilities as well as beginning readers. Here are 50 popular iPad apps for struggling readers & writers: https://goo.gl/At6xja

* Mentoring can help low-income students stay in college and graduate ready to attain the careers they want: https://goo.gl/kLI0Pn

* Justice Sotomayor criticizes U.S. universities, such as the University of Michigan, for the low numbers of Black and brown students enrolled. To realize equality in our society, she explains, we first need equality in higher education: https://goo.gl/KpoYAZ​

* Reports continue to raise deep concerns from disability advocates about Trump nominees Betsy DeVos for Education Secretary, Jeff Sessions for Attorney General, and now Judge Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court:
  • Donald Trump's Attorney General Blamed Disabled Children for 'Decline in Civility' in Schools: https://goo.gl/Vlrp1Y
  • DeVos-Backed Company Makes Questionable Claims on Autism, ADHD: https://goo.gl/05lVsl
  • IDEA Concerns Linger Over Education Nominee: https://goo.gl/P8PKXc
  • Trump Education Pick Advances Despite Special Ed Worries: https://goo.gl/B8JRoP
  • Betsy DeVos’s Confirmation is Suddenly on Thin Ice. Her Defeat Would Be Almost Unprecedented: https://goo.gl/am7Xj4
  • Pelosi Slams Trump's 'Hostile Appointment' To The Supreme Court: https://goo.gl/xQpwnC
* For defacing an historic Black school with racist graffiti, four teens were sentenced by a Virginia judge to visit the Holocaust Museum in D. C., read books by black and Jewish authors, and write a research paper: https://goo.gl/ihWVCx

* More and more dolls with disabilities are making their way into the market, but toy companies still fail to create toys that represent the disability experience for kids and their families. This NPR story includes and interview with disabled activist, mom, and Lego fanatic, Rebecca Cokeley, during a visit to her local mega-toy store: https://goo.gl/hn9zN3

* A monitor of electoral rights of people with disabilities in Kazakhstan reports that people with disabilities there are often not able to vote. Polling places are not accessible for all and electorial commission officials lack the training to support disabled voters:  https://goo.gl/RjURFc

* After the Women's’ March on Washington and in anticipation of The March for Science, activists with disabilities and chronic illnesses continued to share their stories and concerns about intersectional activism this week:
  • FORUM: Philosophers Reflect on the Women's March on the Discrimination and Disadvantage blog: https://goo.gl/EFLliw
  • I Have Concerns about The March for Science on the CrippledScholar blog: https://goo.gl/psFIFl
* Yolanda T. Moses, professor of anthropology at the University of California Riverside, writes that campuses should focus on the following areas to encourage diversity and inclusion during Trump’s presidency: support undocumented students, protect free speech while teaching students to listen to opposing views, enforce policies on sexual harassment and assault, and support global teaching and learning, including study abroad: http://ihenow.com/2knJYC6

* The Right Way to Be Crippled and Naked is a new anthology of finely crafted short fiction that represents the experiences of writers with disabilities: https://goo.gl/BdhkiB

* In “A Nervous Wreck’s Disabled Guide to Stepping Up,” a disabled woman and community organizer expains how one can successfully particpate in community actions according to one’s abilities and disabilities: https://goo.gl/JvdYXS. Although older and for a general audience, “A Bystander’s Guide to Standing up Against Islamophobic Harassment (and Other Types of Harassment, Too),” provides an ilustrated step-by-step for community action, in this case for those able to intervene in situations of discrimination : https://goo.gl/SBry8v

* This week Trump threatened to cut off the federal funding of the University of California at Berkeley when campus leaders canceled a talk by Milo Yiannopoulos, Breitbart News editor and Trump supporter, after student protests became violent. This story follows the shooting of a man at the University of Washington the previous week during a protest of another talk by Yiannopoulos. The following articles examine Berkeley leaders’ commitment to free speech on campus and Trump’s ability to cut of their federal funding.
  • Trump Threatens U.C. Berkeley after Protests Stop Far-Right Speech: https://goo.gl/SQV4Ta
  • Trump Can’t Cut Off Berkeley’s Funds by Himself. His Threat Still Raised Alarm: https://goo.gl/F8Dtg2
  • Milo and the Violent, Well-Funded Right-Wing Attacks on Academic Freedom: goo.gl/rDhDBe
* February is Black History Month and Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month (JDAIM). Here are a few of the first stories out related to these observances:
  • The first in her 2017 Black History Month series on black disabled advocates, Vilissa Thompson remembers Joyce Jackson, an influencial activist from the beginnings of the Independent Living Movement in Berkeley, CA:  https://goo.gl/2tuYYE  
  • Leroy Moore of Krip Hop Nation offers more than 20 trivia questions about disabled African Americans for Black History Month. He also suggests readers add more! https://goo.gl/QfDTYo
  • As part of JDAIM, two books about disability issues by Jewish authors were chosen for helping communities talk about disability inclusion: https://goo.gl/vm5J1z
  • February 1st is not only the start of Black History Month, it’s also the 5th anniversary of the day Stephon Watts, an teenaged African-American autistic male, was shot and killed in his home by police: https://goo.gl/ubjFE6
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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 Richard Allegra (richard@ahead.org).

To subscribe or unsubscribe, please go to http://ahead-listserve.org/mailman/listinfo/dream_ahead-listserve.org. Richard Allegra can also handle requests to subscribe or unsubscribe.  

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.

*****

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DREAM is supported under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education (P116D150005) to the Institute on Community Integration (ICI) at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and the Association on Higher Education and Disability.
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