DREAM Weekly - September 23-29, 2018

​DREAM Weekly, Disability and Higher Education in the News: September 23-29, 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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Just a reminder: the DREAM Weekly Email just has highlights from the news.  To access the full version:

• Read the attached Word document (with active links)
• Visit our visual and graphic-based version of the news at http://www.nccsdonline.org/news.html
• Read the news online with searchable archives at https://www.dreamcollegedisability.org/this-weeks-news-in-disability-and-higher-education

 
Having trouble accessing an article?  Check with your campus library or reach out to us ([email protected]).
 
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Disability and higher education in the news (in no particular order):
 
* A training for proctors providing test accommodations at the University of Toronto described students with disabilities as being “disturbed” and “difficult,” with “poor contact with reality,” comparing them to Donald Trump: https://thevarsity.ca/2018/09/24/ableist-and-discriminatory-content-described-at-training-sessions-for-test-invigilators/
 
* Student activism led to establishment of a 4500-square foot “universal locker room” at UC Berkeley, designed for transgender or non-binary students, as well as those who need more privacy or have disabilities (video is not captioned or audio described):  http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-berkeley-universal-locker-room-20180926-story.html
 
* A national survey of German college students with disabilities reports 1 out of 10 students have disabilities, and 90% of those students report difficulty with accommodations and carrying out their studies: http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20180927131005471
 
* The movie Night School stars Tiffany Haddish and Kevin Hart, looking at how learning disabilities can affect a person’s education during and after high school – it received positive reviews from the Root (https://www.theroot.com/night-school-makes-the-grade-in-depicting-adults-with-l-1829254932) and the Hechinger Report (https://hechingerreport.org/the-new-movie-night-school-passes-my-test/)
 
* “Native Voices: Native Peoples’ Concepts of Health and Illness” is an exhibit at Purdue University libraries, in partnership with the Native American Educational and Cultural Center, and events include a reading by Terese Mailhot, author of Heart Berries: https://www.purdueexponent.org/campus/article_982345c0-bd46-11e8-a91a-134c7a2679bc.html
 
* Students with disabilities may be doing their school work, but less than a fifth of their work meets standards for college readiness, says a new report entitled “The Opportunity Myth:” https://www.educationdive.com/news/only-a-fraction-of-students-consistently-get-grade-appropriate-assignments/532981/
 
* Do student accommodations just perpetuate ableism by not changing the campus itself?  An article by Meera Ulysses at the University of Toronto questions disability policies: https://thevarsity.ca/2018/09/23/conceptualizing-inaccessibility-on-campus/
  
* The state of Victoria in Australia is providing $1 million to develop a new vocational training program focused on ethics, and power among disability services providers, in collaboration with RMIT University; this is in response to revelations of widespread abuse of disabled children and seniors: https://probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2018/09/improving-ethics-disability-care/
 
* Undergraduates at the Nanjing School for the Blind in China will now have State-mandated military training like all other high school and undergraduate students in the country: http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1121194.shtml
 
* Colleges and universities are increasing mental health supports for students, but students must be able to find what they need: https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2018-09-21/how-college-students-can-find-mental-health-services-on-campus
 
* All Claremont Colleges (“the 5Cs”) are banning straws, but after disability activists protested, food services decided to offer a small number of plastic and paper straws for people who need them: https://tsl.news/5cs-join-plastic-straw-banning-trend/
 
* Thanks to the work of two students, a Students with Disabilities club has started at Middlebury College in Vermont, to create community and increase awareness about disability:  https://middleburycampus.com/40149/news/students-with-disabilities-new-student-org-founded-to-inform-through-community-building/
 
* Transferring to a new college within the British University of Cambridge system can be very difficult and very rare for students with disabilities, even though transfer policies list disability as one of the few acceptable reasons for undergraduates to change colleges: https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/16128
 
* Psychology Today shares “Five Ways Professors Can Help Students with Mental Illness:” https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/talking-about-men/201809/five-ways-professors-can-help-students-mental-illness
 
* Celebrating one of their staff members and alumni who is in the new Intelligent Lives movie, Syracuse University’s InclusiveU is sending a group of students to DC for the premiere: http://dailyorange.com/2018/09/inclusiveu-will-bring-students-dc-screening-intelligent-lives/
 
* Campus construction projects are nearly always a problem for students with disabilities, as American River College students can attest: https://www.arcurrent.com/scene/2018/09/27/construction-causes-problems-for-students-with-disabilities/
 
* New Hampshire secured $1.2 million federal dollars to help community programs for adults and students with disabilities, including post-secondary employment programs for high school students with disabilities: http://www.londonderrynh.net/2018/09/governor-secures-federal-funding-for-nh-disability-programs/94000
 
* Ability Sport Network is offering college scholarships to teens with disabilities, building on other athletic programming at the University of Alabama in Huntsville: http://www.waaytv.com/content/news/493916871.html
 
* A student participated in a Nazi rally, and the University of Nevada at Reno made sure he got his degree, but the university continues to deal with the fallout and racist incidents on campus, while administrators denounce movements that target individuals for skin color, religion, or other reasons, including disability: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/09/27/university-tests-free-speech-mettle-ensuring-graduation-charlottesville-marcher?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=56cb0dfa78-DNU_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-56cb0dfa78-225808461&mc_cid=56cb0dfa78&mc_eid=d5645fe552
 
* Inspired to deal with his Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy differently after the death of his father, California State Polytechnic University Pomona student Paul An is helping the Associated Students Inc group plan disability awareness events featuring faculty, staff, and students with disabilities: https://thepolypost.com/news/2018/09/25/student-activist-determined-to-increase-disability-awareness/
 
* Cerro Coso Community College in California is partnering with the National Wounded Warrior Center in providing expanded educational and career programs for Wounded Warriors participating in the center to receive therapeutic activities, healthcare, and other support services: https://www.prweb.com/releases/national_wounded_warrior_center_to_help_disabled_veterans_find_the_missing_pieces/prweb15787849.htm
 
* Football players at Wabash College are reeling after a senior player committed suicide, two years after another football player also committed suicide on World Suicide Prevention Day (for crisis resources, see www.NCCSDClearinghouse.org): https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/2018/09/25/wabash-college-football-suicides/1404765002/
 
* 1,000 Arkansas youth with disabilities have had work experiences through the University of Arkansas’ PROMISE program, and new reports show the program is having a positive effect on those who participate: https://news.uark.edu/articles/43933/promise-getting-results-for-youth-with-disabilities-report-shows
 
* A judge cleared Macalester College of any wrongdoing over the firing of former professor Kristin Naca who had sued for dozens of counts, including disability discrimination; the judge noted Macalester had provided disability accommodations and had terminated Naca only after she had a sexual relationship with a student: http://www.brainerddispatch.com/news/education/4504541-judge-clears-macalester-college-wrongdoing-professors-termination
 
 
A Few Other Items of Possible Interest:
* CinemAbility: The Art of Inclusion is a new film exploring 120 years of disability representation in Hollywood: https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2018/09/27/film-disabilities-hollywood/25555/
 
* Looking for a Black psychiatrist was like “looking for a unicorn,” says actress Taraji P. Henson, who recently set up the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation to fight cultural taboos about Black people talking about mental health struggles and seeking help: https://www.self.com/story/taraji-p-henson-mental-health-stigma-black-community
 
* Immigrants who use federal benefits, including Social Security or Medicaid, will have a harder time getting a green card under new rules proposed by the Trump administration: https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2018/09/25/federal-limit-immigrants/25540/
 
* “Dancing with the Stars” TV show welcomed its first blind contestant – Paralympian Danelle Umstead: https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2018/09/25/first-blind-dancing-with-the-stars-mxp-hln-vpx.hln
 
* A Jewish disabled man traces the history of “undesirables” in Germany, how disabled people became the Nazis’ first victims, and why it’s important to learn this history: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/13/opinion/nazis-holocaust-disabled.html
 
* This fall, all K-12 students in New York will be required to learn about mental health as part of the health education curriculum: https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/fall-all-new-york-students-will-be-learning-about-mental-ncna911031
 
* No longer just the home of Spam, Autism Friendly Austin” is a new project encouraging everyone in the city of Austin, Minnesota to reduce stigma around autism and make the town more inclusive and autism-friendly, even employing a city autism resource specialist: http://www.grandforksherald.com/news/4503376-minnesota-town-gave-world-spam-proud-be-autism-friendly
 
* The Undiagnosed Diseases Network is expanding to include 12 clinical sites, designed to improve the diagnosis of rare and previously undiagnosed conditions: https://www.news-journal.com/ap/national/national-institutes-of-health-names-chop-penn-an-undiagnosed-diseases/article_bf4614cc-b6a0-5f18-b7c7-4463be84822f.html

* Deafblind lawyer Haben Girma says the biggest disability barriers to employment are in the environment, not in people with disabilities: https://www.popsugar.com/smart-living/Haben-Girma-Essay-About-Working-Disability-45311620
 
* “Dance is an essential part of who I am,” says wheelchair user and artistic director of AXIS Dance Company: https://www.miamiherald.com/latest-news/article218952340.html
 
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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).