DREAM Weekly Email: Sept. 25-Oct. 8, 2022

​DREAM Weekly Email - Disability and Higher Education in the News: Sept. 25-Oct. 8, 2022
 
From DREAM: Disability Rights, Education, Activism, and Mentoring
Sponsored by the National Center for College Students with Disabilities
at the University of Minnesota’s Institute for Community Integration,
in collaboration with the Association on Higher Education And Disability (AHEAD)
                                                                                                                                         
This week’s newsletter and archived newsletters are available Monday at www.DREAMCollegeDisability.org.
 
Top Stories This Week (in no particular order)

• Hurricane Fiona hit Puerto Rico and then Hurricane Ian swept through Florida and the entire Southeastern seaboard, leaving a wake of destruction:
  • Use the NCCSD Clearinghouse Crisis resources, including the Disaster Distress Helpline (1-800-985-5990) and SAMHSA’s Disaster Technical Assistance Center.
  • PTSD affects 30-40% of survivors after natural disasters.
  • Florida students are dealing with flooding and power outages as colleges struggle to deal with repairs and staying open.
  • Networks of organizations are reaching out to disabled survivors, raising funds, and organizing resources.
  • Consider ways to be ready for an emergency or natural disaster if you have a disability.
  • The National Low Income Housing Coalition has resources for people who are homeless after the storms.
• Teen Vogue’s disability section published a series of articles about disability (in)justice, including some experiences of students and academic activists.
• Assistive technology for disabled students can help all students and colleges should help ease technology barriers, says a new Educause report on postsecondary technology use during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Sacramento State English professor Dr. Hellen Lee discusses how student assistants are accommodations for a disability affecting her hands.
• The husband of a former Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation counselor pleaded guilty to a $1.3 million scheme to create fake students with disabilities and steal money designated for their educational expenses.
• There are two new movies focusing on disability and higher education:
  •  “Coming Up for Air” is about a college diver who begins to have mental health issues, and how his family, coaches, and college staff try to help him.
  • “Luckiest Girl Alive” moves between a woman’s current success in business and her experiences in college, revealing the disabilities she’s trying to hide, the horrific trauma she carries with her, and the labels that may or may not define her.

 
General News

• Teen Vogue’s disability section published a series of articles about disability (in)justice, and many include college students or academic activists.  Read about: how “the future is disabled”; what young disabled and chronically ill people want you to know; voting rights; young people providing care for disabled relatives; why prosthetics are so expensive and how to change that; and what disability rights activists say about the fight for disability justice.
• Darla Schumm asks why higher education doesn’t have more disabled leaders and what that says to students.
• Disabled student Disability Ambassadors will be helping new University of Miami students with disabilities connect to resources, campus life, and services.
• Two federal surveys may be missing up to 43% of people with disabilities due to wording of disability questions; the surveys include questions about educational attainment.
• Deaf professor Mary Katherine Monroe taught at Wellesley College from 1881-1888.
• Disability documentation requirements and other systemic barriers can be obstacles for students with disabilities.
• Leading college student housing providers and the JED Foundation are joining to form a College Student Mental Wellness Advocacy Coalition to address stigma, conduct research, and provide resources.
• There’s a need for more higher education faculty and staff with disabilities, says Pepperdine law school dean Paul Caron, who is going public about his stuttering.
• Restrictions on abortion access will have a negative effect on student mental health, and colleges’ counseling centers will need to be prepared to discuss issues related to abortion, pregnancy, postpartum issues, and parenting.
• In a video for his department at IUPUI, Professor Chris Lamb shared his own experiences of depression and urged students to find help; he says faculty and administrators need to do more to combat rising problems with student mental and emotional health.
• Set up during a college student’s internship, Disability Advocates of Kent County in Michigan is bringing up the next generation of disability advocates, in collaboration with the local Center for Independent Living.
• In a new report, Utah ranked highest in levels of mental illness, prompting Brigham Young University to share campus resources with students.
• A new interactive campus map with audio will be unveiled at UC Davis at the annual Disability Awareness Symposium.
• Students with disabilities are raising concerns about accommodations and inclusion at the Claremont Colleges and at Butler College. 
• For students with chronic illnesses, ableism can lead to stigma and discrimination.
• Resident Assistants at Barnard College are planning to unionize; they’re demands include better mental health support.
• A new Disability Support Alliance student club at North Idaho College is assisting students with disabilities in finding resources, “their purpose,” and “creative solutions to daily challenges.”

 
Legal and Political News.

• A disabled woman has reached a $7.6 million settlement with the West Valley-Mission Community College District, after accusing a college aide of sexual assault, which the program director allegedly tried to cover up.
• The US Justice Department found Minnesota’s Department of Corrections violated the rights of disabled prisoners by not providing accommodations for adult GRE courses and exams.
• President Biden has made appointments to the National Council on Disability, including Theo W. Braddy, who has taught at Temple University and Millersville University

 
BIPOC and Diversity News

• Jermaine Greaves, the founder of Black Disabled Lives Matter, talked to office about his experiences, his work with black lives matter, and his struggle to go to college and graduate.
• Lakeland Community College faculty are opposing a new Board of Trustees committee to “review equity, diversity, and inclusion language” with the possibility of removing it.
• Dr. Justin Bullock is a Black gay research fellow and “social justice warrior” at the University of Wisconsin who has been open about his bipolar disorder and depression.
• 70% of study abroad students are white, but there are ways to make programs more accessible to BIPOC and disabled students, according to a new Open Doors report.
• A new student working group at Boston College will address bias-motivated speech on the campus’ social media app Herrd; concerns include users’ language about disability.

 
Covid-19 and Monkeypox News

• Academic conferences are increasingly in person with few COVID mandates, meaning disabled and immunocompromised scholars will be inaccessible.
• COVID is shaping retirement for postsecondary employees – especially as pandemic stresses affect mental health.
• In the UK, disabled students’ wish for more online learning came true during the pandemic, but universities are putting barriers back in place

 
International News

• Pakistan held a Conference on Higher Education for the Deaf, for policymakers, educators, and students.
• University College London psychiatry professor Mark Horowitz has been on SSRIs for depression, but his new research study is questioning everything we know about SSRIs, serotonin, and depression. [DREAM and the NCCSD note: do not stop any medications or treatments without consulting your doctor.]
• The Disability Research Network at Queen’s University Belfast has set up a new learning and networking group for university researchers interested in disability.

Sports

• Student Charlie McGee is busy with academics as part of the ClemsonLIFE inclusive higher education program,  but he’s also working with the Clemson University football teams’ strength and conditioning staff.
• In Part One of a three-part series about mental health and athletics, the University of Georgia student newspaper explores how students balance mental health, academics, and athletics.
• The NCAA’s new Mental Health Advisory Group met this week for the first time; the group includes medical and scientific professionals as well as Division representatives and student-athletes.
• 116 colleges around the country recognized College Football Mental Health Week, in partnership with Hilinski’s Hope Foundation.
• The Mizzou Wheelchair Basketball started the season with a tailgating event and celebrated Coach Ron Lykins induction into the Missouri Hall of Fame.

 
Students, Staff, and Faculty in the News

• Spokane Community College student Katie Strickland is also Washington State’s first blind foster parent.

 
 
 
 
DREAM and the NCCSD are funded through a U.S. Department of Education grant (P116D150005) to the Institute on Community Integration at the University of Minnesota, in partnership with AHEAD. For more information about DREAM, send an email to DREAM@ahead.org.  This newsletter is available in other formats upon request.  If you have difficulty accessing articles, please let us know and we may be able to help. 
 
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By the way, please don't presume DREAM, the NCCSD, the University of Minnesota, AHEAD, or the U.S. Department of Education agree with everything we send out - we're just passing along the information so you can form your own opinions.  Thanks.
DREAM, the NCCSD, and the Institute on Community Integration at the University of Minnesota recognize thay are based within the traditional homelands of the Dakota people. “Minnesota” comes from the Dakota name for this region, Mni Sóta Maḳoce, which loosely translates to the land where the waters reflect the skies.
It is important to acknowledge the peoples on whose land we live, learn, and work as we seek to improve and strengthen our relations with our tribal nations. We also acknowledge that words are not enough. We must ensure that our institution provides support, resources, and programs that increase access to all aspects of higher education for American Indian students, staff, faculty, and community members.