The state of Virginia is set to begin a major overhaul of its system of caring for people with disabilities that will increase independent-living opportunities and inclusion into the commonwealth’s communities. The changes are triggered by a $2.1 billion settlement with the U.S. Justice Department announced last Thursday, and are expected to impact the lives [...]
The anonymous essay, titled “What Should I Do About Jacob?,” published Monday on the Inside Higher Ed website (and discussed in this space yesterday) has elicited numerous comments from the author’s colleagues in higher education. The fact that so many of the responses included personal experiences from other professors who have had people with disabilities [...]
Inside Higher Ed published an essay earlier this week relating the experience of a college literature professor teaching a student with disabilities. In order to protect the privacy of the people involved, the online news resource for higher education professionals removed all identifying characteristics of the author, including name and gender, and only identified the [...]
Hartford Courant columnist Susan Campbell writes a great deal about the underserved population in and around Connecticut’s capitol, particularly with respect to families. Last week, she and photographer Richard Messina spent some time with Lois Nitch and her son, Andrew John Puglisi, for an article in advance of a workshop Nitch conducts to help parents [...]
A program in Longmont, Colorado, is training people with disabilities to conduct interviews for radio broadcast as a way to overcome barriers in communicating. Last week, Longmont Times-Call reporter Magdalena Wegrzynand videographer Cliff Grassmick visited the studios of KGNU, an independent radio station in Boulder that broadcasts the segments, to see the program in action. [...]
We cover a lot of stories in this space having to do with individuals and organizations changing their perceptions about what people with disabilities are capable of doing. And even though the accumulation of examples show positive shifts in attitudes and practices when it comes to employment, independent living, and other issues that make life [...]
A man taking his laundry out of a dryer; a young couple sharing a music lesson; another man sitting at his kitchen table slicing a banana. These are all subjects of photographs taken by The Star-Ledger photographer Jerry McCrea, which accompany reporter Dan Goldberg’s article, “Developmentally Disabled Adults Discover the Joy of Independence in Hanover,” [...]
That’s Washington as in Washington state, not the U.S. Capitol; and the Mr. Dwoskin referenced by the title actually already resides in Washington, Marysville, to be exact. But other than those small discrepancies, Kirk Boxleitner’s story about Preston Dwoskin in this week’s Marysville Globe evokes the spirit of the 1939 Jimmy Stewart vehicle in a [...]
We spend a lot of time in this space talking about job opportunities for people with disabilities because of our mission to train and place individuals into the labor force. But one of the tried-and-true axioms of the free market system is that suppliers of goods and services need buyers for their wares. And while [...]
Two very different businesses close out our look at the National Organization of Disability “Fine Nine” list of companies making the hiring of people with disabilities a priority, which is a testament to the many roles these people can serve within an organization when given the opportunity. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP) made the Fine [...]