WCAX-TV reporter Keith McGilvery filed a two-part report last week that demonstrated the social and academic benefits of the college and university programs made possible by the Transition and Postsecondary Program for Students with Intellectual Disabilities (TPSID) grant which, as we posted yesterday, is in danger of having its funding dropped from the federal budget for fiscal year 2013.

The subject of McGilvery’s report is 29-yeard old Sterling Peebles, who is one of five students with a disability enrolled in the Think College program at the University of Vermont. UVM began the program last fall thanks to funding from the TPSID grant, and their program combines academic classes and internships into a two-year certificate program.

Part one of the report focuses on the social aspects of Peebles’ experience. The camera crew accompanies her on the 45-minute bus ride from her home in Montpelier to the UVM campus in Burlington. She had never rode the bus alone prior to joining the Think College program and she cites that as her proudest accomplishment thus far. We see her taking a Zumba class (with McGilvery gamely joining in), studying with a friend and talking about the friends she has made during her time in the program.

McGilvery also talks to UVM’s executive director of the Center for Disability and Community Inclusion, Susan Ryan, who secured more than $1 million from the TPSID grant for the program. Think College provides resources like tutors and mentors for the students but the expectation is they will have the same curriculum and be held to the same standard as all students at the University.

Part two of the report starts at the foosball table in the student center but quickly transitions to the academic aspect of Think College and the 18 credits Peebles will take over the two years. She took Freshman English and earned a B plus. Her professor, Jenny Grosvener, made it clear to McGilvery that this was no easy course, and it was Peebles’ resolve that got her through:

She rose to the expectations of that class. We read sophisticated essays, we read Orwell and Grealy…She had more drafts, she did more research…she worked harder to keep herself attentive.

Peebles herself is an interviewer’s dream; sprinkling film references and self-effacing jokes into her back-and-forth with McGilvery. It’s not surprising her career ambitions include working in the media. When McGilvery asks if she’s going to go after his job, she tells him glibly: “No, it’s safe.”

What is not necessarily safe, however, is the future of UVM’s Think College program and other TPSID-funded projects that are providing skills and experiences that help people with disabilities succeed in their workplaces and communities. Let’s hope that people like Sterling aren’t left behind.

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Image by Justin Henry, used under its Creative Commons license.

UVM’s Think College Program Latest TPSID Grant Success Story, originally published on American Training.

Katy Hopkins of the U.S. News and World Report wrote last week that President Obama’s 2013 budget proposal did not include funding for the Transition and Postsecondary Program for Students with Intellectual Disabilities (TPSID) grant, raising questions about the future of this experimental program at its midway point.

Since the 2010 fiscal year, TPSID grants have provided 27 colleges and universities with funding to implement programs that bring people with disabilities into classrooms, dorm rooms, clubs, and other parts of a college student’s typical experience. It was expected that more than 6,000 students would benefit from the program over a five-year period, at the end of which enough data would be accumulated to determine which models successfully integrated these people into post-secondary education.

The institutions were given ample latitude to implement the program in a way that fit their campus and educational mission, but they all shared a “focus on vocational training students need to succeed in the job market,” writes Hopkins. Kim Musheno, director of legislative affairs for the Association of University Centers on Disabilities, tells her that results are already showing people with disabilities were more likely to find jobs following their participation in the program. Hopkins also speaks with program directors at some of the participating schools to hear how TPSID is benefiting students beyond the academic aspect:

On some campuses, students with intellectual disabilities have the option to live amongst peers in dormitories. At one school, a music-loving student explored his passion through an internship at a local radio station. At another, the option of joining campus organizations helped a student overcome a reticence to interact with others.

TPSID grants have been providing around $11 million to institutions of higher learning during each of the first three years of the program. However, there is no specific mention of the grant in the budget proposal Obama has submitted on February 13. Hopkins notes that the funding could come from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), which has a proposed increase for 2013, but one expert she speaks with is wary that students with disabilities “won’t be seen as a priority.”

On the bright side, Hopkins notes that the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA) is included in the proposal at its current level of funding. The act provides grants for students with disabilities to attend public schools from ages 3 to 21. Nevertheless, we’ve covered the academic and social value of these post-secondary education programs for people with disabilities previously, and the anecdotal evidence is difficult to ignore. It would be unfortunate to lose the opportunity to obtain hard data provided by TPSID grants.

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Image by Carmichael Library, used under its Creative Commons license.

College Program Funding for Students With Disabilities in Doubt, originally published on American Training.

The steps of the Capitol in Atlanta were the site of Georgia’s 14th Annual Disability Day.

Hundreds of people turned out on the steps of the Capitol building in Atlanta last Thursday with umbrellas in hand and a single purpose in mind: to get the state to do more to help people with disabilities in the state of Georgia.

February 16 was Georgia’s 14th Annual Disability Day, and while the rain may have diminished the turnout of more than 2,000 people originally anticipated in our preview coverage, it did not dampen the determination of organizers and supporters. The rally’s theme, “My Life is FOR REAL,” called for inclusion of people with disabilities into the community “where they can live, learn, work, play, and worship.”

WGCL-TV Atlanta dispatched reporter Christopher King and a camera crew to cover the event. They captured the crowd members chanting and holding up signs like “We are ‘JUST’ PEOPLE’” that simultaneously communicate the simplicity and complexity of the challenges people with disabilities face when trying to be part of the communities in which they live. People like Shelly Smith, who tells King that one of the biggest challenges is finding a place to live that is both suitable and affordable:

It’s always a struggle… not just to be able to get into a home, but to be able to get around, wide enough doorways, accessible bathrooms.

King also speaks with one of the rally organizers, Valerie Suber, who is shown in the video below, as she calls on the state lawmakers to devote more resources to programs for people with disabilities and accessible transportation as well as to combat job and housing discrimination.

On the same day of the Atlanta rally, advocates for people with disabilities were also in the nation’s Capitol to show their support for the Achieve a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act, which was introduced during the last term by Rep. Ander Crenshaw (R) of Florida and Sen. Robert Casey, Jr. (D) of Pennsylvania. The two sponsors were part of an discussion panel which also included Michael Morris, the executive director of the National Disability Institute. Its press release about the panel succinctly outlines the goals of the proposed legislation:

The ABLE Act… is designed to encourage and assist individuals with disabilities and their families to set funds aside in a tax-advantaged savings account that allows the funds to be withdrawn to cover costs of health care, housing, transportation, the purchase of technology and lifelong education.

Morris compared the potential impact of the ABLE Act to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, saying that its passage would “promote the independence and productivity of individuals with disabilities and their families.” It’s hard to disagree with that assertion; especially when you connect the benefits of the ABLE Act to efforts from state legislators like the ones in Georgia to bring more manufacturing jobs back to American workers. Giving people with disabilities additional financial resources to get the training and skills they need to join the workforce will be essential to their success in achieving the goal of inclusion.

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Image by fw_gadget, used under its Creative Commons license.

Advocates for People With Disabilities Focus on State, Federal Policies, originally published on American Training.

Proloquo2Go is an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) system for people who cannot speak or have difficulty communicating. Proloquo2Go was initially designed as software for the Apple Computer operating system. The Proloquo2Go.com history page says it was first introduced as an app in 2009 and is now available for all of Apple’s mobile devices. (Its FAQ encourages users of non-Apple mobile devices to find similar solutions by other companies for those platforms.)

Like other AAC devices, users can pre-program common sentences and phrases to facilitate everyday communication. Proloquo2Go is lauded for features that automate verb conjugation, and plurals and possessives for nouns. It also offers a high degree of customization; users can add new vocabulary with the push of a single button, as well as choose from male or female voices that emulate a child or adult. This tutorial video provides a good introduction to all the features and functions, while actually using the Proloquo2Go app to narrate:

Testimonials from Proloquo2Go users also focus on the social aspect of the product. While some young people with disabilities have been reluctant to use AAC devices for fear that they will single them out as different, the fact that this is a smartphone app offers a conversation piece with their peers. A woman named Krista talks about how her son, Ryan, endeared himself to his older brother’s friends thanks to Proloquo2go:

They were intrigued that this ‘little kid’ was using a cool iPod touch to talk!! Instead of ignoring him completely, they included him in what they were doing.

Proloquo2go was also in the news this week as part of a demonstration of smartphone applications that can help educate children with autism. Dr. David F. Cihak of the University of Tennessee reviewed a number of apps for students during the school’s weekly UT Science Forum, which was covered by Justin Joo for the UT Daily Beacon. Joo writes:

While the product… is designed to help anyone who has trouble communicating, Cihak said that it works very well with helping autistic children who have trouble conveying exactly what they want to say.

We’ve looked at other AAC devices in this space during previous posts. Please share any experiences you have with this technology in comments section.

Image by kev_hickey_uk, used under its Creative Commons license.

Award-Winning App Boosts Communication, Confidence, originally published on American Training.

An Arkansas blogger is calling attention to inequities at voting stations in the community where she resides; which she says government funds have already been allocated to correct and are in violation of federal law.

Elaine Canady blogs about issues affecting people with disabilities for the Helena Daily World in Helena, Arkansas, a town with just over 6,000 people in Phillips County, located on Arkansas’ eastern border. (And home of the legendary “King Biscuit Time” radio program!) The bio on Canady’s personal website says she was the first recipient of the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Personal Achievement Award for the Mid-South District and that she has been advocating on behalf of people like herself “even before the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was passed.”

In yesterday’s “From My View” post, Canady took issue with the lack of accessible voting machines in Phillips County. She recounted the history of laws passed to ensure people with disabilities are given equal opportunity to vote, including the 2002 Help America Vote Act that provides federal funding for states to replace outdated voting mechanisms.

What’s particularly galling to Canady is that the company from whom Arkansas purchases its voting machines offer an accessible model. Yet, despite the availability of both the money and the technology, the basic right to voter privacy in unavailable to people like herself:

How would you like it if you had to tell someone who you want to vote for? When a person with a disability does choose to vote here, they are met with voting machines on stands that cannot be moved to make them accessible. If a person with a disability goes to vote here, they must take someone with them to assist with reaching the machines OR ask someone working at the polling place to assist them.

Despite her outrage, Canedy is still self-effacing enough to close her column by calling on people in wheelchairs to “stand up and fight.” (Canedy was named Miss Wheelchair Arkansas, 1979-80.) In this day and age, when post-election demographics are broken down and analyzed in any number of specialized groupings, she rightly points out that people with disabilities are rendered “essentially invisible” by the process.

As we wrote previously, American Association of People with Disabilities president Mark Perriello has made it an organizational priority to encourage voter turnout among people with disabilities and their families this election year. I’m sure he would agree with Canedy that making sure small communities like Helena comply with the legal requirements of equal access — including spending the money they have been given to enact such measures — is a fundamental step toward inclusion of people with disabilities.

Is your community’s voting facility in compliance with federal laws? Let us know in Comments section.

Image by Marcel Oosterwijk, used under its Creative Commons license.

People With Disabilities Being Denied Equal Voting Facilities, Says Blogger, originally published on American Training.

Over the past couple of months, we’ve marked the progress people with disabilities have made in a number of countries with regards to career training and job opportunities; from a new employment rights’ treaty in Israel to hiring increases in China, news across the globe indicates progress is being made toward inclusion of these people into the community.

But progress comes less swiftly to others; and, in Ireland, people with disabilities are struggling with societal perceptions and shrinking resources to help them find jobs and live their lives more independently. Back in January, the country’s National Disability Authority published results of a survey that showed attitudes toward people with disabilities were becoming less tolerant. This is especially apparent when it comes to including these children in the same classrooms, as Kitty Holland points out in her story for The Irish Times:

… [A]lmost one quarter of people (24 per cent) would object if children with mental health problems were in the same class as their child. Some 21 per cent said they would object if a child with intellectual disability or autism were in class with their child.

Holland speaks to officials from Inclusion Ireland, who refer to the survey results as a “wake-up call” to the Irish government that action needs to be taken to prevent further stalling of progress toward inclusion of people with disabilities. Meanwhile, the organization is also involved in efforts to stop cutbacks by a firm in the city of Galway that provides 44 people with disabilities with jobs in assembly and recycling.

In her February 8 story for the Galway Independent, Lorraine O’Hanlon says Inclusion Ireland has asked Rehab Enterprises to “fully communicate” all the available options for as many as 18 people who are expected to lose their jobs. For their part, Rehab Services says their transition plan “exceeds the specific industry norms.” O’Hanlon writes that:

… [E]ach person affected receives an individual service based on their skills, needs and capacity to support them to progress into further education, training or alternative employment.

O’Hanlon adds that the district’s senator has written to the Minister of State for Disability, Equality, and Mental Health for an immediate intervention on behalf of the people affected. Ireland’s government does seem to be taking note of the multiple appeals on behalf of people with disabilities. Yesterday, Irish Times reporter Pamela Duncan reported on a new program introduced by the Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton that will allow thousands of people to work while receiving public assistance due to disability or illness.

Burton also used the occasion to announce a restructuring of its support for people with disabilities. Duncan writes that 24 separate programs will be consolidated under a single national EmployAbility Service, offering:

… a range of supports, including workplace adaptation grants and wage subsidies to employers and on-site job coaches and mentors to people with disability.

Perhaps this streamlining of resources will be Ireland’s first step toward turning around the perceptions of its citizens about the value of including people with disabilities into the community.

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Image by informatique (William Murphy), used under its Creative Commons license.

People With Disabilities Face Challenges in Ireland, originally published on American Training.

Since it’s Valentine’s Day, let’s dispense with the usual discussions of career training and employment opportunities for people with disabilities, and look at a story about what truly makes life matter: love.

PBS NewsHour closed last Thursday’s program with an interview of Rachel Simon (below), author of the 2011 New York Times bestseller, The Story of Beautiful Girl. Simon is embarking on a speaking tour in support of its paperback release, and she sat down with senior correspondent Judy Woodruff to discuss the novel, which is a love story about two people with disabilities.

The Story of Beautiful Girl is the story of Lynnie and Homan, who meet in an institution for people with disabilities and fall “deeply in love,” as the official synopsis puts it. Together, they have a daughter, Julia; but the family is separated when the couple attempts to escape the institution and the infant Julia is left in the care of a woman named Martha, who was providing shelter to the couple in her farmhouse. The book spans 40 years in the lives of these four characters, separated physically but joined by their loyalty and love.

Simon says the impetus for the novel was to shed light on living conditions for some people with disabilities. As we wrote about at the end of January, states like Virginia are just now starting the process of transitioning people with disabilities from large institutions into community-based settings. She tells Woodruff:

… [T]here had been some major civil rights developments in the lives of people with disabilities. And the major one is called self-determination, that people with disabilities have the right to choose how to live their own lives.

For Simon, The Story of Beautiful Girl is a continuation of work she began in 2002 with Riding the Bus with My Sister. That book is memoir about her younger sister, Beth, a woman with disabilities who invites Simon to accompany her on her daily sojourns by bus. After an entire year, Simon gains a greater understanding of what it’s like for her sister to live in the world, and the experience brings them closer together.

The experience also helped Simon take the point of view of characters with disabilities and convey their inner thoughts and feelings credibly in The Story of Beautiful Girl. She tells Woodruff that just because a person with a disability isn’t able to express him or herself doesn’t mean they are unaware of how they are perceived:

I wanted to… show the world not just how the world treats them, but how they feel about how the world treats them.

Watch Story Sheds Light on Treatment of People With Disabilities on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

Simon’s book tour will be bringing her to nearby Worcester, Massachusetts, at the end of next month. She’ll be the keynote speaker for a conference at the DCU Center on Friday, March 23, at 9:00 a.m. Find her complete tour schedule here.

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Image by moonlightbulb (Selena N.B.H.), used under its Creative Commons license.

A Love Story for People With Disabilities, originally published on American Training.

Abilities Expo kicks off its series of 2012 events at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, February 17-19. The nation’s largest event for people with disabilities is expecting more than 3,000 individuals with disabilities, their family members, caregivers, health care professionals, and others to attend, according to the press release.

For more than 30 years now, Abilities Expo has provided exhibits, workshops, and events showing the latest products and services available to people with disabilities of all ages. Admission to the exhibit hall is free for all attendees, as are all the workshops discussing an array of subjects from traveling tips to innovative new therapies to inspiring life stories.

Two celebrity encounters at the Atlanta show will appeal to young people especially. On Saturday, February 18, author Angela Ruzicka will read Wendy on Wheels Takes a Stand for the first time in a public setting. This is the fourth book in Ruzicka’s popular Wendy on Wheels series, which she began in 2010 to provide a positive and empowered lead character for children with disabilities.

In the new story, 10-year-old Wendy confronts bullying behavior in her school. Ruzicka will use the book as a springboard for an open discussion on how children can cope with and overcome examples of bullying in their own lives.

Each of the three days will close with a demonstration of the Horse Boy Method by Rupert Isaacson and Iliane Lorenz. Isaacson is the author of the 2009 bestselling book, The Horse Boy, in which he attempts to improve communication with his autistic son, Rowan, through his love of horses. The family’s quest, also an award-winning documentary, takes them to Mongolia for shamanic rituals in a culture that reveres horses above all other creatures. Following the demonstration, attendees will have a chance to get up close to the horses and have photos taken.

The Assistive Technology Pavilion is sure to draw a crowd with the latest and greatest equipment for work and play. Georgia Tech will demonstrate a Tongue Drive System technology it has developed that enables individuals to operate wheelchairs, computers, and other devices through a magnet that responds to slight movements of the tongue. Dr. Maysam Ghovanloo offers a demonstration in this short video:

Applications of the tongue-drive system could open more job opportunities for people with disabilities in the workplace, and is sure to crossover into the “Accommodations in the Workplace” presentation by Raj Pagadala, the program director for assistive technologies in the Georgia Department of Labor Vocational Rehab program. It’s fitting that this workshop kicks off the entire Abilities Expo at 12:00 noon on Friday; just the day before, a rally will take place on the capitol steps in Atlanta in observation of the 14th Annual Disability Day. As we mentioned earlier this month, the state government is looking to capitalize on a resurgence in its manufacturing sector with tax incentives that will bring more jobs related to manufacturing, assembly, fulfillment, packaging, and shipping.

Abilities Expo will visit six U.S. cities in 2012, including Los Angeles, New York, Houston, Chicago, and San Jose. It will also go international for the first time with an event in Singapore, November 2-4.

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Image by ArtBrom, used under its Creative Commons license.

Abilities Expo 2012 Launches in Atlanta This Weekend, originally published on American Training.

It’s been a while since we’ve looked at Disability.gov, the website managed by the Labor Department’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP). Working in conjunction with 21 federal agencies, the site provides people with disabilities, their families and caregivers, as well as educators and employers with comprehensive information for services and programs available in the U.S.

The site features a robust blog with multiple authors writing on a multitude of subjects. It also includes space for guest bloggers to contribute their own, first-person experiences, which is what caught our eye this week.

Jennifer Lynn Unrein is a 23-year old Kansas native with Williams Syndrome. Together with her mother, Wendi, she started a business called JennyLU Designs, which sells her original artwork on greeting cards, mugs, calendars, and jewelry, among other personal gift items. Her story reminds everyone how important it is to maintain your resolve when facing obstacles and to always pursue your passion.

It would have been easy enough for Jenny (as she prefers to be called) to just keep drawing her whimsical pictures on cards for friends and family. But as she writes in her guest blog: “I like making a difference in peoples’ lives.”

That was the seed for an idea she and Wendi had to make artwork that could be donated to local fundraisers. When that proved successful, the vision for JennyLU Designs took root. The next step was to get a grant that would fund their venture. After spending close to a year formulating the business plan, however, they were denied.

For others, the story might have ended there. For Jenny and Wendi, the adventure was just beginning. They sought out and found other funding resources for art supplies. They learned of a program run by the Kansas University Center that specifically helped young women with disabilities find employment opportunities. The program also tells Jenny’s story on their website, writing:

In addition to providing her with social skill and employer/employee relation training, Girls at Work helped Jenny gain work experience at Hobby Lobby, an arts and crafts store, and learn how to start her own small business.

Equipped with this new level of experience and knowledge, Jenny and her mother reapplied for the business grant. This time, they were accepted. The daughter and mother now travel to art shows and conferences for people with disabilities all over the U.S. with their wares. Thanks to the JennyLU Designs website, Jenny’s whimsical artwork and warm sentiments are available to the entire world. With a true artist’s temperament, Jenny concludes her blog post by writing:

My favorite part is seeing the people and seeing their reaction to my art.  I like to put my ‘stamp’ on this world — make my own statement!!

Just remember that no matter what statement you want to make, there are resources available to train people with disabilities for any job and give them the skills they need to be successful; and don’t let hearing “no” prevent you from asking a second time.

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Image by MyThoughtsOn, used under its Creative Commons license.

Woman With Disability Finds Resources to Achieve Her Dream, originally published on American Training.

Kathleen Martinez, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) says government programs are helping people with disabilities get jobs.

This past Tuesday was the original deadline for public comment on the U.S. Department of Labor’s proposed new rule that would require businesses seeking federal contracts to be more active in recruiting and hiring people with disabilities. Instead, the department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) announced on Tuesday it has moved the deadline to Tuesday, February 21. According to the Human Resources – Business and Legal Resources website, which provides compliance news and tools for HR professionals, the 14-day extension was given in order to provide additional time for employers and the public to review the proposed rule.

As we noted back in December, the proposed rule is intended to add a level of accountability to the government’s existing policy for its contractors and subcontractors. The current language encourages organizations wishing to do business with the government to hire people with disabilities, while the new rule would require them to strive for the concrete goal of having these people comprise 7% of their workforce.

Enforcement of the new rule would rely heavily on government contractors increasing their efforts to collect data on the number of people with disabilities they interview for open positions as well as hire. Some business leaders have expressed concern about the costs incurred by this additional record-keeping. In the January 13 edition of “The Proactive Employer” podcast, Leigh Nason, a shareholder in Ogletree Deakins law firm and its chairperson for the Affirmative Action and OFCCP Compliance Group, said:

This part of the proposed rule has certainly raised contractors’ blood pressure… the challenge is to find any goal that is not only practical, based on employment location and the skill set needed, but is also attainable.

Meanwhile, Labor Department officials continue to reach out to organizations and make the case for including people with disabilities in the workforce. In a press release issued on Marketwire, the Kessler Foundation said Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Office of Disability Employment Policy Kathleen Martinez met with seven program directors about their approaches for expanding job opportunities for people with disabilities, while also sharing some of her department’s own success stories:

Martinez pointed to ODEP’s Add Us In initiative, which increases employment opportunities for job-seekers with disabilities in the small business market, especially those owned by minority groups. These businesses are creating jobs at a faster rate than the national average.

The rule proposal is one of two executive orders issued by President Obama during his first term intended to increase hiring of people with disabilities. In 2010, Obama called on the federal government to hire 100,000 people with disabilities over the next five years. The Office of Personnel Management has created a list of prequalified candidates to help attain this goal. In her article for Air Force website, Debbie Gildea talks to Sonia Ybanez of the Air Force Personnel Center, about how they are taking advantage of this list to accelerate recruitment efforts:

‘… [Q]ualified individuals with targeted disabilities can be hired non-competitively without recruitment, without posting and publicizing the position, without clearing the priority placement list and without going through the certificate process,’ Ybanez explained. ‘That saves a lot of process time.’

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Image by the U.S. Department of Labor, used under its Creative Commons license.

Labor Department Extends Comment Period on New Rule for Hiring People With Disabilities, originally published on American Training.