We have purchased a dedicated domain for the blog and just completed the migration of all our materials, articles, etc.

Please bookmark our blog with this new URL: http://blog.lifedevelopmentinstitute.org/

I will be posting to the new site exclusively, and will be shutting this address down within the next few weeks.

Looking forward to seeing everyone there, and thanks for your readership!

Rob Crawford

For me, finding meaning in life through my work has been dedicated to updating public perceptions and attitudes towards the capabilities of PwD.

A focus of these efforts (made possible by many helping hands) is to celebrate the transformative power of achieving the American right to decent work and fair treatment by bringing public attention to the lifespan issues of adults with disabilities associated with work, health care, housing, and community connectedness.

I have tremendous faith and belief that doing so moves us forward as a more just community transcending the fears, stigmas and exclusion of relatives, neighbors, and people who have a disability into creating an inclusive society with them as citizens of equal standing.

We do it because it makes sense, not just because of a personal identification with being a person with a disability, but to do that which calls to us as a purpose that matters.

Therefore, when professional peers from the business/employment community acknowledge these efforts through an award, the act both surprises, pleases, and sobers one.

We are glad to share this award with our friends and colleagues through this blog, knowing that there is much more that can and will be done to improve the quality of life through work and community inclusion for adults with disabilities in Arizona and the rest of the country.

The Citation reads:

The Arizona Employer’s Advisory Council (AZEAC) Board of Directors is proud to honor Rob & Veronica Crawford in recognition of their immeasurable contributions & efforts on behalf of young men & women who have cognitive, emotional or neurological conditions in providing them with an abilities-based program that offers opportunities to challenge themselves, to learn, take healthy risks, & grow emotionally, functionally & professionally.

In addition, you have been instrumental in providing the business community a link to an untapped generation/workforce that has now experienced global expansion.

You have set an educational gold standard model for others to emulate. Your dedication & commitment exemplify the core, embodiment, true meaning & spirit of the goals & objectives of LDI. You truly have made a difference!

Purpose: A rally dedicated to updating public perceptions and attitudes towards the capabilities of People with Disabilities.

Where: Arizona State Capitol Mall, 1700 West Washington, Phoenix, Arizona

When: October 28, 2010, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Opportunities: A slate of local and nationally known speakers from grassroots, business, and government will:

• Celebrate the transformative power of achieving the American right to decent work and fair treatment.
• Build “Disability Confident” employers by making an effective business case for the advantages of working with this diverse workforce.
• Share the potential of harnessing the largest and most underserved American minority through voter registration, market-specific branding, and innovative product/service creation.
• Bring public attention to the lifespan issues of adults with disabilities associated with work, health care, housing, and community connectedness.
• Move us forward as a more just community that transcends the fears, stigmas and exclusion of relatives, neighbors, and people who have a disability into creating an inclusive society with them as citizens of equal standing.
• Connect your social media/organization sites to the EmployAbility links below and post news from your community to ours that support or promote efforts to improve employment for people with disabilities.
• On the day of the event, host & post your  live local YouTube, Twitter, Flickr and Facebook updates creating an international virtual rally.

20 tables/chairs will be arranged around the mall hosting community agencies/businesses that provide employment support/guidance, program materials, voter registration, and other resources for accessing appropriate services and support throughout the rally. Vendor space is $50 per table, with a priority for organizations & businesses having an employment focus.

Community contact:

Rob Crawford

(623)773-2774

Email: lifedevelopmentinstitute@gmail.com

Website: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Phoenix-AZ/EmployAbility-Rally/319413739281

Twitter: http://Twitter.com/EmploymentRally

In January, 2009, The U.S. House of Representatives showed overwhelming bipartisan support for the American’s with Disabilities Amendments Act by a vote 405-17 approving the measure. Political ideology did not trump Congress being on the right side of this vote.  Many in the business community supported this expansion of civil rights protections, which no doubt helped clear it for passage.

As this bill is enacted in the workplace, it now expands the protection focus towards what constitutes discrimination rather than what constitutes disability. ADAA is a reminder that “disability in the workplace” is an intentionally broad standard, rather than a high threshold standard (retirement laws, healthcare benefits).

In general, this new standard of disability is viewed favorably by most observers, as it drives legislative language intended to open up employment by removing overly restrictive judicial definitions of disability. The Act considers that is in the best interests of the common good to include such a broad definition as it allows otherwise qualified individuals to speed their entry into employment and reduce the level of governmental benefits.

This is especially pertinent for the Boomer generation with its own onset of age-related disabilities and the impending entitlement drain on the national economy.  2010 Bureau of Labor Statistics data finds that 86 million Boomers and 35 million Americans age 65 or older self-identify as having a disability. Many people overlook or forget the relationship with aging and disability- which eventually reaches every human being who is now temporarily able.

Thus, one can look at the refined definition of disability as not being a medical term, but as a legal one. For the workplace, we want to move away from a medical definition and get into what it takes to enhance productivity. People with disabilities and employers want to focus on a strength-based, reasonable, and practical what works-in-this- particular environment approach. Research gathered from employers experience with staff disclosing disabilities shows that 73% of them do not even need an accommodation to perform the essential functions of the position.

3 Elements to determine disability under ADAA paraphrased:

A person who is “regarded as” having a condition that “substantially limits” their ability to perform a “major life function.” This post will not go into these elements, but the reader can review the legal language at this link.

The 2009 Act expands the list of conditions that are now under the “regarded as” having/being disabled category. This step helps establish the basis for workplace bias or discrimination, but does not automatically trigger workplace accommodations because it may not ‘substantially limit” a “major life function.”

Recently, EEOC has asked for public comments on proposed rules clarifications for a list of disabling conditions that will automatically be considered to be regarded as meeting this standard as a Tier I condition. As of this post, they include ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorders, mood, physical, sensory, and intellectual impairments.  For some reason, the EEOC and OCR have not included LD as a Tier I condition, but it is listed as a Tier II disability along with a range of other disorders (irritable bowel syndrome, fertility drug reactions, etc).

Point to remember: Chronic condition in 2008?  You probably have a disability under the 2009 amendments.

With respect to the aspects of what constitutes “substantially limit a major life activity” for EEOC regulations, most mental health issues are specifically addressed, but not all physical, intellectual or sensory impairments are as well explained.

There has not been the hue and cry from the LD and ADHD advocacy communities one would expect from this policy stance. Advocates from all elements of the disability community really need to band together providing continous public commentary for a more inclusive approach as opposed to this restrictive list.

Workplace advocacy issues related to what substantially limits major life activities for hidden conditions such as LD, ADHD, Asperger’s, anxiety and mood disorders need to stress both major life activities limitations AND major bodily functions (neurological, brain, etc.)- Specifically the nature, manner, and duration of how they impact  interactions of the employee with disability in the performance of essential functions of the job.

Without these remedies, working-age adults with these types of non-apparent high incidence conditions will hear the same old song in their quest for inclusion into meaningful careers and employment- limited considerations for easy &  reasonable adjustments needed to function successfully in the workplace.

For example, existing instruments do not provide for demonstrations of a person’s  behavioral understanding and emotional capacity for dealing with the changing social/functional demands of the workplace environment. They also lack provisions which can evaluate  the problem solving and creativity needed to develop “what if’s” compensations, accommodations, modifications and learning strategies that address real-time workplace requirements.

This inability of the present system to offer more meaningful results unnecessarily limits skill focus, emphasizes “deficits and deficiencies”, and lack an applied real-world contextual basis. Not facing up to these shortcomings has consequences impacting the entire education reform movement’s hopes.

Typically, instructional & training needs are identified through the use of criterion-referenced ability assessments.

Of the many shortcomings associated with these instruments for the purpose of counseling, employment placement, and postsecondary education of adults with disabilities, there are three in particular that are problematic from my point of view and that drive alternative assessment choice and development.

First, standardized testing generates situations where the abilities measured are tested in formats not typical of contextual or “real-world” situations. Wiggins char­acterized the inadequacy of this testing approach as “removing what is central in intel­lectual competence: the use of judgment to recognize complex problems and use one’s discreet knowledge to solve them” (Wiggins,1989).

Second, standardized testing provides, at best, superficial information limited in relationship to the full potential of the person. Accurate measurement using stan­dardized instruments falls short of examining the “whole” person because it pro­vides limited understanding of the social, emotional, physical, aesthetic, and intellec­tual development that is unique to that individual (Ulrey & Ulrey, 1992).

Finally, standardized testing focuses on the content of test responses instead of the learning process used to formulate a response (Lazear, 1994). Living in an information age society, where the sheer volume of available knowledge is growing beyond our capability to acquire, make meaningful, store, and situationally select it, should pro­mote efforts to look beyond mastering academic content as the primary benchmark of testing.

Increased attention should be given to designing instruments that show the processes associated with developing and utilizing the capacity to be a creative thinker and problem solver-how to adapt, transfer, and integrate classroom or workplace content into daily living/employment tasks.

In point of fact, just being able to recall information from multiple-choice, essay, or fill-in-the blank tests does not pro­vide an accurate reading of a person with disabilities grasp of the material, nor does this alone guar­antee success on the job, in which performance is evaluated through work quality and quantity, the benchmarks of practical application and mastery of content.

Global assessment efforts making progress, but coming up short too

The Programme for International Student Achievement (PISA)widely accepted as the “Gold standard” of international assessment for real world applications of critical thinking and problem solving, does not have measurements that  can show student effectiveness in  how to resolve conflicts with civility, bargaining & making compromises, or reliably & accurately assessing the many life situations which do not have clear, certain outcomes. 

According to Ian Whitman, Head of Program in the Education Directorate of OECD, there are no efforts currently being undertaken by this body to develop tools which can assess how effectively a student deals with decision uncertainties such as gauging their risk-taking adversity/tolerance, or how to deal with the trade off’s & consequences of choices that are not clearly binary (black & white) situations.

These are the very conditions that confront all people each day- whether they are gamers trying to make the next level in Tour of Duty, or customer service representatives dealing with an out-of-control irate customer.

We do not develop curriculum, teach, or assess these types of situational experiences in either the secondary or higher educational systems.

We do spend many billions of dollars each year in staff training and development throughout the business and corporate communities across the country and world in an attempt to teach these types of “soft skills.”

With this thought in mind, what kind of assessments should we be developing that gets us close to measuring these capacities?

The need for authentic assessment  being discussed in this post promotes the position for an abilities-based evaluation of such processes. Authentic assessments are realistically structured, taking into account real-world constraints typically encountered outside the learning envi­ronment (e.g., time, production-level requirements).

Academic design factors for au­thentic assessment require that testing occur in the context of actual learning situations that are relevant to students, business, and the community. By focusing on the mastery and measurement of true essential skills and competencies, which are supposed to be the basis of “real world” assessment, the ability to uncover students’ working knowledge, skillful use of academic/workplace competencies and transferability of applied learning into real-life situations is facilitated.

This method of assessment replaces the rewarding for retrieval of disconnected bits and pieces of information that are likely to be unrelated to the program of study, career development or workplace training as a whole.

The ability to creatively work through problems encountered on the job, to which there are many possible solutions, is valued at least as much as getting the “right” answer on a  battery of timed paper-and-pencil examinations.

The structure of authentic assessment “examinations” emphasize individual progress in terms of discipline content, processes, and applications of materials-regarding both program requirements and the outside world. Evaluations are constructed using a developmental spiral to represent differing stages of achievement (e.g., content, proc­ess, product, skill level), resulting in tests worth taking and repeating until material is mastered.

Ultimately,  “real world” academic and workplace assessments should accurately predict how an individual who is a nontraditional thinker knows, understands, perceives, learns, and processes information. Such an assessment  measures abilities-based reflections of individual interests, capabilities, and apti­tudes.

The combined results would be responsive to the demands of living in the adult community, acquiring and using workplace literacy, and identifying targeted employment or career objectives. This would be a good outcome for all people, not just those  with special needs.

Within overall global education reform strategies, how is the U.S. addressing their prospects-both during the educational journey and in finding fulfilling careers afterwards?

This post takes a quick look at what  can start being done to facilitate greater inclusion and successful outcomes for adults with hidden disabilities in higher education and postsecondary settings.

Getting organized: Interagency & Intergovernmental coordination

A recent report from the GAO found that while higher education participation among students identified as having a disability is up to 11% of total enrollment, there is a lack of coordination among the federal agencies, knowledge among college faculty of best practices, uncertainty of the legal obligations to offer reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities, and the consequences for everyone if accommodations are denied.

Of particular concern, according to this report is how to appropriately assist, teach, and support students who are veterans with TBI/PTSD, have Autism Spectrum Disorders, or those who disclose disability after they are in academic trouble.

Consistent regulatory language for disability determination

The issue of fulfilling both reasonable accommodation practices and legal considerations of who is considered a person with a disability is being discussed through the EEOC and Justice Department as part of the regulatory updates for the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act (ADAA).

At the time of this post, people with learning disabilities are not being included in Tier I recognition as automatically being considered a person who has significant impacts to major life functions (such as learning in traditional academic settings).

Adults with ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, mood,  and anxiety disorders are included as Tier I conditions. This is confusing since public school students with learning disabilities make up nearly 5 out of 10 special education placements. Why would they not be given the same consideration for accommodations in the higher education arena?

Reconciling documentation disconnect

A 2009 NCLD report highlights some  difficulties to be resolved concerning the reconciling of different legal frameworks, documentation for eligibility between the public secondary special education system-which typically uses educational psychological testing for categorical placement  purposes- and the requirements of higher education which have a higher bar to reach to nail down the specific nature, manner, and duration of the disabling condition as it relates to being a barrier to performing class competencies. 

However, the need for this level of comprehensive documentation and formal testing can create an unnecessary and unintended consequence by costing out students unable to afford this testing or for those lacking access to professional clinicians with expertise in adult diagnosis that meet higher education requirements.

What is clear is that these assessments and regulations have accomplished little to actually measure things right  in relationship to  intellectual capacity or measure the right things about the performance potential of adults with hidden disabilities in higher education.

For more than 25 years, national attention has focused on improving the supposed sad state of education and workforce preparation in America. The initial stated intention was to ensure equal learning opportunities for students, professionalize teaching, raise standards, and produce a pre-eminent “world class” educational system.  Concerted efforts that brought attention to an apparent overall national educational decline really began with the 1983 release of A Nation at Risk.

International achievement data from the Organization of Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) as well as our own data showed the US as ranking #1 internationally in both academic achievement and college graduates into throughout 1980’s.

Some observers reading the  “A Nation at Risk” report could be excused for believing that the decline and fall or our educational system began with the advent of school integration with racial minorities, the disabled, women, and limited English proficiency students.

When reading these reports today, one is able to see that the seeds of private school vouchers, tuition tax credits, school choice/free market solutions vis-à-vis Charter Management Organizations and the obsession with student achievement equated with exit exams/high stakes testing were all firmly planted at this point in time.

There are as many arguments holding counterviews that the reform movement’s ultimate objective was actually designed to dismantle public education, teachers unions, and promote intrusive government control into local and state issues.

It is interesting to note that the country was able to maintain a #1 world education ranking despite being in the minor distractions of a cold war arms race, worldwide recessions brought about by a convergence of banking deregulation safeguards, skyrocketing national debt, global shifts in labor markets/industrial production. 

Oh yeah, and able to achieve being the first country to pass national legislation funding a system of free, appropriate and inclusive public education for all students with disabilities! 

Moving into the 21^st Century, the bulk of current literature, research, and governmental policy concerning education reform effectiveness focus on finding practical approaches of what schools  can/should be.

We are told we need  models capable of rapid scalability, and able to deliver concrete outcomes readily fitted for global assessment comparisons of academic achievement. The primary focus continues to be preparing students (under the age of 25) for pathways through higher education.

But one is hard-pressed to find much information of any that deals with which special education school-to-work  & adult program/policies are working and worth continuing/replicating.

There are the noteworthy resources such as the National Adult Literacy and Learning Disabilities Center, Office of Disability Employment Policy, and the National Center on Disability earning national attention (or notoriety, depending on your perspective).

Beyond these few governmental sources, there has not been much of a national conversation louder than a whisper concerned with encouraging and improving continuing education opportunities for adult learners or people with disabilities beyond the K-16 system.

American business and the corporate communities response to the notion that the US was losing ground internationally because of poorly or inadequately prepared youth was first reported in 1990 by the Commission on Skills of the American Workforce report America’s Choice: high skills or low wages!

The US Department of Labor and leading corporate, business, and civic leaders collaborated on the Secretaries Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS), published in 1992, a series of in-depth reports targeting what the workplace of the future would need of schools and their graduates as well as how to instruct/assess to these standards.

In addition to traditional content mastery, SCANS called for the radical notion of creating tiers of “outcomes” such as portfolios, certificates of initial mastery, accelerated tracks to postsecondary education/training, and applying theoretical content mastery tied to contextual real world performance. 

Of particular importance for people with disabilities was the emphasis on developing “soft skills” such as communication, work ethics, practical decision-making, and experiential learning- all of tremendous value for non-traditional learners- allowing for a number of ways for the learner to demonstrate their knowledge.

The potential and promise of a multiple pathway system of high achievement that would be responsive to and inclusive of the very minorities identified in the Nation at Risk  report was never implemented in a nationally comprehensive manner. 

There are glimmers of hope for adults with disabilities regarding policy recognition through think tank reports in publication within this past year. Tough Choices or Tough Times, calls for a radical overhaul of education and specifically includes people with disabilities- of all ages-  in having the opportunity to achieve a better life through education and workplace training/retraining. This report is noteworthy from the standpoint that it looks at immediate national educational/workforce development priorities with the recognition that the majority of tomorrow’s workforce is already employed today.

The other report that is paying attention to our national disgrace at having an 80% unemployment rate and 40% school drop out rate among  working-age people with disabilities comes from the National Center on Disability.

The comprehensive report to the Obama administration emphasizes numerous opportunities to improve the quality of life of the growing number of citizens with disabilities, the emerging trends warranting changes in the government’s response, and recommendations for reviewing and modernizing the way the Federal Government approaches disability policy.

Although there have been billions spent over the past 25 years in both education and social policy/programming, the majority of people with disabilities are not yet finding success in the adult world, and the overall results obtained from reform interventions thus far have disappointed and fallen short.

For existing data collection efforts (i.e. Bureau of Labor Statistics),  adults with high incidence, non-apparent disabilities are not represented in their specific manifestation categories, data collection does not control for co-morbidity/dual diagnosis, and adults of all ages still tend to choose not to disclose/claim their identities as people with disabilities.

Without consideration of the manner, condition, and duration these disabilities impact an individual’s functional abilities and present functional limitations, a coherent and cohesive understanding by  public sector governmental program planners/policy makers and the business/corporate communities will not emerge. We become more likely to experience another generation of potential contributors to our nation’s problems  lost to institutional short-sighted ignorance that is avoidable .

In order to achieve higher standards of living and competitive abilities to work in jobs that don’t exist today (we  may vaguely remember Google, Facebook, Second Life & Twitter did not exist 10 years ago), the workforce over the age of 25 must be able to participate in significant ways  that are far different from what has been used or is currently being considered by the Educational Industrial Complex.

The aforementioned social media innovations occurred as a direct result of uncontrolled/ unscripted experimentations in technologies developed from scatch and through trial & error.

The academic experiences & “failures” of the very non-traditional entrepreneurs credited with creating the virtual gaming, texting, and self-publishing empires that an entire generation of people has grown up with as a daily part of their life sound very much like they could be adults with hidden disabilities.

They have thrived under market conditions that are 180 degrees the opposite of conventional business models and higher education systems where the idea and product are pushed. This is an environment of choice and community, and it is populated by a savvy generation of young adults/consumers that are not being reached by most of the workplace or educational reform efforts used today.

The demands of today’s workplace, with its emphasis on high technology, strong interpersonal skills, and maintaining market share against global competition that is less expensive/better educated, are driving forces behind any meaningful reform themes in adult and workplace education programs.

The higher expectations of the workplace should have changed the way that assessment and placement of adults with high incidence hidden/non-apparent disabilities into education, instruction, and employment programs are conducted.

Sadly, the exact opposite has been the case as funding, viable programs, and interagency linkages have been cut or not part of any meaningful systematic strategy of any major effort- in this country or abroad.

Most employment and education reform initiatives continue to display a lack of awareness of, sensitivity to, or acknowledgement of adults with LD, ADHD, Asperger’s, anxiety and mood disorders, who represent the largest identified group of people with disabilities seeking higher education, employment, and adult education services.

Many of these people are nontraditional learners who do not accurately present their greatest capabilities with traditional assessments and academic approaches. The ability of HR managers, line supervisors, corporate trainers and other practitioners to accurately predict how an individual who is a nontraditional thinker knows, understands, perceives, learns, and processes information can result in prescriptive, individualized training and instruction that would benefit the entire workforce and lifelong learning communities.

The next post will explore the past generation of education reform efforts, the depth of inclusion of adults with hidden disabilities, and pending developments that could improve the enrollment, retention, and matriculation of students with these conditions into higher education and postsecondary training/instruction.

In looking for data from governmental or private sector publications on the future of workplace prospects for people with disabilities, there have been few resources or reports that break down employment/unemployment for people with high incidence disabilities such LD, ADHD, Asperger’s, or mood disorders.

There is a nascent body of research, governmental reports, and studies that indicate emerging trend lines which will impact adults with hidden disabilities access and participation in labor markets across the US and around the world. A cross section of this information is shared within the blog.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is completing a review and inviting public comment concerning revised regulations for employers to determine who is disabled and what constitutes a substantial limitation to an employee that requires a reasonable accommodation. People with hidden disabilities such as ADHD, Asperger’s and mood disorders are in line for Tier I status as having severe disabilities, that would enable a relatively easier case for job modification.

As of this moment, adult workers with learning disabilities are being considered for a Tier II status. This means that consideration for workplace modifications or accommodations will require a higher bar with more steps to substantiate a substantial limitation due to this particular disability. Passing these regulations as proposed will create an additional hardship for un/underemployed adults with diagnosed learning disabilities who will not be a top priority in future employment initiatives- whether public or privately funded.

What is not clear and should really drive public commentary to the EEOC is the fact that the above-mentioned Tier I conditions quiet frequently co-occur with some manifestation of learning disabilities. How does an employee with workplace performance problems discern what aspect of the job is due to ADHD or LD? Many adults with these conditions have historically been reluctant to disclose or even know how to disclose (Gerber & Price, 2009) .

Human Resource personnel and company management will be caught up in these determinations, and are not prepared to make judgment calls with any reliability. Neil Romano, formerly of the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) shares that current governmental and private sector efforts must understand business better and connecting the dots between our goals and their needs. Businesses approach to disability employment tends to be one step at a time, rather than a systemic integrated process and approach (hiring, awareness, etc.) Imagine what would happen if this approach was used on women? If you recruit, how can you not train? If you train, how can you not have a career ladder in place? Business is not using its own fundamental processes in place for other minorities.

Romano’s contention is that business doesn’t understand how to integrate adults with disabilities into the workforce. This is because even if the corporate sector is well intended, they tend to have a blind spot. Businesses are still using a legacy model- they think of PwD based on old concepts, images and ideas (stereotypes, expenses, poor people, sick, etc). Most employers do not understand why they need and should market to the disability community to recruit for openings. Governmental and social service sector entities have not helped the corporate community see the “disability dividend”- that serving and hiring PwD makes money for the business through integrated processes in all segments of the business.

This seems to be the reality based on a cross-section of statistics collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics which shows that since October 2008 (when they began to collect employment data on PwD) the already high unemployment rate of working age people 16-64 reported as disabled has seen disproportionate growth compared to those reporting as non-disabled, where it is approaching 80% of this segment as not being in the workforce.

There are no current proposals within the Obama administration that target PwD specifically for workforce development either in system change grants or RFP’s for local vendor/replicable models. The US Business Leadership Network (USBLN) has been active in many parts of the country working with employers to address making the hiring, training, and promotion case for PwD a no brainer.

There seems to be a natural opening between businesses needs and government for creative common sense initiatives that will benefit all parties. With seed monies from the government- based on compatible performance criteria- collaboration and joint development agreements between the public and private sectors can begin to address the un/underemployment of adults with hidden disabilities.

The US Small Business Administration (SBA), has recently included people with disabilities into a category of applying as a minority-owned business. Just in the last month, financial institutions have shown an interest in approving blended funding between local banks, the SBA, and personal loan guarantees of the disability/minority-owned loan applicants to start, expand, or recapitalize an existing business.

The US BLN will also begin to certify disability-owned business to be able to work under the federal procurement system in contracting/sub-contracting with federal agencies. This has huge potential for the disability community, our country, and business on general. Globally, there are some efforts along these lines that hold some promise of improving the status quo.

The US became a signatory of the UN Human Rights Convention for the Disabled at the beginning of 2009. Among work-oriented aspects of this document, the signing governments promise to promote and include disability-minority owned businesses in their supply chains, set an example of hiring PwD into government/private sector positions, have barrier-free access, etc. An area of concern is to make sure employer’s do not hear “accommodation” as a message that means “ I am forced to by law” rather than an employee that just wants to be treated fairly.

The global view of disability and employment tends to be one of “best practices” as being better than “compliance.” Diversity and Inclusion is promoted as business improvement rather than a cost or expense to business. The Disability Standard as part of a UK effort to help employers become “Disability Confident” published an employer management tool that enables organizations to accurately measure performance on disability, in every way it affects their business, and put in place action plans that deliver real business improvement. This view allows for a hiring case that shifts away from issues of dealing with stigma of quotas and making a positive case for hiring through looking pragmatically at “reasonable adjustments” to the workplace that benefit all workers, not just those with a disability.

Kareem Dale, White House disability policy advisor for President Obama, sets the tone for change by noting that “An issue for advancement is the employer’s mentality of not being comfortable or wondering if that person with disability can do the job or- if up for a promotion- how have they been able to do the job? They would rather promote or go to a person without a disability and we get lost in the shuffle. PwD are capable and want to be employed. They want to be contributing members of society. Lack of health care, contributes to high levels of unemployment- wage conflicts make one reliant on retaining SSI or if you make minimum wage, you lose benefits and have problems getting coverage from private insurers.”

Across the rest of the developed and emerging world, we still see under and unemployment rates that are at least 75% or higher. No matter what terminology one wishes to use, these rates are not sustainable and need a radical re-alignment of national funding & service priorities. It will take more than just getting a job, it is about retaining it, making sure there is growth where one can excel and prosper. It is nothing less than equal access to the world of work and quality of life.

Even though only 3% of the continent of Africa is connected to an electrical power grid, there are over 2.5 billion cellphone users. The current generation of global learners under the age of 25 have grown up with mobile phone apps, internet connections, text messaging, and games as part of daily living.

They interact and function in a vastly different space than traditional settings are prepared to deal with, let alone any effective plan of reform for the future. But what does this mean to students with learning and neurological issues? What can be expected of their ability to learn and advance in parts of the world where they don’t have schools, teachers, or help for their problems ?

If the purpose of education today/tomorrow is to measure success by community impact, getting the “right students” to attend, affordable tuition, with trained teachers and infrastructure- then Professor Sugatra Mitra’s “Hole in the Wall” experiments challenges the relevancy of needing teachers, being able to speak the language of instruction, or having access to expensive computer technology.  

This series of YouTube videos requires a re-evaluation of who is disabled and the relevance of traditional teacher-centered pedagogy when self-organized learning environments exist as altenative peer communities of care/support- without judgement or adults.

Many barriers impact the capability for nations to change education policy in meaningful, systemic ways.  Local realities exist around the world from the total loss of educational and societal infrastructure in conflict zones which have been in a state of war, poverty, gender and class distinctions that exclude vast numbers of learners, and a lack of access and inclusion for people with disabilities.

Educational technology can’t substitute for the ability to bring people together around learning- cooperation, civility, courage, commitment, common purpose. These themes are seen demonstrated in these video clips and represent what Biz Stone hopes that Twitter and other social media/educational technology contributes  a “triumph of humanity.”

Let’s then ask “what is the relevance of special education?” in terms of preparing and sustaining individuals of all ages who have disabilities for what they will encounter outside of the school environment that matches and exceeds Dr. Mitra’s  “Hole in the Wall” gang? I hope to hear back from readers on these important questions after I return from some down time after December 14th.