Universal Design and Disability Acceptance
by Amy Sequenzia Universal Design If you are reading this, you probably should know that inclusion of disabled students, with the supports they need, is beneficial to all students. Universal Design is a thing. It means one builds things, and creates products that are accessible to all. It can also be used in classrooms, making sure all students have access to the same education, accommodating individual needs in a flexible environment. The idea of Universal Design is not about kindness, or about compliance with the ADA. It is about common sense. When more people participate, everyone wins because human beings
Why I Don’t Like “Awareness”
Awareness campaigns of disabilities are only effective if they are planned and run primarily by the groups that are the subjects of the campaign. This is because such campaigns are not “awareness”, but “acceptance” campaigns. We welcome support, with focus on respect, equality and access. We don’t need “awareness” of deficits and tragic rhetoric.
Attitudes – Information and Education
This is especially directed at parents, family members and all who spend a lot of time with disabled children. It also applies to adults, even if the way things happen when an adult is diagnosed or needs supports are different from how they happen with children. But we, disabled adults, also deserve to have supportive and informed people assisting us in navigating and participating in the world. When a child is diagnosed with a disability, or born disabled, it is said that parents, and family members, grieve. That's probably because the general perception of any disability is a negative one.
Attitudes – Grading People
Parents and family of disabled people should start demanding that everyone who is part of their children lives stops using functioning labels. We don’t need to be graded. We already have value.
Attitudes – Communication
Communication is not only speaking, typing, texting or signing. Communication is also being able to listen and understand, being accommodated to make interaction possible.
Accessibility Is a Right Not a Privilege
Accessibility is a right not a privilege. 20 posts on Accessibility, Universal Design, and Inclusion It's Time to Go Beyond Access Creating Equal Opportunities For ALL Students to Participate in School Athletics State Obligations UNESCO Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM) Inclusion Is A Right Not A Privilege Paula Kluth on The Inclusive Class Roundtable The National Center on Accessible Instructional Materials Why Would We Want Inclusive Education? Ollibean Spotlight: Kerima Cevik Pay It Forward Activist How AAC and assistive tech make classrooms better for all : Paula Kluth The Case for Inclusion Part 3: Sea Change Access to the
Help Emily Ladau Win an Adapted Van
Hey guys, we need five minutes of your time. Disability rights advocate, Ollibean contributor, and all around awesome human, Emily Ladau is in a contest to win her first car. Emily recently had quite an adventure getting her driver's license and now she can legally drive! Emily's a wheelchair user and needs an adapted van and equipment which will cost around $70,000. Folks, please take a moment, read her story and vote daily so Emily can win the van she needs in order to drive. You can register to vote via e-mail, but be sure to check your spam folder for the password
Meet the Members of the 2013 National Council on Disability
The National Council on Disability works to further equal opportunity, self-sufficiency, independent living, inclusion and full integration of people with disabilities into the civic, social, and economic fabric of American life.
Creating Equal Opportunities For ALL Students to Participate in School Athletics
Educators should use the appropriate equipment properly to ensure that physical education programing for students with students with disabilities is safe, effective, and inclusive. EQUIPMENT Appropriate equipment can help children and youth with disabilities participate in appropriate physical activity. Athletic equipment might need to be modified for safe use by some children and youth with disabilities. For other students with disabilities, specialized equipment may be needed. Activities involving the use of modified or specialized equipment can replace other less safe activities. Treadmills, for example, are effective in providing predictable walking and running conditions, which can be necessary and appropriate for
ASL-STEM: Expanding American Sign Language’s Place in the Sciences
The ASL-STEM (Enabling American Sign Language to grow in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Forum is up and running! The purpose of ASL-STEM's online community is to bring educators, interpreters, captioners, students, and others together in order to help build ASL's technical vocabulary from the ground up.
Closed Captioning Helps All Students
"Not only were students talking about how much having the captions helped them as they took notes, their test scores went up," Collins said. During the first year of a 2-year case study, he showed videos without captions to establish a baseline of student comprehension, then in the second year turned on the captions and began to see improvement in comprehension and grades. "During the baseline year, there were a lot of Cs. In the second years, they went from Cs, Ds and Fs to As, Bs and Cs. It was really significant improvement," he said. "We're living in an
Judith Heumann: Changing the System
Her activism is clearly rooted in a strong sense of justice. Early on she learned that if she wanted to be part of society she was going to have to fight for the right. "I had no choice because, as a disabled person, I was going to either have to get involved with changing the system that limited me or not participate in society," she says. In 2010, Ms. Heumann became the first-ever special adviser for international disability rights at the US State Department. Her job: Promote and protect the rights of people with disabilities internationally and ensure that US
The AbleGamers Foundation
The AbleGamers Foundation, also known as AbleGamers Charity, is a 501(C)(3) nonprofit public charity that aims to improve the overall quality of life for those with disabilities through the power of video games.Video games allow individuals with disabilities to experience situations that may be difficult or limited in the real world, provide social networking opportunities to maintain mental and emotional health, and participate in one of the world’s largest pastimes. With a three-step approach, AbleGamers works and advocates on behalf of the disability community to increase the accessibility of video games and to achieve further inclusion by those who need
Senator Harkin Delivers Speech in ASL Upon ADA Passage in 1990
Upon passage of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on July 13th, 1990, Senator Tom Harkin delivered a speech on the Senate floor in American Sign Language. Harkin, whose brother Frank was deaf, was the lead Senate author of the ADA, which was enacted later that year. His speech is the first in American Sign Language to be delivered from the Senate floor.
Deaf Parent Advocates for Communication Supports She Received from Same School 40 Years Ago
Deaf mother goes before Hillsborough County School District Board to advocate for son's necessary services. The 8th largest school district in the country has an operating budget of $ 3 billion. Despite being notified in advance of her attendance, the district was unable to provide any access .
Sarah Hendren Gives Familiar Symbol a New Look
Most people recognize the international symbol for disability: the stick figure seated in a partial circle, drawn in white on a blue background. Many feel that the symbol, which has come to be known as the International Wheelchair Icon, or the International Sign of Access needs a redesign. In 2011, Cambridge, Massachusetts resident Sarah Hendren decided to take on the challenge. “The figure is static, wooden, with the squared-off geometry of machinery. The body is synonymous with the chair,’’ she told The Boston Globe of the current access sign. She also talked about wanting her design to explore ideas of who is
Free Your Mind and the Rest Will Follow
Awesome ASL version of En Vogue's 'Free Your Mind'. "Before you can see me you've got to learn how to read me. Free your mind and the rest will follow."
ASL Video “I Knew You Were Trouble”
Great ASL translation of Taylor Swift's song!
Doctors across America turning away patients with disabilities, study finds
by Sarah Levis Disabled people in several American cities are going without specialist care because of medical facilities that aren’t physically accessible, says a study that recently appeared in the Annals of Medicine. According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, it’s illegal for a medical service provider to turn away someone because of physical disability. Yet in Boston alone, more than one in six doctors refused to schedule appointments for people posing as patients in wheelchairs. Similar findings were reported in three other cities. The study reported similar findings in in Houston, Texas, Dallas, Texas, and Portland, Oregon. The study
Deaf, Blind Sue Over Web Shopping
Anne Taylor uses a Google Nexus 7 tablet at the National Federation of the Blind in Baltimore. Commerce has moved online. Now, the disability lawsuits are following. Advocates for disabled Americans have declared that companies have a legal obligation to
Planet of The Bind: Why Do Banks Still Lag In Basic Service To Blind Customers?
It seems like a natural: keypads with Braille, audio prompts and the like. And advocates for the seeing-impaired have been working with the industry since 1999 to provide just such adaptations.
Free iPad Games to Improve Algebra Learning from CAST
CAST released two innovative, research-based educational games that teach essential math reasoning and problem-solving skills.
Can You Hear This?
Take 5 Minutes for a reality check.This video is a must watch for any student that is Deaf or Hard of Hearing, their families, educators, and ALL who work with them.
Justice Department Settles with Florida Bus Companies Over Accessibility Violations
The Justice Department reached four settlement agreements with over-the-road bus companies in Florida in the last month, to ensure that bus transportation is accessible for people with disabilities. The settlements under the Americans with Disabilities A
Howard graduate caps a four-year fight for access
Britney Wilson graduated Saturday from Howard University in a flourish of collegiate honors: Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude. But none of them brought quite the same rush of pride as the shiny new handicapped door-opener that awaited her back at the resi
The National Center on Accessible Instructional Materials
The National Center on Accessible Instructional Materials! This site serves as a resource to state- and district-level educators, parents, publishers, conversion houses, accessible media producers, and others interested in learning more about and implementing AIM and NIMAS. AIM Center at a Glance For students with sensory, physical, cognitive, or learning differences and their teachers, accessible instructional materials (AIM) may open doors to teaching and learning that ordinary print-based materials have closed. Accessible instructional materials or AIM are specialized formats of curricular content that can be used by and with students who are unable to read or use standard print materials.
ADA Kits for Hotel Guests with Hearing Loss
Harris Communications makes it easy to be in compliance with the new ADA requirements for deaf and hard of hearing hotel guests. Effective March 15, 2012, the Federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) changed the accessibility requirements for guest
The Lancet:The health of deaf people: communication breakdown
Andrew Alexander discusses how deaf people are often alienated from accessing the UK health-care system and what needs to be done to change this.
New ADA accessibility requirements took effect March 15
For the first time in history public fitness centers, public swimming pools, recreational facilities, parks, golf and mini-golf courses, detention facilities and courtrooms, playrooms and amusement rides must adhere to the governments accessibility requirements. The rules also clarify issues that have come up in the 20 years regarding bathroom dimensions, reach ranges and accesible routes.
Accessible Leeds
Nathan Popple is a 14 year old, self-advocate and editor of Accessible Leeds, this is the description of his incredible site. I have cerebral palsy so I use a wheelchair and I also use a communication aid to help me speak. I am a Whizz Kidz Ambassador and I support the charity 1voice. I believe strongly in fairness and do not think that the world should be able to disable people by not providing access to places.
Boy charts city’s disabled access
Nathan was inspired to create his website after finding access to a bowling alley blocked by stairs. Despite the challenges he faces, Nathan's disability does not stop him from leading a full life. What does occasionally stand in his way is more mundane - steps, staircases and narrow shop aisles.
State Obligations | UNESCO
Like all human rights, the right to education imposes three levels of obligation on States: The obligation to respect, protect and fulfil each of the “essential features” (availability, accessibility, acceptability, adaptability) of the right to education. The obligation to respect requires States to avoid measures that hinder or prevent the enjoyment of the right to education. The obligation to protect requires States to take measures that prevent third parties from interfering with the enjoyment of the right to education. In turn, the obligation to fulfil incorporates an obligation to facilitate and to provide. Facilitation requires States to take positive measures