News
8/30/2016
Tuesdays with Liz - Kim Musheno, CCD
In this week's edition of Tuesdays with Liz: Disability Policy for All, Liz interviewed AUCD's Director of Public Policy Kim Musheno, about the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) and the ways in which it engages with lawmakers to support and encourage legislation that is in the interest of individuals with disabilities. Kim also serves as the Chair of CCD for 2016.
8/29/2016
Center on Disability and Development Awarded Two Grants Under the Autism Grant Program (TX UCEDD)
The Center on Disability and Development was awarded two grants from the Division of Academic Quality and Workforce. Dr. Jennifer Ganz, the Project Director for both projects, is a professor of Special Education in the Department of Education Psychology and is an affiliated faculty member at the Center. She has received several grants to fund research projects involving students with autism spectrum disorders. Further, her efforts, alongside Cheryl Allen, CEO of Easter Seals East Texas, resulted in the opening of the Autism Clinic at the Brazos Valley Rehabilitation Center, currently directed by Dr. Amy Heath, which provides for children and adults with autism and their families.
8/29/2016
IU Research: Indiana Teacher Evaluations are Improving but Remain Inconsistent (IN UCEDD)
Teacher evaluation plans developed by Indiana school districts are inconsistent and erratic and vary widely in quality and comprehensiveness, according to research by the Indiana Teacher Appraisal and Support System project at the Center on Education and Lifelong Learning at Indiana University Bloomington.
8/29/2016
Project HEAL's 11th Anniversary (MD UCEDD/LEND)
On Thursday, September 8, 2016, Project HEAL(Health, Education, Advocacy, and Law), a community-based program of the Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities at Kennedy Krieger Institute will celebrate its 11th anniversary. The celebration will take place from 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. at the Baltimore landmark, Bertha's Mussels, in Fells Point. Bertha's will graciously offer food and drinks specials, complimentary mussels, and the owners will donate 11 percent of the sales to benefit Project HEAL.
8/29/2016
Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (TN UCEDD, LEND, IDDRC) Investigators Using Virtual Reality to Help Teenagers with Autism Learn How to Drive
Astronauts and pilots use them. So do truck drivers and Formula One race car drivers. Now, Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (TN UCEDD, LEND, IDDRC) investigators have developed a virtual reality simulator specifically designed to help teenagers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) learn how to drive.
8/23/2016
Tuesdays with Liz - Melody Stevens, CCD
During this week's edition of Tuesdays with Liz: Disability Policy for All, Liz interviews Melody Stevens from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the current state of Zika. In case you missed last week's edition, Liz interviewed Shannon Haworth (AUCDs Public Health Program Manager) about the Public Health Workforce Competencies.
8/22/2016
SEANET Student Interns Gather Data on Invasive Green Crabs (Maine UCEDD)
The Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies (ME UCEDD), with funding from Maine EPSCoR/Sustainable Ecological Aquaculture Network (SEANET), is partnering with the Community Environmental Health Laboratory (CEHL) at MDI Biological Laboratory to train and engage middle/high school students with disabilities from coastal Hancock County in intertidal census work. CEHL works to identify and help remedy threats to public health and water quality on and around Mount Desert Island. Enrolled students are offered paid internships and receive training in the identification of invasive species, such as green crabs; data collection and data management. Student interns, superv
8/16/2016
Tuesdays with Liz - Shannon Haworth
During this week's edition of Tuesdays with Liz: Disability Policy for All, Liz interviews Shannon Hayworth, AUCD's Senior Public Health Program Manager, about the Public Health Workforce Competencies.
8/15/2016
Assistive Technology Services Expand in Utah (UT UCEDD)
People with disabilities in the Uintah Basin in central Utah will soon have more help meeting their goals for independence, thanks to a grant from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and the new Assistive Technology Lab at Utah State University in Roosevelt. The lab and the $73,925 award from the foundation will open new possibilities in obtaining and learning about assistive technologies that could make a difference to people with mobility, communication, vision, hearing or other disabilities. "We have a physical presence over there in the Uintah Basin now," said Alma Burgess, the grant's principal investigator. "That allows us to do something similar to what the AT Lab does in Logan now."
8/15/2016
Diversity Competence: Tailoring the Scope of Cultural Competence Education using an Innovative Self-Reflective Training Curriculum (FL UCEDD/LEND)
With widespread recognition of the need for cultural competence being more prevalent than ever in today's diverse society, Dr. Kira Knight has embraced her role as the AUCD Diversity Fellow of the University of Miami's Mailman Center for Child Development. Eager to foster change - a change that embraces diversity, appreciates common humanity, and channels inclusion, Kira is in the process of revising and strengthening the Cultural Competence curriculum for LEND/UCEDD trainees, medical students, residents and fellows throughout the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine and Jackson Health System in Miami, Florida. This curriculum development project involves the implementation of an innovative, online cultural competency training module series, coupled with in-person workshops, geared towards reducing health disparities and barriers to healthcare, and cultivating university-wide culturally competent healthcare professionals.
8/11/2016
Routing a Path for Everyone (KY UCEDD)
A group of students and HDI employee, Darrell Mattingly, led by HDI Disability Program Specialist Anna Bard, set out on a mission last year to map accessibility on campus so that everyone - no matter how they're navigating - can have the information they need to get around campus efficiently. In the fall 2016 semester, UK Facilities Management's Facilities Information Services will unveil the new interactive campus map that includes accessibility attributes and can route an appropriate path depending on a user's needs.
8/9/2016
Tuesdays with Liz - Dianne Dressler
During this week's edition of Tuesdays with Liz: Disability Policy for All, Liz interviews Dianne Dressler (Senior Associate with Community Life Resources) about housing issues.
8/8/2016
Careers in the Arts Online Dialogue (CA UCEDD)
The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the UCLA Tarjan Center's National Arts and Disability Center (NADC) convened a Careers in the Arts Online Dialogue June 6 through June 19, 2016.
8/8/2016
Disability Policy News In Brief
House and Senate are on recess; Zika Response Funding; Labor Statistics; ESSA Implementation; and more
8/8/2016
It's a Small World (GA UCEDD/LEND)
A personal account from a GA-LEND trainee documenting his interest in working in the disability field and how events and people in his life have come full circle.
"It's a small world." This phrase typically refers to events that are related in often unexpected ways. While I have heard and used this phrase many times throughout my life, a recent series of events led me to a new and personal appreciation for just how small our worlds can be.
8/8/2016
Welcome Ambassadors!
Four Nutrition Ambassadors were competitively selected to provide practical solutions to common barriers of proper nutrition including cost, access to fruits and vegetables, and basic knowledge of healthy foods. Ambassadors will develop a tailored work plan based on their specific state needs to help prioritize in-person nutrition education events and creative partnerships.
