Disability Dialogue with Teachers

Students have questions about disabilities but often do not have a forum in which to ask them. It is important that students learn when they are young so we can decrease bullying and promote acceptance of differences. A simple idea is to invite a guest speaker to talk and answer questions. Another option is to offer a detailed five- day unit for teachers to teach students. Day 1 is the topic of discrimination Day 2- is sensory and mobility disabilities. Day 3 is learning Disabilities. Day 4 is developmental disabilities. Day 5 is autistic Disabilities, Each day offers explanations, experiential activities, and questions for students of all ages. Parents and professionals, are welcome guests. Videos for each topic are also meaningful.

Disability Dialogue with Employers

People with disabilities have been known as ‘The greatest untapped resource’ yet in January 2019 employment was only 20.5%. I offer a diversity training that explores issues in the workplace and welcomes employees with disabilities in work and society. Some commons problems that companies have are recruitment, retention, and return on investment. While it is true that some alterations may be necessary when hiring employees with disabilities, they are minimal and employees more than make up for the cost. Recruitment- may involve companies attending disability conferences, partnering with agencies, and allowing applicants to demonstrate the essential job tasks rather than holding the traditional interview. Retention- may mean the addition of reasonable accommodations. However, tax incentives defray the costs of reasonable accommodations; and 59% of them are free (i.e. changing break time to coincide with a medication schedule.Return on Investment- shows that employees with disabilities show average or above in loyalty, productivity, morale, reliability, safety and more.

A disability website, the flip side

I decided to purchase a website in order to enhance my disability project with a website. That seemed like a good idea but 1) it was never put online, 2) it was complex to navigate and create, 3) the support was practically non-existent, 4) there were hidden costs involved that I then discovered would have been ongoing, 5) my entire domain name was deleted without prior notice. As usual I decided to look on the flip side. I rewrote the content and decided to make it into a "salesbook" like I used for job placement work. Now I am taking it a step further- I'm going to put it on this site. 1)There are already 1000's of hits on this blog which makes it already ranked well on google search engines, 2) I don't need a fancy website with all the bells and whistles for a service business (none of the photos were appropriate). 3) I do need it to be on the computer so I can share it with others, 4) I can now get business cards and share them with prospects (good thing I didn't do that under Wix). I am looking forward to this project getting implemented.

fundraising & educating

Yesterday I attended an event for high school kids taking a trip to Vietnam and it includes a program that distributes wheelchairs to residents in the country. I learned of this after listening to a speech at the local Kiwanis Club. At first no one spoke to me and visited with three different tables. Since the goal was to make connections and the audience was a large number of high school kids I continued to mix. Then I realized that this opportunity could be turned into an educational fundraiser, there's always afterschool programs that could benefit. When someone spoke of the need to continually find funding for the wheelchairs used by Vietnamese people with disabilities I realized that was the answer. What better way to spread the message than to implement "The Wheel Challenge" in order to fund wheelchairs? Then I met a lady who actually works for Lancaster Intermediate Unit as a job coach. Her placement is at the high school that's running the Vietnam trip. Hopefully this project will offer students a unique chance for educating and fundraising.

Living matters

It is now becoming super easy to end a pregnancy and this can practically eliminate our population. An increasing number of states are allowing abortions at any month. They say that women must have a doctor's approval first but that is a minor deterrent. As it is, technology is so advanced that a slight problem with a fetus can be detected and that is enough of a reason to undergo the procedure. Imagine if a person can remove a baby for any reason! Many many women who decide to take the pregnancy full term are grateful they changed their plan. I wish our population was strong enough and united enough to do something about this but I am not going to spend time on a battle that is not going to have back up. I just hope that people will see the ramifications of this present government. However, I do push the need to educate others on the benefits of inclusion. Other people need to do the same.

Lessons from "The Upside"

I wanted to make the most of the opportunity, it is not every day that a movie is centered around a person with a disability and the characters are portrayed by big name actors. So my idea is for people to discuss how they felt before and after seeing the movie. What were the expectations? Maybe they just came to be entertained. Did most of them have backgrounds in health fields? Maybe the concept of disability was not new to them. What parts surprised them? Did smashing the valuable items seem illogical? Maybe they saw that it was a logical connection between the present frustration he felt by his current circumstance- being in a wheelchair and his wife dying. Were they surprised that the lady who sent him so many letters was uncomfortable with a face to face meeting. Maybe they were surprised that she'd show up at all (but it was a romantic comedy). Would they have wanted the attendant to be one of the more experienced candidates? Maybe it did not seem logical to have someone inexperienced work at a job such as that. My most important question is how can society can become more accepting of people with quite severe disabilities? Maybe those who saw the movie didn't give it much additional thought.

Lessons from "The Upside"

I have so many thoughts about this movie that I will have more than one blog for it. I realize that the main role of Philip was performed by a non-disabled actor and that upset people with disabilities. However, in some ways having an able bodied actor serves to perpetuates the disability experience and that's a good thing. In my view the goal is to educate people without disabilities in the most interesting ways. This is not a glamorous topic but it is very important for people to understand in order to increase inclusion. This story is true and the main characters are acted by famous people. Kevin Heart is the ex-con attendant and Nicole Kidman directs the man's daily life in terms of the medical needs. The audience is invited into the life of person with quadriplegic. Everyone with this disability is different but by virtue of the same diagnosis most need catheter changes, ambulate with a power wheelchair, and require attendant care. The movie shows the online relationship doesn't survive once personal contact is made, the restaurant waiter speaks to the attendant rather than Peter, and Yvonne did not want to hire a non-medical expert to perform medical care. The audience gets to know Philip as a person first and once they do the disability is secondary. That's what we need in life.