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Mentally Disabled Students in College

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

The Southern Oregon University pulled out a student with Down Syndrome from a non-credit introductory ceramics course in 2010. They took a lot of criticism in the media, but overall SOU has quite a good record of admitting students with mental and physical disabilities. There are a lot of questions being raised about who should and should not be allowed to attend public colleges. Is it the best environment for people with serious disabilities? Is it fair to the other students? Is it fair to the instructors?

Apparently, the student required much more assistance in the class than the instructor felt was fair. She was allowed to complete half of the course before she was pulled out. Her parents have put her story out on the internet in hopes that the University would see the error of their ways and change their minds. This has not happened. Many people have accused SOU of discrimination.

But SOU has a significant percentage of students with mental and physical disabilities that attend their school, both credit and non-credit courses. SOU students with disabilities seem happy with the school’s accommodations for them. They have a Disability Resources department that provides students with assistance for everything from getting around campus to reading in braille.

Still, some feel that the case reeks of discrimination. The situation has sparked debate about admissions policies and reasonable accommodations for disabled students. As the economy struggles and educational funds are increasingly limited, it is not yet clear how much support public colleges and universities will be able to provide students with disabilities. A documentary about the student and her situation was filmed and played locally.

Tags: Disability, Southern Oregon University, Student
Posted in Disabilities | No Comments »

Traveling with Disabilities

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011

Traveling can be very difficult for people with disabilities. However, proper planning can help you avoid pitfalls and improve the overall experience. Some suggestions to making travel more pleasant:

You need to carefully communicate your needs when planning your trip. Discuss what you need with travel, hotel and other vendors when making reservations; this can allow you to arrange for special seating or transportation as needed. Organizations that work with people with disabilities can also help inform you about what accommodations are available at your destinations.

Air travel can be challenging if you need bulky accommodations like a wheelchair, oxygen or a walker. You should be aware of your rights when traveling by air; the Department of Transportation has passed rules called the Air Carrier Access Act that prevents discrimination when people with disabilities travel.

One concern when traveling is access to health care in the area to which you are traveling; if you have disabilities, you may find that you need some health care during your trip. Health care systems differ from country to country and costs and covered procedures vary in other countries as well. You need to make sure that you have enough prescription medication; you also should consider buying travel health insurance in case you do become ill or need medical evacuation.

If you need a service dog in another country, you should check the requirements for that animal. Some countries may require vaccinations before the dog can enter. Hotels or restaurants may not allow the presence of service animals so you should make sure that you have reservations for places that do.

Electrical outlets are different in other countries as well. Ventilators, oxygen machines and other devices might require electricity; you need to find out about the voltage in the country so that you can purchase adaptive outlets. You also need to have spare tools to keep your equipment working while traveling.

These are some basic suggestions for traveling with disabilities. Speaking with other people who have traveled to the same location or who have the same disability can also give you some additional tips.

Tags: Air Carrier Access Act, Disability, United States Department of Transportation
Posted in Addiction, Disabilities | No Comments »

Finding a Work From Home Position When You Have A Disability

Tuesday, January 11th, 2011

Getting a job these days isn’t easy and trying to find a job when you have a disability is even more difficult. There is some hope. Those with a disability could find a job where you can work from the comfort of their own home. Here are some tips on finding a work from home position when you have a disability.

Contact the nonprofit organization NTI. They’re a free organization that helps those with disabilities find a position where they can work from home. The different types of jobs available will vary based on where you live.

Another non-profit organization to contact would be Contact Lift Incorporated. They will qualify, train and place professionals in technology who have a physical disability with contract jobs working for major corporations. The positions usually start out as a contract position, but often times they will hire them as a permanent employee. Contact Lift Incorporated will use their expertise to guide individuals with disabilities in finding a great job.

You could even check out the website for the U.S. Department of Labor. You could utilize the website to see what your rights are for finding a position when you’re disabled.

There’s a website called the Job Accommodation Network that works with individuals who have a disability. The company will have a complete list of all the companies and agencies out there that work specifically in helping those who are disable get a work from home job.

Lastly, check out your state’s Vocational Rehabilitation Center for finding a job. They work with individuals with disabilities that are unemployed and looking for a job.

We’re at a place where finding a job is pretty hard, but even harder for those who have a disability. The goods news is there are organizations and companies out there who want to help those with a disability find a great job.

Tags: Disability
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Information On Applying For Disability

Thursday, January 6th, 2011

Things happen and people get severely injured or seriously ill. If you fall under one of these categories than you could receive disability or even social security income.

Before you fill out the information for disability income, you need to make sure that you meet all of the criteria by the policy on your insurance or organization. One thing to keep in mind is that if your private insurance will pay more than what your social security disability income pays, you won’t be able to receive both.

When applying for social security income, it’s important to get the correct forms from both your private insurance as well as social security. If you’re a little confused about the application process, do a little research to see what options you have, which forms you need to fill out and what the requirements are.

You will need a written statement from your doctor if you can’t work and how much you could receive in disability and for how long. With disability applications, most will ask if your doctor told you whether or not you’re able to work.

While talking to your doctor, let him or her know that you’re looking to apply for disability. Always ask questions and talk about application process and what to expect.

If you kept track of all your symptoms and doctor visits in detail, make a copy and give those copies to your doctor. For example, if you need to stop and take a break after taking 15 steps, put that down.

If you’re experiencing any side effects to your medication then that needs to be noted in your application as well. Whatever medications you took in the past or are taking now, those need to be noted as well.

It’s always good to make sure you have everything you need before applying for disability. It’s not a difficult process, but if you’re missing anything you could miss out on getting that income.

Tags: Disability, Supplemental Security Income
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Helping Kids With Disabilities Learn How To Read

Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

Learning how to read is always a difficult time for many children. Learning how to read when you’re a child with a disability could be a little bit more challenging and even frustrating. Having learning disabilities can cause a lot of emotional problems on a child’s development. Here are ways of helping kids with disabilities learn how to read.

Start with figuring out what the student’s learning disability is. Try to get an actual diagnosis from either a doctor or therapist that deals with behavior issues. These are the people who are able to explain the disorder and how you’re able to confirm that’s the actual diagnosis.

Kids with disabilities find learning a little bit harder so try and make learning a fun experience instead of a frustrating one. Come up with an exciting new way of learning how to spell since many kids with reading disabilities aren’t the best at spelling. If a child gets a little flustered, don’t get frustrated because than the kid will as well.

Teach your students words that have a mix of both phonics and game stimulation. You also want to get the student to memorize the words that have a strange spelling and be different from the usual phonic rules. The child could than understand the actual word. Helping the child know patterns with an invisible letter it could make the teaching process a lot easier.

When working with children with learning disabilities, be sure to do the lessons in small amounts. For instance work for about 30 minutes at a time on a certain word or lesson. His or her attention span won’t last any longer than that.

When teaching kids with disabilities how to read it’s crucial to be patient and not get frustrated. Learning is hard and when they see you’re frustrated they will as well. This could cause them to get nervous and not want to learn.

Tags: Disability, Learning disability
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Inspiring Disabled People to Volunteer

Saturday, November 20th, 2010

: Image via Wikipedia

It is a heartwarming thing if there was such a program that provided job assistance services for people with disabilities. Disabled people can become anything. This is because they are not disabled in spirit and the will to enterprise. They also cannot be called people with disabilities; rather they should be called differently able people.

Disabled people initially need some assistance in helping them get a decent job. They will also need assistance in getting things done. Initially everything will need a lot of dependence on others. However as time progresses, things will change as the disabled person will come to his or her own and start doing things on an individual basis.

A lot of students from the Flagler Palm Coast high school met with children with disabilities. Flagler high school students met with people who were willing to help the disabled at a Florida hospital. This was the Florida Hospital Flagler. They visited all the departments of this hospital.

The interesting thing is that these students have disabilities. Flagler palm coast has a lot of students with disabilities coming to educate themselves. School official felt that when these students met the volunteers at the hospital, they will get inspired to work as volunteers as well.

This means that people with disabilities or students with disabilities can find jobs as volunteers. By giving them a hands-on feel about the different volunteering jobs available, the school created a sense of motivation and encouragement in the students.

The students started to get an idea of what they intended to become when they do pass out from the school. Some of them wanted to be part of the nursing team. Some wanted to become firefighters. One student wanted to take care of the mortuary. So students with disabilities got a chance to explore career options at the hospitals. Considering that hospitals are themselves centers of curing, students with disabilities will help cure others, and in the process cure their spirits.

Tags: Disabilities, Disability, Disabled, Employment, Florida, Non-profit organization, Sports, United States Congress
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Picking Out Homes For Assisted Living

Saturday, November 20th, 2010

Choosing the right kind of facility for your loved one to live in once they have become disabled is not a simple process. You have to ensure that they are safe and that they are going to be taken care of in the way you would want to take care of them if you could. You have probably looked on TheCyn.com in order to get some information about what is out there, but you may still have some thoughts or concerns. If you are going to take a closer look at any of these places, you have to know exactly what you are looking for. Here are some things you can ask in order to make an informed decision.

The first thing you need to know about the facility you are looking at is how they plan to accommodate your loved one’s special needs. What you are looking for is individualized care, and you need to see that there is a plan in place for making that a reality. If they cannot show you anything like that, then you need to look for a new place for your family.

The next thing you would want to know is the experience of the staff. You want to know that your loved one is in a place where the people running it are people who have been there before, and who know just what they are doing. Sure, you don’t mind a new person or two, but the staff has to be a trained staff to take care of someone close to you.

Assuming those two things are ok, then you can talk about the money but not before then. You need to have your priorities in check and worrying too much about anything other than the care is second place.

Tags: Assisted living, Disability, Dog
Posted in Disability, Health | No Comments »

Parenting a disabled kid

Wednesday, November 17th, 2010

: Image via Wikipedia

It is never easy to parent a disabled kid. It requires a lot of effort on the part of the parent to really fulfill the requirements of the disabled child. Disabled children will have varying levels of emotional problems due to their physical afflictions. Parents of children with disabilities need to understand how to emotionally stabilize their children.

No medical journals or teen and child health magazines will completely make a parent understand the value of instilling confidence in a child with disabilities. Disabled children don’t have that much confidence. This is because they somehow do not feel all right with themselves. They do not understand why they have been separated from the rest of the people by God.

By instilling confidence in the disabled kid, a parent will create hope in the child. The hope to live and the hope to lead a normal life inspite of having disabilities. Confidence creates an understanding of the uniqueness of the soul and its purpose. It also increases the appetite to live, and not just merely exist. Children with disabilities when they grow up feeling low and unconfident lose the hope to live, and choose to just exist. This situation is because parenting never focused on building their confidence.

Now the question arises as to how to build confidence? Confidence is the result of having belief in one’s ability. Even disabled children will have plenty of talent. Television shows project blind children singing, and playing musical instruments. This is enough to show that every human being has got ability. And it is the responsibility of the parent to find this and hone this.

Parents should also concentrate on providing the best of education to their disabled children. Educated children can easily fit in as useful citizens of the country. They can be used to work in different fields of education. Education creates skilled resources. Even disabled children can become skillful adults and real assets to the society in large.

Tags: Child, Children, Disabilities, Disability, Disabled, Family, Home, Parent
Posted in General, Treatment | No Comments »

Hawaiian employers will conduct medical and physical examination before employing

Thursday, November 11th, 2010

: Image via Wikipedia

Job applications in Hawaii will now have another clause to it. Job applicants will be required to undergo a physical and medical test, before they can be guaranteed employment. Current employees will be required to undergo medical tests as well. The rule of the land will apply for all physical and medical tests. It does not matter whether the test is held at the level when applicants are screened, or at the current employment level.

This development is indeed a new way for employers to find out whether people are rightly-abled for the job. Employments often do not require the mandate of a medical test before employment. It is apparent that this is certainly not a military camp that hires military cadets. But many people with eyesight problems or people with psychological problems get employed without the employer knowing it.

But what this also means is that employers can’t provide step-motherly treatment for people with disabilities. Employment screenings will not deny the right opportunity for a disabled, but a rightly-abled candidate from getting the job. Hawaiian employment law in combination with the Disabilities Act has stipulated that such thing as discrimination based on disabilities should not be made. The law states that if the disability is affecting the quality of the job of the employee or the job applicant, then screening rules can apply.

This law is a step towards putting down the unlawful and baseless ways of denying people with disabilities to pursue their dreams of being employed in an organization. The law also states that medical examination of potential candidates and current employees should be based on the need of the job.

For example, a person who has a walking problem can easily do a software development job, since this job requires minimal travel or no travel. If this person has the right qualifications, and skills, then this person’s disabilities should not come in the way of seeking a bright and fruitful employment opportunity.

Tags: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Disability, Disabled, Employment, Hawaii, Human resources, Law, United States
Posted in General, Health | No Comments »

Caring for Disabled Children

Monday, November 8th, 2010

: Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Caring for disabled children may seem like a chore for those who are not parents themselves. However, if you have ever done this – looked after a disabled child – you will know that you do not really feel like it is a chore. Emotionally, nursing a disabled child is no different from taking care of a healthy child; it may just be a little more work.

There are good nursing homes that will take care of your disabled child for you. Do not think that sending your child to a nursing home somehow lowers your self image as a good mother. No, it does not; disabled children have special needs and for special facilities as well, which may be difficult to provide at home. So, if that is the case with your child, it may actually make more sense to send them to a good nursing home nearby, where experts can take care of them.

However, if you plan to keep your disabled child at home and look after them, also plan to spend a lot of time with them. If you are working somewhere, make sure your employer knows your condition well, and are willing to grant you enough leave, or let you take work home, so you can spend more time at home. One good idea is to organize a party – birthday, Thanksgiving, whatever – and let your supervisor or immediate employer meet your sweet, disabled child. The child becomes personalized in this way, and your employer will be more understanding of your situation.

Patience is a must when you are caring for disabled children at home. Certified nurses are trained to be patient, while the rest of us are trained to be just the opposite. But you should know that becoming impatient with your child’s disability can be very harmful. So, make it a habit to inculcate patience within yourself.

Tags: Child, Disability, Nursing, Nursing home
Posted in Disability, Recovering | No Comments »

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