Posts Tagged ‘mood disorder’

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 ...

There are now many more adults with disabilities under the age of 35 (comprehensive special education was created through P.L. 94-142 in 1975) who are better prepared for inclusion into higher education, postsecondary, and employment settings. They also have higher expectations of themselves and their chances for success as a result of being the recipients of support they received for their various conditions. 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, ...

Despite numerous blue-ribbon task forces and resulting legislation (GOALS 2000: Educate America Act of 1994, PL 103-227, etc.), research efforts (National Longitudinal Transition Study I & II), and public/private funding dedicated to investigating methods to improve the workplace literacy of the US workforce (National Adult Literacy Survey, 1993), recommendations for creating a tighter linkage between instructional methods, outcomes that accurately reflect instruction, and their application to workplace situations have been largely ignored. 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 ...

The Qatar Foundation recently launched the first World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) in the capital city of Doha on November 16-18, 2009. Three years in the making, its overall objective is to take on the task improving/providing global access to education for citizens as a basic human right through promoting/scaling/replicating concrete initiatives that are sustainable, innovative, and inclusive.  Over 1000 educational professionals,practitioners, and media from 90 countries participated in this invitation-only Summit, that was competently assisted by a small army of over 200 logistical/support personnel and many volunteers from the Qatar Youth Foundation.  The Summit attempted to find common ground among the many competing and often contradicting issues between what constitutes best and available practices in both the emerging and developed world's educational systems. It will now become an annual event, whose agenda and true global impact will grow as concrete partnerships, collaborations, and opportunities to create systemic educational change are brought to the Qatar Foundation and the Royal family's attention. There was a decided focus on higher education (voices speaking out about poverty, gender bias, and disability were heard too) as being the key pathway to economic opportunity, global citizenship, and peaceful resolutions to social problems that have plagued humanity since the dawn of civilization.  It was a great honor and responsibility to ...