Join the Conversation to Make Change Happen

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Admin

The following blog entry is a cross-post from Work in Progress, the official blog of the U.S. Department of Labor. The blog is written by Kathy Martinez, the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Disability Employment Policy. The Department of Labor in collaboration with the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services and the Social Security Administration are hosting an online dialogue seeking input from policymakers, youth service professionals, and others like you who are knowledgeable about transition issues for youth with disabilities. 

Youth with disabilities, like all young people, should grow up expecting to work and succeed. It’s critical that parents, educators and other influential adults reinforce this expectation, and the messages can’t start early enough. Of course, our nation’s education and employment policy must also cultivate a clear vision of work and community participation for young people with disabilities.

I was born blind and grew up in a large family. My sister Peggy was also born blind. We were the middle of six children, and there was no diagnosis for our blindness. But we were incredibly lucky because from a young age, our parents instilled in us an expectation of work. Fortunately — or unfortunately, depending on which way you look at it — this expectation started with household chores. And while I liked emptying the garbage as much as any teenager, I realize today that those chores taught me lessons about responsibility and accountability that are still relevant in my professional life.

Not all adults shared my parents’ expectations, however. So my parents often had to advocate for us. For instance, they fought for me, and later Peggy, to attend our local public school instead of a special one for the blind far away from our home and community. Basically, when my parents couldn’t wait for change, they made change happen.

That was good training for me, because today it’s my job as head of the Office of Disability Employment Policy. Each day, my ODEP colleagues and I work to make change happen. One of the changes we are working on is how to create more opportunities for youth with disabilities to successfully transition from school to adulthood and the world of work. Towards that end, we — in collaboration with the U.S. departments of Education and Health and Human Services and the Social Security Administration — are hosting an online dialogue May 13-27, 2013.

The purpose of this dialogue is to examine the impact of existing federal regulations and legislation on the transition from school to work for youth with disabilities. Compared to their peers without disabilities, these young people are twice as likely to drop out of school and half as likely to enroll in and complete postsecondary education. We’re enlisting the public’s help to change these outcomes.

Everyone with a stake in providing a pathway for youth to live, work and thrive in their communities is invited to visit the website and share their opinions. The website will be accessible and moderated. By submitting your ideas as well as commenting on and rating those of others, you will be providing important information that can help our agencies better align our policies, programs and practices.

Together, we can make change happen on behalf of America’s youth with disabilities.

Read the original posting here.

 

Posted in Advocacy, Collaboration, Guideposts for Success, Policy, Transition | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Is Your School Leading the Way in College and Career Preparation?

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Admin


What is an individualized learning plan or ILP? Depending on where you live, it could be a called a Next Step Plan, an Individual Graduation Plan, a High School and Beyond Plan, or another name. So what is it and why should you care?

The Path From ILPs to Post-Secondary SuccessThe short answer is, an ILP is a document used by all students in school, typically starting in middle school, that describes the student’s secondary course plans, postsecondary goals, and the related college and career readiness skills he or she has developed. The term also refers to the process by which a student develops an understanding of how his/her courses and in-and out-of-school activities are helping him/her achieve self-defined post-school goals.

The ILP is not the same as the Individualized Education Program (IEP) that each student receiving Special Education services has but it benefits students with IEPs because it can support the development of students’ IEP transition plans and increase their access to quality career development opportunities throughout middle and high school.

To date, 35 states are using ILPs and many states have mandated them for all students. One such state is Kentucky where individualized learning plans are being used as a strategy to increase students’ college and career readiness. One of Kentucky’s goals is to increase the percentage of students who are college and career ready from 34 percent to 67 percent by 2015. ILPs are being used in what the Kentucky Department of Education are calling “Operation Preparation” in which every 8th and 10th grader meets one-on-one with a trained community volunteer adviser to ensure they are sufficiently prepared for future educational and career goals.

This Kentucky example is just one illustration of how ILPs can further career development goals for students with and without disabilities. You may be thinking that ILPs sound terrific but wondering how you can possibly include them in your work when your day is already so full and resources so limited. In Kentucky, there is an average of 450 students to each individual school counselor. The state overcomes this particular challenge by ensuring that ILPs are part of a cross-system endeavor, involving general and special educator teachers, school and state leadership, school counselors, families, and most importantly the student who drives the process by defining his or her own goals. Everyone shares in the work and the reward of ensuring college and career readiness for students!

To learn more about how states across the country are using ILPs, tune into our webinar on May 16 1:30-3:00pm ET. Presenters from NCWD/Youth will highlight key research findings and policy recommendations on the use of individualized learning plans while presenters from the Connecticut State Department of Education will share lessons on implementing ILPs statewide for all students.

Register Here

Related Resources:

By Dana Fink, Assistant Project Coordinator with the National Collaborative on Workforce & Disability for Youth at the Institute for Educational Leadership’s Center for Workforce Developmen

 

Posted in Career Exploration, Career Preparation, Education, IEP, Individualized Learning Plan, Postsecondary Education, Transition, Youth Development | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Intersection of Foster Care and Mental Health

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Admin

The following blog entry is a cross-post from Disability.Blog, the official blog of Disability.gov. The blog is written by Stephanie Orlando, Member, National Council on Disability (NCD), with the assistance of Robyn Powell, NCD’s Attorney Advisor.  

May is recognized as both National Foster Care Awareness Month and Mental Health Awareness Month.  What most people do not realize is the overlap that often occurs with these populations.

In the United States, there are more than 400,000 children and teens in foster care.  Research reveals that children and teens in the foster care system have disproportionately high rates of psychiatric disability.

One study by the National Institute of Mental Health found that nearly half (47.9 percent) of youth in foster care were found to have clinically significant emotional or behavioral problems.  Likewise, researchers at the Casey Family Programs estimate that between one-half and three-fourths of children entering foster care exhibit behavioral or social competency problems that warrant mental health services.

Youth who have “aged out” of foster care also show high rates of psychiatric disability.  According to a study by the Casey Family Programs and Harvard Medical School, a high number of former foster children have psychiatric disabilities as adults.  Over half of foster care alumni had mental health diagnoses, compared to 22 percent of the comparison group.

The disproportionate level of mental health diagnoses is perhaps most evident with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  Thirty percent of foster alumni are diagnosed with PTSD, which is about twice the rate of U.S. combat veterans.

In 2008, the National Council on Disability (NCD), an independent federal agency that advises the President, Congress and other federal agencies on disability policy, issued a comprehensive report entitled, Youth with Disabilities in the Foster Care System: Barriers to Success and Proposed Policy Solutions.

In that report, NCD found that, “While the federal investment in the multiple systems with which these youth come in contact is significant, the disconnectedness and lack of coordination across programs and agencies call into question the effectiveness of government efforts.”

Five years later, the problems remain. The mental health needs of children and teens in foster care continue to be overlooked and inadequately addressed, often with detrimental consequences.

A significant number of the estimated 20,000 young people who leave foster care each year face inordinately bleak futures.  According to researchers, just over half of these young people – 54 percent - earn a high-school diploma, and a quarter of them become homeless.  On average, youth who age out of the foster care system with psychiatric disabilities fare even worse.

In 2003, researchers at Georgetown University estimated that only 42 percent of students with mental health diagnoses graduate from high school.  As such, foster care youth with psychiatric disabilities find themselves at a double disadvantage.

As we acknowledge both National Foster Care Awareness Month and Mental Health Awareness Month, NCD renews its call to action. We urge legislators, policymakers and service providers to direct significant attention to the needs of children and teens with psychiatric disabilities in the foster care system by following through on these recommendations:

  • Increased flexibility for states and communities so programs and services can be most effectively structured to meet the needs of children and teens with disabilities in foster care;
  • More federal support for research and demonstration projects to identify effective policies and practices that lead to positive outcomes for children and teens with disabilities in foster care;
  • Improvements in the quality, availability and affordability of mental health services and supports;
  • Better training for foster care parents and increased recruitment of individuals willing to foster children and teens with disabilities;
  • Greater access to individualized, comprehensive transition services, including mental health care, for children and teens with disabilities aging out of foster care; and increased collaboration among the education, juvenile justice, child welfare, labor, dependency court, health and mental health systems.

Furthermore, NCD applauds the President’s new budget proposal to fund mental health initiatives.  The proposed $205 million to help identify mental health problems, improve access to mental health services and support safer school environments, if adopted, will fill an important void for many children and teens in foster care who have psychiatric disabilities.

The goal for America’s youth to live healthy, happy lives and to become self-sufficient, contributing members of society is achievable, but we should not — and cannot — forget those young people who face significant barriers to reaching these goals.

Our nation must make a strong commitment to support children and teens with psychiatric disabilities throughout their time in foster care and take the steps necessary to ensure that a safe, healthy and positive transition to adulthood is planned for as the end goal.

This can only happen if we include youth with psychiatric disabilities in the planning process and in our communities going forward.  The foundation we, as a society, build for children and teens in foster care during their formative years will likely become the basis for the future they create. Let’s build it on solid ground… Click here for the original posting. 

Youth involved in the foster care system are one of the most vulnerable populations in our society. NCWD/Youth recognizes the unique supports, and services relevant to providing comprehensive transition services to all foster care youth, including those with psychiatric and other disabilities. Take a look at The Guideposts for Success for Youth in Foster Care to see how to address some of these relevant needs. NCWD/Youth’s Negotiating the Curves Toward Employment: A Guide About Youth Involved in the Foster Care System builds upon this organizing framework to assist individuals and communities in implementing programs to meet the needs of youth in the foster care system as they transition toward meaningful employment. 

 

 

Posted in Advocacy, Community Partnerships, Foster Youth, Guideposts for Success, Mental Health, Transition | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

5 Things to Do to Prepare for Your WRP Interview

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Admin

The following blog entry is a cross-post from Disability.Blog, the official blog of Disability.gov. The blog is written by Sara Mahoney, Business Development Specialist, U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Disability Employment Policy.

The Workforce Recruitment Program for College Students and Recent Graduates with Disabilities (WRP) is a recruitment and referral program that connects federal and private sector employers nationwide with highly motivated college students and recent graduates with disabilities who are eager to prove their abilities in the workplace through summer or permanent jobs.

The WRP is an excellent way for students and recent graduates with disabilities in all fields of study and of all grade and degree levels to market their abilities to a wide variety of potential employers across the United States, as well as sharpen their interviewing skills.

The way the program works is pretty simple. Coordinators at campuses nationwide register during the spring semester to help arrange interviews for students the following fall. Federal employees are trained as volunteer WRP recruiters and recruitment assignments are made over the summer. Soon after the fall semester starts, the candidates begin to sign up with designated campus coordinators to complete the registration and application process. If you are not sure who your school’s campus coordinator is, email wrp@dol.gov to find out who to contact on your campus.

After the candidates have completed all steps of the application process, they will be assigned a time for a 30 minute interview with the recruiter. The candidates are rated on four key characteristics: qualifications, communication, maturity and direction. Information from these candidate interviews is compiled in a searchable database that is available directly to federal employers. Private sector employers can take advantage of the WRP through the National Employer Technical Assistance Center a twww.askEARN.org.

There are five key steps that candidates should take to prepare for their WRP interview:

1. First and foremost, review all materials and requirements of the program. They are available on the main WRP website at www.wrp.gov. Also take time to review the supplemental materials that are available atwww.dol.gov/odep/wrp.

2. Meet with your campus Career Center to prepare your resume and cover letter, and to practice interviewing through mock interviews.

3. Educate yourself on what Schedule A* is and how you can obtain your Schedule A letter or documentation. Schedule A is a hiring authority that allows federal agencies to hire and/or to promote individuals with disabilities without competing the job.

Starting in the fall of 2013, all candidates must be Schedule A eligible in order to participate in WRP. A Schedule A Checklist and sample Schedule A letter have been developed for campus coordinators and candidates to review and use as a guide. These and other important documents can be found at http://www.dol.gov/odep/wrp/Students.htm.

4. Identify and practice talking about potential workplace accommodations that you may need with your campus Disability Support Services or Career Services professionals, or another person you trust. Remember that your classroom accommodations may not directly translate to workplace accommodations. You do not have to disclose your disability at any point in the application or interview process, but you will be asked to disclose any workplace accommodations you may require.

5. Watch the short videos that are posted on the Department of Labor website at http://www.dol.gov/odep/wrp/Videos.htm. These videos are intended to help prepare you, as a young person with a disability, to navigate the job search process.

There is no guarantee of an offer or a job through WRP, but if you follow these steps you will come out of the application and interview process being more prepared and polished for your next interview.

* Please note that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) simplified the Schedule A process in February of this year, and removed the requirement that people wishing to obtain Schedule A appointments must get a “certificate of job readiness” (http://www.opm.gov/news/releases/2013/02/opm-issues-final-rule-to-simplify-schedule-a-hiring-authority-for-persons-with-disabilities/). The document we link to in this post, “The ABCs of Schedule A,” has not yet be updated to reflect this change.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy(ODEP) and the U.S. Department of Defense’s Office of Diversity Management & Equal Opportunity (ODMEO) manage the WRP, which has continued to grow over the years with the participation of many additional federal agencies and sub-agencies. Since the program’s expansion in 1995, over 6,500 students and recent graduates have received temporary and permanent employment opportunities through the WRP.

Posted in Career Exploration, Career Preparation, Communicating with Youth, Postsecondary Education, Youth Employment | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

A Candle for the Long, Dark Tunnel: Celebrating National Poetry Month

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Admin

Hand holding microphone placard reading National Poetry Month AprilI have a long history of depression. It started when I was in middle school and continued through high school, college, and beyond. I was never good at talking about it, especially in my teen years, so I taught myself coping mechanisms. I wasn’t popular or interested in sports and kept a very small social circle. One of the first and best tools I used to combat depression was poetry. It was a light for me. I wrote pages and pages of it. Putting my feelings and all the darkness on the page gave me more perspective, made the pain a little bit smaller, made it real, and so, in some way, vanquishable.

Some poems I would share with friends and teachers, but many were simply too personal. I remember sharing one of my darker pieces with my mentor, our youth pastor, over a one-on-one meal. I had never felt so bare. At first, as he read my pages-long poem, I felt ashamed and embarrassed. I was a leader, a model student, and it felt strange to admit to having a “problem” or something not “perfect” or “right” about me. He continued reading, and I could see his face was concerned, but it began to feel a little better, easier to sit there and let him digest it. That poem was the only language I knew at the time to tell someone about the emotional maelstrom inside me.

April is National Poetry Month, which the Academy of American Poets (AAP) launched in 1996. Most adults don’t think about poetry in their day-to-day lives. Many say that poetry is dead or that only poets read poetry. But poetry is all around us, including in the song lyrics we hear every day. In many youth’s worlds, poetry is alive and well. And essential. Beyond therapeutic uses, poetry promotes youth development by helping youth build a sense of voice and self, spurring self-advocacy and community involvement, improving writing and reading skills, and better connecting youth to each other and different cultures.

In college, poetry became a way for me to explore and solidify my identity, to share my thoughts and feelings with others, and to be a part of a positive, creative community. I worked on and contributed to my school’s literature review and produced a poem a week for group critique.

In my first job after college, I worked at a drop-in youth center in downtown Denver. Most of our youth were from impoverished communities or were homeless. In addition to workforce and educational programming, the center also boasted a host of creative outlets, including music production studios, a full-color youth magazine, and open mic poetry slams. Youth wrote stories, poems, and raps about their lives, dreams, and struggles that they published in the magazine and performed at open mics. There were so many creative contributors, so much amazing talent, so much positive energy burgeoning amidst inner city problems.

Youth families and communities stand to benefit a great deal from poetry. Young poets can earn poetry scholarships for college. Youth can participate in local, regional, and national slam poetry competitions. Young poets can write to and hear back from famous poets. And the AAP has a list of 30 Ways to Celebrate National Poetry Month, including attending a poetry reading, buying a book of poetry for a school or public library, and watching a poetry movie (See Slam, if you haven’t yet—Rated R.).

We need to continue creating opportunities for all youth—and especially youth with mental health needs—to create and share poetry. Without it, it would have been harder to break through my isolation and stay afloat through adolescence. Plus, it makes the world a more beautiful place. And we need that, now more than ever.

Related Resources:

  • Youth Speaks – Nonprofit presenter of spoken word education, youth development, and presentation programs
  • Art from Ashes – Denver-based creative programs with workshops that offer young people access to the arts and to their creative power while addressing risk factors among struggling young people
  • TeenInk.com – Online and print magazine for youth publishing poetry, fiction, nonfiction, reviews, artwork, photography, and more
  • TheBluePencil.net – edited and produced by the students in the Creative Writing Program at Walnut Hill School for the Arts, located in Natick, Massachusetts. The magazine seeks to publish the best literary work in English by young writers (12–18) around the world.
  • Poetry Slam, Inc. – Nonprofit organization that oversees the international coalition of poetry slams

By Eric Cline, Program Coordinator at the Institute for Educational Leadership’s Center for Workforce Development

Posted in Culture, Events, Mental Health | Leave a comment

Help Youth Take Charge of Their Health

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Admin

 

Young female doctor holding appleWhen you think about preparing youth for transition to adulthood, do you think about preparing them to take care of their own health? Just as all youth need to develop competencies related to achieving employment and education goals, they also need to develop thriving competencies – the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for maintaining optimal physical and emotional wellness through adolescence and into adulthood.

Now that I’m an adult, rarely a day goes by that I don’t think about some aspect of my health and take certain actions to protect or improve it. But when I was a teenager, I wasn’t as aware of or concerned about managing my health. Even though the health and physical education classes in school taught me about typical adolescent health issues, I wouldn’t say I really knew what it meant to take responsibility for my own health.

I was fortunate that I could always rely on my parents to assess and manage my health needs. This included ensuring that I saw the appropriate doctors for routine and urgent care health needs and deciding which doctors I would see depending on our family’s insurance coverage and financial ability at the time. So it wasn’t until I left home to attend college and experienced a health crisis that I started learning how to make decisions about and manage my own healthcare.

At the age of 18, I suddenly had a health condition that required regular doctor visits, taking medication, monitoring my symptoms, discussing treatment options with my doctors, and making daily decisions about how to take care of myself to improve my health. There was a period during this transition that my health condition almost derailed my educational progress. My school work, my job, and my social life were all adversely affected as I struggled to cope with my illness.

Luckily, during this stage of my transition to adulthood, my family helped me learn a lot of what I needed to know about managing my health but I also did a lot of self-educating – reading about my health condition and asking my doctors questions. There were missteps and mistakes along the way but I learned from each experience and gradually became more competent at managing my condition.

Just as we often take our health for granted, we also take for granted that young people will learn what they need to know to manage their own health. We might assume they are learning everything they need to know at school, from their families, and from friends. But let’s not assume or take it for granted – let’s ask them and, when needed, connect them to opportunities to develop thriving competencies.

NCWD/Youth’s new Innovative Strategies Practice Brief, Youth Development and Leadership Opportunities to Develop Thriving Competencies, highlights some ways that youth programs and organizations currently support youth with this aspect of transition. The strategies featured in this brief include:

  • Providing or connecting youth to mental and physical health services;
  • Helping youth develop knowledge and skills for health-related decision making and management; and
  • Offering benefits planning and counseling to youth and families.

Share your own strategies and resources for helping youth learn to manage their own health by leaving us a comment.

______________________________________________

Thriving is one of five youth development competency areas. Adopting a youth development approach means helping youth to develop the full range of competencies they need to be fully prepared for adulthood. Learn more about Youth Development and Leadership, Area 3 of the Guideposts for Success.

Related Resources:

By Mindy Larson, Senior Program Associate, with the National Collaborative on Workforce & Disability for Youth at the Institute for Educational Leadership’s Center for Workforce Development.

Photo courtesy of © Yanc | Dreamstime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images
Posted in Guideposts for Success, Health, Independent Living, Mental Health, Tools, Transition | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Preparing All Youth for Education & Career Decision Making: The Promise of Individualized Learning Plans

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Admin

Several students holding their books are shown together on a campus.Are the middle and high school age youth that you know prepared to make sound decisions about their education and career pathways? In other words,

  • Are they able to identify their own career interests, skills, and work values?
  • Are they knowledgeable about various career options that match up with their interests, skills and values?
  • Are they aware of what high school courses, postsecondary education, and employability skills are required to pursue the careers that interest them?
  • Are they learning what it might be like to work in careers of interest by participating in paid or unpaid work experiences and other career exploration activities either in or out of school (e.g. job shadowing, workplace tours, employer presentations, career-focused mentors)?

If you answered YES to most or all of these questions, that’s great news! All young people need career preparation and work-based learning opportunities (Area 2 of the Guideposts for Success) like those described above, so the youth you know are becoming equipped for a successful transition to adulthood. Unfortunately, many young people are not receiving these critical opportunities, and as a result, they are ill-prepared to make informed choices and navigate the transition from high school into and through postsecondary education and employment.

Thanks to the increasing use of individualized learning plans (ILPs) in states and school districts across the U.S., it is becoming more common for middle and high schools students to receive at least some career development opportunities at school. An individualized learning plan (ILP) is both a document and a process that students use – with support from school counselors, teachers, and parents – to define their career goals and postsecondary plans in order to inform the students’ decisions about their courses and activities throughout high school. (Read the ILP Fact Sheet for a fuller description.)

Because of their potential to increase career development opportunities for all students, including students with disabilities, NCWD/Youth has been studying the characteristics and use of ILPs across states. In a new policy brief titled, “Using Individualized Learning Plans to Produce College and Career Ready High School Graduates,” we share our key research findings and recommendations for various stakeholders.

Last month, the American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) sponsored a Capitol Hill Policy Forum about NCWD/Youth’s research on how states are using ILPs. The Forum included a presentation by Dr. Terry Holliday, Kentucky Commissioner of Education, on Kentucky’s experience implementing ILPs for all students statewide. The summary of this policy forum and the presentation slides are available on AYPF’s website.

One of NCWD/Youth’s key research findings has to do with defining a quality individualized learning plan. Based on our review of states’ ILP policies and practices and studies of how they are being used and affecting student outcomes, NCWD/Youth defines a quality ILP as:

  • A document consisting of: (a) course taking and post-secondary plans aligned to career goals; and (b) documentation of the range of college and career readiness skills that the student has developed.
  • A process that enhances the relevance of school and out-of-school learning opportunities, and provides the student access to career development opportunities that incorporate self-exploration, career exploration, and career planning and management skill building activities.

To learn more about ILPs and our research findings and recommendations, read the policy brief and join us on March 26, 11 am to 12 pm EDT for a Twitter Chat when we will talk with Dr. Scott Solberg (@vsolberg), Associate Dean of Research at Boston University’s School of Education and NCWD/Youth’s principal investigator. To join the discussion, follow NCWD/Youth on Twitter, @ncwdyouth_iel, and use the #ILPchat hashtag to share your own questions and comments on the topic.

Related Resources:

By Mindy Larson, Senior Program Associate, with the National Collaborative on Workforce & Disability for Youth at the Institute for Educational Leadership’s Center for Workforce Development.

Photo courtesy of: photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Posted in Assessment, Career Exploration, Career Preparation, Education, Guideposts for Success, Individualized Learning Plan, Policy, Tools | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month: Hamza’s Story

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Admin

Hamza Jaka HeadshotNCWD/Youth is celebrating Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month all throughout March. Part of that celebration is sharing real stories from people in our community, people who are proud and successful in large part because of their disabilities, not in spite of them. Read Hamza’s story below.

Hello everyone! My name is Hamza Jaka, and I’m currently a junior at UC-Berkeley (and Co-president of the UC-Berkeley Disabled Student Union), studying linguistics, and generally working on human and disability rights issues in the US, Middle East, and Southeast Asia. My particular focus is on studying and promoting accessible housing and community development in Pakistan, but with the end goal of promoting accessible, affordable community based housing all over the world.

My developmental disability is Cerebral Palsy, and this not only affects my body physically, but also my ability to perceive space, and visual three-dimensional figures. I’m terrible at geometry and syntax, to tell you the truth, and navigating around cities has long since been my Achilles heel. I get lost about three to four times a day, but have had the pleasure of being lost in Washington, D.C. (figuratively and literally during my time as an intern at the Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy as an AAPD intern), Pakistan, Damascus, and New York.

Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month means a lot to me, because I used to strongly deny that I had a developmental disability, instead painting my disability as a purely physical one. I did not want to be thought of as having any intellectual differences from my peers. I didn’t want to be thought of as stupid or at a lesser level than my peers.  I thought like that until my exposure to the disability community in Waukesha, Wisconsin, through an integrated  acting troupe that performed in Waukesha and around the state, the Adaptive Community Approach Program Players. When I was there, I met many close friends and incredible actors with developmental disabilities, including down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and Osteogenisis Imperfecta, and I realized that there was nothing wrong with having a developmental disability, and in fact, it was something that should be proud of. Without being included as a member of this group, I never would have learned to accept my disability, and make the great friends that I did.

From there, I got more involved in disability rights, working for Kids As Self Advocates (KASA), as an advisory board member. Bolstered by this experience, I went to work in Pakistan, helping schools integrate people with developmental disabilities, and helping the Pakistani Center for Independent Living outreach to youth.

To me, DD Awareness Month is a call for greater inclusion, not only in society as a whole, but in the disability community as well. America and the world have come a long way in including people with disabilities, especially with the ADA and the ADA Amendments Act, but we still have a long way to go (particularly as the U.S. and other countries around the world seek to ratify the U.N Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities).  I see this a lot when I’m working with students who are applying for disability accommodations for the first time. People are often afraid to admit they need accommodations, even for small things like extra time on exams or note taking. Until that fear disappears for everyone, we still have something to fight for. And as the disability community, we need to practice what we preach, making sure to include the perspectives of everyone.

Last year, in my role as co-president of the UC-Berkeley Disabled Students Union, I noticed that our primary membership and leadership group were wheelchair users, which really wasn’t representative of the population of students with disabilities on our campus. I worked with our Disabled Students Program and our leadership team to ensure that we had a greater diversity of disabilities in our membership. After many emails and sit downs throughout the year, we had a membership of people with visible and invisible disabilities, visual impairments, and other mobility disabilities, and elected a new leadership group that was more representative of our membership. Obviously, we still work to ensure we include everyone’s voice on campus, because the more voices that we hear, the better we see issues and communicate. Inclusion improves a community, and as a community, we need to include everyone we can, and admit when we’re not being as inclusive as we should be.

Inclusion creates greater unity, adds fresh new perspective, and nurtures the next generation. Most importantly, we fight to promote greater inclusion, so we should model that idea in our own work! Never forget that everyone has something to say, and something that deserves to be heard. Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month reminds me of the wonderful diversity of disability, and serves as a reminder to include everyone.

Share your story about what Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month means to you below or on Facebook or Twitter using #DDAware

Related Resources:

By Hamza Jaka, Student, University of California, Berkeley

Posted in Accommodations, Culture, Developmental Disability, Disclosure, Inclusion, Innovative Strategies, Positive Peer Influence, Self Advocacy, Self Determination, Transition, Youth Leadership | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

NCWD/Youth is Spreading the Word to End the Word

Posted on March 6, 2013 by Admin

Graphic text "Spread the Word to End the Word 03.06.13 Speak Out Now"At different points throughout history, various slurs and other forms of hate speech against disenfranchised groups were regarded as commonplace, acceptable language. As more of these groups made headway towards the achievement of equal rights, the slurs began to slow or stop. However, there is one hateful word; a word that affects me personally, that is still used everywhere you turn. That word is “retarded,” which for the duration of this blog, I will refer to as “the R-word”.

Today, the R-word has become kind of a catch-all insult. It’s what you might call your friend when she is acting silly or what you might yell at your computer when it isn’t working properly, and it is certainly prevalent in comments on internet forums everywhere. You may not realize it, but the R-word is hurtful, even if you are not directing it at someone with an intellectual or developmental disability. For people like me, my friends, and my colleagues with developmental disabilities, these uses of the R-word area form of bullying that reminds us that anything negative can be equated with outdated terminology for our disabilities.

My disability is not a negative component in my life. Yes, it is a challenge, but moreover it is a part of my identity, a part that has given me a unique set of skills, experiences, and perspective on life. That is why today, on the annual day of awareness, I am taking part in the Spread the Word to End the Word Campaign.

This campaign’s purpose is to spread awareness about the degrading nature of the R-word and to encourage others to stop using it. You can spread the word by talking to your friends and family or including one of the campaign’s specially designed graphics on your Facebook page. You can even contact people who work for newspapers and magazines to share your story and ask that they not use the R-word in their publications. You can learn how to appropriately communicate about and with people with disabilities by reading and sharing this guide. Sharing your story is important, but if you are a person with a disability and you choose to share online, be sure you are making an informed decision about disability disclosure. You can read more in Cyber Disclosure for Youth with Disabilities a supplement to The 411 on Disability Disclosure: A Workbook for Youth with Disabilities.

Along with taking action and sharing this information with my peers, I am choosing a new R-word, one that accurately describes me including my disability; I choose “reflective”. What’s your R-word?

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By Dana Fink, Assistant Project Coordinator with the National Collaborative on Workforce & Disability for Youth at the Institute for Educational Leadership’s Center for Workforce Development

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