Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

Search Results

You searched for: -

There are 400 results  for your search.  View and Refine Your Search Terms

  • Turning workers' challenges into workplace assets

    Colorado legislation now bans wages that are even lower than the minimum wage for employees with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD). The antiquated law was initially enacted as an incentive for business owners but has been abolished by several states. The new law also provides access to job coaching, which disability advocates are thrilled about.

    Read More

  • Giving Voice: Service Transforms Life for Hearing Impaired

    The Mongolian Association of Sign Language Interpreters launched a free social media service that provides interpreters for people with hearing impairments. Using Facebook Messenger, the service allows clients to use video calls to talk with a sign language interpreter, who then reaches out to an institution or an individual on the client’s behalf. The initiative has six sign language interpreters and has fielded 3,543 calls. Interpreters help people get information and resolve problems, with most clients seeking assistance communicating with medical professionals and government welfare offices.

    Read More

  • Expanded Silver Alert system helps those with developmental disabilities

    Three years after Arizona added people with intellectual or developmental disabilities to the list of people who can trigger a public alert when they go missing, advocates say the state enjoys better coordination from one community to the next. While the numbers aren't tracked, advocates say many people on the autism spectrum or with other disabilities have been quickly found and returned to safety. The state expanded its Silver Alert program, originally for missing seniors, and other states are starting to follow suit. An alert can result in notifications by phone, news and social media, and highway signs.

    Read More

  • What 'gentle parenting' can teach us about care, relationships, and communication

    Triple P is a public health intervention led by schools, clinics, and governments to make the key principles of “gentle parenting” accessible to parents around the world. Parents receive support and coaching to create a safe and engaging environment for their children, promote positive learning environments, maintain reasonable expectations, shift from coercive strategies to helping children understand appropriate behavior, and practice self-care. There are low cost and online versions of the program to increase accessibility and parents who have taken the course report positive outcomes.

    Read More

  • Lummi Nation Creates a Community to Support Families

    The Lummi Tribal council created Sche'lang'en Village to provide a supportive community for Native families that have been torn apart by the foster system, drugs, or domestic violence. The more than 30 families accepted to the low-cost housing project receive a host of services to help them recover and build better futures. A disproportionate number of Native children are taken from their families into foster care, which damages not only families but the Native culture.

    Read More

  • The ‘prison' with no fence: Go inside a Charlotte women's center changing lives for good

    Charlotte's Center for Women uses a rehabilitative approach to incarceration, letting up to 30 women at a time live in a group home that provides both therapy and connections to employment. Women with one to three years left on their sentences can apply for a spot in the residential work-release program. They and their families – most are mothers – get the counseling they need to adjust to a better life once the residents get released. The women say the small freedoms they are granted in the home, plus the respect and help they get, do for them what prison never could in changing lives.

    Read More

  • Fulfilling Your Dreams Despite Disabilities Can Be Easy; This Nonprofit Shows How

    The Network for Inclusion of People with Special Needs (NIPSN) provides empowerment-based counseling, needs-specific rehabilitation, assistive equipment, and vocational training to people with disabilities. Residents live in a dormitory for up to 18 months while they receive services, including training to use assistive technologies. NIPSN also provides vocational training, like making vases, beads, and soap, which can provide a sustainable livelihood. NIPSN helps children finish school and provides free raw materials, equipment, and a small stipend to help residents start producing goods independently.

    Read More

  • Special clinics aim to get COVID vaccine to developmentally disabled

    Grassroots volunteer groups are helping people across the country make COVID-19 vaccine appointments. Get Out the Shot: Los Angeles has 100 vetted volunteers who have booked 300 appointments through the group’s system and thousands more on their own. Residents leave a message or fill out a Google form with their information and a volunteer picks up their case, books an appointment, and calls them to confirm. These volunteer organizations fill important assistance gaps in local government services that are stretched thin. Some groups focus on getting appointments for people from underserved communities.

    Read More

  • A way forward for employing people with disabilities in Lithuania

    Employment intermediaries from VšĮ SOPA act as workforce development counselors and recruiters for both employers and people with disabilities. By preparing people for jobs that fit their abilities, and then aiding in a job search, the intermediaries are able to place about half of their 100-plus clients in appropriate jobs. Common in Western Europe, where government funding enables such services, the service in Lithuania relies on private funding, which can be less stable. Jobs for people with disabilities provide self-confidence and independence.

    Read More

  • Recipes For A Revolution: Albergo Etico and the empowerment of those with disabilities

    Albergo Etico prepares people with disabilities for work in the hotel industry, using training based on the Montessori method. The "download" method helps people learn job skills at their own pace, translating lessons for people with various cognitive abilities. Training begins with their families, doing household chores in their own home. Trainees now work in eight Italian cities, plus three other countries. The investment pays off both economically and socially, as trainees gain autonomy and self-sufficiency.

    Read More