From across the pond comes an opinion piece on how certain toys can help children with disabilities feel better about themselves as well as increase inclusion with their non-disabled peers.
Start with the toybox to broaden children’s understanding of disability, from The Scotsman, was written by Dr. Sian Jones, whose research is primarily in the areas of typical and atypical development, with a specific focus on bullying and friendship in schools. “Toys are a way into a child’s world, and they mirror the world to them,” Jones writes. “If there isn’t an opportunity to play with disabled characters or children don’t come across disabled people doing everyday things in books and films, we’re losing an opportunity to broaden the next generation’s understanding of the world and the people in it,” she writes.
“There is growing evidence that toys and resources representing disability help non-disabled children to think about making friends with disabled children.”
Below are other recent pieces on representational toys and books, plus a press release on LEGO’s new line of toys, LEGO Friends, which as of 2023 includes characters with a wider variety of skin tones, cultural backgrounds, disabilities, and neurodiversity.
How Columbia OT Students Are Helping Local Kids with Disabilities (Columbia University Irving Medical Center)
Reading Disability History Back into American Girl (Nursing Clio)
Two in three kids want toys to better reflect real-world feelings (Lego)
The American Academy of Pediatrics has published a new “statement” on “The Hospitalized Adolescent” that describes how teens may be uniquely impacted by hospitalization for acute and chronic illnesses. The hope is that pediatricians will have a broader understanding of the requirements that will ensure “compassionate management.”
Importantly, an additional clinical report provides more detail on hospital care for adolescents who may have learning, intellectual, or developmental disabilities, with an emphasis on the evaluation of their ability to participate in their care and assent to decisions.
Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with developmental disabilities, it notes, “have varying degrees of cognitive abilities; therefore, there are important considerations for these patients in the hospital setting. Although no studies exist on minor patients, a study of adults older than 18 years with intellectual disabilities demonstrated that, for the same admitting diagnoses, patients with intellectual disabilities had statistically significant longer lengths of stay, longer ICU stays, and higher rates of surgical complications. Patients with developmental disabilities, in addition to a chronic health condition such as autism spectrum disorder, aggressive behavior, spastic quadriplegia, or respiratory illnesses, and patients admitted through the emergency department were 4 times as likely to have complications.”
Some of the recommendations include:
Westchester Institute for Human Development is offering free training on the IEP process on Feb. 7. The two-hour event includes a look at the Committee on Special Education (CSE), the roles and responsibilities of all parties, the various components of the IEP and the transition planning process.
Presented by: Hudson Valley School-Age FACE Center and NYSED OSE Partnership
Register here.
For some more info, try this primer on the IEP process from the NYC Department of Education.
There’s also this one from the NYS Education Department.
The ARC Westchester and Community Support Network (CSN) are co-hosting a free virtual event for all interested parties. It’s part of The Arc Westchester’s Transition Academy, which “brings informational sessions to families and professionals on topics meaningful to transition planning.”
The event is free, but registration is required! Register here.
Some other helpful transition links:
OPWDD’s School Transition for Students with Developmental Disabilities page
New York State Department of Health has links here that include information on ACCESS-VR.
A NYSed.gov memo on transition including appropriate development of IEPs
While a majority of the articles on The Boost will focus on I/DD, I’ll also curate news on physical disabilities. So, in that vein, a new survey found Las Vegas, New York City and Orlando, Fla., to be “the most disability-friendly cities in the U.S.,” according to an article in USA Today.
The survey had 3,500 participants from the U.K., USA, Japan, China and Australia who self-identified as having a disability. They were asked which destinations they found most accessible globally. Conducted by The Valuable 500, a global business collective made up of 500 CEOs and their companies that work together for disability inclusion, it notes that “in every case, respondents chose a city in their home country as the most accessible. This is undoubtedly because travelers with a disability need to be confident their needs will be met – failure in our case doesn’t just mean disappointment, but potentially disaster – and that means they need to be able to access information to confirm not only that they will have somewhere to stay, but that they will also be able to get around and see what they want to see.”
So why did New York City rank so high? Some New York pluses, according to the survey, include a focus on aging in place, such as benches installed around the city “for people who can’t walk long distances.” The city also has Link-NYC, state-of-the-art kiosks equipped with free Wi-Fi, Braille, plus video remote interpreting via an American Sign Language interpreter.
Where does New York fail? No surprise: accessibility of its subway system.
Photo: Creative Commons
How the Recording Academy, RAMPD Expanded Accessibility and Disability Inclusion for the Grammys’ L.A. Return (The Hollywood Reporter)
The Housing Resource Guide, created to help people with I/DD to understand the systems and options for housing, has been updated by the New York Alliance for Inclusion & Innovation. The guide is intended for the use of people with I/DD in need of housing, their families and their Circle of Support including care managers, fiscal intermediaries, direct support professionals, provider agencies and oversight agencies.
First published in 2012 by Westchester Institute for Human Development and revised by The NY Alliance, it can help you navigate a truly confusing system. Warning: It’s not for the fainthearted; it’s some 70 pages long, but it’s a great resource with which to be familiar and if you’re not in need of housing for a loved one, consider at least skimming it.
The content includes information on Certified and Non-Certified Housing, Types of Housing, Support Services and Creating a Housing Plan.
In addition to checking out the guide, be sure to read the informative text found here, which puts the guide into context. It explains terminology, such as Housing Navigation, and reports, among other things, that “NY State currently supports approximately 38,000 people with I/DD in certified congregate and community housing throughout the state, with an additional 6,000 people receiving some assistance with housing and support in non-certified settings.”
Check it out!
The good news: School districts in New York state received a total of more than $14 billion in COVID relief funds. The problematic news, at least in New York City: A “significant chunk” of that one-time relief was spent on initiatives “that have recurring costs,” writes Chalkbeat.
A report released by Advocates for Children, part of a call to action to New York City policymakers, highlights the programs in the city currently being supported by federal funds. They include hundreds of new preschool inclusion class seats to increase opportunities for students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs); the expansion of school-wide restorative justice practices; and literacy instruction and dyslexia programming.
The school system “is all too quickly approaching a steep fiscal cliff,” the report writes.
The programs, however, “are not necessarily at immediate risk,” writes Chalkbeat, “since the federal funding runs until the 2024-25 school year, though advocates argue the city should make plans to address the looming fiscal cliff now.”
A report released this past November from the Office of the New York State Comptroller School notes that the $14 billion came from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSA), and the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act.
Recent testing data shows that students had a substantial loss of learning nationally and in New York state and New York City specifically.
While an earlier draft of this story noted that the 2023-2027 Strategic Plan was in draft form and needed your input, it would seem that the final plan is in place. Apologies; The New York State Office for People With Developmental Disabilities still has its call for comments online, but another section notes that the plan released in November is final. It’s still well worth your time to look it over. You can find it here.
Included in the plan are solutions to critical issues such as: strengthening the workforce; providing new housing options; better supporting people where they are; exploring new support opportunities; improving existing options; and supporting people to find employment and meaningful day activities.
Some facts about OPWDD:
The Parent to Parent NYS group is launching a monthly group meeting for metro-area parents of teens and young adults (13-21) with disabilities.
The informal meetings, to be held the first Thursday of the month, are where parents can discuss their experiences parenting a child with a disability in this age group. It will cover topics such as transitioning into and out of high school, puberty, guardianship and more. It’s also a great way to find out about local resources and meet other parents like you.
DETAILS (NOTE: You must register in advance here.)
Date: Thursday, Feb. 2
Time: 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
If, like me, you’re obsessed with movies, you’ve had your eyes peeled on the annual Sundance Film Festival (through Jan. 29), the first being held in person since COVID. I was especially happy to come across this guide to Disability-Inclusive Sundance Films from Respect Ability.
The organization writes that with “one-in-five people having a disability in the U.S. today, the lack of representation – just 2.3 percent of characters in the 100 top-grossing films of 2019 and 8 percent in family films – means that millions of people are unable to see themselves reflected in media.”
The work includes the short Take Me Home, which makes its world premiere at the festival. It’s from writer/director Liz Sargent, a Korean American who explores themes of adoption, disability and family. It stars her sister, who was born at 2 pounds with a cyst on her brain leaving her with little short-term memory and various degrees of cognitive and physical disabilities.” Read more about it here.
Another standout is STILL: A Michael. J. Fox Movie, a documentary about the actor’s life and living with Parkinson’s disease. It’s “about owning your narrative, which often is difficult for disabled individuals to do,” writes Respect Ability. “Even when the most successful people acquire a disability, society is quick to judge and make assumptions that they are now less than.”
Here’s a terrific interview Fox had at Sundance with the film’s director, Davis Guggenheim, and editor Michael Harte.
Featured image photo credit: Flickr by Photographing Travis