A new New York law aims to boost detection of abuse of kids with I/DD, scores of disabled people are caught in the Israel-Hamas conflict, AI models may contain biases against people with disabilities, and more news for the week ending Dec. 2, 2023.

New York

NYC leaders address after-school concerns of families with kids with disabilities The Committee on Youth Services spoke with the Department of Ed and other city agencies about addressing “gaps” in services. (News12 Westchester)

Law passed to boost detection of abuse of kids with I/DD The Office of Children and Family Services has been charged with developing and updating a training program on the challenges faced by children with I/DD. (CNY Central)

Dept. of Labor announces states joining initiative to increase competitive integrated employment New York is among the 12 “core states” chosen to participate in the National Expansion of Employment Opportunities Network initiative. (Dept. of Labor)

Outside of New York

Florida leaves $800 million on the table for disability services Advocates say officials have let money fall through the cracks, money that would give 23,000 people on a waiting list the critical services they need. (Orlando Sentinel)

UCLA has a new disability studies major — the first of its kind at any public university in California California universities have struggled to institutionalize disability scholarship and to hire disabled faculty to teach it. (Los Angeles Times)

Colorado autism care providers worry proposed Medicaid adjustments aren’t enough to stabilize industry (Colorado Public Radio)

World

Disability News from Gaza and Israel A curation of recent articles about people with disabilities caught in the Israel-Hamas conflict. (Disability Brief)

Federal

Biden Administration Works to Increase Preschool Inclusion Officials outline steps to alleviate “significant barriers” to accessing inclusive childcare programs. (Disability Scoop)

Autism

A rift over ‘profound autism’ reveals a community’s deeper divide Amid a burgeoning neurodiversity movement, some say autistic children who are nonverbal and intellectually disabled are being left behind. (Washington Post)

When We Design for Autism, We Design for Everyone This article from October is a fascinating look at neuro-inclusive design. (Metropolis)

Opinion

We’re facing a crisis in caregiving for the disability community New York organizations made clear to legislators and Gov. Hochul that a significant increase in pay for direct-support professionals was needed — and they were ignored. (Times Union)

The next Census could undercount the number of disabled Americans by 20 million This piece argues that the disability questions the Cenus is proposing to use undercounted this population in two other surveys. (Statnews.com)

Tech

Trained AI models exhibit learned disability bias The tools are driven by learned associations that often contain biases against persons with disabilities. (Penn State)

Santa!

At Malls Nationwide, Santa Goes Sensory-Friendly More than 300 malls are set to participate in the events known as “Caring Santa.” (Disability Scoop)