Playwright Amy Herzog on the strangeness of caregiving, children with disabilities are missing school and more developmental disability news for the week ending May 17, 2024.

Spotlight

Amy Herzog Wants You to Enter Into the Strangeness of Caregiving (New Yorker)

I was blown away by this interview with the playwright of Mary Jane, which stars Rachel McAdams as the mother of a 2-year-old born with serious medical conditions. Herzog wrote the play while caring for her elder daughter, who was born with a rare muscular disease called nemaline myopathy and who died last year at age 11.

“What Herzog brings to the stage is the richness of the relationship within the family but also within a larger constellation of caregivers,” writes journalist Parul Sehgal. “The conversations with doctors and nurses are rendered with piercing specificity.”

And Sehgal’s incisive and sensitive questions result in a rich and and moving dialog that I believe will feel relevant to anyone who has a loved one with a disability.

Local

Plan to build 37 apartments for people with disabilities leads to backlash in N.J. town Critics cite concerns about the proposed demolition of three “historic” houses on the two sites, while advocates say they view the criticism as discriminatory. All I know is, neighborhoods and towns always fight disability housing. (nj.com)

DSPs

Shivoo, a Digital Directory with Support Staff for People with Special Needs, Partners with CUNY on Training Program Brooklyn-based CUNY and Shivoo create curriculum for Direct Support Professionals (DSP) working with individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities. (Press release)

Employment

Disability groups prioritize communication trainings Disability:IN, a nonprofit organization that encourages inclusion in the workplace, has launched trainings to help people with disabilities better tell their personal stories during the job seeking process. (Axios)

Education

Why children with disabilities are missing school and losing skills A recent federal survey of school districts across the U.S. found special education jobs were among the hardest to staff – and vacancies were widespread. (NPR)

Misc.

Disability Scoop has several good stories this week, including how Federal officials are concerned about increasing private equity investment in home and community-based services, and this one, which really drew me in: Supreme Court Asked To Consider Whether Parents Can Record IEP Meetings. At issue is whether parents have a First Amendment right to “record government officials in the performance of their duties.” My gut instinct, given the shenanigans (to put it politely) that I know goes on, is a resounding, “Yes, they do.”