A K-12 school curriculum that teaches about people with disabilities, ADHD drug shortages have people worried, the size of North Carolina’s waitlist for services for people with disabilities is hard to comprehend and more news for the week ending Aug. 19, 2023.
Spotlight
Shapiro Administration awards disability-inclusive education While an increasing number of states ban the teaching of minority histories and experiences, Pennsylvania is launching a pilot curriculum for the largest, and most vulnerable, minority: people with disabilities. (pahomepage.com)
New York
Group Home Staffing Crisis Forces Woman Into Weekly 120-Mile Trip She and dozens of other Central New York group home residents reportedly are having their lives “upended” by a staffing crisis. (Disabilityscoop.com)
NYPD recruits learn to interact with autistic students from special ed experts The mayor, schools chancellor and police commissioner announced a new partnership between the DOE and Police Academy that aims to work with young people with autism and other developmental disabilities.” (silive.com)
Audit: State parks need to improve disability accessibility A New York State audit looked at 40 parks and found over 60% of areas where accessibility could be improved. (wivb.com)
Could dental therapists help bridge the oral health gap in New York? To address the shortage of providers for people on Medicaid, a bill establishes dental therapists in New York. (Times-Union.com)
Outside of New York
Maryland: Maryland awards $3M to combat racial disproportionality in special ed Nationally, 5% of districts in 2020-21 were identified as being racially disproportionate in special education student identifications, placements and discipline practices. (k12dive.com)
North Carolina: More people with disabilities in NC wait for services while a court fight continues The waitlist has grown to 17,000 people. (ncnewsline.com
Federal
Federal Investigation Probing ACCES-VR for Alleged Overtime Violations This investigative piece from Adam Stone, publisher of theexaminer.news, an independent New York newspaper chain, is the fourth in a series. (theexaminernews.com)
Health
The Collateral Damage of A.D.H.D. Drug Shortages With the school year starting, a medication shortage has people worried. (nytimes.com)
The definition of clinical trial diversity must include disabled people People with disabilities are the largest minority group in the U.S. but they remain “heavily excluded” from clinical trials. (statnews.com)
Education
Special Education Teacher Shortage Persists Nationally Reportedly, it’s not quite as dire as last year’s, but a “vast majority of states” face a worrisome shortage. (disabilityscoop.com)
The newest form of school discipline: Kicking kids out of class and into virtual learning The practice is a “legacy” of the pandemic, and the discipline overwhelmingly and disproportionately affects students of color and students with disabilities. (hechingerreport.org)
The Courts
In the news this week were articles on the pending U.S. Supreme Court case, Acheson Hotels v. Laufer, in which a civil rights “tester” has sued Acheson Hotels, LLC for failing to make clear whether its hotels were accessible on its website, as required by the ADA. The case, scheduled to be heard in the next session of the court on Oct. 4, 2023, will look at whether the tester can sue despite not visiting, nor intending to visit, the hotels. A sampling:
Hotel Accessibility Reaches the Supreme Court An anecdotal look from an ACLU Disability Rights Program fellow with a disability. (aclu.org)
Disability Advocates Urge Supreme Court Not To Limit ADA Protections Eighteen disability organizations argue that testers are critical to ensuring disability rights. (disabilityscoop.com)
Finance
FYI, I can’t link to it, but Andrew Ross Sorkin’s Dealbook newsletter reported on K. Ventures, a new venture capital firm from a Kennedy family “scion” focused on the disability community.
Entrepreneurship
Local woman launches cookie business after repeatedly being denied jobs over disability After being turned down on job interviews because of her disability, a young Boston woman with Down syndrome sells her cookies in over 1,000 stores nationwide. (boston25news.com)
Personal Essays
The Ones We Sent Away When Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Jennifer Senior was 12 years old, she learned about an aunt with intellectual and developmental disabilities who had been institutionalized. (theatlantic.com)
A writer pieces together the story of a family secret: An aunt who was sent away And here’s an NPR interview with Senior. (npr.org)
Eye on…
You all, there’s a Special Rodeo for children and adults with disabilities happening Aug. 26 at the Rapid City, S.D., Central States Fair and I am so into it. It’s not the first time at the rodeo for this rodeo (sorry), at which participants are partnered with a “rodeo buddy.” Keep an eye on this space!
Call to Action
Call on Congress to Recognize Direct Support Professionals Use ANCOR’s one-click advocacy tool to support the bipartisan “Recognizing the Role of Direct Support Professionals Act,” which recently passed the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. (ancor.org)
