Getting Accommodations in College

A good short article on getting accommodations for ACT and SATs as well as at colleges. It clearly states the need to self identify, meet with the coordinator and get accommodations in place. Its clear and concise, and a nice reference for students and families.
I especially like that it encourages students to negotiate accommodations even if they don't think they'll need them. It's better to have them an not use them, than need them and not have them.

NPR piece on Prepping Kids with Disabilities for College

Also great: Toto, I have a feeling we're not in High school any more. A more comprehensive guide from the University of Montana Missoula


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Kate's Platypus

This is for Kate, I thought you'd appreciate this.

We think of you often,




From Busted Tees

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Christian Perspective of Downs Syndrome

In a very compassionate article Al Hsu talks about having a son with downs syndrome and how is wife and he were encouraged to abort the child. It doesn't preach against abortion, but argues that the church should look to protect all of those with disabilities against discrimination.

"Jean Vanier, founder of L'Arche communities, which bring abled and disabled people together under one roof, warns in Living Gently in a Violent World that in a few years there may be no more children with Down syndrome in France because they will have all been aborted. In China, babies with disabilities are often abandoned. Extremist groups in the Middle East have even used people with mental disabilities as unwitting suicide bombers. The church must advocate on behalf of those most vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Care for the disabled is a global justice issue.

The 2000 U.S. Census found that 19.4 percent of the population is affected by physical or intellectual disability. One in 140 children now has an autism spectrum disorder, according to the 2007 Annual Review of Public Health. Cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injuries, spina bifida, Alzheimer's, and a host of other conditions affect millions. If you don't currently know someone with a disability, chances are that you will.

All of us are only temporarily abled. We are only a car acci-dent or stroke away from disability. "

Its great to see another perspective on disabliity, and the entire article is worth a read.

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Buying Dragon AT on Ebay

Nice article from Hand to Mouth: Assistive Technology about buying Dragon Natually Speaking 9.5 software from Ebay and what to watch out for. He warns against

“'disk' only” auctions, sold in quantities too large to be believable. You can bet that they’re pirated. The pirated software is a truly bad thing to buy, not only for legal reasons but also functional reasons. One disk means one serial number, a unique way of identifying that particular installation disk."

He says that other warning signs are no box, no paper manual, and not a Dragon headset.

His recommendations would go equally well for any other software I would suspect as well, whether AT software such as Dragon or JAWS, or more general purpose software.

FYI a free version of JAWS is available from the the Freedom Scientific website, it allows you to use it for 40 minutes then locks up, and you have to restart your computer to use it again. Fine for someone like me who uses it for accessibility testing, not great for a regular user. Is a great way to try it out and get some familiarity with it and see if its for you before laying out the $895 for it. http://www.freedomscientific.com/products/fs/jaws-product-page.asp

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Stilt Walking for CP

Article and some great video of a guy who walked across Michigan on stilts to raise money for CP. Quite the feat (no pun intended). His name is Neil Sauter and his site is called Stilt Story, so check him out.

Rise above from Nick Dentamaro on Vimeo.

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SSA Releases Annual Statistics

If you're a data person, SSA has released their annual statistics for SSDI for 2007.

Some highlights include

• Disability benefits were paid to more than 8.1 million people.
• Benefits were terminated for 522,349 disabled workers.
• Average age was slightly over 52.
• Men represented about 53 percent.
• Mental disorders was the diagnosis for about a third

On a similar vein, Amateur Economist has an article People With Disabilities in the U.S. Labor Market. It has a few more frightening statistics

• 37.7% of people with disabilities in the U.S. population were in employment in 2006
• people with disabilities earned an average of $33,109 compared with $43,269 for non-disabled employees.

And they make the argument that "Since there are around 30.6 million people aged between 21 and 64 in the U.S. who have some form of disability, this group represents a potentially valuable source of recruitment that is likely to become increasingly important as the size of the working age population in the U.S. declines due to demographic change."

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Book Review: Toyota Culture- The Heart and Soul of the Toyota Way

Toyota Culture; The Heart and Soul of the Toyota Way
Jeffrey K. Liker and Michael Hoseus
McGraw-Hill Ryerson Canada, 2008

"Toyota Culture: The Heart and Soul of the Toyota Way (2008) by Jeffrey Liker and Michael Hoseus gives readers amazing insight and appreciation for how Toyota is run. More companies should treat their customers and employees with such respect as Toyota does. As impressive a as Toyota Culture is, the level of detail the provides obscures the lessons being taught.

Two of the main themes that run through the business is respect and continuous improvement. The goal of Toyota is to produce a flawless car, and they continue to strive to achieve this through continuous refinement of the manufacturing process..."

Read the rest of my review at Associated Content.

A review for Mini Book Expo: Full Disclosure

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