Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Robots to the Rescue?

We have a roomba that vacums the house everyday. Our dog hates it, but I love that it gets up the dog hair and lots of other dirt that I don't need to worry about. Very user friendly and a great addition to the family. Who doesn't love a robot?

 My husband told me recently about a place in California that's researching robots for people with physical disabilities. They seems to have a lot of glitches to work out, but isn't it great that smarter folks than I are exploring this and trying to identify ways for us to apply the technology in the important area of daily life skills?

 I also saw where a young man was unable to attend school due to medical issues, so a robot went in his place and then "televised" what he was missing back to him at home. Another great concept to help him stay connected educationally and socially.

 If you have a big idea of how to create something that will help people with disabilities, share it for World CP Day starting September 4 and it may become a reality. United Cerebral Palsy and other leading global partners have joined forces to promote new ideas and get them to market faster. Kudos to them for thinking outside the box.

Let's all try it a little more often!

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

What's Good for Business and For People

Watch Disabled Workers Still Struggle More with Unemployment on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

Unemployment among disabled persons in the U.S. is now at 67%. This means too many qualified people who could be working aren't, and we're all losing because of it. As companies like Walgreens, Proctor & Gamble and Lowe's all know well, hiring qualified people with disabilities to work in competitive jobs is good for business. Now Senator Tom Harkin and a group called the U.S. Business Leadership Network are calling on business leaders nationwide to step up and help change this reality. As Harkin eloquently states, "Work is a part of life. It gives you fulfillment. It gives you the independence, the economic self-sufficiency to have a more full life. No one wants to be shunted aside and sit and watch TV all day. People want to work. They want to be a part of the American experience. They want to contribute to society." I couldn't agree more. Now, what can we do about it? First, people with disabilities need to be trained effectively, starting in their teenage years. Just as we encourage typical youth to explore internships and "try out" different jobs to explore their interests and abilities, so should we be working as school districts, not-for-profit agencies and within our communities to create partnerships between youth with disabilities and potential places of employment. Secondly, as Senator Harkin urges us, we should adjust our attitudes about employment so that we see people's abilities and how they might contribute in a business environment, rather than simply first focusing on their disabilities and challenges. Lastly, we can make modifications and adaptations to some work place settings to accommodate people with disabilities -- small changes that could produce big benefits for both employer and employee long term. As the parent of a 16-year-old who talks constantly about his future career aspirations and life goals, it's important to me that our communities and society as a whole sees this challenge for what it is and seeks to improve the current situation. Our expectations of ourselves and the disabled people in our lives should be high. This may require creativity and a fresh perspective. Neither costs much and could really reap amazing rewards.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

More TSA News


It looks like we have a fan in Chuck Schumer. He's introducing new legislation to assist travelers with disabilities in most major US airports. Give him a set of wings, please!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Turn up the music!



I always knew music was good for us, but this is amazing. Heard about Tod and Dan from the 2008 TED Conference. It seems they and Hyperscore are just the tip of the music/technology iceberg.

For our son, Andrew, music has become a passion that will, I'm sure, sustain and entertain him throughout his life. He continues to develop very personal relationships with many compositions and even experimented with a Digital Music Class last semester in 10th grade. Like Tod Mochover maintains, Andrew experiences music differently and is literally moved to tears by Beethoven's 9th Symphony and several others. Learning how to express himself more through music is a skill that continues to bring him much joy. And it's clearly therapeutic for so many good reasons.

Isn't it wonderful that music can be so helpful to so many? And seriously, shouldn't insurance be available to help offset the cost for music therapy and other attempts to optimize this technology for people with disabilities or conditions like Alzheimers?

Perhaps it's time to explore this stuff some more on your computer, or look for a music therapy class where you live (for your child, your parents, yourself?). Better yet, just turn up the radio, your Spotify or Pandora. I may actually try to learn Garage Band, myself. Who knows what might happen?!

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Creating Connections



Our oldest son, Henry, shared this with me recently off Imgur.com. I don't know what touched me more: Grace's understanding and love for her brother, or Josh's love of himself and desire for social connections and friendship. Either way, it's a valuable reminder that we all need companionship, we're all more alike than different, and we all should be encouraged to look beyond differences to the similarities that enable us to connect with one another in a myriad of different ways.

Unfortunately, as youngsters with disabilities grow up, their opportunities for social experiences diminish in comparison to typical peers. Our son's classmates, for example, are all consumed with driver's licenses, girlfriends, house parties and many things still inaccessible to Andrew. We continue to seek out ways for him to enjoy kids his age, with and without disabilities, but they're unfortunately not as frequent or easy to participate in as he would like.

Our kids often straddle two worlds. They want to function independently among their typical peers, but they still need assistance from others and are simply not as independent as they'd like to be, unfortunately. What kinds of social outlets exist in your community that might benefit other teens in other places? I'm trying for the "search and reapply" strategy here. Share and share alike. There's so much room for improvement -- and so much fun to be had.

Making Meetings Matter


Ever since Dick Clark helped us ring in the new year, I feel like all I've done is go to meetings -- mostly for our son, Andrew. Meeting to discuss how the end of Andrew's first semester is going. Meeting to determine what needs to be changed to make second semester most successful. Meeting to identify and plan what transition work we must undertake to prepare for Andrew's life after high school. And then there are all those "informal" meetings to obsess over how can we integrate medical needs with academic and social ones. Plus meetings with doctors, therapists, wheelchair manufacturers. And of course meetings to ensure this teenager still gets to have fun. Stop the insanity!

But it's not insane to utilize resources and get the best thinking on important topics that affect our kids' lives. And meetings are a great way to do this, even if they come in abundance at the start of the new year. You can avoid having unproductive meetings, though, especially as they relate to your special needs child. Here are some good tips that have served us well over the years:

1. Prepare, distribute and adhere to an agenda. Tell meeting participants what you expect to accomplish by the end of your time together so everyone knows what the end goal is. This goes for school staff, medical professionals and anyone else on your child's "team." Everyone is busy, and people should appreciate the clarity and planning.

2. Get the right people in the room. Make sure meeting participants have the authority to make decisions so you can actually make progress in your meeting, not just develop a list of questions and needs coming out of it. This is especially important for school meetings, where some administrators are more powerful than others. Get persons invited who can approve requests then and there so you don't waste time waiting for responses from "the powers that be." With regard to doctors, it's often possible to convene a team of experts so you can weigh different opinions at the same time. Sometimes, all you have to do is ask.

3. Assign a time-keeper and note taker. These are vital roles and people should be pleased to be asked to perform them. The time-keeper can help everyone stay on track with the agenda. The note-taker can ensure everyone is on the same page in terms of understanding the meeting discussion and next steps. Parents and teachers should listen to the conversation and process the information as a priority, so I recommend they refrain from filling these roles, ideally. Wonderful friends and neighbors have accompanied us to hospital appointments and served as a second set of ears with pen in hand, simply so I wouldn't have to. What a gift.

4. Hire an advocate. Many parents are finding that a paid advocate helps them navigate the myriad of special education issues they face with school-aged children. We're among those lucky folks who have found an advocate that knows what questions to ask, who to ask them of and how to get answers quickly on vital and sometimes sensitive issues related to our child. She certainly knows more about this area than we do, and she helps direct us and facilitate progress with the school district. It's a win-win-win situation (since Andrew wins, too).

5. Remember your priorities. Even with super-human powers, we can never accomplish all we need or want to in one meeting (alas, I am not perfect!). Reminding myself that we're working to optimize Andrew's potential, enabling him to become the independent young man we know he's capable of being, and creating stimulating, enriching and fun-loving environments in which he can grow and thrive is what's most important.

Based on that job description, I think I need to schedule another meeting!

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Talk to TSA


The TSA has launched a new "TSA Cares" hotline to help travelers with disabilities and their families. I'm told callers can simply call 1-855-787-2227 to explain their disability-related concerns or medical issues and ask for assistance while traveling throughout the continental US. The TSA suggests calling 72 hours in advance of a flight in order to get the most satisfying assistance. You can also use the hotline to offer suggestions or file complaints. It's open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. – 9 p.m. EST.

Did you fly this past holiday season? Did you find the TSA elves naughty or nice?

So hoping this is a roll in the right direction.