News at a Glance
Book: How to include at work
More people
with disabilities lose jobs due to inappropriate social behavior
than job performance. Social Inclusion at Work, a new publication
from the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental
Disabilities (AAIDD), shows secondary teachers, transitional
and vocational specialists, job coaches, service providers, and
other practitioners how to integrate people with intellectual disabilities
into employment settings. Social inclusion at work increases
both job security and quality of life for any employee, including
people with intellectual disabilities. In the book author Janis
Chadsey discusses what social inclusion entails, how to assess
it, how to determine the social skills needed for job success,
and how to determine strategies to develop those skills.
The best way to ensure social inclusion in the workplace
is a good job match at the outset, explains Chadsey. Once an employee
with disabilities is working, a service provider can evaluate
that employee’s social inclusion through various methods. Social
Inclusion at Work explains various assessment approaches, including
direct observation, sociometrics, rating scales, and role playing.
The culture of the workplace often helps dictate the strategy.
Intervention can take the form of natural support strategies, some
of which are as simple as ensuring the employee with disabilities
arrives at work at the same time as all the other workers. Intervention
can also mean natural support strategies involving coworkers or
teaching social skills to the worker with disabilities. Social
Inclusion at Work outlines the steps in designing and delivering
a social skills training package. The book also describes self-directed
learning strategies and cognitive process strategies that teach
employees to take responsibility for their own social skills.
To obtain copies and download
a table of contents from the book, visit http://www.bookstore.aaidd.org/ ![]()
Source:
AAIDD
Light rail feedback sought
Beginning in April, community outreach staffers for the Central
Corridor LRT Project will survey property and business owners
on University Avenue for information that will help engineers
balance desirable elements such as non-signalized pedestrian
crossings, secondary station access, minimization of traffic
lane shifts and on-street parking. The initial plan for University
Avenue in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement called for
the loss of nearly 700 on-street parking spots. In March, staffers
began asking the public if they want non-signalized pedestrian
crossings as frequently as every quarter mile because accommodating
these and other desirable elements would mean additional loss
of on-street parking. Engineers have spent about 2,000 hours
on four traffic studies related to LRT route options on Washington
Avenue. For more information about the project, visit: http://www.metrocouncil.org/
Source: Central Corridor LRT Project
Gaffney to speak
Karen Gaffney, a young woman with
Down syndrome, will be in the Twin Cities to share her presentation, “Imagine
the Possibilities,” on
Wednesday, May 14th at 6:30 p.m. This free event
will be held at Oak Grove Middle School in Bloomington,
and is open to the public. Families with youth
in transition would especially benefit from this event.
Gaffney is an accomplished motivational speaker who
enjoys sharing her incredible story and message of
hope.
Graduating from Portland Community College with honors, Gaffney
founded a nonprofit organization dedicated to the full inclusion
and acceptance of all people with disabilities in our schools,
workplaces and communities. At the age of 23, Gaffney an avid swimmer,
successfully swam the English Channel as part of a six-person relay
team, and recently swam nine miles across Lake Tahoe to raise money
for the National Down Syndrome Congress. Her primary goal
is to call attention to the fact that people with disabilities
have tremendous capabilities.
Partnering with Opportunity Partners for this event are PACER Center,
Arc Greater Twin Cities and MN Department of Education, Twin Cities
nonprofit organizations that providing employment, housing and
educational services to people with developmental disabilities,
brain injury, autism and other special needs. For reservations
or for more information, contact Jill Audette at 952-930-4298 or
jaudette@opportunities.org or www.opportunitypartners.org
Source:
Opportunity Partners
Get WISE about Benefits and Work
Have you ever thought about working?
Would you like some help finding a job? Or, are you worried about
how working might impact your benefits or health coverage? The
Work Incentives Connection is hosting an event on May 21st that
may be of interest to you.
The day consists of
two unique activities, held at the Wilder Foundation’s new
conference center in St. Paul. In the morning, people who receive
disability benefits from the Social Security Administration (SSDI,
RSDI or SSI) can register to attend a Social Security Work Incentives
Seminar Event (WISE training). In the afternoon, the public is
invited to an Employment Support Resources Fair, featuring a wide
range of employment resources for people with disabilities.
Social Security WISE
training will be held from 10:00 a.m. to noon. The training will
address how working affects disability benefits and how Social
Security’s Ticket-to-Work
program can assist you in preparing for, finding
and retaining a job. Attendees will hear about services
offered by various Employment Networks, which specialize
in helping people with disabilities who want to work.
You will have an opportunity to talk one-on-one with
staff from each Employment Network.
The WISE training is free,
but you must pre-register: Call 1-877-743-8237 (voice or TTY) or
Register online at www.socialsecurity.gov/work/wise.html If you
require a sign language interpreter or materials in alternate format,
please make your request at least 5 days in advance, either by phone
or at the online registration site.
The Employment Support Resources Fair is open to the public from
1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Staff from up to twenty employment support
agencies will be available to answer questions about their programs
and explain how you can use their services. The Social Security
Administration will be on-site to provide specific information
about your disability benefits.
Other agencies committed to attending include: the MN Disability
Law Center, State Rehabilitation Services, State Services for the
Blind, and many other non-profit, vocational agencies serving people
with disabilities. The Wilder Center is located at 451 Lexington
Parkway North in St. Paul, north of I - 94 on Lexington Ave, just
south of University Avenue. The Wilder Center is accessible from
the #16 and #50 buslines.
For more information, call Kris at the Work Incentives Connection
at 651-632-5119, or 1-800-976-6728 ext. 5119, or TTY 651-632-5110.
To register for the WISE, you must call 1-877-743-8237 (voice or
TTY).
Source: Work Incentives
Connection
Asylum renaming offends
advocates
It’s
an intriguing and provocative name that translates to Web hits,
phone calls and tour tickets: the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.
To some, the title acknowledges history by readopting one of the
many names previously held by the long-vacant, 19th century mental
institution known most recently as Weston Hospital.
But others say the new
owners of the massive Gothic Revival hospital have gone too far,
disparaging the suffering of former patients and reopening wounds
with planned events like “Psycho Path” dirt
bike races on the grounds. They say words like “lunatic” and “retarded” have
gone the way of “colored” and “Negro” and
should never be resurrected.
Rebecca Jordan, whose family owns the 307-acre complex, sees things
differently.
“This part of history is vital, and you cannot bury what
you don’t like,” she said. “Should we take down
the Holocaust museum? Should we completely deny all that happened
because it’s not favorable? Because it might
hurt a few feelings?”
The hospital is one of the world’s largest hand-cut
sandstone structures, a National Historic Landmark
that once housed more than 2,000 patients but has stood
largely silent since 1994.
Source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/
