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Latest Headlines from DisabilityScoop.com

Parent Training Key To Tackling Behavior, Study Finds
Children with developmental disabilities who have severe behavior issues respond better to medication if it is paired with training for their parents, researchers say.

Funding For Down Syndrome Research Shrinks
New data shows that federal funding for Down syndrome research dropped last year, despite already lagging behind other conditions, and that's leaving advocates none too pleased.

Minorities Show More Severe Signs Of Autism
Children with autism who come from minority backgrounds are more delayed than their Caucasian peers with the disorder, researchers say, likely because their symptoms go unnoticed longer.

Teen With Down Syndrome Turns Basketball Phenom
David Andrews has Down syndrome, but when his high school basketball team gave him a chance to play, they found out he really is good at shooting hoops.



Most Popular This Week

» Can Autism Be Derailed? Researchers Say Maybe
» Study: Many Adults With Disabilities Do Nothing All Day
» Sheltered Workshops Offer Little Benefit, Studies Find
» Motor Impairments Core Feature Of Autism
» Max From NBC's 'Parenthood' Talks Asperger's

To read more about these Headlines, please click on the above title.
To use the CDR catalog please click on this link

Buddy Walk 2012

Mark your calenders for this years Buddy Walk on Sunday, October 7 in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina sponsored by the Down Syndrome Association of the Lowcountry (DSAL).

Over-Reactive Parenting Linked to Negative Emotions and Problem Behavior in Toddlers

ScienceDaily (Feb. 21, 2012) — "Researchers have found that parents who anger easily and over-react are more likely to have toddlers who act out and become upset easily.
The research is an important step in understanding the complex link between genetics and home environment. In the study, researchers from Oregon State University, Oregon Social Learning Center, and other institutions collected data in 10 states from 361 families linked through adoption -- and obtained genetic data from birth parents as well as the children.
They followed the children at nine, 18 and 27 months of age, and found that adoptive parents who had a tendency to over-react, for example, were quick to anger when children tested age-appropriate limits or made mistakes. These over-reactive parents had a significant effect on their children, who exhibited "negative emotionality," or acting out and having more temper tantrums than normal for their age.
Genetics also played a role, particularly in the case of children who were at genetic risk of negative emotionality from their birth mothers, but were raised in a low-stress or less-reactive environment.
The study was published in the latest edition of the journal Development and Psychopathology.
"This is an age where children are prone to test limits and boundaries," said lead author Shannon Lipscomb, an assistant professor of human development and family sciences at OSU-Cascades. "However, research consistently shows that children with elevated levels of negative emotionality during these early years have more difficulties with emotion regulation and tend to exhibit more problem behavior when they are of school age."

To read the entire article, click on the title above.

To access the Center for Disability Resources Library and its materials, please click this link

SC AT Exchange: Wheelchairs, scooters and a van lift

We have an inventory of wheel chairs and scooters that are in very good condition. A few of them have batteries that work and many of them need batteries. Batteries Plus in Columbia offers a very, very good discount on batteries and will install them for free. In most cases, the batteries would cost from $200 - $300. This is a great bargain! People have even gone to churches and civic groups to get this kind of funding.
We encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity! If you end up getting one of these chairs/scooters, we could have them at the Expo March 13 (at Brookland Conference Center in Columbia) for you to pick up after attending the Expo.
Call or email Catherine Graham at 803 434-3189 if you’re interested in these items and she can talk to you about the battery cost and other relevant issues.
Please pass this information along! We want to help South Carolinians with mobility and independence through our reuse programs!
Janet Jendron, SC Assistive Technology Program

To read more about the SCATP Expo, click on the title above.

To access the Center for Disability Resources Library and its materials, please click this link

Correction: SC Youth Leadership Forum July 11-13

The correct contact address and phone number is listed below.

Students 17-21 years old are invited to attend the SC Youth Leadership Forum (YLF) on July 11-13, 2012 at Newberry College in Newberry, SC. This is a three-day program for SC students with disabilities who have demonstrated leadership potential in both their school and community. The leadership forum is designed to assist youth with disabilities in further developing leadership, citizenship, and social skills by using resources that can help them face challenges in becoming participating members of their communities.

There is no charge to attend YLF and all meals are provided. Students are responsible for providing their own transportation to and from Newberry College. More information and the application can be found at http://www.scvrd.net/i_ylf.html . The completed application packet must be postmarked by April 16, 2012. Please note what assistive technology accommodations (e.g. fm system, text-to-speech software, magnifier, or wheelchair) you use and will need during the forum.

The forum will include guest speakers, small and large group discussions, team-building activities, ropes course, mentor luncheon, and FUN!

For more information contact:

SC YLF c/o PROParents

652 Bush River Road Suite 203

Columbia, SC 29210 803-734-8028

The SC Youth Leadership Forum is implemented by state and local partners including PRO-parents, Inc., South Carolina Assistive Technology Program, South Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation Department, Continuum of Care, Wil Lou Gray Opportunity School, South Carolina Division of Career Development and Transition, South Carolina Developmental Disabilities Council and South Carolina Department of Education.

To access the Center for Disability Resources Library and its materials, please click this link

The Association of University Centers on Disabilities Council on Community Advocacy

If you are ADA eligible for paratransit services (curb-to-curb/door-to-door) and travel outside of your service area as a visitor in another county, region, or state, the Association of University Centers on Disabilities Council on Community Advocacy would like to hear from you.To join the discussion just click here: http://adaparatransit.blogspot.com/ and Join this site.

Three Ways Windows 8 Will Boost Accessibility

PC World (Feb. 15, 2012)- Almost 50 million citizens have disabilities, and the likeliness of a disability rises with age. Meanwhile, nearly one-quarter of the workforce will be 55 or older by 2018. At the same time, mobile devices that are smaller than the typical desktop computer and require more dexterity to operate are becoming more common in business.

As Windows 8 straddles the desktop-mobile divide, it will include assistive technologies optimized for touch-enabled devices, and built to be easier for easier integration by developers.

Microsoft's Building Windows 8 blog on Tuesday said the new OS will include improvements to help users with physical disabilities, including vision, mobility, hearing and cognitive impairments. In the post, Jennifer Norberg, lead project manager of the Human Interaction Platform team, focused on the underlying assistive-technology changes to Windows 8, and specific changes to serve users with vision impairments.

1. Adopting Standards

The most important change is the adoption of industry standards, including those from the Web Accessibility Initiative, Accessible Rich Internet Applications, HTML5, and XAML. Norberg's post notes that in previous versions of Windows, vendors had to use "different 'creative' ways of getting information from the system," making it difficult to add assistive technologies to apps. Providing a standards-based “accessibility foundation” for developers to build on will make it easier to add ATs to apps, which should expand their use and result in a larger number of apps being accessible.
To read the entire article, please click on the above title.
To access the CDR catalog, please click this link.

Vision Summit 2012

Vision Summit 2012

The twelfth annual South Carolina Summit of individuals who are blind or visually impaired, their families and the professionals who serve them

Date: Friday, March 9, 2012

Time: 9:00 am to 4:00 pm

Cost:

$25 - Professionals

$10 - School Students and parents of students who are blind/visually impaired

Location:

South Carolina Archives and History Center

8301 Parklane Road, Columbia, SC 29223
(803) 896-6100
To access the CDR catalog please click on this link.

Oprah Pick With Cerebral Palsy Debuts New Show

Disability Scoop (Dec. 12, 2011)-Zach Anner relies on a wheelchair to get around, but that’s not stopping the 27-year-old with cerebral palsy. On his new travel show debuting Monday on Oprah Winfrey’s cable network, Anner tries everything from surfing to rock climbing.

Anner landed the gig earlier this year when Winfrey selected him as one of two winners of her “Your OWN Show” contest. The six-episode run of “Rollin’ with Zach” kicks off Monday night on OWN (8 p.m. ET). Two half-hour episodes will air back-to-back each Monday for three weeks.

Shot over two months this summer, the show follows Anner as he travels to Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Portland, Ore. Each episode focuses on a different city, with Anner taking viewers along for the ride as he counts down his top five favorite things to do.

Ahead of the premiere, Anner spoke with Disability Scoop about the rewards and challenges of making his own show and what he hopes audiences will take away from seeing a television host with a disability.

Disability Scoop: What was it like making the show?

Zach Anner: I got to see a really unique view on this country and have a great time doing it. It was just an amazing adventure. My goal was always to make the crew laugh and have a good time with them and hopefully the viewers at home will get that sense of fun and excitement.

Disability Scoop: You really challenge yourself on the show to try all kinds of new things — from surfing to sailing, rock climbing to water skiing. Did you ever imagine doing these things?

Zach Anner: Some of the things I didn’t know were even in the realm of possibility. Rock climbing was something that I never thought I’d be doing. I’m not a mountain climber. I’m not even a stair climber. It was the most physically demanding thing. Not all of the challenges are physical. In New York I do stand-up comedy and that was terrifying. We just wanted to present different challenges that would be difficult whether you had a disability or not.

Disability Scoop: You talk a lot on the show about having cerebral palsy. Was that something that was conscious on your part?

Zach Anner: Obviously people tuning in for the first time are going to wonder, what is it that this guy has? I wanted to be able to communicate that and then move on. It’s not something that should be the focus of the show or the main thing that people are thinking about.

To read the rest of the interview with Zach Anner, please click the the above title.

To access the CDR catalog, click this link.

Integrated Employment Toolkit

The Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) has developed this Integrated Employment Toolkit to provide valuable information as individuals, community employment agencies, policymakers and others pursue integrated employment as the desired employment goal for youth and adults with disabilities. The Toolkit includes practical and, in some cases, adaptable information and documents to facilitate the movement of states, organizations and, most importantly, youth and adults to integrated employment as their primary option for employment.

The Toolkit offers a collection of resources, reports, papers, policies, fact sheets, case studies, and discussion guides from a variety of sources to accommodate the full range of users and increase capacity and understanding about the value and potential of integrated employment. It is organized by different audiences or perspectives. Within each audience, there are key, commonly-asked questions to guide the user to the appropriate materials.

NOTE: To get to the toolkit, click on the title above.

To access the Center for Disability Resources Library and its materials, please click this link

Columbia Parkinson Support Group - News and Meeting Reminder

Meeting Reminder: Our February 19th meeting is one that you will not want to miss! We will be having two excellent,well-known, and respected doctors from the Georgia Health Sciences University (formally called the Medical College of Georgia -
MCG). We know that you will find this meeting very informative, not only about the DBS procedure and process, but also about Parkinson's disease. (DBS is "Deep Brain Stimulation" - a type of surgical management of Parkinson's disease.)

Date: Sunday, February 19, 2012

Topic: "What You Need To Know About The DBS Process" -- From determining who is a DBS candidate - the evaluation process - the surgery/surgeries - and the on-going treatment after surgery.

Time: 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm With time after the meeting for additional discussion and socialization

Where: Lexington Medical Park Auditorium, 2720 Sunset Boulevard, West Columbia, SC 29169

Speakers:
Doctor Cole Giller, Director of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery; Clinical
Professor, Department of Neurosurgery

Doctor Shyamal Mehta, Assistant Professor of Neurology and Staff Member of the Movement DisorderClinic

Some of the Coming Events of Interest - Visit our "2012 MEETING & EVENTS CALENDAR" web page which is updated often with information [including events listed below] about new events, seminars, symposiums, and of course our monthly meeting at http://www.columbiaparkinsonsupportgroup.or/meet_calendar_2012.htm

March 13, 2012 - The 2012 SC Assistive Technology Expo
March 18, 2012 - Columbia PD Support Group Meeting - Topic: Are you prepared? Russ Bell will be discussing what you need to do to prepare for emergencies and natural disasters (i.e., hurricanes, tornadoes, evacuations). While the topic will be applicable to everyone, there will be focus on special preparation for seniors, those with disabilities, and those who are ill and need special care.
April 2012 - PARKINSON'S AWARENESS MONTH - Stay Tuned! - We have special events planned for this month
A Special Note: One of our members would like to share information and experiences with other caregivers of Parkinson's patients with dementia to. If you wish to connect with this member, please send name, phone number, and email to Dottie Gantt contact@columbiaparkinsonsupportgroup.org

To Contact Us:
Carol Baker, Vice President & Program Chair - Email: caroltbaker@bellsouth.net - Telephone 803-781-6193
Dottie Gantt, President - Email: contact@columbiaparkinsonsupportgroup.org - Telephone: 803-604-0061

We look forward to seeing you at the February 19, 2012 meeting.
Dottie M. Gantt, President Columbia Parkinson's Support Group
Email: contact@columbiaparkinsonsupportgroup.org - Telephone 803-604-0061
Website: http://www.columbiaparkinsonsupportgroup.org/
“Every PD patient is unique and everything about his or her disease is specific to him or her and ONLY to him or her. PD has only one time - NOW, the
present. The previous hours do not forecast how you are going to feel. The only thing that is predictable about this disease is its unpredictability.”
~~Written by Rick Kramer and Margaret Tuchman~~

To access the Center for Disability Resources Library and its materials, please click this link

SC Youth Leadership Forum

Students 17-21 years old are invited to attend the SC Youth Leadership Forum (YLF) on July 11-13, 2012 at Newberry College in Newberry, SC. This is a three-day program for SC students with disabilities who have demonstrated leadership potential in both their school and community. The leadership forum is designed to assist youth with disabilities in further developing leadership, citizenship, and social skills by using resources that can help them face challenges in becoming participating members of their communities.

There is no charge to attend YLF and all meals are provided. Students are responsible for providing their own transportation to and from Newberry College. More information and the application can be found at http://www.scvrd.net/i_ylf.html . The completed application packet must be postmarked by April 16, 2012. Please note what assistive technology accommodations (e.g. fm system, text-to-speech software, magnifier, or wheelchair) you use and will need during the forum.

The forum will include guest speakers, small and large group discussions, team-building activities, ropes course, mentor luncheon, and FUN!

For more information, contact
Youth Leadership Forum
c/o SC Vocational Rehabilitation Department
1410 Boston Ave., P.O. Box 15
West Columbia, SC 29171-0015
(803) 896-6574
ylf@scvrd.state.sc.us

The SC Youth Leadership Forum is implemented by state and local partners including PRO-parents, Inc., South Carolina Assistive Technology Program, South Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation Department, Continuum of Care, Wil Lou Gray Opportunity School, South Carolina Division of Career Development and Transition, South Carolina Developmental Disabilities Council and South Carolina Department of Education.

To get to the application, click on the title above.

To access the Center for Disability Resources Library and its materials, please click this link

South Carolina Assistive Technology Expo 2012

South Carolina Assistive Technology Expo 2012!

Free and open to the pubic
No pre-registration

Tuesday, March 13, 2012
9 am – 4 pm
Brookland Banquet and Conference Center
1066 Sunset Boulevard
West Columbia, S.C. 29169

Find all you need to know about the SC Assistive Technology Expo 2012, which includes sessions on IT accessibility, and the Equipment Donation Drive at http://www.sc.edu/scatp/expo/expo12.html and http://www.sc.edu/scatp/expo/expo12donation.html . Please share this through Blogs, Facebook and Twitter. It can be as easy as pasting the url as your Facebook status or in your tweet. We'd also appreciate your linking it to your web pages.

To access the CDR Library catalog, please click on this link.

ATAC Meetings

We had a great ATAC meeting on January 17, 2012.

Please mark your calendars with our next scheduled meetings. We usually meet every other month on the third Tuesday.



· Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at the South Carolina State Library

· Tuesday, May 8 – location to be announced

· Tuesday, July 19 – location to be announced



If you’d like to be a member of ATAC, please email me at Janet.Jendron@uscmed.sc.edu with a copy to Mark Gamble at Mgamble@scvrd.state.sc.us



See more about our activities on the ATAC website and other resources on the SCATP Website.



Janet Jendron

ATAC – Web Accessibility Committee Chair

SC Assistive Technology Program

803 935 5273

South Carolina Assistive Technology Expo 2012!


Keep promoting our sessions to everyone in your network. The sessions of particular interest to IT professionals are:


Session 1: 9:30 10:30 AM
104 Hand-held devices help everyone, including people with disabilities!
Demonstration of apps and features of the Apple iOS mobile operating system (e.g. iPhone, iPad tablet) as well as the Android mobile operating system (e.g. Droid phone, Xoom Tablet) plus other hand-held devices that help people with visual and motor impairments. How these apps help with employment and independent living. Many apps discussed will help people without disabilities, e.g.,people who can't use their hands for access while driving with their respective devices. Jed Elmaleh, PT MPT, CAPS, MSCS and Clay Jeffcoat, SCSDB

Session 2: 11:30 12:30
204 Video Captioning for Accessibility and Usability
Differentiating between closed captioning and descriptive audio. Designing for readability. Addressing the needs of users with visual and cognitive impairments. Choosing fonts and colors. Free and reasonably priced tools to use in video captioning for the web and educational purposes. Challenges in posting videos on the web. This session is for everyone who uses video, not just web designers. Mark Gamble, Media Specialist, SCVRD

Session 3: 2:00 3:00 PM
304 Creating Accessible Word, PowerPoint and PDF Documents
Important basic principles that everyone should know about making these documents accessible and usable to people who use screen readers, have cognitive and mobility challenges. Topics include document structure, headings, lists, tables, Alt Text, captions and what happens when Word and PowerPoint documents are converted to tagged PDFs. Overview of some tools that can help repair PDF documents. This session is for everyone who works with these types of documents, not just people who design for the web. Natalie Denning, SC.GOV; Steve Cook, SCCB; Matthew Polkowsky, DHEC

303 Speech Recognition
In-depth comparison of the most widely used speech recognition programs (Microsoft Speech Recognition, Dragon Naturally Speaking, Via Voice, Speak Q, and Dragon Dictate Apps for use with the iPad/iPhone/iTouch). Crucial factors that enhance the use of these programs. Challenges that might be faced. Skills necessary to use speech recognition and how to get started. Val Gioia and Mark Daniels, SCDE AT Specialists.

To access the Center for Disability Resources Library and its materials, please click this link

The Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure

The Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure (GPII) will combine cloud computing, web, and platform services to make access simpler, more inclusive, available everywhere, and more affordable. When completed it will provide the infrastructure needed to make it possible for companies, organizations, and society to put the web within reach of all -- by making it easier and less expensive for consumers with disabilities, ICT and AT companies, Public Access Points, employers, educators, government agencies and others to create, disseminate, and support accessibility across technologies.

Want to learn more about GPII, how it's being developed, and how it will work? EASI is hosting 2 webinars in February; use the links to see more

information and register:

February 14 at

4 PM Eastern, for a general interest audience

<http://raisingthefloor.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=6>

February 22 at

1 PM Eastern, for K-12 Educators

<http://raisingthefloor.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=4>

Both webinars will have time for Q&A, with a focus on what you think about

the idea and how it should be built to meet your needs. A survey afterwards will let you have a longer say, and a way to engage with the project.

To read more, please click on the above title.

To access the Center for Disability Resources Library and its materials, please click this link

Top Tech Tidbits - VHA Section 508 Resources

This came recently from David Bundy.

The Veterans Health Administration Section 508 office created an innovative set of tutorials that explains portable document format (PDF) accessibility barriers and provides solutions that address them. The tutorial is "Creating Accessible PDFs with Adobe Acrobat Professional" and it is available at:
http://www.ehealth.va.gov/508/tutorials/pdf/index.asp

The VHA Section 508 office also has training on developing accessible Flash. The course is available at:
http://www.ehealth.va.gov/508/flash/index.asp

This Information is provided from the Top Tech Tidbits Newsletter: Visit the 2012 Tidbits Archive at http://www.flying-blind.com/tidbits2012.html where you can get back issues. You can subscribe to Top Tech Tidbits on the Flying Blind, LLC Website at: http://www.flying-blind.com. Here you will find an accessibly friendly and secure form into which you can enter your email address, click submit, and begin receiving Tidbits weekly.

To access the Center for Disability Resources Library and its materials, please click this link

Fallout From Fatigue Syndrome Retraction Is Wide

NY Times (Feb. 6, 2012)-When scientists reported in 2009 that a little-known mouse retrovirus was present in a large number of people with chronic fatigue syndrome, suggesting a possible cause of the condition, the news made international headlines. For patients desperate for answers, many of them severely disabled for years, the finding from an obscure research center, the Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Disease in Reno, Nev., seemed a godsend.

“I remember reading it and going, ‘Bingo, this is it!’ ” said Heidi Bauer, 42, a mother of triplets in Huntington, Md., who has had chronic fatigue syndrome since her 20s. “I thought it was going to mean treatment, that I was going to be able to play with my kids and be the kind of mom I wanted to be.”

Patients showered praise on the lead researcher, Dr. Judy Mikovits, a former scientist at the National Cancer Institute. They sent donations large and small to the institute, founded by Harvey and Annette Whittemore, a wealthy and politically well-connected Nevada couple seeking to help their daughter, who had the illness.

In hopes of treating their condition, some patients even began taking antiretroviral drugs used to treat H.I.V., a retrovirus related to the murine leukemia viruses suddenly suspected of involvement in chronic fatigue syndrome.

More recently, however, the hopes of these patients have suffered an extraordinary battering. In a scientific reversal as dramatic and strange as any in recent memory, the finding has been officially discredited; a string of subsequent studies failed to confirm it, and most scientists have attributed the initial results to laboratory contamination. In late December, the original paper, published in the journal Science, and one other study that appeared to support it were retracted within days of each other.

To read more about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, please click on the above title.
To access the Center for Disability Resources Library and its materials, please click this link.

Columbia Parkinson's Support Group

Meeting Reminder - Save The Date of February 19th!

Our February 19th meeting is one that you will not want to miss! We will be having two excellent, well-known, and respected doctors from the Georgia Health Sciences University (formally called the Medical College of Georgia - MCG). We know that you will find this meeting very informative, not only about the DBS procedure and process, but also about Parkinson's disease. DBS is "Deep Brain Stimulation" - a type of surgical management of Parkinson's disease.

Date: February 19, 2012

Topic: What You Need To Know About The DBS Process -- From determining who is a DBS candidate - the evaluation process - the surgery/surgeries - and the on-going treatment after surgery.

Time: 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm With time after the meeting for additional discussion and socialization

Speakers: Doctor Cole Giller and Doctor Shyamal Mehta

Dr. Giller is the Director of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery; Clinical Professor, Department of Neurosurgery, Georgia Health Sciences University (formally called the Medical College of Georgia - MCG)
Click below for more information about Dr. Giller
http://georgiahealth.edu/medicine/neurosurgery/faculty/cgiller.html

Dr. Mehta is an Assistant Professor of Neurology and Staff Member of the Movement Disorder Clinic
Click below for more information about Dr. Mehta
http://www.georgiahealth.edu/neurology/faculty/profiles/shyamal_mehta.html

Don't Forget To Visit Our Website Often - http://www.columbiaparkinsonsupportgroup.org/

The "NEWS FOR YOU" web page, which has "new" news and information that may be of interest to you http://www.columbiaparkinsonsupportgroup.org/news.htm

Our "2012 MEETING & EVENTS CALENDAR" web page at
http://www.columbiaparkinsonsupportgroup.or/meet_calendar_2012.htm is updated often with new events, seminars, symposiums, and of course our monthly meeting information.

Contact Us - Contact either Carol or Dottie if you need additional information.

Carol Baker, Vice President & Program Chair
Telephone 803-781-6193
Email: caroltbaker@bellsouth.net

Dottie Gantt, President
Telephone: 803-604-0061
Email: contact@columbiaparkinsonsupportgroup.org

We look forward to seeing you at the February 19, 2012 meeting.

To access the Center for Disability Resources Library and its materials, please click this link

South Carolina Assistive Technology Expo

This year's SC Assistive Technology Expo will have a special event that can impact the lives of South Carolinians with disabilities and age-related limitations.
We'll be having our first Equipment Donation Drive! The SC Assistive Technology Program and the Disability Action Center are sponsoring this event. Bring your used equipment to the Expo, as well as any assistive technology youd like to see passed on to someone in need. Your donation will be tax deductible.

Take the time to clean out your closets and garage. If youre not using or have outgrown equipment, theres a good chance it would be useful to another person. Declutter your life and help someone else at the same time! This is a once-a-year opportunity to provide equipment and technology to people who cant otherwise afford it!

Here's the information you'll need to participate:

March 13, 2012
Brookland Banquet and Conference Center
1066 Sunset Boulevard
West Columbia, S.C. 29169
9 am - 4 pm

For more information about the AT Expo, call 803-935-5263 or 1-800-915-4522, or see the SC AT Expo Website.

The Donation Drive is being sponsored by the SC Assistive Technology Program and the Disability Action Center. If youre planning to bring equipment or have questions about the Equipment Donation Drive, contact:
Janet Jendron - (803)935-5273
or
Kimberly Tissot - (803)779-5121 or 1-800-681-6805 (Toll Free)

Below are some examples of items that are in high demand:

Tub benches
Transfer benches
Manual wheel chairs in good condition
Powered mobility with batteries that work
Rollator walkers
Portable ramps
Vehicle Lifts
Adapted Computer Technology
Pediatric equipment such as gait trainers
Adapted recreational items such as hand bikes, beach wheelchairs

To access the Center for Disability Resources Library and its materials, please click this link

Autism Society Rocked By Suspected Fraud

Disability Scoop (Feb. 9, 2012)-The former head of an Autism Society chapter is accused of stealing as much as $80,000 from the group, but that’s not stopping her from hosting a conference later this month keynoted by Temple Grandin.

Law enforcement in Suwanee, Ga. have charged Cynthia Pike, the former executive director of the Autism Society of Greater Georgia, with 16 felony counts of theft by conversion, according to documents obtained by WSBTV in Atlanta. The charges come after an audit found thousands of dollars missing from the group’s coffers.

Police say that Pike was giving herself extra pay without consent from the autism organization’s board and spent the group’s money on her personal cellphone bills. So far, authorities said they found as much as $40,000 was misused and they’re still working to identify where another $40,000 went, according to the television station.

Pike, however, said the charges are baseless.

“I unequivocally state that I am innocent of these false charges,” Pike said in a statement posted on the website of Georgia Autism Conferences — a company Pike formed last September.

Pike is scheduled to host her new group’s first autism conference later this month, featuring several nationally-known speakers and exhibitors. The event will be keynoted by famed autism self-advocate Temple Grandin and exhibitors scheduled to participate at the event include everyone from Autism Speaks to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and assistive device maker DynaVox Mayer-Johnson, according to the conference website.

Click on the above title to read the entire article.

To access the Center for Disability Resources Library and its materials, please click this link

AAC and Literacy

Presenter: Kenneth P. Whitley, President, Key Technologies, Inc.
Date: Friday, February 10, 2012
Time:8:30am-10:30am
Location: SC Assistive Technology Program
Poplar Building Conference Room
Midlands Center,
8301 Farrow Road,
Columbia, SC
Cost: Free, but pre-registration is required. This workshop is limited to 20 participants.
Description: A wide variety of AAC and Literacy devices will be shown. Typical users and practical features of the devices will be discussed. Participants will have opportunities for hands-on use and question-and-answer. The following AAC and Literacy devices will be demonstrated.

* Ablenet: QuickTalkers, Boost Video Magnifier, TalkTrac Wearable Communicator
* Attainment: GoTalk Express 32
* Freedom Scientific: WYNN 6
* Inclusive TLC: MyZone, Matrix Maker
* Jabbla: Mobi 2 w/Mind Express 4, Allora
* Saltillo: NOVA chat 7, SpeakOut
* Unlimiter: The VoicePen w/VoiceSymbol and VoiceInk
* Words+: Freedom Lite Convertible, Conversa Convertible
* Zygo: Zygo Voice Amplifier, Optimist-MMX-V2, DigiCom 2000

To register for this demonstration:
* Complete the online registration form

For questions, call Will McCain at (803) 935-5004 or Lydia Durham at (803) 935-5263 or 800-915-4522.

NOTE: To register online, click on the title above.
To access the Center for Disability Resources Library and its materials, please click this link

2012 Accessible Technology Webinar Series

The Great Lakes and Pacific ADA Centers on behalf of the ADA National Network are pleased to announce the 2012 Accessible Technology Webinar Series. Electronic information and communications technology have become essential tools in all areas of our lives and working environments today, and are particularly important to people with disabilities by providing equal access to the workplace and social media.

Please join us for our 2012 webinar series as we explore some of the latest technological trends and their accessibility to people with disabilities.

All sessions are free and scheduled for 2-3:30pm Eastern/1-2:30pm Central/12-1:30pm Mountain/11-12:30pm Pacific utilizing the ElluminateLive! webinar platform.

2012 Schedule:

February 14, 2012 – Making Tactile Graphics featuring Clara van Gerven, National Federation for the Blind

April 10, 2012 - Improving the Web Accessibility Game Plan featuring Karl Grove, Deque Systems

June 12, 2012 - 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act featuring Jim Tobias, Inclusive Technologies

August 14, 2012 - Accessibility of Web Authoring Tools featuring Jutta Treviranus, Inclusive Design Research Center

October 9, 2012 - Using the WAVE Web Accessibility Toolbar featuring Jared Smith, WebAIM

December 11, 2012 - Mobile Accessibility - The Status of Accessibility in Mobile Devices featuring Representatives from the Mobile Manufacturers' Forum

Registration is available on-line at http://www.ada-audio.org/Webinar/AccessibleTechnology/

Questions regarding these programs should be directed to:

ADA Conferences

877-232-1990 (V/TTY)

adaconferences@adagreatlakes.org

To access the Center for Disability Resources Library and its materials, please click this link

PRO-Parents

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Individual Education Program

(IEP Workshop)

For: Parents/Others of children with Special Needs

Facility Provided By: Orangeburg DDSN

Presented By: Parents Reaching Out to Parents of South Carolina

PRO*Parents

Tanya M. Inabinet

Regional Education Coordinator

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February 16.2012

10:00am-2:00pm

Orangeburg County DDSN

2785 Magnolia Street
Orangeburg, SC 29116

Workshop Content

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IDEA Changes to the IEP

The Initial Evaluation

What is Special Education?

What is an IEP?

What happens during the IEP meeting?

Seating is limited

Call 1-800-759-4776 or (803) 772-5688

FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

To access the Center for Disability Resources Library and its materials, please click this link

Encouraging Results With Stem Cell Transplant for Brain Injury

ScienceDaily (Feb. 1, 2012) — "Experiments in brain-injured rats show that stem cells injected via the carotid artery travel directly to the brain, where they greatly enhance functional recovery, reports a study in the February issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.
The carotid artery injection technique -- along with some form of in vivo optical imaging to track the stem cells after transplantation -- may be part of emerging approaches to stem cell transplantation for traumatic brain injury (TBI) in humans, according to the new research, led by Dr Toshiya Osanai of Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan.
Advanced Imaging Technology Lets Researchers Track Stem Cells
The researchers evaluated a new "intra-arterial" technique of stem cell transplantation in rats. Within seven days after induced TBI, stem cells created from the rats' bone marrow were injected into the carotid artery. The goal was to deliver the stem cells directly to the brain, without having them travel through the general circulation.
Before injection, the stem cells were labeled with "quantum dots" -- a biocompatible, fluorescent semiconductor created using nanotechnology. The quantum dots emit near-infrared light, with much longer wavelengths that penetrate bone and skin. This allowed the researchers to noninvasively monitor the stem cells for four weeks after transplantation.
Using this in vivo optical imaging technique, Dr Osanai and colleagues were able to see that the injected stem cells entered the brain on the "first pass," without entering the general circulation. Within three hours, the stem cells began to migrate from the smallest brain blood vessels (capillaries) into the area of brain injury."
NOTE: To read the entire article, click on the title above.

To access the Center for Disability Resources Library and its materials, please click this link

F.D.A. Approves New Cystic Fibrosis Drug

New York Times (Jan. 31, 2012)- The first drug that treats an underlying cause of cystic fibrosis, rather than just the symptoms, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday, more than 22 years after the gene responsible for the disease was first identified.

The drug, called Kalydeco and developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals, counters the effect of one specific mutation in the gene that accounts for 4 percent — or about 1,200 — cystic fibrosis cases in the United States.

“This is a breakthrough therapy for the cystic fibrosis community because current therapies only treat the symptoms of this genetic disease,” Dr. Janet Woodcock, the director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the F.D.A., said in a statement issued by the agency.

The F.D.A.’s approval, while expected, came nearly three months before its deadline. The drug is approved for patients age 6 and older with the G551D mutation.

Kalydeco, known generically as ivacaftor and during its development as VX-770, will cost $294,000 a year, a price roughly in line with those of some other drugs for extremely rare diseases. Vertex said it would have various programs to help patients pay for the drugs or obtain them free.

At such a price, sales of the drug could reach hundreds of millions of dollars a year, even with so few patients.

To read the entire article please click on the above title.

To access the Center for Disability Resources Library and its materials, please click this link

Hyperconnectivity In Brain's Hearing Center Caused By Gene Mutation In Autism

Medical News Today (Feb. 2, 2012)-New research from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) might help explain how a gene mutation found in some autistic individuals leads to difficulties in processing auditory cues and paying spatial attention to sound.

The study has found that when a suspected autism gene called PTEN is deleted from auditory cortical neurons - the main workhorses of the brain's sound-processing center - the signals that these neurons receive from local as well as long-distance sources are strengthened beyond normal levels. These effects, the study shows, can be blocked by a drug currently in use as an immunosuppressant.

"It's long been hypothesized that autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) arise from a partial disruption of long-range connections in the brain during development," explains Professor Tony Zador, who led the study. "Our finding that PTEN-deficient neurons receive stronger inputs suggests that one way this disruption can be caused is by signal enhancement." His team's work appears in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Although ASDs could arise from mutations in any of dozens of candidate genes, a core triad of symptoms defines all cases: impaired language, impaired social interaction, and restricted and repetitive behaviors. "The challenge therefore has been to understand how this diverse set of candidate genes and the pathways they control converge to cause the common signature of ASDs," Zador says.

The auditory cortex, which plays a critical role in auditory attention and perception, forms functional connections with other sensory cortices and critical brain areas. The neural network within the auditory cortex has therefore been a target of studies aimed at understanding how alterations in neural circuits contribute to dysfunction in ASDs.

Zador's team focused for several reasons on the role of one suspected autism candidate gene, PTEN, on circuit alterations within the auditory cortex. Well known for its role as an anti-cancer gene that powers down cell growth, proliferation and survival, this gene has also been linked to ASDs by a slew of studies in humans and mice. PTEN mutations have been found in autistic individuals with extreme macroencephaly - an increase in brain volume. PTEN loss in mice has been found to boost cell size and the number of neuronal connections in the brain.

To decipher the role of PTEN on functional connectivity in the auditory cortex, Zador's group selectively disrupted the function of the PTEN gene in adult mice, only in a subset of neurons of the auditory cortex, while leaving the gene intact in neighboring neurons. The scientists then assessed the effect of the loss of PTEN on connectivity within the auditory cortex using techniques that involve stimulation by laser or flashes of blue light to trigger neuronal activity either locally or in other brain areas that send neuronal projections into the auditory cortex.
To read the entire article on autism, please click on the above title.

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More Web Accessibility Network

WCAG 2.0 and Transcripts

The word "transcript" doesn't appear in WCAG 2.0 because it is strictly interpreted as being only the verbatim text version of that which is spoken. For optimal web accessibility for users with auditory disabilities, information in addition to the spoken content (such as indications of laughter or explosions, or the presentation of visual-only content) are necessary. WCAG uses the term "alternative for time-based media" to describe this descriptive transcript. WCAG 2.0 Success Criterion 1.2.3 (Level A) requires synchronized captions and either audio descriptions or an "alternative for time-based media" (i.e., descriptive transcript).

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Auto-playing Audio

Audio, such as background music, that automatically plays when a user comes to a web page can be very distracting and will interfere with screen reader audio. WCAG 2.0 Level A requires that "a mechanism is provided to stop, pause, mute, or adjust volume for audio that automatically plays on a page for more than 3 seconds". It is usually better to not automatically play audio, but allow the user to manually play the audio if they choose.

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Pop-up Windows

Pop-up windows (new windows that are triggered automatically or when a user activates a link) can cause confusion and disorientation for all users. While screen readers typically indicate that a new window has opened, managing multiple windows can be complicated, especially for blind users. Because of the various difficulties with pop-up windows, they should generally be avoided. If pop-up windows are triggered via a link, the user should typically be informed within the link text that the link opens a new window.

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Layout Tables

Tables in HTML are intended for tabular data. Although using tables for page layout is not considered best practice, this typically has minimal impact on accessibility, as long as two primary guidelines are kept in mind. First, do not use any markup that is typically used to identify data tables. This includes table headers

To access the Center for Disability Resources Library and its materials, please click this link