Please Resubmit Your Photoshoot Questionnaire

 In Search of Autistic 

Photoshoot Participants

The Autism Society of America is looking for children, teens, and adults of all ages with Autism who are interested in being photographed for a national media campaign. This photoshoot will take place on Sunday, January 15th in San Diego, California. Individuals and families local to San Diego will be needed, as travel will not be covered; however, a stipend will be provided to participants.

Thanks to the busy holiday season, we mistakenly forgot to include an email field! If you have already completed our questionnaire, please resubmit so we can contact you if selected.

We are looking for approximately 20 participants to capture a varied and diverse range of experiences within the Autism community. This photoshoot would be an extension of our current photo library including portraits of Autistic individuals, along with their family members, caregivers, spouses, or children. 

If you or a loved one is interested in participating, please complete the questionnaire form located here, by Friday, December 30th. If selected to participate, we will contact you directly with details about time and location.

Complete Questionnaire 

Visit Website

December Leadership in IDD

Perspectives

Commentary from the field

Creating Effective Career Pathways that Retain DSPs

Jessica Neely, MA, MAT

Director of Knowledge Management, SEEC, Silver Spring, MD

The shortage of skilled Direct Support Professionals (DSPS) is a systemic crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic underscored how essential a versatile direct support workforce truly is. Seventeen years ago, Larson and Hewitt outlined DSP recruitment and retention challenges, their dire impacts on people with IDD, and recommended career pathways as a promising solution.

In 2017, a consortium of five provider agencies formed the Maryland Direct Support Training Program (MDDSP) with SEEC as lead agency. The MDDSP created a competency-based training framework using a ladder and lattice approach. Progress along a ladder of knowledge acquisition is enhanced by a lattice of specialization options including DSP Mentor, DSP Job Coach, and the opportunity earn a national credential such as Registered Behavior Technician, or Certified Employment Support Professional. To date, the MDDSP has served DSPs at 10 provider agencies and successfully trained nearly 300 DSPs with a credentialed learner’s retention rate of 91%. 

Notables

Recent awards, accolades, appointments, and other honors

• Dr. Elizabeth Perkins Awarded the 2022 George S. Jesien Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of University Centers on Disabilities 
• Stanfort J. Perry, CEO, AHRC Nassau, was elected to serve as the Second Vice Chair of the National Conference of Executives (NCE) of The Arc, a peer membership organization supporting executive directors, management staff and volunteer leaders.

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Notables: Recent awards, accolades, appointments, and other honors

Perspectives: Commentary from the field 

AAIDD is looking to feature notables and perspective pieces from our members in the field! Send us your commentary to be featured in a future Leadership in IDD Newsletter.

View the archive of the Leadership in IDD newsletter here.

Join AAIDD online.

Holiday Gift Ideas for Wheelchair Users

December 15, 2022

PRODUCTS

Ten Holiday Gift Ideas for Wheelchair Users

Holiday season is in full swing, and we’ve got a fun guide to our favorite gifts of the year. There are adaptive cupholders, fancy wheelchairs, Christmas wheels, accessible vacation spots, a remote-controlled WCMX toy, adaptive winter boots and more — so grab yourself a glass of eggnog and check out the full list. 

Pride Mobility's New Travel Power Wheelchair

Pride Mobility has released the Jazzy Carbon, a lightweight portable power wheelchair designed with travelers in mind. It’s made with a carbon fiber and aluminum frame that weighs 43 pounds with the battery attached. The frame folds quickly for easy storage in a car or on an airplane.  

AIR TRAVEL

Ben Leclair, a C3 quad, shows how he flies as power wheelchair user and shares tips for successfully navigating your own air travel journey.

Five Pro Tips for Flying with a Power Wheelchair

Our air travel system is inherently flawed, to say the least, but with the right planning, you can give yourself a better chance of success. Kenny Salvini shares five pro tips — including how to prep your power wheelchair for the plane, how to communicate with airport staff, and how to manage bowel and bladder on the plane — so you and your equipment can (hopefully) arrive safely at your destination.   

Click here to read more of this issue of New Mobility. 

Participate in our New Brand Photoshoot!

In Search of Autistic

Photoshoot Participants

The Autism Society of America is looking for children, teens, and adults with Autism who are interested in being photographed for a national media campaign. This photoshoot will take place on Sunday, January 15th in San Diego, California. Individuals and families local to San Diego will be needed, as travel will not be covered; however, a stipend will be provided to participants.

We are looking for approximately 20 participants to capture a varied and diverse range of experiences within the Autism community. This photoshoot would be an extension of our current photo library including portraits of Autistic individuals, along with their family members, caregivers, spouses, or children. You can browse our portrait photography throughout our website; the photos with colored backgrounds are from a previous brand photoshoot.

If you or a loved one is interested in participating, please complete the questionnaire form located here, by Sunday, December 25th. Please note that not all applicants will be chosen. If selected, we will contact you directly with details about the time and studio location, to confirm your availability, and provide additional information.

Complete Questionnaire

Visit Our Website

Join the call: Are you in a Residential, Day Program, or Work Center?

 

Survey Closes FRIDAY! 

Are you currently living in a residential facility? 

Do you participate in a day program? 

Do you work at a work center or workshop? 

We need to hear from YOU! 

A residential facility could be any Home and Community-Based Services Setting, including Community Training Homes, Supervised Living Models (SLPs), Community Residential Care Facilities, group homes, or assisted living facilities. If you live in one of these places, go to a day program, or work at a work center, we need to hear from you! 

You can provide your feedback in many ways: 

• Join us on a call Thursday, December 15, 2022, at 2:00 pm. This call will be co-hosted by SC partners, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Administration for Community Living (ACL), as we all want to learn of any issues, you are experiencing so that we can help.  If you want to join the call, please click "register here" below. 
• Send us an email at advocacy@able-sc.org to let us know of any problems in your home, day program, or work center. 
• Contact Valarie Bishop with the SC DD Council if you would like to talk with someone. You can reach Valarie by emailing her at Valarie.Bishop@admin.sc.gov or calling 803.734.0215 

All information will be kept private. Your name will not be shared unless you want it to be shared. 

We invite anyone receiving Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services and their families/designee to join the call on December 15. 

Register Here!

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If you need help completing the survey or are worried about sharing your concerns, please call us at 800.681.6805 or email us at advocacy@able-sc.org. We can come to you directly if you want to discuss your concerns privately. 

All information will be kept private. Your name will not be shared unless you want it to be shared. 

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This is a collaborative effort with the Administration for Community Living (ACL), the Center for Medicaid Services (CMS), Able SC, Disability Rights SC, SC Developmental Disabilities Council, USC Center for Disability Resources, SC Department on Aging, AccessAbility, and Walton Options for Independent Living. 

Last In-Person Empower Hour of 2022!

EMPOWER HOUR 2022 

Now available in-person and online!

Peer Networking - Discover your power!

Have a disability? Want to build your support network? Empower Hour is led by your peers and meets to discuss independence, share resources, make new friends, and give support to each other. Empower Hour is a great chance to connect with others. 

If you are interested in participating in either the online or in-person support group, please RSVP by email to dwheeler@able-sc.org or by calling 1-800-681-6805, TTY: 803-779-0949 at least one day before the meeting. 

To make a request for an accommodation based upon disability, for either the in-person or online Empower Hour, please call us at 800-681-6805 or email at dwheeler@able-sc.org a week before the event. 

Empower Hour Online: 

Every Thursday from 1 pm to 2 pm. 

Empower Hour In-Person: 

Monthly from 4 pm to 5 pm 

in our Columbia and Greenville Offices 

*Last In-Person Date:

December 15 

*To ensure safety people attending Empower Hour in person must have their temperatures checked at office front doors and wear a mask. The number of participants will be limited to allow for social distancing. 

Able South Carolina

720 Gracern Road Suite 106 | Columbia, South Carolina 29210

803.779.5121 | advocacy@able-sc.org 

9 Hacks to Make Your Home More Accessible

December 1, 2022

PRO TIP

9 Hacks to Make Your House More Accessible

When we were putting together our latest Consumer Guide, we asked wheelchair users across the country for hacks to make their living spaces a little easier to manage. Here are our favorites — from installing a do-it-yourself lift to access a tall vehicle, to putting your dining table on oversized casters, to trading out rubber garden hoses for fabric ones, and more. Hopefully one of these inexpensive hacks will work for you, or even better, spark an idea for your own ingenious access solution.  

TRENDING

Stair-Climbing Wheelchair Gets a Real-World Test

We love Facebook videos of fantastical, completely impractical-looking stair-climbing wheelchairs as much as anyone. So, we were a bit shocked when one of them, the Scewo, turned into a product you can actually buy — at least if you’re in Europe. Check out this video of a real-world test by para Cambry Kaylor on the ultrapopular YouTube channel JerryRigEverything. Spoiler alert: Climbing and descending stairs looks surprisingly simple and downright terrifying.   

SPORTING SCENE

First U.S. Women Compete in Wheelchair Rugby World Championship

Sarah Adam and Liz Dunn made history at the 2022 Wheelchair Rugby World Championship in Denmark in October, becoming the first women to compete for USA Wheelchair Rugby at a major championship. They are part of a growing number of women competing at the highest levels of the sport.  

PRODUCTS

Outrider Coyote Off-Road Mobility Vehicle: Reviewed

Outrider’s new Coyote adaptive off-road vehicle was designed to accommodate a wide range of functional abilities. We got our product guy, C5-6 quad Mike Franz, to see how it performs. Even for someone with poor balance and worse hand-dexterity, he found it a highly capable vehicle on a variety of terrains. Read the full review here.

Click here to read more of this issue of  New Mobility!

Courtesy Resource Share: Residential Living, Day Program, and Work Center Community Living Conversation

 

Courtesy Resource Share

Are you currently living in a residential facility?

Do you participate in a day program?

Do you work at a work center or workshop?

We need to hear from YOU!

A residential facility could be any Home and Community-Based Services Setting, including Community Training Homes, Supervised Living Models (SLPs), Community Residential Care Facilities, group homes, or assisted living facilities. If you live in one of these places, go to a day program, or work at a work center, we need to hear from you!

You can provide your feedback in many ways:

• Fill out a survey to share your experience. Click here to fill out the short survey. Please fill out the survey no later than Friday, December 9, 2022.
• Send us an email at advocacy@able-sc.org to let us know of any problems in your home, day program, or work center.
• Contact Valarie Bishop with the SC DD Council if you would like to talk with someone. You can reach Valarie by emailing her at Valarie.Bishop@admin.sc.gov or calling 803.734.0215
• Join Able South Carolina on a call Thursday, December 15, 2022, at 2:00 pm. This call will be co-hosted by SC partners, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Administration for Community Living (ACL), as we all want to learn of any issues, you are experiencing so that we can help.  If you want to join the call, please click "register here" below.

All information will be kept private. Your name will not be shared unless you want it to be shared.

We invite anyone receiving Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services and their families/designee to join the call on December 15.

Register Here!

If you need help completing the survey or are worried about sharing your concerns, please call Able South Carolina at 800.681.6805 or email them at advocacy@able-sc.org. We can come to you directly if you want to discuss your concerns privately.

This is a collaborative effort with the Administration for Community Living (ACL), the Center for Medicaid Services (CMS), Able SC, Disability Rights SC, SC Developmental Disabilities Council, USC Center for Disability Resources, SC Department on Aging, AccessAbility, and Walton Options for Independent Living.

Pick Next Year's Consumer Training Topics!

 

Consumers,

We want to hear from you! 

Please let us know your choices for times of day and topics 

for in-person and online monthly independent living 

consumer training classes for 2023.

For questions, contact Dori at dtempio@able-sc.org. 

Take the Survey!

November Leadership in IDD

 

Perspectives

Commentary from the field 

Amanda L. Miller, PhD

College of Education, Wayne State University

I examine how youth with IDD are positioned – as knowledge holders and generators, passive recipients, good, smart – through how adults talk about, to, and with them, and how they are treated as learners and doers. For example, students with IDD are situated through how school districts provide (or do not) meaningful augmentative and accessible communication systems, supports, and tools to them and their families. Ideological underpinnings in schools are amplified through how such youth are thought about, talked about, and decisions are made for and about them by adults. 

In a recent study, I focused on how six middle- and high school girls of color labeled with significant cognitive disabilities used talk and actions (e.g., eye gazes, facial expressions, gestures) to navigate classroom interactions. I was interested in how they were positioned – and how they navigated, resisted, and repositioned themselves with few visible supports in a setting that prioritized oral/aural communication. School districts and staff should consider how they position multiply marginalized youth with their interactions and how such positions result in learning opportunities being afforded and withheld. We need to learn about and honor the experiences these girls are having to truly transform educational policy, practice, and research. 

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Notables

Recent awards, accolades, appointments, and other honors

Elizabeth A. Perkins, PhD, RNLD, FAAIDD, FGSA has been awarded the 2022 George S. Jesien Distinguished Achievement Award at the 2022 AUCD Conference. 

Kathryn M. Burke, PhD has been awarded the 2022 Young Professional Award at the 2022 AUCD Conference. 

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Linkages 

Opportunities to participate in research, projects, policy development, and other collaborations

Call for Papers: Special Issue of Inclusion on DSPs

Inclusion co-Editors, Colleen Thoma, PhD, FAAIDD, and LaRon Scott, EdD, are seeking submissions for a special issue of Inclusion, to be published in September 2023, regarding Direct Support Professionals (DSPs). To be considered for the special issue, a brief abstract (no more than 250 words) should be submitted no later than December 15, 2022. Full manuscripts must be submitted by March 1, 2023. Tentative publication date is September 1, 2023. Please email questions and abstracts to Dr. Lauren Bruno. 

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AAIDD is looking to feature notables and perspective pieces from our members in the field! Send us your commentary to be featured in a future Leadership in IDD Newsletter.

Produced by AAIDD, this monthly digest features the recent (first made available within last 3 months) and emergent (will be available within the next 4-6 weeks) work of AAIDD members only. Journal articles, while important, are not featured in this publication. 

View the archive of the Leadership in IDD newsletter here.

Join AAIDD here!