JANUARY 2012 - DISABLITIES THREAD

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The Tennessee Federation of the Blind is asking for help finding stories of discrimination in Tennessee that can help pass legislation to protect Parents with Disabilities and their families. If you are a person with a disability and you have been discriminated against in a custody hearing, then we would love for you to share your story with us.

Often when a person with a disability enters into the divorce process, the spouse without a disability automatically claims that the other parent is an unfit parent because of their disability. Many times this can cause the parent with the disability to pay extra court and lawyer expenses and suffer unneeded emotional distress. It can even cause someone with a disability to unjustly lose custody of a child.

If you have a valid story of discrimination that relates to this topic or you would like to help in getting behind the legislation, then please email me at:

[e-mail]

Till Equality,

James Brown

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The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, The Arc Tennessee, and the Tennessee Council on Developmental Disabilities are seeking stories on a wide range of topics from individuals with disabilities and families who are living in Tennessee. With the stories, we hope to:

-Educate service providers, policymakers, and the general public on issues of disability
-Help others with similar stories cope and learn
-Create awareness of disability issues in the state of Tennessee
-Engage in the disability community to create positive change

Stories are being collected and then shared via the website, Tennessee Kindred Stories of Disability (http://kc.vanderbilt.edu/kindredstories/). The stories on the website are searchable by disability, age range, storyteller perspective, county, and topic. Current topics illustrate what families experience in areas like education, transition, employment, housing, wait lists, and more.

Please consider sharing your stories in one of the following ways.

+Agree to be interviewed by a student from Vanderbilt University or Belmont University. We are recruiting 50 individuals or families who are willing to sit down for about an hour with a student in the next couple of months (prior to April, preferably). These interviews are a class project, so in addition to sharing stories on the website, you will be giving students a valuable learning opportunity.
+Agree to be interviewed this summer by graduate students enrolled in the Dept. of Special Education at Vanderbilt.

For more information, contact Courtney Taylor at [phone], [e-mail]
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Below is an explanation of what you will be asked and why.

Family Interview Protocols - I am a student from Vanderbilt University. I am interested in learning more about your family. I have a series of questions to ask you. I am hoping to learn more about the day to day life of your family, some of the positive experiences and challenges of having a child with a disability, and your vision for the future. These interviews will allow me to better understand families of individuals with disabilities and what they go through. Your story may be shared with members of the Tennessee Legislature and the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to educate them on the challenges faced by families. Your story also will be stored in the Tennessee Kindred Stories of Disability online searchable database, which is open to the public. (kc.vanderbilt.edu/kindredstories)

Please tell us about your family
How many children are in your family?
What are their ages?
Who lives at home?
Do all of your children get along?
Will you share more about your child who has a disability?
What is she/he like?
What are his/her strengths?
What are his/her challenges?
What is your vision for your son/daughter in the following categories and why? What is working well? What is not working well? What changes could be made to improve the situation?

a. Education
b. Health care
c. Employment
d. Housing
e. Social and/or faith community inclusion
f. Adult services
g. Transportation
h. Respite

What are your long-range plans?
For you, as parents?
For your child/adult with a disability?
For your children/adults without disabilities?
How welcome do you feel in the community (e.g., in the grocery store, your library, your faith community, your school)?
What are the major challenges related to disabilities facing your family?
In what areas do you feel more research/services/education/information is needed?
Is there anything else you want to share?

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DSM V Community DIalogue - Many of you have heard recent discussion regarding the impending changes for the DSM IV.

Our Director, Dena Gassner had the privilege of sitting in on an information session on these changes at the ASA conference last year. She is also heavily involved with the advocacy regarding these changes through her advisory board status with GRASP.

To insure that our community is informed and activated to respond, the Center for Understanding will sponsor two community dialogues; one during school hours and one during the event.

This is recommended for parents, teens and adults with ASD. The content will be the same at both sessions so there is no need to attend both.

If you are interested in attending, please notify us at [e-mail].

RESERVATIONS ARE LIMITED TO 30 PARTICIPANTS PER SESSION. (We will initiate a wait list after we reach capacity).

Recommended donation for this event is $5. Payment is not required but appreciated. If you can pay more to sponsor another family, that would be wonderful!

DSM COMMUNITY DIALOGUE
Center for Understanding Offices
120 Holiday Court #4
Franklin, TN 37067
300-3369

DATES:

Monday January 30 7:00 PM

Friday Feburary 3 12:30 (no meal will be served).

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ETTAC workshop on Insurance coverage -

Wednesday, February 8th from noon to 1:30 p.m., the East Tennessee Technology Access Center continues its 2012 Enrichment Workshop Series for people with disabilities and their families by hosting Brandon Cook, with John Bailey Insurance, to discuss issues related on home, life and vehicles insurance coverage. Health and long term care insurance and setting up trusts will not be covered at this time.

The workshop is free, but registration is required. Please call [phone] to reserve a seat at the workshop. This will be held in ETTAC’s Knoxville office located at 116 Childress Street. Directions to ETTAC can be found under the Contact link at www.discoveret.org/ettac.

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www.nytimes.com/2012/01/20/health/research/new-autism-definition-would-exclude-many-study-suggests.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2

January 19, 2012
New Definition of Autism Will Exclude Many, Study Suggests By BENEDICT CAREY

Proposed changes in the definition of autism would sharply reduce the skyrocketing rate at which the disorder is diagnosed and might make it harder for many people who would no longer meet the criteria to get health, educational and social services, a new analysis suggests.

The definition is now being reassessed by an expert panel appointed by the American Psychiatric Association, which is completing work on the fifth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the first major revision in 17 years. The D.S.M., as the manual is known, is the standard reference for mental disorders, driving research, treatment and insurance decisions. Most experts expect that the new manual will narrow the criteria for autism; the question is how sharply.

The results of the new analysis are preliminary, but they offer the most drastic estimate of how tightening the criteria for autism could affect the rate of diagnosis. For years, many experts have privately contended that the vagueness of the current criteria for autism and related disorders like Asperger syndrome was contributing to the increase in the rate of diagnoses — which has ballooned to one child in 100, according to some estimates.

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