Participation Requests
Disability Visibility Project
https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2014/06/16/storycorps-disability/19443/
“DisabilityScoop” reported June 16, 2014, in an article, “StoryCorps Looks To Record Disability Experience,” that a new project, the Disability Visibility Project, has been launched as a community partnership with StoryCorps, a national nonprofit that allows everyday people to record casual, one-on-one conversations in an effort to preserve history. As the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act approaches next year, this project will encourage people within the disability community to share their stories. StoryCorps’ recording booth in San Francisco is making sessions available between July 10 and Dec. 13 specifically for members of the disability community to record their stories. Additional times are expected to be added leading up to the ADA’s 25th anniversary in July 2015.
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2014/07/10/congress-sheltered-eligibility/19500/
“DisabilityScoop” reported July 10, 2014, in an article, “Congress Passes Bill Limiting Sheltered Workshop Eligibility,” that a bill that would significantly limit young people with disabilities from entering sheltered workshop programs is headed to President Barack Obama’s desk. The U.S. House of Representatives voted to approve the “Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.” Included in the bill are changes to the path from school to work for those with disabilities. The measure would prohibit individuals age 24 and younger from working jobs that pay less than the federal minimum of $7.25 per hour unless they first try vocational rehabilitation services, among other requirements. It would also require state vocational rehabilitation agencies to work with schools to provide “pre-employment transition services” to all students with disabilities and require such agencies to allocate a minimum of 15% of their federal funding to help individuals with disabilities in transition under the measure.
U.S. Department of Education’s Guidance Letter on Charter Schools’ Legal Obligations to Individuals With Disabilities
https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2014/05/15/feds-warn-charters-special/19368/
The U.S. Department of Education issued a guidance letter in May 2014 outlining charter schools’ legal obligations to individuals with disabilities, regardless of whether the schools receive federal funding. Included in the letter are reminders that students with disabilities cannot be discriminated against in admissions and disciplinary actions; and that parents with disabilities must be accommodated, e.g., with sign-language interpreters or Braille materials, when communicating with the school.
Disability.gov PSAs Challenge Assumptions about People with Disabilities
https://www.disability.gov/newsroom/psa-download-center/
Disability.gov recently released public service announcements (PSAs) in support of the message that people are not defined by their disabilities. Each of the eight PSAs features one of Disability.gov’s “No Boundaries” participants. Each PSAs participant chose several words to describe him or herself to paint a broader picture of who they are. The PSAs are downloadable from the Disability.gov site.
PACER Legislative Alert – Supporting Youth With Disabilities
https://house.gov/representatives/find/
Congress is considering changes to the Workforce Investment Act and the federal Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Program that assists youth and adults with disabilities to get the education and training they need to obtain and retain a job. While Congress is trying to strengthen the VR services that students with disabilities would receive as they transition out of high school, some possible changes would hurt families of youth with disabilities. PACER is asking families and others to call their representatives to make the following points critical to families and youth: (1) Oppose moving the Vocational Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology programs out of the Department of Education (the Senate version of this legislation seeks to move Vocational Rehabilitation to the Department of Labor and the Assistive Technology program to the Department of Health and Human Services, but separating these programs and moving them out of the Department of Education would disconnect them from a culture valuing parental involvement and the other programs that support students with disabilities, and such a move would damage the strong family connections and important services provided to youth and adults with disabilities by providing such services together in Department of Education); (2) Strengthen competitive employment awareness provisions (ensuring that young adults with disabilities transitioning from high school to employment are aware that jobs which pay the minimum wage and higher are available is an important aspect of providing individuals the opportunity to reach their potential, and the bill could be strengthened by ensuring that there are no exceptions to making sure young adults are made aware of the possibility of working in a competitive workplace, in addition to the non-competitive, often less than minimum wage, work possibilities). The phone numbers of Congressional Representatives can be found at the website.
