Our younger consumers love PNO PLUS, our summertime day program for students transitioning from extended year to their regular academic year.
Welcome to our latest installment of noteworthy disability-themed articles! In addition, as a leader in the field, we are pleased to share our experience, knowledge, and expertise with the disability community through our social media outlets: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+, and Pinterest.
In addition, we are specialists in the area of assistive technology and offer an array of services. The Assistive Technology Center is New Jersey’s premier source of information and equipment.
Featured Advancing Opportunities Jobs
We’re hiring! We’ve got an immediate opening in the Central New Jersey region for a Community Support Coordinator.
Other Advancing Opportunities News
The New Jersey Brain Injury Alliance is hosting a webinar, Voice Assistive Technology for People with Brain Injuries, on Wednesday August 22, 2018, from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Advancing Opportunities’ Assistive Technology Specialist Kristen Russell will discuss the ways to use voice assistant tools, like the Amazon Echo and Google Home, to increase independence and organization. For more information, please see our flyer.
To register, visit the BIANJ webinars page.
We extend a hearty thank-you to all the education professionals who stopped by our Assistive Technology Services booth at the New Jersey Department of Education Principal Learning Network summer institute! Our AT professionals have a great deal of experience serving school districts.
Disability in the News (Mostly in New Jersey, the Population We Serve)
Just announced! The annual New Jersey Disability Pride Parade is coming October 5. More information to follow.
It used to be 1 in 5; a new CDC report finds that 61 percent of Americans live with a disability that affects one or more major life activities. The six types of disability studied are: mobility, cognition, hearing, vision, independent living, and self-care.
TheArc Tank 2.0 has announced that $200,000 in grants are available to fund innovative ideas to help people with intellectual disabilities and autism.
Assistive Technology
Is Google Glass still around? Yes. The Stanford University School of Medicine has been working on Superpower Glass, a project examining the use of these glasses to help children with autism read facial expressions. A recent study highlights this “really important unmet need.”
For Parents of a Child with a Disability (Parenting)
With the return to the school year coming, it’s a good time to talk to children about accepting their disabled peers. Parents have a critical role to play here!
Advocacy and Self-advocacy
A disability self-advocate asks why society treats civil rights as “privileges bestowed on people with disabilities.” She claims that, with a level playing field, the world benefits when “the talents of the disability community to shine.”
College for Students with a Disability
The University of Maryland announces new center for students with disabilities. The Center for Transition and Career Innovation for Youth with Disabilities will be housed at the university’s College of Education.
Disability Rights, Accessibility
Disability Awareness: A guide to ADA and the freedom it brings.
The Essex County Bar Association Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities released its updated, sixth edition of the Disability Law Primer.
Employment for People with Disabilities
Though this HuffPost article is two years old, its message of inclusion of people with disabilities in the workplace is still highly relevant: “10 Crucial Ways We Can Make Society More Inclusive for People with Disabilities”
The Arts and People with Disabilities
A new disability awareness campaign in the U.K.: National Disability Arts Collection & Archive—The Golden Age of the Disability Arts Movement
Notable Research on Disability
A study among children on the autism spectrum reveals a pattern of altered brain waves, which could be used as a biomarker to detect symptoms of the condition as early as infancy.
People with a Disability in the Community (Disability Rights and Acceptance; Inclusion)
A traveler with a physical disability recounts her humiliating experiences at airports, especially in the security queue before boarding a flight: “I’ve experienced what it’s like to travel both as a nondisabled, fully able-bodied person and as a disabled person who uses a wheelchair. The dichotomy between those experiences is disheartening and disturbing.”
Disability Awareness and Appreciation
The AAPD Disability Rights Storytellers Fellowship provides the opportunity to learn and apply skills in digital media storytelling and disability advocacy.
“What We Get Wrong About Disability”: An NPR podcast explores the perceptions the general public has regarding people with various disabilities. Four guests, each with a physical disability, discuss their experiences… and ways in which they have been among the “original life hackers,” solving problems in their communities.
Many people see people with disabilities as tragic. Other people think otherwise, finding much humor in their situation!
Fashion, Beauty, and Glamour: Inclusion of People with Disabilities
A U.K. clothing store has hired a 7-year-old double amputee to model its line of girl’s clothes.
