NEWS
FYI Newsletter
The Indiana Institute's FYI Newsletter is published regularly and includes news, upcoming events, and additional resources valuable to individuals with disabilities, family members, and industry professionals.To subscribe to the Indiana Institute FYI E-Newsletter, simply follow this link and enter your e-mail: Subscribe to FYI Newsletter.
You will receive a confirmation e-mail that you have been added to the Indiana Institute E-Newsletter.
To unsubscribe, please enter your e-mail.
FYI Newsletter April 2, 2007
Quick Scan:
- ADA Focused Audio Conference
- Regional Social Security and Benefits Planning Workshops
- Journal Article Published
- Feature: A Seventeen-Year Journey - Self-Advocates of Indiana
- Library Corner
ADA Focused Audio Conference
Join ADA-Indiana for this month's audio conference on legislation to restore the Americans with Disabilities Act. Participants will learn about the history and intent of the ADA Restoration Act and the future of the legislation that may affect the civil rights of individuals with disabilities. Andrew J. Imparato, President of the American Association of Persons with Disabilities (AAPD), will be the featured speaker. The ADA Restoration Act is intended to restore the Americans with Disabilities Act to its "original intent" and address several decisions made by the U.S. Supreme Court over the past 16 years. It is anticipat ed that this piece of legislation will once again be introduced during the new 110th Congress and under very different circumstances given the outcome of the 2006 elections.
This audio conference will be held on Tuesday, April 17th from 2:00- 3:30 p.m. (EDT) in five different Indiana locations and will be of special interest to advocates, people with disabilities, and other interested community members. No pre-registration is required. CRC credit is available. The session is free at locations sponsored by ADA-Indiana. ADA-Indiana locations include:
Bloomington, IN (2:00-3:30 p.m. EDT)
Indiana Institute on Disability and Community, Building L
2853 East Tenth Street
Evansville, IN (1:00-2:30 p.m. CDT)
University of Southern Indiana Campus
Science Center, Room 1212
Indianapolis, IN (2:00-3:30 p.m. EDT)
Indiana Government Center, Conference Room 12
402 West Washington Street
Indianapolis, IN (2:00-3:30 p.m. EDT)
Indiana Protection and Advocacy Services
4701 North Keystone Avenue, Suite 222
West Lafayette, IN (2:00-3:30 p.m. EDT)
Purdue University - West Lafayette Campus, Stewart Center, Room 314
If you are not able to attend at one of ADA-Indiana's sponsored sites, individuals and organizations can purchase access to the audio conference by visiting http://www.ada-audio.org. The cost is $25.00 (for not-for-profits) and $40.00 (for-profit entities). For more information about these sessions, contact Matt Norris at 1-800-825-4733 (e-mail adainfo@indiana.edu).
Coming in May (May 15th, 2:00-3:30 p.m. EDT), ADA Implementation and Impact Study Report: National Council on Disability. The National Council on Disability (NCD) is scheduled to release a series of reports addressing the Implementation and Impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act later this year. These reports will address the impact of the ADA upon employment of persons with disabilities as well as address the implementation of Title II and III of the ADA from the perspective of people with disabilities and entities covered by the ADA.
Regional Social Security and Benefits Planning Workshops
The Indiana Institute's Center on Community Living and Careers, in conjunction with Vocational Rehabilitation Services, is sponsoring a series of regional two-day workshops on social security and benefits planning. Learning objectives include:
· Basics of supplemental security income and social security disability insurance;
· Work incentives for SSI;
· Work incentives for SSDI trial work periods; and
· Other federal and state programs such as Medicare and Medicare Part D.
Case managers, VR counselors, family members, persons with disabilities, BDDS personnel, representative payees, independent living personnel, transition coordinators, mental health personnel, advocates, employment specialists, and residential staff should plan to attend. Training dates and locations are:
May 16-17, 2007
Strongbow Inn
2405 East U.S. 30
Valparaiso, IN
August 15-16, 2007
Residence Inn Marriott
Fort Wayne Southeast
7811 West Jefferson Boulevard
Fort Wayne, IN
October 24-25, 2007
Easterseals Crossroads
4740 Kingsway Drive
Indianapolis, IN
Registration fee is $85.00 per person. There is no cost to VRS personnel. Seating is limited to 25 attendees per site. Continuing Education Units (CEUs) will be available at the training. To register, contact Sherry Redman at (812) 855-6508, e-mail sredman@indiana.edu, or visit http://www.iidc.indiana.edu/cclc/ for more information.
Journal Article Published
Scott Bellini, Assistant Director of the Institute's Indiana Resource Center for Autism, a long with co-authors Jennifer Akullian and Andrea Hopf, both Indiana University Graduate Assistants, recently published a research study in the Journal of School Psychology Review entitled Increasing Social Engagement in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders Using Video Self-Modeling.
An emerging body of research demonstrates the effectiveness of video self-modeling (VSM) in addressing social, communication, and behavioral functioning of children with autism spectrum disorders. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the benefits of a VSM intervention in increasing the social engagement of young children with autism spectrum disorders. The study expands previous research on VSM by measuring social interactions with same-aged peers in a natural setting rather than with adults in a controlled clinical setting. Intervention and maintenance effects were measured in addition to the social validity of the VSM procedure. The results of the VSM intervention are provided, and implications for practice and future research are discussed. For more information on this study, contact Bellini at the Indiana Institute at (812) 855-6508 or e-mail sbellini@indiana.edu.
A Seventeen-Year Journey - Self-Advocates of Indiana
Born of an idea to be "just like everyone else," Darcus Nims and her friends embarked on a 17-year journey to do the "same things everyone else did. It just took a little longer." The journey began in 1990 when Nims and xBetty Williams established Self-Advocates of Indiana (SAI), a statewide self-advocacy group for persons with disabilities. "Speaking for yourself and others%u2026 Making hopes, dreams, and needs come true to better our lives," became the mantra of the Self-Advocates.
In the fall of 1997, staff from the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community, Indiana%u2018s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, began a partnership with SAI in an effort to find funding to grow the organization. Over the course of the next year and a half, Nims, Williams, and Institute staff worked to identify priorities and determine strategies to meet these goals. In 1999, this collaborative effort result ed in SAI receiving a $20,000 grant from the Indiana Governor's Council for People with Disabilities. Nims and Williams immediately began the task of building local SAI chapters across Indiana. Initially, seven towns were targeted. Interested individuals learned skills enabling them to start local self-advocacy groups.
Since 1997, Indiana Governor's Council for People with Disabilities has provided SAI with the financial backing to build their capacity as an organization and as individual self-advocates. As a result of funding support and the work of Indiana Institute staff, SAI now has a Board of Directors, a training team of speakers who address issues related to self-advocacy and self-determination to a variety of audiences from high school students to state entities. SAI was incorporated in 2002 and 17 members currently sit on 16 local and state committees. SAI has their own website (http://www.saind.org/) and has held three statewide advocacy conferences. Featured keynote speakers have includ ed Chester Finn, President, Self-Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE) and Faith McCormick from the Administration on Developmental Disabilities.
Since 2006, Indiana's Developmental Disabilities Network, comprised of the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community, the Governor's Council for People with Disabilities, and Indiana Protection and Advocacy Services, has worked to keep SAI's resources strong when the organization faced negative trends, such as funding cuts, through in-kind support and direct expense coverage. Additional support has been provided by The Arc of Indiana. The Arc serves as fiscal agent for SAI's grant from the Governor's Council and hired SAI President, Betty Williams, to serve as The Arc's Coordinator of Consumer Education and Training.
Most recently, SAI and the Indiana DD Network, collaborated to develop a Building Leadership Series project. This five-year endeavor, born out of a crucial unmet need to build leadership and advocacy skills in persons with disabilities, trained 18 persons with cognitive disabilities in year one. The Series consisted of three two-day workshops over the course of three months. The workshops were co-trained by staff from the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community's Center on Aging and Community and people with disabilities using interactive activities, video, discussion, role play, lectures, and workbooks specifically designed for the project. For more information on the activities of the Self-Advocates of Indiana, contact Maribeth Mooney at (812) 855-6508 or e-mail mfmooney@indiana.edu.
Library Corner
New Items: The following new materials may be borrowed by Indiana residents from the Center for Disability Information and Referral (CeDIR) at the Institute. To check out materials, please call the library at 1-800-437-7924, send e-mail to
cedir@indiana.edu,or visit us at 2853 East Tenth Street in Bloomington.
Adaptive Environments Center & K ing, V.A. (2000). The ADA and public schools: Access for all. Boston, MA: Adaptive Environments.
A day with Jonathan Mooney: Concrete strategies for teaching and parenting outside the lines [videorecording]. (2006). Colorado Springs, CO: PEA K Parent Center. A 233-minute presentation on 2 DVDs.
Questions and answers for mediation providers: Mediation and the Americans with Disabilities Act. (200?). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, National Council on Disability, & U.S. Department of Justice.