[Ohio-Talk] Fwd: Daily Clips 4-15-21

[Carolyn Peters]

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From: Shirley.Marchi at ood.ohio.gov
Date: April 15, 2021 at 11:00:52 AM EDT
To: Vickyleeemerson at aol.com, Eric.Muller at ood.ohio.gov, lucille.twitty at ood.ohio.gov, Erik.Williamson at ood.ohio.gov, Marlena.Smith at ood.ohio.gov, Fern.Miele at ood.ohio.gov, Lindsay.Blusiewicz at ood.ohio.gov, Kim.Jump at ood.ohio.gov, Matt.Lampke at ood.ohio.gov, Kristen.Ballinger at ood.ohio.gov, gregory.dormer at ood.ohio.gov, susan.pugh at ood.ohio.gov, akramer at cityapparel.net, pmoore at opra.org, johnmoore at dsc.org, JoHannah.Ward at education.ohio.gov, Taniya.George-Olds at ood.ohio.gov, karis.spence at huntington.com, smithj at ohio.edu, jmorris at ohiosilc.org, kevin.miller at ood.ohio.gov, amckay at disabilityrightsohio.org, carlo at loparopr.com, lisah at ocecd.org, margie.hegg at gmail.com, Jegerhardt9 at gmail.com, matthew.sauer at uc.edu, dr.carolyn.peters at gmail.com
Cc: Kim.Jump at ood.ohio.gov
Subject: Daily Clips 4-15-21


Good Morning.
 
Please find below the Daily Clips.
 
In today's clips:
 
•   Assistive Technology of Ohio: OOD Director Kevin Miller: Assistive Technology Plays a Vital Role in Helping Ohioans with Disabilities Find Employment
•   wkyc.com: Dr. Jennell Vick & Kelly Parker – A Century of Hearing & Speech Help in Cleveland (video)
•   U.S. News: Long COVID Sufferers Are Seeking Disability Benefits. Will They Change the System?
•   msn.com (© Provided by WBNS Columbus): Ohio Students with disabilities can qualify for academic help through the summer
•   Inside Higher Ed: Advances in Deaf Education
•   Ohio University, Ohio news: Tri-State Conference on Diversity and Inclusion now accepting proposals
•   The News-Herald: Koinonia Launches New Service Model and Logo
•   Ohio Department of Administrative Services: Celebrate Ohio Deaf History Month
 
 
OOD Director Kevin Miller: Assistive Technology Plays a Vital Role in Helping Ohioans with Disabilities Find Employment
 
President Ronald Reagan once famously said, "The best social program is a job." The ability to have a sustained career path eliminates the need for so many other support services for anyone - including and especially people with disabilities. There is no more important use of assistive technology than to help people with disabilities find and maintain employment.
 
Assistive Technology of Ohio has a long-standing positive relationship with Ohio's state-federal vocational rehabilitation program. Kevin Miller, Director of Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities, today offers a brief message in support of Assistive Technology Awareness Day 2021 - acknowledging the important role AT plays in the helping people with disabilities in one of the most important areas of life: employment. We thank Director Miller for his words and we give thanks to all of the disability professionals across the state who are helping Ohioans with disabilities find rewarding careers.
 
Happy Assistive Technology Awareness Day! Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0krHEQAw1Aw
 
Today is Assistive Technology Awareness Day in the United States. Assistive technology for people with disabilities is such an important and growing field. Congress originally passed the Technology Related Assistance to Individuals with Disabilities Act (now known as the Assistive Technology Act) in 1988 -- and there was no way anyone could have known of the incredible growth the field would show in the next 30 years.
 
Assistive technology and remote supports are also vital to the everyday life of individuals with developmental disabilities. Today we are proud and honored to have a quick video from the Director of the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities, Jeff Davis. Director Davis talks of the leadership role the state of Ohio is taking in embracing remote supports for individuals with DD. Many states across the country are turning to the Ohio model to use remote supports to improve the lives of their citizens with developmental disabilities.
 
To all of our friends in the disability community in Ohio, Happy Assistive Technology Awareness Day! Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKKWniWMHDI
 
 
Dr. Jennell Vick & Kelly Parker – A Century of Hearing & Speech Help in Cleveland (video)
Wkyc.com, 4-13-21
 
https://www.wkyc.com/video/entertainment/television/its-about-you/dr-jennell-vick-kelly-parker-a-century-of-hearing-speech-help/95-0e1c68c0-abd1-4260-86c6-c8167b1aef74
 
Joe talks with Dr. Jennell Vick about the Cleveland Hearing & Speech Center! Kelly Parker joins them as well to provide sign language interpretations!
 
 
Long COVID Sufferers Are Seeking Disability Benefits. Will They Change the System?
Chelsea Cirruzzo, 4-15-21
 
https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2021-04-15/covid-long-haulers-could-change-the-disability-system
 
For Chantelle James, a registered nurse who lives in the suburbs of Austin, Texas, the push to keep worker's compensation and receive short-term disability benefits has been demoralizing.
 
In August 2020, the 43-year-old tested positive for COVID-19 and was experiencing chest tightness, coughing, congestion, rashes and balance issues. Now, months later, she still can't fully find her footing.
 
"Anytime I got up, I would just kind of fall down, like I couldn't walk straight," James says.
 
A few days after her initial positive test, James, who works for health care provider Ascension Seton at a psychiatric hospital in Austin, says she requested worker's compensation, which she received upon approval by third-party claims administrator Sedgwick, along with paid time off. Yet her symptoms persisted, even as she says she was expected to return to work without restrictions.
 
Per emergency room summaries provided by James and reviewed by U.S. News, James visited a hospital in August and September, twice in October, and again in November for ailments that included chest pain, rapid heart rate, dehydration and muscle spasms – all of which she says started only after she got COVID-19. But in November, a nurse practitioner at Ascension Seton Occupational Health Clinic, whom James says had to weigh in on whether she should continue receiving benefits, instead wrote that she was ready to return to work.
 
Afterward, James says she continued to get sick at work, was denied further worker's compensation and is now trying to seek short-term disability.
 
It's still unclear precisely how many people have the condition now called long COVID, which is characterized by persistent symptoms of illness weeks or months after an initial case of COVID-19. Concerns have warranted an initiative by the National Institutes of Health aimed at identifying its underlying causes and treatments, while support groups and clinics have cropped up to help the multitude of people suffering from it.
 

But for some long-haulers, including James, their symptoms have made it difficult to work full time or at all, leading them to pursue disability benefits, including worker's compensation or Social Security disability payments. And challenges exist when it comes to accessing and navigating a system some may be encountering for the first time.
 
"I think part of what's happening is a new category of folks with disabilities that are not always easy to quantify and proved are running against a culture, within the Social Security Administration, that is generally not easy to navigate for people that have disabilities that are not easy to quantify or prove," says Andy Imparato, executive director of Disability Rights California, a nonprofit legal services organization.
 
For example, to receive disability payments through two major programs administered by the Social Security Administration, a person must be medically determined to have a physical or mental impairment that lasts or is expected to last at least 12 months and prevents them from substantial, gainful activity, generally defined by work activity and profits. Last June, Democratic U.S. Reps. John Larson of Connecticut – who chairs the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee – and Danny Davis of Illinois, who chairs the Worker & Family Support Subcommittee, called on the Social Security Administration to collaborate with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on how to evaluate the long-term impact of COVID-19 on people's ability to work, which SSA agreed to do.

 

"While I'm encouraged that SSA is moving forward with this examination of what needs to be done to support long haulers, I do not have confidence in Andrew Saul leading the agency," Larson said in an emailed statement to U.S. News, referencing the Social Security Administration commissioner tapped by former President Donald Trump. "I will continue to push SSA and monitor their work to make sure we are supporting those most affected by COVID-19 who may need Social Security Disability."
 
"I think for a lot of people with long COVID, they don't know if they're going to be able to work, they don't know how much they're going to be able to earn because they're a new status," Imparato says. He notes that physicians are also trying to figure the condition out; health care providers whom U.S. News has spoken with say symptoms of long-haulers are wide-ranging and not always the same for everyone, making the condition difficult to pinpoint under a single profile.
 
Additionally, Imparato says, the disability services system doesn't make it easy for people to get benefits but also return to work. "A lot of people worry if they try to work it's going to be used against them," he says.
 
Taryn Williams, managing director for the Poverty to Prosperity Program at think tank the Center for American Progress, also says COVID-19 presents challenges to disability systems. Worker's compensation, for instance, is paid to people who were injured while at work, which is more difficult to prove with an illness than a slip or fall.
 
In James' case, after visiting the nurse practitioner in November, she says she was directed by Sedgwick, the third-party claims administrator, in February to a health care provider who wrote in a form reviewed by U.S. News that James "does not have a permanent impairment as result of a compensable injury." The form signed by the provider said James would return to work without restrictions as of Feb. 9. That came just a month after a physician James regularly saw at Austin Regional Clinic noted James' symptoms and that she was being seen at a separate post-COVID clinic in Houston. That physician also noted James had fainted at work twice in November in front of her managers.
 
"Based on her symptoms and customary job duties at her employment, I do not feel that she is ready to go back to work until further investigation," the physician wrote in a letter on Jan. 7, adding that she could not determine a definitive date for when James should return to work.
Since the second physician said she could return to work in February, James has applied for short-term disability to take leave from work, which she says was initially denied by Sedgwick. She is now trying to appeal.
 
Ascension Seton, James' employer, told U.S. News that it could not comment on any active claims and wrote in a statement: "The health and safety of our patients, associates and providers is our top priority. Any Ascension associate claims of a potential at-work exposure to COVID-19 are reviewed and reported appropriately based on Texas Department of Insurance rules." Sedgwick did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
 
Williams says she has heard anecdotally of an increase in people seeking disability services due to long COVID, but there isn't data yet on just how many. Still, she and Imparato say the moment represents an opportunity for policy change that would be in line with previous patterns. For example, they say, when war has led to an increase in people with disabilities, what's often followed is a transformation of policies through legislation. Such shifts occur due to the combined work of existing advocates and the efforts of newly disabled people, their families and employers.
 
To that end, long COVID survivors have already shown they can mobilize: The Long COVID Alliance – a network of patients, providers, scientists and disease experts – has partnered with groups like Survivor Corps and Body Politic to advocate for long-term investment in research and treatment infrastructure. James is a member of Survivor Corps, and credits the group with helping her ask the right questions when seeking benefits.
 
"If they end up being a huge political force, then they can help force change in the disability system," Imparato says.
 
Change Already Underway
 
There are already some signs of how long COVID may change the disability services landscape. For instance, Stop The Wait – a coalition of disability, health and aging organizations – is reupping a fight to eliminate a two-year waiting period for Medicare coverage and five-month waiting period for Social Security Disability Insurance for many people with disabilities.
 

Advocates say the pandemic adds a new urgency to their efforts. Eve Hill, a disability attorney and lead organizer for Stop The Wait, says the waiting periods are counterintuitive and costly.
 

"We're really being short-sighted," Hill says. "If we say, 'Well, we want to save money by denying people benefits' ... giving people early benefits lets them pay health insurance premiums, or use Medicare and work on their health and recover and return to work. Delaying it makes their disabilities get worse, without treatment, or get more permanent and harder to recover from."
 

A bipartisan effort in the last Congress, led by Republican Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas and Democratic Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, sought to eliminate the waiting periods, but the bicameral bills were never voted on. Congress has, however, eliminated the waiting periods for people with Lou Gehrig's disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
 

A spokesperson for Casey's office says the senator plans to update his legislation and reintroduce it before the summer. Stop The Wait also posted an open letter to Congress, urging them to pick up the issue again.
 
"Many people with disabilities, including those caused by COVID-19, will be unable to return to work. Denying them access to their earned insurance benefits for five months and their healthcare for 24 months exacerbates these effects – leaving people with disabilities unable to pay COBRA or other health care premiums, rent, and other essential expenses, and forcing them onto welfare and Medicaid to survive," the letter reads.
 

"The pandemic is forcing people out of their jobs," Hill says. "Both because they're getting COVID, or they're getting long COVID." She adds that people with disabilities may have lost their jobs completely during the pandemic, too, and that those who have long COVID may be navigating the disability system for the first time.
 

"I think people are going to be in really desperate circumstances, people who never thought of themselves as having a disability," Hill says. The waiting periods could be a wake-up call for them as well as for Congress, she says Stacy Cloyd, director of policy and administrative advocacy at the National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives, says Doggett and Casey both are planning to reintroduce the waiting-period legislation. She says her conversations with lawmakers on eliminating the delays have so far been positive, and there's bipartisan interest in modernizing the Social Security Disability Insurance system.
 

She also points out that the Biden administration's disability plan, unveiled on the campaign trail, includes working on legislation to eliminate the waiting periods.
 

"There are absolutely people who died during these waiting periods," Cloyd says. She points to a 2020 Government Accountability Office report that found 109,725 individuals who appealed a decision about Social Security disability benefits died prior to receiving a final decision from fiscal 2008 through 2019.
 
"They die without seeing any of those benefits," Cloyd says.
 

Lawyers Step In
 
Beyond policy changes on Capitol Hill, long-haulers also can seek legal routes to argue for benefits.
 

The Long COVID Alliance partners with law firm Kantor & Kantor to help members seek legal action against insurance companies if they believe they've been improperly denied benefits. The firm has even developed a guide specifically for COVID-19 patients, and firm associate Andrew Kantor says cases dealing with long COVID are just now cropping up, as some long-haulers are seeing their short-term disability benefits end and moving on to seek long-term disability. Kantor originally fell into this legal niche by helping patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, which some physicians – including White House adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci – have noted has parallels to long COVID.
 

Kantor says long COVID patients may experience the same types of denials as chronic fatigue patients, with insurance companies claiming there isn't sufficient evidence of an illness.
 

"There's doctors who believe them and there's even lab reports that say something's going on, but they'll still get a denial because there's no objective evidence confirming your inability to work," Kantor says.
 

Kantor recommends people with long COVID look into their insurance policies to see if chronic fatigue syndrome is excluded from disability benefits – something he says he often sees. He also says patients should carefully read denial letters and make note of binding deadlines for appeals. And he recommends requesting copies of claim files from insurance companies in writing, which he says can be brought to a lawyer for consultation.
 
Not all long-haulers have struggled to get benefits: Kathy Flaherty, a 53-year-old lawyer in Connecticut, has been successful in getting long-term disability. She contracted COVID-19 last March and has since struggled with pain and exhaustion, but credits her workplace for being flexible with her needs. As executive director of the nonprofit Connecticut Legal Rights Project, Inc., Flaherty works almost exclusively from her bed when she can.
 

But this also isn't Flaherty's first go-round. Two decades ago, she says, she was on short-term disability for another issue. Now, she wonders how people without the support and knowledge she has are able to navigate the system.
 

"What are the systems that are set up to support (newly) disabled people?" she asks.
 

Williams, at the Center for American Progress, says she's empathetic to those who may be navigating the system for the first time – particularly young people who may never have considered themselves having to do so.
 

"We'll need to see employers really committing to growing their knowledge base around how COVID will change how people are coming to work and really being open and supportive," Williams says.
 
 
Ohio students with disabilities can qualify for academic help through the summer
Brittany Bailey, 4-15-21
 
Danielle Hague said she was holding back tears when talking about the improvement she’s seen in her son the past six months or so.
 
“He’s getting his math, he’s getting the reading, he’s comprehending it,” she said. “So, yes, he’s definitely more happier now that he’s getting a better understanding of what he’s learning.”
 
And that better understanding came with the help of his tutor through the Learning Aid Ohio program. That program was created last fall by the Down Syndrome Association of Central Ohio to better serve its families who were struggling with remote learning. It later expanded so that the program could be offered statewide to all students with disabilities who experience financial hardship, including Phillip.
 
“Obviously the pandemic has taken a toll in so many ways, and one of the big things that we realized pretty early on was the impact it was going to have on children who are used to some additional supports in school who weren’t going to be getting that based on being remote or hybrid and just not getting the typical education that they’re used to,” said Kari Jones, president and CEO of DSACO.
 
The program is offered to students who are on an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or Section 504 Plan and whose families make 400 percent of the poverty level. Those families are offered funding for tutors or aides to meet individually with students to help them with their academic and other school-related challenges.
 
And now, that program is being extended through the summer, with a bumped-up offering of $2,000 for each qualifying student.
 
“It’s evident that the ripples and impacts of children being really displaced out of their typical school rhythm for as long as it’s gone on, those ripples are going to last a long time,” Jones said. “It’s not going to be a band-aid type of thing to fix this overnight or even in a few months to help children get back to where they were before the pandemic hit.”
 
Phillip is not the only student who’s made major progress so far. Nick, who lives with his family in the Cleveland area, is also seeing major improvement.
 
“It has helped me a lot with my reading, and if I have really hard homework, I can just wait until I have my tutor because she helps me really a lot,” the 11-year-old said.
 
Nick has been on an IEP for about two years. His dad Tom, who asked to keep the family’s last name private, says his son has mostly struggled with reading.
 
We come from a pretty diverse family,” Tom said. “We have different languages in the house, so all of my boys were a little bit struggling with their reading.”
 
Tom said, since Nick started working with a tutor through Learning Aid Ohio, he has seen a vast improvement, with skyrocketing test scores and grades. Now, Nick makes straight A's.
 
“When we found out that this opportunity would be available in the summer, we were really happy, just to help make up for that time that we lost last year in the spring,” Tom said.
 
And mom Damaris agrees, adding that it’s hard for parents to take on the extra challenge at home.
“Seeing Nick coming home from school with a lot of confidence, and his self-esteem has really improved because when he sees his grades, he’s very happy that he’s able to catch up with other friends and to know that he’s doing good and everybody is encouraging him and telling him how good he’s doing,” Damaris said. ‘We have seen a big difference.” To find out more information about the program, click here.

 
Advances in Deaf Education
Lilah Burke, 4-15-21
 
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/04/15/efforts-are-making-education-deaf-students-more-accessible-and-inclusive
 
Colleges and individuals are endeavoring to make education for deaf people more inclusive and accessible by developing technical vocabulary, training interpreters of color and ensuring greater access.
 
Educational attainment for deaf people, according to the latest research from the National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes, has been increasing since 2008. In 2019, about 5 percent of deaf and hard-of-hearing adults under 65, according to census data, were enrolled in higher education. That's more than 190,000 people.
 
Deaf students still face barriers in higher education, but some institutions, departments and individuals are making changes to make that education more advanced, inclusive and accessible.
 
Some, like the University of Florida, for example, are hiring more interpreters for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Many colleges and universities contract with interpreters. Within the state, other institutions may have one full-time interpreter, said Jenna Gonzalez, interim director of Florida’s Disability Resource Center. The university is currently carrying out a search to hire four full-time, directly employed staff.
 
“That’s where we’re going to stand out. We know we need more than one,” Gonzalez said. “Those four staff are going to build relationships with students.”
 
Bringing interpreters under the university umbrella allows them to build a greater rapport with students and feel more comfortable on a campus.
 
“It shows our commitment to accessibility and inclusivity,” said Amanda Jackson, assistant director of assistive technology at Florida. “High school juniors or seniors can see that the University of Florida is committed to having interpreters, so they might apply.”
 
Not all deaf and hard-of-hearing students use American Sign Language interpreters, at Florida or other colleges. A student’s preferred communication method -- whether live captioning, closed captioning, interpreting or lipreading and voicing -- depends both on the student and the kind of class. But interpretation for some classes can require complex vocabulary. At Florida, interpreters with technical expertise sometimes commute from up to two hours away.
 
Developing technical and discipline-specific vocabulary is something that the signing community is working on, and in the past few years several projects have made efforts to fill the gap. For example, ASLCORE, from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology, began in 2015. The project maintains a website for ASL signs its teams have developed in different academic disciplines, such as those for words like "alkene" and "convection."
 
Miriam Lerner, former director of the project, said interpreters in academic contexts would sometimes ask students what signs they would like to agree to use for certain concepts. But that is less than ideal for several reasons. For one, students may not have enough of an understanding of any concept to develop a sign at the start of class. If the sign that a hearing interpreter creates catches on, it may have no linguistic underpinning in ASL.
 
For ASLCORE, it was extremely important that the developed signs be created by deaf signers, not hearing interpreters.
 
The signs were developed by a content expert -- a deaf person with an extensive background in a discipline -- and a team of deaf “master signers.” Interpreters might discuss their experiences and ad hoc signs they’ve used, but only when asked. ASLCORE started with the philosophy discipline, creating signs for words like “essence,” “ontology” and “epistemology.” It’s important that the signs make sense within ASL linguistics. Signs can build off each other from shared roots and evolve. ASLCORE has now created signs in 10 disciplines.
 
The need for the project is a result of the fact that deaf people are going further into education and academia, and that for decades hearing educators did not allow ASL to flourish as a language, Lerner said.
 
“It’s not that ASL was never capable of doing this,” she said. “What this project and other projects are trying to do is to give it the latitude to grow to the level it would have had the educational paradigm not been so deleterious about ASL.”
 
Now, the project has run out of funding and Lerner has stepped down as its director ( She said she did so, in part, because she believes a deaf person should run it). But if it were restarted, she said, she would want to move on to disciplines like business and psychology.
 
Other technical or academic signing dictionaries include ASLCLEAR and Atomic Hands. A collaboration between Harvard University and the Learning Center for the Deaf is currently working on developing ASL signs for quantum physics.
 
Faculty members and graduate students at Gallaudet University -- an institution for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in Washington, D.C. -- and the University of Washington have also developed the ASL-STEM Forum, an online forum for signers to develop new vocabulary together. The process began in 2010 in an attempt to make a more open and collaborative site to develop signs, in a sort of “citizen science,” said Richard Ladner, professor emeritus at the University of Washington.
 
"It was important to create a repository of STEM signs that allowed for the evolution of signs by its users. Previous dictionaries and repositories were fixed (only a panel of experts determined the 'correct' signs)," Caroline Solomon, co-creator of the site and a professor at Gallaudet, said via email. "Any linguist would say that a language evolves with its users so we wanted to use the crowdsourcing approach to help narrow down to a few suggested signs for a STEM term."
 
Now there are about 3,000 signs on the site, although Ladner and Solomon have uploaded about 8,000 total terms to be developed. Some words have different meanings in different disciplines and thus deserve different signs, Ladner said, such as the word “tree” in a biology context and computer science context.
 
“Deaf people for whom signing is their natural mode of communication, if we want them to get into science, then there has to be the language,” Ladner said. “Being part of science is not just reading books and writing papers, it’s communicating.”
 
The National Technical Institute for the Deaf is developing degrees to train interpreters in specialized material. The interpretation program already has a master's in health-care interpreting and is in the process of launching programs in educational and legal interpreting.
 
The program is also working on a new track for deaf interpreters, said Keith Cagle, chair of the interpreting department.
 
“They do work with hearing interpreters who will hear and sort of give them the gist of the message. And then the deaf people who are native users, who have trained in this area as well as a native user of the language, is able to express it in a way that only really native users can,” Cagle said, through an interpreter. “We see the need rising, we see what’s been missing from COVID and these times of BLM and news stations, the need for deaf individuals to be using the language and to have command of the language is really something that’s important.”
 
NTID also has a program where deaf students can advise interpreters on the language, based on their experiences being in class and using ASL throughout their lives.
 
“We meet one on one with different interpreters, all interpreters at RIT, about different things -- voicing, receptive skills, vocabulary development, concepts that they’re struggling with. We help them translate it into ASL,” said Marshall Hurst, an M.B.A. student at RIT, through an interpreter. “I grew up and I went to a mainstream school and had an interpreter with me almost every day. I had an exposure to the interpreter concept, so I thought it was great that I could work with the interpreters here.” Hurst is a manager in the program.
 
The university also has some deaf students work in the admissions department as ambassadors, giving tours and answering questions on panels.
 
“Our job is to represent RIT and our passion for RIT so students will see that there are a lot of deaf students here and people of color and they can make a connection and we can welcome them to RIT,” said Zee Chauhan, a freshman at RIT, through an interpreter.
 
In 2019, NTID started the Randelman program to recruit and retain interpreters of color. The Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf estimates that 88 to 90 percent of interpreters are white.
 
“You don’t typically find [K-12 ASL classes] in places where there are a large demographic of people of color,” said Kristi Love, director of the program. “Oftentimes students who are Black and brown and of other diverse backgrounds don’t have the options to take ASL as a foreign language.”
 
In studying for the job, interpreters of color may be the only ones in their cohorts and can feel a lack of support or belonging.
 
“Those in the deaf community want interpreters who look like them and can connect to them culturally,” Love said. “There are several deaf people who have never experienced having an interpreter who looks like them.” That carries even more importance in certain contexts. At a cultural event where the deaf students and hearing students are of a similar background, but the interpreter assigned doesn’t share that background, the deaf student could be missing out on some of the importance of the event if the interpreter doesn’t have the knowledge of how to share the meaning, she said.
 
Developments in deaf education, interpretation services and technical language will surely continue, as deaf and hard-of-hearing students pursue higher levels of postsecondary education. Kate Carbett Pollack, coordinator at Syracuse University’s Disability Cultural Center, said that ASL interpretation provided at Syracuse, where she went for her master’s degree, was life changing. In her undergrad studies she wasn’t provided ASL interpreters, an experience that made her sick with stress.
 
“I knew that I could no longer struggle to hear the way I had been anymore,” she said. “I can’t even tell you how liberating it is to communicate freely.”
 
 
Tri-State Conference on Diversity and Inclusion now accepting proposals
Staff reports, 4-14-21
 
https://www.ohio.edu/news/2021/04/tri-state-conference-diversity-and-inclusion-now-accepting-proposals
 
The 7th Annual Tri-State Conference on Diversity and Inclusion is now accepting workshop proposals. The 2021 conference theme is Dimensions of Diversity: The Impact of Visible and Invisible Identities.
This virtual conference is hosted by Ohio University Southern and will take place on Sept. 20-24. This year’s keynote speaker is Dr. Elaine Richardson, author, artist, scholar and The Ohio State University Professor of Literacy Studies.
 
The Planning Committee welcomes proposals related to any dimension of diversity including, but not limited to: defining diversity and inclusion; building inclusive communities; addressing other aspects of diversity: religion, disabilities, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, conscious/unconscious bias, multiculturalism, gender, Appalachian culture, poverty, mental health, foster care, veterans, and access to higher education; strategies on engaging the campus and larger community in diversity education; or managing controversial issues on campus, in the classroom, or in the workplace.
 
The call for proposals will remain open until May 7. For more information, please visit our Call for Proposals website website or contact Robert Pleasant at pleasanr at ohio.edu.
 
This annual conference is presented by Ashland Community and Technical College, Marshall University (Includes Medical and Pharmacy School), Mountwest Community and Technical College, Morehead State University at Ashland, Ohio University Southern, Shawnee State University and University of Rio Grande and Rio Grande Community College.
 
 
Koinonia Launches New Service Model and Logo
Koinonia Homes, 4-14-21
 
https://www.news-herald.com/news/ohio/koinonia-launches-new-service-model-and-logo/article_f055ccf8-1e28-5b21-8790-ad3b30b13bb6.html
 
Koinonia launched its new service model and branding for whole-person integrated care for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Northeast Ohio. The new service model brings a full range of health-care services in-house, enabling providers to focus on the unique needs of individuals and intellectual and developmental disabilities. Koinonia is one of the first I/DD providers in the nation to move to this model.
 
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio, April 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Koinonia, a leader in services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, is excited to announce the launch of its new service model and branding. Koinonia is rolling out a new innovative approach to quality care, which centers on providing health, wellness and well-being of the whole person. This new approach is called Whole-Person Integrated Care.
 
As part of the new service model, Koinonia will add several new employees and contractors to provide various health services. New staff members will include a vice president of business development, nurses, counselors, psychiatrists, case managers and behavior support specialists. By the end of the year, Koinonia will develop a behavioral health program and an integrated physical healthcare program by the end of 2022.
 
In addition to the new logo and branding, Koinonia has updated its social media presence, messaging and website, which is ADA and WCAG 2.1 compliant and accessible to people of all abilities.
 
At its core, the launch of the new brand is about the dedication and compassion Koinonia has for the people and communities they serve. Serving adults with IDD and working with its communities that accept and support the quality of life for all people, remains at the heart of its mission and vision.
 
"Koinonia updated our branding to better reflect who we are and what we do. The colors represent the people and the communities we serve and how they intersect. The intertwined hands represent whole-person care and the multidisciplinary approach to meeting the needs of the people we serve, and the heart is symbolic to what we do every day with care and compassion," said Diane Beastrom, CEO of Koinonia. "It is a thoughtful representation of our organization and our people."
 
Koinonia developed the Whole-Person Integrated Care approach because of the dramatic rise in health-care costs and to address the pressing need to treat every individual as a whole person. This includes not only mental and behavioral health care, but also an understanding of social and environmental issues that need to be considered when treating individuals with IDD. This approach includes all actions needed to keep the person safe and healthy, including health care, nutrition, safety and personal support.
 
The Whole-Person Integrated Care team will be built this year and consist of caring professionals that understand the myriad of complex issues people with IDD are challenged with daily. The team will consist of registered nurses, clinical social workers, psychologists, mental healthcare practitioners, intellectual disability specialists, and clinical trainers. The expected outcome is a successful plan that incorporates medical and behavioral health care with preventative and wellness services to support each person with dignity and integrity. The team will communicate and work closely with each other, so each member understands the care and support the individual is receiving from a holistic view.
 
"For decades, Koinonia has been committed to advancing the quality of life and access to whole-person care to adults with IDD," said Jeanne Greene, chief clinical and program officer of Koinonia. "This new model of integrated care continues our vision to provide seamless integration of medical and behavioral health services. It truly takes a village."
 
Koinonia's updated vision and mission comes after much strategic planning, while the organization was also facing many challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, Koinonia recently received the Quality Assurance Accreditation by the Council of Quality Leadership (CQL). This three-year accreditation promotes excellence in person-centered services and support that leads to an increased quality of life. For many years, Koinonia has also been accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF). This is obtained when an organization has passed an in-depth review and meets rigorous CARF guidelines for service and quality.
 
About Koinonia
Koinonia (coin-o-NEE-yah) is a leading 501(c)(3) organization in Northeast Ohio that provides residential services, day programs and employment services to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Its service portfolio includes 22 licensed group homes and more than 50 supported living arrangements, as well as transportation services, shared living options, day care services, and vocational and employment services in safe and healthy settings. For more information, visit www.koinoniahomes.org.
 
 
Celebrate Ohio Deaf History Month
 
Ohio Deaf History Month celebrates deaf history and the contributions of the hearing impaired and Deaf community to society. The Ohio General Assembly passed legislation in 2017 designating the period from March 13 to April 15 as Ohio Deaf History Month. The State Library of Ohio Board has encouraged Ohio libraries to display materials and host deaf awareness activities to highlight the significance of the many outstanding contributions made by Deaf and hearing pioneers, particularly in deaf education.
 
The Ohio Digital Library includes a collection of ebooks and videos about Deaf culture and American Sign Language (ASL). The collection includes fiction and non-fiction for children and adults and covers many aspects of Deaf culture and ASL including language, history, education, and instruction.
 
The State Library has a longstanding partnership with the Ohio School for the Deaf, one of the oldest continuously opened Deaf schools in the United States. In 1829, the institution that would later become the Ohio School for the Deaf was established in downtown Columbus. It was the nation’s fifth residential school for Deaf or hard-of-hearing children. Samuel Flenniken, a 12-year old boy from Columbus, became the first pupil.
 
The State Library and Ohio School for the Deaf work together to provide information for and about people who are deaf or hard of hearing. The Center for Outreach Services at the Ohio School for the Deaf and the State Library collaborate to bring a collection of deafness and interpreting-related materials to all Ohioans.
 
Through this partnership, the Ohio School for the Deaf purchases and provides materials to the State Library. In return, the State Library maintains and provides easy access to this collection through the State Library’s online catalog. This collection is targeted toward interpreters, ASL students, parents, and professionals working within the Deaf community. The Center for Outreach Services provides resources of interest to K-12 Deaf educators, interpreters, and parents in a variety of formats (books, DVDs, CD-ROMs, VHS tapes). The State Library catalogues and maintains circulation of these items for use by individuals throughout the state. The Deafness Collection currently contains more than 400 items. Browse here for available materials at the State Library’s Deafness & Outreach collection.