Education News

Special needs students suspended at twice rate of their general ed peers, report finds

By ALEKSANDRA APPLETON, THE FRESNO BEE An audit of Fresno Unified’s special education services found that the district struggles to include students with disabilities in traditional classrooms, and suspends students with individualized education plans at more than double the rate of their general education peers.The findings hold across all demographics studied in the 200-page review […]

Food News

Why People With Disabilities Want Bans On Plastic Straws To Be More Flexible

By TOVE K. DANOVICH AND MARIA GODOY, NPR It was a hot day at the zoo when Jordan Carlson’s son, who has motor-planning delays, got thirsty. “We went to the snack bar and found out they had a ‘no straw’ policy,” Carlson says. “It was a hot day and he couldn’t drink.” Their only option […]

Healthcare News

Turnover rate for those aiding disabled clients rivals retail, fast-food industries

By RITA PRICE, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Although their chronically low wages showed modest gains last year, frontline workers who provide support and care to Ohioans with disabilities still left their jobs in droves. A new survey by the Ohio Provider Resource Association found that employee turnover in 2017 climbed to 61 percent — a staggering […]

News

States Aim To Halt Sexual Abuse Of People With Intellectual Disabilities

By JOSEPH SHAPIRO, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO Earlier this year, NPR reported that people with intellectual disabilities are victims of some of the highest rates of sexual assault. NPR found previously undisclosed government numbers showing that they’re assaulted at seven times the rate of people without disabilities. Now states, communities and advocates, citing NPR’s reporting, are […]

Healthcare News

First marijuana-derived drug approved, will target severe epilepsy

By LAURIE McGINLEY, THE WASHINGTON POST The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved the first drug derived from marijuana, which will be used to treat two rare and severe forms of childhood epilepsy. The drug, called Epidiolex, is an oral solution containing highly purified cannabidiol (CBD), which is one of scores of chemicals in the […]

News Obituary

Charles Krauthammer, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and intellectual provocateur, dies at 68

By ADAM BERNSTEIN, WASHINGTON POST Charles Krauthammer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post columnist and intellectual provocateur who championed the muscular foreign policy of neoconservatism that helped lay the ideological groundwork for the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, died Thursday at 68. The cause was cancer of the small intestine, said his son, Daniel Krauthammer. He […]

Employment News

She cleaned for $3.49 an hour. A gas station just offered her $11.25.

By DANIELLE PAQUETTE, THE WASHINGTON POST Colton Channon needed just 90 minutes each day. Every morning for about a month, in training designed for him, the high school senior with an intellectual disability practiced making steel brackets for trucks at a Des Moines factory. The skill took more than a few tries to master. But […]

Immigration News

Girl with Down syndrome separated from mom at border

By RUTH BROWN, THE NEW YORK POST A 10-year-old Mexican girl with Down syndrome was separated from her mother while entering the US and put into a federal facility, Mexico’s foreign minister said Tuesday while denouncing the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” border policy. Luis Videgaray said at least 21 Mexican kids have been separated from […]

Employment News

In major shift, state expands work opportunities for young people with disabilities

By Chris Serres, Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (TNS) Liz McGrory says she buried her face in her hands and wept on the day last summer when a state job counselor asked her a seemingly innocuous question: “If your son could have his chance at a dream job, what would that be?” Charlie is 22 and has […]