September 2020, Vol. 6, No. 7 |
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RAISE The Standard Newsletter
Raising the Standard for Young Adults with Disabilities
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Technical Assistance and Resources for RSA-funded
Parent Training and Information Centers
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SPAN is proud to announce that the RAISE project has been funded for the next 5 years. We would like to thank Peg Kinsell for her leadership as RAISE Editor-in-Chief.
In this issue of RAISE The Standard, we look back at some of the content we have shared with you over the years. As we reflect on the work we have done, and the evidence-based strategies we have shared, we invite our readers to put these ideas into action for positive change.
Go to our website to see all of the back issues, and more, and Follow us on Facebook.
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“You don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.”
- Shirley Chisholm,
American politician,
educator, and author
In 1968, she became the first African-American woman elected to the United States Congress, and three years later, the first woman to run for president.
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“Mom, my depression is like a shapeshifter. One day It's as small as a firefly in the palm of a bear, the next it's the bear.”
~ Sabrina Benaim
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We reach back to our May 2019 issue to share a compelling perspective on mental health.
Nearly 8 million listeners have heard Sabrina Benaim on Button Poetry recite “Explaining My Depression to My Mother.” Her passion and honesty will leave you breathless.
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“Tomorrow will come again, I promise.” |
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We love The Excelano Project, a spoken word mental health awareness and empowerment effort from the University of Pennsylvania featuring youth with mental health challenges.
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With nearly 2 million views, we love this stigma-busting 3-minute video offering perspectives and experiences from youth living with mental health issues.
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UPDATE:
We are adding this important resource on mental health challenges during COVID:
NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has produced a Spanish language COVID-19 Mental Health Resource Guide.
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From our March 2018 issue, we share this story about supported decision-making and how to ask for help:
HOW TO ASK FOR HELP
- Begin with what you have decided: For example: “I am not happy with my current job, so I want a new one.”
- Think about WHO you want to help you: teacher, counselor, parent, friends?
- Decide what type of help you want. For example: “I want your help figuring out a few things I might be good at.” Or, “I want your help with my resume,” or “I want your help finding a job in the field of childcare.”
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This fun illustration is from a 45-page guide produced by ASAN, offering an overview of supported decision-making and includes a section on how to ask for the help you want.
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We revisit a popular tool shared in 2015, our first year of publication, the Think-Plan-Do strategy.
"THINK PLAN DO"
The “Think-Plan-Do” strategy is simple, but it can be life changing for students with disabilities. They learn:
- to identify a “goal” (something they really want that is attainable with effort)
- to get what they want by making a plan and taking action
- that they are not helplessly dependent on “luck”
- that they are competent in ways that matter to them
- that they have power and influence over their own lives
UPDATE:
We are adding a new link resource - A Quick Start Guide for the Think-Plan-Do process to solve problems...
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CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
Because we cannot say it often enough, we revisit the important message from our August issue.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD.
November 2020 promises to be an important election. Voting is one way to make your voice heard on a local, state, and federal level; every vote counts! Voter registration rules vary by state.
UPDATE:
We are adding a resource from Nonprofit VOTE to help provide state-by-state resources to address voting rights of people with disabilities:
Here is advice from the ACLU about disability-related accommodations and language assistance at the polls:
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We invite you to tour our website to learn more about ALL seven of our nation's RSA Parent Centers.
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This month, we hear from RAISE blogger Karli Jayne Miller who writes about “Intersectionality.” The term refers to the multiple aspects of an individual’s identity, including race, gender identity, sexuality, disability, ethnicity, religion, come together to form a unique experience with life, and the system of oppressions operating within it, i.e., racism, homophobia, sexism, ableism, transphobia, religious discrimination, and socioeconomic oppression, to name a few.
“A disabled individual’s identity as disabled does not always have to exist at the forefront of their identity. Disabled people are queer, straight, Black, white, Indigenous, Asian, multiracial, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, thin, fat, cisgender, transgender, rich, poor, middle class, and much more… Intersectionality gives us as activists and advocates leverage to understand how these identities intersect and coexist, and how it all must be taken into account in efforts toward true diversity and inclusion, or the movement is not truly inclusive.”
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WEBINAR AND VIRTUAL EVENTS |
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Check out a few of the events hosted by our RSA partners:
National Federation of Families will host a Virtual Mini Conference on November 10-12.
Transcen offers a recorded webinar Transforming Students into the Workers of Tomorrow: No Hugs or Superhero Backpacks Allowed.
National Disability Rights Network hosted a one hour virtual conference on the election and voting rights – very timely!
TASH will host their annual conference virtually this year on December1-9.
Center for Workforce Development at the Institute of Educational Leadership offers a number of webinar events.
Branch Military Technical Assistance Center hosts a webinar What the Office of Community Support for Military Families with Special Needs (OSN) and Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) do for Military Families.
The Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) under OSERS, the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services hosts a number of reports and resources on their website.
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Collaboration • Empowerment • Capacity-building
RAISE The Standard enewsletter identifies and shares resources that the Rehabilitation Services Administration Parent Training and Information Centers (RSA-PTI) can use and share with families.
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Executive Editor:
Peg Kinsell
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RAISE, the National Resources for Access, Independence, Self-Advocacy and Employment is a user-centered technical assistance center that understands the needs and assets of the RSA-PTIs, coordinates efforts with the Technical Assistance provided by PTI centers and involves RSA-PTIs as key advisors and partners in all product and service development and delivery. |
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RAISE is funded by the US Department of Education to provide technical assistance to, and coordination of, the 7 PTI centers (RSA-PTIs). It represents collaboration between the nation's two Parent Technical Assistance Centers (PTACs) and the seven Regional PTIs. |
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