Tag: Disability

Black background with yellow text that reads: Lawyers, Mental Health, and the Character and Fitness Investigation The National Center for Disability, Equity, and Intersectionality. ThinkEquitable.com

Lawyers, Mental Health, and the Character and Fitness Investigation

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by Jamie Polinsky

Every October students across the United States wait with bated breath for their bar exam results to be posted. After studying for the LSAT, three years of law school, and even more time spent for the bar exam, everyone wants to finally see their hard work pay off and start a legal career. Yet, there are law school graduates who, even after passing the bar exam, cannot be sworn in as attorneys because they checked “yes” on a question on the Character and Fitness portion of the application and then were determined to be “unfit to practice law.[1]”

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Purple, Blue and Turquoise background with brown hand holding a cell phone with an image of a person with long black hair smiling. Text: Blog: To Disclose or Not to Disclose. Online Dating, Disability, and creating your online profile with confidence

To Disclose or Not to Disclose

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By Chris Mason-Hale, BSW

Disclaimer: The writer of this blog identifies as a quadriplegic operating a manual wheelchair. The contents of this blog are an opinion of the writer based on their lived experience and several years as a peer mentor for people with disabilities and not meant to omit the experiences of other people with disabilities.

Online dating has made romance – or at least meeting people – more accessible than ever. Dating sites give people with disabilities a platform to maybe find that “someone special.” Many people form meaningful relationships–some local and some long distance. For those with disabilities, dating apps can be a remedy for the isolation brought on by barriers such as limited transportation options and the COVID-19 pandemic which have made it difficult to meet new people. It also provides an opportunity to disclose your disability on your terms. However, whether you’re swiping left, being left on read without a response, or swimming in dating matches, online dating is a heart-pounding experience…just not always in a good way. For those with disabilities, the worry that their disability will be too much for a potential partner is often very real. Which begs the question, “To disclose or not to disclose?”–But is that the right question?

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Orange background with a black and white image of Audio Lorde to the right. Text reads: There is no such thing as a single- issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives. Logo of The National Center for Disability, Equity, and Intersectionality at the bottom

Why Intersectionality Is An Essential Part of Public Health

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By Tracy Waller, Esq., MPH

Life-limiting inequities continue to persist in healthcare, community living and justice for people with disabilities.

The Center for Dignity in Healthcare for People with Disabilities (Center for Dignity) focused on the important work of addressing the inequities that persist for people with disabilities in healthcare and their perpetuation due to systemic ableism. 

Every person has their own unique and lived experiences. As poet Audre Lorde said, “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.”

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NIDILRR Awards Field Initiative Project Grant To the University of Cincinnati Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities

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For Immediate Release:
December 7, 2022

Contact: Leah Smith, Project Director
Leah.Smith@cchmc.org

The National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) has awarded the University of Cincinnati Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCCEDD) at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) a Field Initiative (FI) Project Grant to study the impacts of internalized, interpersonal, and systemic ableism in healthcare services and systems.

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Disability Led Coalition Awarded ACL Grant to Identify and Reduce Life-Limiting Inequities in Healthcare, Community Living, and Justice for People with Disabilities

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For Immediate Release:                                      
October 18, 2022.

Contact: Leah Smith, Associate Director
Center for Disability, Equity, and Intersectionality      

                                                               

Disability Led Coalition Awarded ACL Grant to Identify and Reduce Life-Limiting Inequities in Healthcare, Community Living, and Justice for People with Disabilities
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Multi Colored Trim on a square box. Black text on white background reads: To Promote More Informed Healthcare and Greater Equity Towards People with Disabilities: 1. Insurance Coverage of independent genetic counseling. 2. FDA Regulation of Advertising claims made by testing labs. 3. better educational infrastructure for patients to understand testing and disabilities. 4. Insurance coverage of testing contingent on the provision of better patient education and access to independent pre-test and post-test counseling

In Response to the NY Times: Prenatal Screening and the Social Bias Against Disability

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By Stephanie Meredith

A recent New York Times article, “When They Warn of Rare Disorders, These Prenatal Tests Are Usually Wrong” by Sarah Kliff, indicates that when cell-free DNA prenatal screening results show that a baby has high chances for some rare genetic conditions, the baby actually does not have the condition 70-90% of the time (a false positive) (2022). Many parents at the other end of the screening results describe the experience as stressful and scary because they weren’t given sufficient information about the accuracy of the tests and the possibility of false positives. Kliff shares that one reason why expectant parents misunderstand the screening tests is because testing labs describe their screening tests as “reliable,” “highly accurate,” etc. in their advertising materials. Moreover, the author asserts that the companies are highly motivated to expand testing so that they can increase profits in a highly lucrative market. Yet, this widening pool of expectant parents who are undergoing testing can leave some parents in the lurch when they don’t receive the counseling and information they need to properly understand the screening tests. Kliff effectively highlights these important issues and presents a strong case for FDA regulation of advertising claims made by testing labs and insurance coverage of independent genetic counseling.

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Loss and COVID-19: The Toll on Children

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Authored by: Tracy Waller, Esq., MPH[1]

As a result of the COVID-19 public health crisis, children are being forced to shoulder an incomprehensible burden of loss. Many children have experienced health issues due to COVID-19 infections or long COVID-19 symptoms. They have also encountered a loss of innocence and protection, as they shoulder the weight of a parent coping with long COVID-19—or worse, the death of a parent or primary caregiver from COVID-19. This loss disproportionately affects young children and children with developmental disabilities because of the increased reliance on their caregivers. 

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