The Autism Education Site » Adults with Autism

Walmart Foundation Provides Funding for Disability Emergency Preparedness

Melissa — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 00:12:02 +0000

Walmart Foundation Commits $500,000 to Improving Emergency Preparedness for the 54 Million Americans with Disabilities

Grant Will Support National Organization on Disability’s Emergency Preparedness Initiative

WASHINGTON, July 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Walmart Foundation has made a $500,000 grant to further the work of the National Organization on Disability’s (N.O.D.) Emergency Preparedness Initiative (EPI). N.O.D. is nationally recognized amongst emergency managers and the disability community as the only cross-disability organization with a fully dedicated emergency preparedness program and personnel experienced in emergency management and disability issues.

The grant from the Walmart Foundation will support EPI’s mission to ensure that the needs of the 54 million men, women, and children with disabilities – one-fifth of the U.S. population – are taken into account in emergency planning and response. EPI’s outreach, education and awareness efforts aim to position people with disabilities as a central component of emergency preparedness plans at all levels, while also ensuring that people with disabilities take steps to prepare themselves.

“We are honored to receive this grant from the Walmart Foundation,” said Carol Glazer, N.O.D. President. “The aftermath of September 11th exposed an obvious vacuum in the emergency preparedness universe. We created EPI to address the critical need to educate a wide range of audiences about how to successfully implement emergency procedures for people with disabilities. With the help of generous funding from organizations like Walmart we can continue to expand our work and build on our success.”

“At Walmart, helping communities is what we do every day, and when a crisis strikes, that charge becomes an even greater priority,” said Margaret McKenna, president of the Walmart Foundation. “Our recent grant to the National Organization on Disability is evidence of our commitment to supporting local disaster relief efforts. We are proud to support the expansion and growth of this program.”

The grant from the Walmart Foundation will enable EPI to:

— Revise and improve educational and training materials;
— Reach out to more states, counties and localities;
— Expand its network of advocacy organizations;
— Increase its outreach activities for people with disabilities; and
— Increase awareness nationwide on this critical issue.

EPI has worked to bridge the divide between the disability and emergency preparedness communities through its award-winning “Partners in Preparation” outreach campaign, the establishment of the first-ever disability-preparedness “Technical Assistance, Outreach and Education Center” and individual-level training on preparedness for 4,500 people in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, among other programs.

EPI’s work and the need for its expertise were highlighted during the response to Hurricane Katrina, when EPI deployed teams to the region to perform an unprecedented special-needs assessment in a live disaster zone. EPI’s work following Hurricane Katrina influenced legislative changes in the Post-Katrina Reform Act, including the establishment of a National Disability Coordinator position at FEMA.

In 2006, the Department of Homeland Security’s Nationwide Plan Review revealed that no state or large metropolitan area had emergency plans in place to adequately address the needs of people with disabilities. In its assessment of disability issues in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, EPI’s team found that 85.7 percent of community-based service providers for senior citizens and people with disabilities did not know how to access the emergency management system before the disaster.

“Emergency preparedness for the disabled concerns all Americans, because anyone can join the disability community in an instant,” said Hilary Styron, EPI National Director. “While we have come a long way in the past few years, the fact remains that individuals with disabilities and special needs are still the country’s most vulnerable population for emergency preparedness. We’re pleased that the Walmart Foundation has recognized this need with its generous grant, which will help us expand the reach and effectiveness of our program.”

Ohio State University’s Autistic Self-Advocacy Network Chapter

Melissa — Fri, 01 May 2009 04:39:36 +0000

The Ohio State chapter of the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network (ASAN) was originally formed in late 2008 but the group is trying to get the organization off the ground and up and running. An article appeared in today’s edition of The Lattern – Autistic students self-represent.

A big difference between ASAN and similar organizations is that it is a self-supporting organization where autistic members holding power.

“We’re an alternative organization. We’re especially concerned with self-advocacy and issues of representation, and issues of speaking for versus speaking as or speaking with,” Yergeau said.

Perhaps the group’s biggest break from the norm of other autism organizations is its anti-cure stance.

Read the entire article on The Lantern.

ADULT ASPERGER TACTICS FOR PARENTS

Melissa — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 03:02:50 +0000

ADULT ASPERGER TACTICS FOR PARENTS

By Dan Coulter

Does your child with Asperger Syndrome sometimes resist your guidance?

As the parents of an adult son with Asperger Syndrome, my wife and I have found that as a child gets older and feels the need to assert his or her independence, it may be harder and harder to take advice from mom or dad.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s important for our children to learn to solve their own problems. Especially as they become our adult children.

Still, it’s tough to see the effectiveness of, “Because I said so,” recede into the distance.

If we see a continuing need to be involved in our children’s lives as they grow into adults, we need to acknowledge that they are becoming adults, and find appropriate ways to influence their decisions.

This can be a challenge.

People with Asperger Syndrome often have trouble with subtle distinctions. They may think, “Adults are independent. Being independent means making my own decisions. If I take my parents’ advice, I’m not acting like an adult.”

So, what do we do when we want to respect our children’s quest for independence and still help them over or around a metaphorical brick wall?

The answer may lie in something I was told in military history class as a college ROTC cadet. The class was taught by a captain with a true Army man’s loyalty and belief that his branch of the service was vastly superior to any other. One day in class, he was having fun at the expense of the Marines.

“In the Army, we believe in using strategy and tactics to capture an objective,” he grinned. “But the Marines, the Marines have another approach, which can best be summed up as, ‘Hey, diddle, diddle, straight up the middle, and the hell with everything else!’.”

Needless to say, there were no Marines present. Had a Marine been present, I suspect we would have been treated to an enthusiastic corps-a-corps as to the accuracy of the captain’s characterization. Not to mention speculations about the captain’s parentage back through several generations.

But even assuming the captain’s statement represented slander to the Marine Corps, the point is that the best tactic to use in providing counsel to your adult (or near adult) son or daughter may not be the direct approach.

Our 25 year-old son, Drew, was diagnosed with AS when he was 14. He has a B.A. in creative writing, but has gone back to school to complete a two-year college program in accounting. He hopes what he learns about accounting will help him land a full-time job. He’s living at home and working part-time at our public library.

While he’s done well in his accounting classes, Drew recently had difficulties with some long-term assignments for a complicated auditing course. He was frustrated and his mother and I were concerned. Drew made it clear that he wanted to prove he could handle this without his parents’ help.

The solution involved my wife engaging the assistance of Drew’s job coach. The coach met with Drew to work out a new plan, including studying in the library away from distractions. They came up with a schedule for completing parts of the assignments. This schedule included, if necessary, approaching the course’s professor before the projects were due, to request additional time.

On his own, Drew enlisted a fellow student to explain some of the difficult concepts involved and started breaking down the obstacles that had caused his frustration. His mother and I were relieved. We were also impressed with Drew’s initiative in seeking another student’s help.

As parents of children with Asperger Syndrome, many of us get used to constantly having our hands on the safety net. We spend a lot of time wondering when to deploy it and when to whip it behind our backs and say, “What net?”

But if we can gradually forgo the direct approach and guide our children to find the help they need, even if it’s not from us, we may just reach the Holy Grail point for parents. That’s the point where our children are competent and confident enough to ask our advice because they value it, and not because they’re afraid they can’t succeed without it.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR — Dan Coulter produces DVDs for people with Asperger Syndrome and autism and those who support them. He’s currently working on a DVD to help people with AS find and keep a job, which is scheduled for release in Summer, 2009. You can find more articles on his website: www.coultervideo.com.