It's Ability That Matters

Dr. Robertson is a University Professor at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale IL. She teaches in the Rehabilitation Institute in the Rehabilitation Counseling and Administrative  and Rehabilitation Services Programs. This blog focuses on Disability, Rehabilittion and Education.

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Held each October, National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) is a time to celebrate the many and varied contributions of America's workers with disabilities. The theme for this year — which marks 70 years since the first observance — is "My Disability is One Part of Who I Am." #NDEAM #Disability #SIU #rehab

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Emergency Preparedness. What’s your plan?

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Emergency Preparedness: What's The Plan?

Saturday, August 29th marked the anniversary of Hurricane Katrine hitting the gulf coast. As I sat and watched the whole disaster play out on my television I kept asking about the persons with disabilities.

So many questions ran through my mind. How were folks with mobility issues or paralysis getting around? How were individuals obtaining their medications? Were people being evacuated? If they were evacuated were they able to evacuate their disability aids or medications. Following the crisis I continue to ask about accessibility issues. Did the ongoing rebuilding include accessible housing? While the National Council on Disability points out that persons with disabilities were disproportionately left behind during the Katrina crisis, this issue is not unique to New Orleans. My guess is that during the Joplin, MO hurricane or the California fires individuals with disabilities are especially displaced. In the event of a crisis the question becomes how are individuals with disabilities affected? Is there an area emergency preparedness plan that includes issues of disabilities? Is there, at a minimum, a safe and accessible emergency shelter?

In August we also lost an advocate whose life career was to work advocating for the development of emergency preparedness plans for persons with disabilities. Richard Devylder, an individual with a disability, served both on the Federal Department of Transportation and for the state of California. His goal in these roles was to develop accessible transportation on a daily basis but also advocating for emergency preparedness plans that are inclusive of persons with disabilities. He fought for area wide preparedness plans but also argued the importance of individual preparedness. Specifically he pointed out the dangers of waiting for others: “You have to make your own plan, form your own team, If you just sit back and say, “I’m disabled, people will take care of me,” you’ll be dead.“ In memory of Mr. Devylder and in honor of those whose lives were lost in Hurricane Katrina let’s work to assure that plans are developed to assure people with disabilities aren’t left behind in a crisis. What can you do today to aid in emergency preparedness?

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Rehabilitation Counselor Appreciation Day

We have an official day!! Yay!

March 22nd!

What a great day to be a Rehabilitation Counselor! Let me tell you why I love Rehabilitation Counseling -

1. You get to help people to become the best they can be, based on their abilities. Rehabilitation counselors empower their consumers.

2. You have so many options in work settings: Vocational Rehabilitation, mental health counseling, substance abuse counseling, independent living skills training, job coaching, etc.

3. You can work with nearly any age and/or population. Graduates of SIU work with children, adolescents, adults, elderly. Everyone!

4. It’s a great outlet for creative thinkingers. What’s the best accommodation for this disability? What types of services would help to empower this person? Can we make this place more accessible with simple modifications? How can I help someone modify their favorite sport, their job, their home?

5. I get to learn something new everyday. Disability has an individual response. A person with a disability is the most knowledgeable about his/her disability. Teach me how you experience your disability and how you navigate through the world.

I could come up with probably five, no 10 more reasons but these are a good start. Why did you decide Rehabilitation Counseling is for you?

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How Can I Get Involved

I'm getting ready for the National Council on Rehabilitation Education (NCRE) conference. This Spring the conference is in sunny California. Oh I can't wait. I started early on my conference prep because I'm on two of the conference planning committees. It can be hard work, it's totally volunteer but it's worth it to help assure that it's a great conference. As a professional I have been actively involved in two main organizations, NCRE and NAMRC (National Association of Multicultural Rehabilitation Concerns) which is a division of the National Rehabilitation Association (NRA). On campus I serve as the faculty advisor for two of our Registered Student Organizations (RSO), the Student Rehabilitation Association (SRA) and Students Together Advocating for Rehabilitation Services (STARS). These RSOs are unique to SIU. As a differentiation SRA tends to be graduate level students in Rehabilitation Counseling and Administration and STARS tends to be undergraduate students in Rehabilitation Services.

As you can probably tell by my activities I think that joining organizations is the thing to do! They're fun, educational and interesting. As a student you have lots of professional organizations you can join. Most of the professional organizations have a student rate for membership, making it affordable to join. There are even some organizations who will extend the lower membership rate for a year or so for recent graduates or new professionals. Professional organizations can be found on the local level (SRA, STARS) that are right here on campus or in town. You can meet regularly with the people involved in the organization. The student organizations are mostly ran by the students. They do things like fundraisers and bake sales. They are involved in different local disability related walks (HIV Walk, Oral Cancer Walk, Alzheimer's Walk) and awareness activities (Take Back the Night). They also do things for the community (Adopt a Spot, Christmas Gifts and Party for children with disabilities). They also provide educational opportunities (How to Conduct a Poster Presentation, How to Apply to Graduate School) and opportunities to work on and present your research. The SRA has even put on conferences. In the Spring they have conducted one day conferences on ethics, offering training and a continuing education opportunity for local professionals. This conference not only provides training to local service providers but it also serves as a fundraiser for the organization. What I like about the organizations is that the students can be actively involved in the activities instead of sitting back and watching others. They also provide hands on experiences. If you do not know much about the field its a great way to learn outside of a classroom.

Professional organizations are also on both the state (i.e., Illinois Rehabilitation Association - IRA) and the national level with members coming from the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico (i.e., National Rehabilitation Association - NRA). Both state and national organizations usually have annual conferences. At these conferences you can learn a great deal about many different topics. Some organizations have a strong focus on student conference attendees. For example NAMRC not only offers student focused training sessions, we also offer mentoring opportunities and opportunities for students to present their research with a student specific poster presentation time built into the schedule. Some state and national conferences even provide a time and place for employers to conduct screening for their open jobs. They may take your resume, ask about your credentials and then decide if they want to bring you to their site for an interview. Even when there is not a formal arrangement for job searching the networking at conferences is an excellent way to make connections that may lead to employment.

So why should you join a professional organization? Here are a few of my top reasons:

1. They are excellent ways to learn more about the field in which you are studying.

2. They are excellent ways to build your leadership skills if you are actively involved.

3. They provide support from individuals who are currently in the same place as you or who have gone through similar struggles with education and employment.

4. There are several networking opportunities that can lead to employment.

5. I've made some of my best friends through my involvement in professional organizations.

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Advocacy: Lift Every Voice

I was cleaning out my home office the other day and ran across a letter from the President of the United States. He was thanking me for sending him a letter. More recently I wrote my state governor about a topic important to and signed a Whitehouse.gov petition on a similar topic. On the day I wrote this blog I was staying off of social media for twenty-four hours as an attempt to raise awareness about a topic which I feel passionate about. I don’t tell you this to influence your feelings about any one topic or to campaign for any specific political point of view. The things I feel passionate about may not move you. I tell you these things in hopes that some topic in your life does move you to take action. I also tell you these things to present some ways in which you could become an advocate.

In rehabilitation we toss around the word “advocacy” but what exactly does it mean to be an advocate? The definition of advocacy is simply “the public support for or recommendation of a particular cause or policy”. Throughout time things have changed because of groups of liked minded people who demanded change. Our country was sort of founded on these principles. If you remember from history classes we, as a society decided Americans would only be taxed if we could be represented by the government decision makers, only if we had some hand in how decisions were made regarding us, “we the people”.

"NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION"

Civil rights for minorities, women voting rights and especially disability laws and rights were all brought about by people demanding a change. Disability legislation in the last several decades since the 70’s has been brought about by people with disabilities advocating for their rights to accessibility. To make their voices heard there were ‘sit-ins’ in federal buildings, people who blocked the routes of inaccessible buses, marches conducted to draw attention to injustices and even people with disabilities who have chained themselves and their wheelchairs to White House fence. More recently, but a few years back (2009) a group called ADAPT protested the lack of governmental movement on an act that would allow individuals to remain in their homes with assistance instead of having to move into a nursing home to receive care. To draw attention to their cause they chained themselves to the White House fence, blocked all entrances and generally made it impossible to come and go in and out of the White House. Many were arrested but the point was made, the people had spoken and they were not happy.

I am normally fairly active on social media and all too often I see the words “freedom of speech” tossed around. I have to admit it’s one of my pet peeves because people use the term to justify all kinds of negative and nasty discourse and disagreements. Yes, you are generally free to say awful things to other people but the term was actually coined to protect our rights to protest things we see as unjust or unfair. The ADAPT group, chanting during their protest were using their “freedom of speech” to ask congress and the President to move on an important legislation. Now before you go chain yourself to the White House fence and tell you friends and family I suggested it, there are many ways to voice your opinion or to be an advocate. Being arrested outside of the White House is only one way to advocate there are many other ways to lend your voice to a cause, and thankfully most won’t get you arrested.

Advocacy happens on three levels including self advocacy or fighting for your own rights, individual advocacy or fighting for an individual’s rights and systematic advocacy or fighting for a group of people or to change a system. The folks in ADAPT are systematic advocates for the most part. Self advocacy can be as simple as making sure your professor remembers to include your extra credit assignment in the grade book (does anyone use an actual book anymore?). Often students with disabilities are expected to be self advocates when it comes to obtaining accommodations in the classroom. I’m more than happy to accommodate a disability but I need to know what is needed and be assured that it solely meant to level the playing field. As an instructor I won’t think to look to see that there is an accessible restroom in the building near my classroom but if a student tells me it’s a problem I can look to change the classroom location. It’s a simple way of speaking up for what is needed.

Often I find myself being an Individual advocate as well. I have a best friend who uses a wheelchair. Often in the city we’ve encountered places where the only wheelchair accessible entrance is blocked, locked or generally inaccessible! In these cases not only do I speak with management about allowing us entrance for the day but I also suggest they take note and unblocking the entrance for future patrons as well. As pointed out at the beginning of this note, advocacy can be as easy as writing a letter to your congressman, talking to a store manager about accessibility, or signing a petition for change. Social media offers a great platform for advocacy and awareness as well. Instead of (or along with) your post of you #OOTD (outfit of the day) try announcing awareness months that are important to you or maybe post general facts about disability that you learned in class. Change happens when you lend your voice to a cause. Speak up about the things that move you. In the words of Margaret Mead, “Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have”.

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Oh The Places You'll Go: Career Pathways

As the semester draws to an end I want to take the time to congratulate the Rehabilitation Institute’s December graduates. As a faculty we are all super proud of your accomplishments and so glad you let us be a part of your education. I have to admit that as a career Rehabilitation found me. I didn’t have a clue as to what “rehabilitation” meant when I entered into my undergraduate program. It was several years before I even had a clue and several more years before I realized all of my jobs and interest even as an undergraduate were in fact rehabilitation career related.

My career path was a bit of a winding road. Graduating from high school I knew I was going to college and I knew I was majoring in psychology. I learned a great deal in college and completed an internship working with a group that developed programs for college students to discourage college student binge drinking. My first job out of college was as a mental health tech for an inpatient facility. The floor I worked on was divided in two sides. The wing on the right held adolescents with mental health issues. The wing on the left housed adolescents with drug and alcohol use issues. The pay was awful, less than a Burger King manager, but the job was way more fulfilling (and no french fry grease in my hair at the end of a shift). Because the pay was awful and life had thrown me a curve ball I eventually found myself looking for another job. I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do exactly but I knew I had an interest in helping people get jobs. So one summer I volunteered for a local program where I assisted “at risk” teenagers locate jobs. I ended up with one young man and helped him with everything including: finding jobs, filling out applications, writing his resume, going on interviews, the whole 9-yards. He eventually got a job and I eventually used the volunteer experience to get a paying job as an Employment Specialist at a Center for Independent Living (CIL). My job was to help people with disabilities gain employment. It was at this job where I finally heard about rehabilitation counseling. It was at this job I also learned about various disabilities. It was at this job where I learned the common thread through my jobs from internship to that time was in fact Rehabilitation. I eventually went on to get my Masters Degree in Rehabilitation Counseling and later a Ph.D. In Counseling Psychology which I think was the ribbon that tied my psychology Bachelor’s degree and my Rehabilitation Counseling Master’s degrees together.

The thing I love most about working in rehabilitation, the thing I wanted to highlight here, is that rehabilitation as a field is so very broad! This semester we’ll send out students who have completed bachelor’s, master’s and even Ph.D.s degrees. Students will represent our programs in Behavior Analysis and Therapy (BAT), Communication Disorders and Sciences (CDS), and Rehabilitation Counseling & Administration (RCA). Students in their programs have worked with infants with communication concerns, toddlers diagnosed with autism, adolescents with substance use disorders, adolescents with learning and developmental disorders, young adults transitioning from school to work, young adults transitioning from prison to work, adults with mental health concerns, and perhaps even with elderly individuals transitioning into care facilities. Whew!! Our students have been busy. But do you see what I mean? Most people do not realize that Rehabilitation includes so much! I keep telling folks if you think you want to help people and you don’t know much else, rehabilitation may be the field for you. I certainly fell into it with only a desire to work in human services in some capacity.

Students as you go on to graduate this Saturday you will take with you the pride of being an SIU Rehabilitation Institute graduate. You have graduated from a highly ranked program with a long history of building professionals. If you stay in the Southern Illinois area you will find a graduate from our programs in nearly every human service agency in the area. If you move away you will often find us in many US and international cities as well. I have to admit even I was shocked when I ran into an SIU graduate in Seattle Washington, but I’ve come to realize that we are everywhere. As you prepare for your future keep in mind that the Rehabilitation Institute faculty take great pride in seeing you succeed and bring awareness to the field. No matter how you came into rehabilitation, I hope you find that it serves you well as a foundation for your future. Though your career path may be as winding as mine you have an excellent head start. Go forth and do great things!

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Location, Location, Location

It's all about the location, I hear. So here is where you can find us...

http://ehs.siu.edu/rehab/

https://www.facebook.com/SouthernIllinoisUniversityRehabilitationServices

https://twitter.com/RehbServicesSIU

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I didn't know there was a badge for 5 posts. Whoo hoo.

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What are the images of disability that you see in the movies?

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Disability in the Movies

Staying inside, drinking hot tea and watching movies is one of my favorite ways to spend a dreary afternoon. One of the cable channels today is doing a Johnny Depp Spotlight, showing his movies back to back. While I like a lot of his movies Benny & Joon is one of my favorites. It’s getting rather old now, filmed in 1993. If you haven’t seen this movie, it’s about a brother and sister who live together. Benny is perhaps in his early thirties and Joon is easily 10-15 yrs younger. Her brother has been taking care of Joon since both their parents died in a car accident. In the film, Joon has a mental illness. Throughout the movie, Joon’s doctor and a couple of his friends try to convince Benny to let June live in a group home. The doctor points out that a move would allow Joon to live among her peers. The friends point out that with Joon living on her own Benny can have a life for himself. In response Benny simply states “she already has a home”.

In a rather odd poker game, Benny and Joon “win” a young man named Sam. Sam is near Joon’s age and comes to live with Benny and Joon. Seeing as Joon has ran off the last housekeeper, Benny is happy to have someone who can stay with Joon while he’s at work. Probably not Benny’s best idea as we watch a romance blossom right under his nose. Joon and Sam fall in love. As you would expect, Benny is rather upset about this outcome until something bad happens and Benny and Sam have to work together for the best interest of the girl they both love. It’s actually a cute movie on many levels. I kind of like how disability and family issues are portrayed. I’m not sure the portrayal of mental illness is totally accurate as it seems she takes her medicine on an as needed basis and that stress alone brings about her episodes of hearing voices and acting out. I have to say, however, the the family issues and the independent living issue is laid out nicely. Joon struggles with being able to assert herself appropriately and struggles with finding ways to express herself and her independence. Benny struggles with finding a way to protect his sister, care for her and her disability all while allowing her to grow into a woman. You can tell he wants wants what’s best for her but he doesn’t like the idea of her living outside of his home, even when it means him making personal sacrifices.

"I kind of like how disability and family issues are portrayed"

The Joon and Sam storyline shows how an individual with a disability, who also has an over protective brother, can have difficulties dating. It does a great job of pointing out that disability or not, people want the same things: a bit of independence, someone to love them and a sense of belonging. Sam offers Joon these things but does not totally understand her disability. This directly impacts the something bad that happens later. At the end Benny and Sam have to work together to make sure that Joon gets the things out of life that she wants. Finally asking Joon what she wants, Benny and Joon’s doctor discover that Joon would prefer her own apartment instead of a group home or Benny’s house. With help from her brother, Sam and a local friend the end implies that Joon was able to accomplish independent living. In rehabilitation we would say she was able to take advantage of “natural supports” to reach her goals. In this case, she was able to live in a least restrictive environment taking advantage of the support that would happen naturally instead of having her life in a group home.

I hope my explanation doesn’t ruin the movie for you and that you find it and watch it for yourself. Hollywood has an interesting take on disabilities in movies so it’s well worth watching a good movie on the topic. Some other movies make disability seem like the great motivator to people without disabilities. The person is portrayed as some sort of hero for supposedly overcoming a disability and going on to do great things. Other movies portray disability as some awful thing that only death can aid them in overcoming. I’m not sure which of these is worse. The one where you use a person’s disability to point out how others should be grateful that they don’t have a disability or the ones where the person with a disability is aided in an untimely death because Hollywood producers can’t image how a person with a disability could possibly live a productive life. Okay, death probably trumps everything but I don’t like either portrayal. Neither shows a person just trying to live their life, or falling in love, or coming of age, or doing great things just because.

Another way Hollywood portrays disability is by making the person with the disability be the villain or just generally a nasty person. From the banker in It’s a Wonderful Life to the cheerleader with Down Syndrome on Glee who carries out Sue’s dirty work. There was even a sitcom that didn’t last very long with a school age kid in wheelchair who picked on everyone during recess. He was essentially the school bully. While people with disabilities can be mean and nasty as well as anyone else it bothers me when that’s the image we see the most implying they are ALWAYS mean and nasty. I think it bothers me because other characters get to be multidimensional or well rounded while people with disabilities are unidimensional, only being mean and nasty. I’m most happy when the person has many different dimensions, such as a sister, an employee, a girlfriend, perhaps a villain but a villain with a full back story at least. What examples of disability have you seen in movies and television shows? How do you think the image of disability in the media affects how people with disabilities are treated in real life?

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Here's our program. Check out the website and the wonderful programs available!!

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The Promise of Technology

Wednesday, December 3rd, is the International Day of People with Disabilities. Do you ever wonder why we need International Days or History Months? If our goal is to see everyone equally, why do we have days, weeks or months announcing our differences? I think that we have these day, weeks and months because we haven’t accomplished a fair and just world. I think we need to draw attention to our differences to highlight our diversity. The end goal isn’t to all be the same but to celebrate our differences and make sure that everyone has equal access. It doesn’t mean one group is better or worse than another. It doesn’t mean people should get special treatment. Just that all people deserve equal access to opportunities. I read an article once that said its not about “need”. Do we “need” President’s Day? Probably not, but we have these special days as an opportunity to celebrate and acknowledge the contributions of great people. So on this day we celebrate and acknowledge great people who have disabilities and we keep fighting to bring about equal access.

The International Day of People with Disabilities (IDPD) is day set by the United Nations. The UN states that the aim of this day is to promote an understanding of disability issues and to gain support for the dignity, rights and well-being of persons with disabilities. The first IDPD in 1992, encouraged people around the world to acknowledge disabilities. This year’s theme is “Sustainable Development: The Promise of Technology”. This theme supports a need to find new and innovative ways to use technology to promote inclusion and accessibility for persons with disabilities. We know that smart phones, tablets and remote controlled items can make everyone’s life easier but for people with disabilities these devices can be life changing! Something as simple as having a smart phone can make the difference between isolation and inclusion. A person who is deaf or someone who isn’t able to vocalize can talk to their employer, get directions, chat with a classmate, ask someone out on a date or even order a pizza.

Once on a trip to Washington DC I stopped in the Apple Store at the mall because I’m an iPerson. Once in the store I was playing with the latest gadget and trying to make up my mind on a purchase. Off to my side a “Mac Genius” steps up, leans over and shows me his iPad. On it he’s written “Can I help you with anything? I am deaf. Please write your questions on the iPad”. As a Rehabilitation Counselor I couldn’t stop grinning. Thinking to myself, “this is so cool”, I asked my questions, figured out my purchase and rang up my items with him right there where we stood. I stayed a little longer, hanging around just to see him interact with the other customers. It was pretty great to see. I think that before the tech explosion he may not have even applied for such a job. I’m almost positive that before the tech explosion most employers would have denied him a job in sales and customer service. Can you imagine the lengths he would have had to go through to communicate with customers? But with the iPad it was simple. He pulled up the notepad app and we typed away. This simple thing helped him obtain and maintain a job he may not have access to before. How life changing is that? What are some other ways you can think of that where technology could open doors for persons with disabilities?

For more information on the International Day of People with Disabilities check out the UN page at www.UN.org/disabilities

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Disability is a matter of perception. If you can do just one thing well, you're needed by someone.

Martina Navratilova