The Smithsonian recently introduced a new exhibit, “Special Olympics at 50,” to celebrate the organization’s anniversary and to highlight the roles athletes with intellectual disabilities have played in changing perceptions of the disability community. The Special Olympics display will be on view through June 2019 at the National Museum of American History, in Washington, D.C.
The Cape Henlopen School District has secured funding through local legislators for the Sussex County Consortium in Lewes. The Consortium will offer new ways for children with disabilities, such as autism spectrum disorder, to learn. The building will have a therapy pool and vocational classrooms where children can engage in work experiences. Construction for the Consortium is scheduled to be complete by fall of 2020.
Organizations such as the National Federation of the Blind and the NAACP filed a lawsuit against the Department of Education after the Office for Civil Rights updated the way it processes discrimination cases against schools. The changes are meant to speed up the review of cases, but for families like the Orton’s who filed a complaint because their daughter, who is visually impaired, could not access slide presentations in class, the process took over two years to reach a resolution.
The Department of Education expects to amend rules established under the 2014 Workface Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) that require individuals with disabilities aged 24 and younger first try securing competitive employment before they can work for subminimum wage. Thirty-eight disability advocacy groups sent a letter to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos opposing the reconsideration of WIOA regulations.
In light of a recent report from the Association of American Medical Colleges, which found that many students and doctors hide their disabilities out of fear of bias, doctors with disabilities discuss ways in which the medical field benefits from the perspectives of individuals with disabilities as well as doctors’ physical abilities.
