Autistic Student...a great success story!

This month, I have talked to Maryrose about her experience with EmpowerTech. In my opinion, Maryrose is a pleasant student who is always working hard and is very helpful to Ms. Rickell and myself. I was happy to learn that her experience here has been positive. Through EmpowerTech, she’s been able to use computer skills in Microsoft word, excel and power point to do well in her college courses. It is her dream to become a Nurse one day and work with children. She is very passionate about this career and this just demonstrates one of her greatest attributes which is to help people. Furthermore, through EmpowerTech, Maryrose is attaining valuable skills for her future career. She is the President of the Trade Student Assistant Program. Through this position, she is able to help others maintain the lab clean and makes sure all assignments are returned to the lesson plan table. She also talked to me about how she likes to help set up and decorate the break room for special events. Through her story, I have come to learn why Maryrose is happy to be at EmpowerTech. Before she becomes a nurse, she needs to develop the skills that will help her do her job well. Here at EmpowerTech, Maryrose has the liberty to learn valuable skills. She has not only gained computer and leadership skills, she has also developed social skills at Empowertech. She met her best friend Dominique here and has been her friend for about a year now. In addition, she also has participated in the Special Olympics since last year. She has been a part of the Track and field and bowling challenges. Maryrose is an exceptional student with big dreams. There is not a day she is absent. I can account that she is always here with a great attitude and a willingness to learn. Thus, she demonstrates determination and ambition for the future as she expresses, “We are here to assist in any way to make our experience at EmpowerTech a success.”

EmpowerTech CEO JoanElaine Anderson and Board President Go Tech Free for 48 Hours

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                             CONTACT:    Joan Anderson      

                                                                                                                        (818)-665-8001

EMPOWERTECH EXECUTIVES TAKING THE “TECH-FREE WEEKEND CHALLENGE”

The Ultimate Reality Show: 48 Hours… No Phone… No Internet… No Car—IN L.A.!

April  __, 2015—LOS ANGELES:  EmpowerTech Executive Director Joan Anderson and current EmpowerTech Board Chair and former student of the Blind Program Keith Breaux will attempt to navigate a series of trips and tasks throughout Los Angeles over the course of an entire weekend, without using any technology whatsoever.  The weekend challenge, which will raise money for EmpowerTech’s program offerings, will be streamed live online, making it the ultimate reality show.

Joan Anderson stated, “The idea behind the Tech Free Weekend Challenge is to demonstrate to the world how much we take technology for granted, and to give people a small taste of what it is like to live with a disability that prevents you from using everyday technology like driving a car or surfing the web.   When I first shared this idea with our students, I told them that I wanted to walk a mile in their shoes. They responded, “Oh, you’re going to be walking a lot farther than a mile!”

The weekend’s itinerary and series of challenges will be drawn up by EmpowerTech students who, through the use of Assistive Technology at the EmpowerTech facility in Los Angeles, overcome obstacles presented by their disabilities every day.  Examples of activities could include: going parasailing in Marina Del Rey, visiting the Getty, or shopping at Ralph’s.  Joan and Keith will be followed by camera operators who will film their exploits in 8-10 hour shifts.

Keith Breax commented, “I’m certainly not looking forward to a weekend without my IPhone, but if this weekend challenge can raise awareness of the difficulties that persons living with disabilities like myself a blind man, face every day—and raise awareness of EmpowerTech and its programs—then it will be worth it.  But still, no Assistive Technology? All weekend? Seriously?”

Beginning May 22^th at 1:00 pm, Keith and Joan will check into a Hotel in Westchester and hand over all of their technology devices, including car keys.  They will then be presented with their weekend itinerary and the cameras will start to roll.

As part of the Tech Free Weekend challenge, donors will make cash pledges to EmpowerTech, contingent upon Joan and Keith successfully completing the challenge.

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EmpowerTech uses modern Assistive Technology to help persons with disabilities obtain the skills and the confidence to perform important technology-related tasks that many take for granted, such as accessing and using the Internet and creating and reading documents. From programs for blind/low-vision adults to classes for disabled children, EmpowerTech uses state of the art Assistive Technology to help disabled persons experience the freedom and fulfillment of self-sufficiency.  To learn more about EmpowerTech’s many, many success stories, please visit: http://www.empowertech.org.

Dear Hiring Manager: All the Disability-Related Skills I Can't Put on My Resume

Dear Hiring Manager,
By now, you've probably skimmed over my meticulously-worded resume, and maybe you've even made up your mind as to whether I'm as qualified as the nearly identical resumes of my fellow recent graduates. You may have even Googled me and seen the many blogs I have written about my disability and have formed your opinion on them. As I have been told by many human resources professionals, disability is a subject that can scare many off because of the perception of weakness, inefficiency and need. However, I could create a completely different application package including all of my disability and chronic illness-related skills and accomplishments, one that paints a far more complete picture of my potential as an employee. So, without further ado, here are my disability-related job skills, in cover letter form.
As a seven-year Crohnie (Crohn's Disease patient) and proud member of the disability community, I am used to upholding my responsibilities in a fast-paced and challenging environment. From the time I was diagnosed in high school, I was intent on ensuring that my medical issues did not get in the way of my ambitions, and even completed my academic courses around the time of my diagnosis while completely bedridden. I was able to graduate from college a year early, Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude, while adapting to a rapidly changing medical situation, including hospitalization for an intestinal blockage during my summer college courses. I am used to operating under pressure, and have gained experience with remembering complicated information while under a number of prescription pain medications. Despite the need for these medications at the time, I completed my coursework ahead of schedule while working part-time and completing three internships. I never let my medical situation hinder my determination to complete my work, once tottering to a class two hours after a minor surgical procedure.
Organization is one of my greatest strengths, and in 2014 alone, I was able to successfully schedule approximately two doctors' appointments a week for five months (most after working hours) while working full-time, coordinating among medical imaging facilities and various specialists and organizing each appointment in a color-coded calendar. This organization and the coordination of my medical team led to the discovery of an infection, and although this was a difficult hurdle to overcome due to the treatments and pain, I upheld my duties at my job and never used my medical situation as an excuse to do less. My other skills include digesting complicated information, including possible treatment routes and unfamiliar medical conditions. Clear communication skills have been essential so that I can advocate for myself when I disagree with a proposed treatment route or procedure. I also have ample experience with multitasking by writing concise correspondence, conducting research and scheduling appointments while receiving IV treatments.
Most importantly, I want these skills to reflect that my disability does not define my usefulness, and my history with chronic illness should only be used to strengthen my accomplishments. Very often, people with disabilities are written off because employers are unsure as to whether they will be able to keep up with the work successfully. A person without a disability is not held up to this same standard of having to prove himself or herself, while a person with a disability is asked to repeatedly prove that their disability will not slow them down. My entire life since the age of 15 has shown that my complicated medical history has never slowed me down, and I am proud to say that I have achieved everything on my resume while dealing with my medical issues. The existence of my Crohn's Disease only bolsters my accomplishments in my eyes, and it should never be used to question whether I am "less than able" to complete the job.
Dear Hiring Manager, I am not my disability, but my disability is a part of me. It causes complications in my life, but the ways in which I have overcome those obstacles should carry more weight than the obstacles themselves. I have been determined and passionate as I have challenged myself to strive for my ambitions, and those are the qualities I can offer you. If you want a determined, passionate, striving and successful individual, please consider hiring me, or any other applicant with a disability.
Sincerely,
Sarah Blahovec

Disabilities in the workplace: Federal agencies release new resource guide for employers

By Joan Farrell, JD, Senior Legal Editor

Earlier this month, the White House announced the release of a resource guide to assist employers in recruiting, hiring, retaining, and promoting people with disabilities. The online guide is part of a federal “Curb Cuts to the Middle Class Initiative” through which federal agencies, including the EEOC, are working to increase employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities.
The online guide brings together in one document numerous tools and resources available for employers. In addition to providing information on recruiting people with disabilities, the guide provides information on best practices for interviewing applicants, retaining employees with disabilities, and providing reasonable accommodations. It also contains links to disability awareness training and disability etiquette training programs—both of which may be helpful for employers to use in their workplace diversity programs.
As the guide points out, employers can often take their existing programs—such as retention strategies—and tweak them to focus on the needs of employees with disabilities. As an example, the guide notes that onboarding or new employee orientation programs can include disability-specific information such as reasonable accommodation procedures and orientation materials that are in accessible formats. The guide indicates that structured onboarding programs have been shown to ease the transition of veterans with disabilities into the civilian workplace.
In addition, return-to-work programs that employers already have in place for employees returning from injuries covered by workers’ compensation insurance can be expanded to include programs that help employees with nonoccupational injuries return to work.
The guide offers links to several resources that employers can use to help structure a return-to-work program for employees with disabilities, including the Job Accommodation Network (JAN) —a free consulting service funded by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy—that has a wealth of online information on reasonable accommodation in the workplace. JAN also has a toll-free number employers can use to obtain free, confidential assistance on reasonable accommodation.
It’s important, too, for employers to remember that in addition to requiring reasonable accommodation and prohibiting discrimination based on an individual’s disability, the ADA also contains prohibitions that apply regardless of whether an individual has a disability. For example, the ADA prohibits employers from making disability-related inquiries or requiring medical exams except in certain limited circumstances.
Before an employer extends a job offer to an applicant, these inquiries and exams are strictly prohibited. Once an offer is made—but before the prospective employee starts work—the employer generally can ask any medical questions and require a medical exam without violating the ADA. When an individual becomes an employee, these exams and inquiries are permitted only when they are job related and consistent with business necessity.
Here are some steps employers can take to make sure they stay in compliance with the ADA:

• Make sure job descriptions are accurate, up-to-date, and designate essential functions
• During job interviews, focus on the applicant’s ability to perform essential job functions
• Provide training on the ADA’s requirements to all employees involved in the hiring process
• Provide periodic refresher training on the do’s and don’ts of making medical inquiries and what to do when an employee volunteers information about a disability
• Make sure supervisors understand the interactive process and when an employee’s disclosures may trigger the employer’s obligation to engage in the process
• Carefully document the reasons leading to an adverse employment decision that affects an employee or applicant with a disability—including any decision to deny reasonable accommodation

508 Compliancy

Technology has changed a lot since 2000, when the U.S. Access Board issued its first accessiblity guidelines for federal IT.

On Wednesday, the Access Board released its long-awaited proposed rule to update accessibility guidelines for federal information and communication technology (ICT) subject to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. It also provides similar updates for telecommunications equipment covered by Section 255 of the Communications Act.
"The Board's proposal is responsive to widespread changes and innovations in the IT and communication industries," said Sachin Dev Pavithran, vice chairman of the Access Board, in a release. "It is important that the 508 Standards and 255 Guidelines stay abreast of the ever-evolving technologies they cover so that accessibility for people with disabilities is properly addressed."
The proposed rule incorporates the latest version of the international Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
"We're proposing to reference that as the Web standard for accessibility plus the standard to determine whether documents and software are accessible," said David Capozzi, executive director of the Access Board.
WCAG 2.0 is used by many other countries and has been referenced by the Department of Transportation in its rule making under the Air Carrier Access Act for airline websites.
The original version of WCAG came out in 2000, which was about the same time the Access Board was finalizing its own set of WCAG-inspired Web standards in the first version of Section 508. This time around, the Board decided to incorporate WCAG 2.0 rather than stick with its own separate guidelines.
"Rather than mimicking the standards, we did a direct reference, which I think goes a lot further toward providing harmonization with international standards," Capozzi said.
The proposed rule also adds Real Time Text (RTT) functionality to the Board's accessibility guidelines for products providing real-time voice communications.
"That's kind of like the new version of TTYs for people who are deaf or hard of hearing," Capozzi said. "Real Time Text is different from text that most people would think of where, when you're sending a text from one person to another or from one person to a group, you'd type the whole message and then you'd send it. Whereas Real Time Text you send character-by-character as you're typing."
Feds using RTTs will be able to communicate quicker and in a more conversational manner than they had previously with TTYs.
The proposed rule also addresses the types of electronic content that are covered by Section 508.
For example, if an individual files an emailed complaint with a federal agency that has enforcement authority, that agency's email reply would be covered under the rule change.
"An email blast from, for example, the Office of Personnel Management that sends out emails to all federal agencies alerting them to some new OPM memo or a memo from the Office of Management and Budget that goes to all the agencies alerting them to some new policy change, those would be covered as well," Capozzi said.
Some of the changes being proposed are more subtle. For example, information technology or "IT" will now be referred to as "ICT" for information and communication technology, which is how many other nations refer to this type of technology
In addition, the Access Board is moving away from identifying specific products in its guidelines.
"The current standards address technology kind of product by product, so it looks at what the product is instead of what the product does," Capozzi said. "And so, the new proposed standards are more functional-based as opposed to product-specific requirements."
The Access Board took this approach as a way to keep the guidelines from becoming obsolete as technology continues to rapidly evolve.
"We're trying to make these last a little bit longer, so that it's not relating to the product itself, but what the function is," he said. "The functions probably won't change that dramatically."
The Access Board is accepting public comments on the proposed rule for 90 days. It's also hosting two public hearings, one on March 5, at the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel, Mission Beach A & B, in San Diego, California, and the other on March 11, at the Access Board Conference Center, in Washington, D.C. The Board will also host a public webinar on March 31.

Remembering Dr. Mayer Eisenstein

Remembering Dr. Mayer Eisenstein

We Joyfully Remember Dr. Mayer Eisenstein
by Phillip C. DeMio, MD

The news recently came to us, in late December, that our friend Dr. Mayer Eisenstein had suddenly died. If you knew him like we did you are sure he is looking over us with a warm reassuring smile saying, "Don't worry, it's all right," though we are shocked & saddened at the loss of such a fine man and doctor just the same. This comes at the end of a year, 2014, where we had already seen the passing of two leaders who helped those persons disabilities: Louis J. Joyce who was one of the very first if not the first special education teacher for children in the U.S. (having been helping and believing in the educational potential of challenged kids & adults in Ohio by the early 1960's), and Dr. Jaquelyn McCandless (author of Children with Starving Brains, who helped to spread information worldwide about those affected with spectrum disorders). We will miss them all, with the loss of Dr. Eisenstein being the most recent.

Mayer Eisenstein was born in China after his family left Europe after WW II. His family later moved to the US, where he eventually became a physician. From that moment he continued a life of helping people. Along the way, though, he also became a lawyer and a master of public health, and he drew from these skills to help his patients on a daily basis. He was intelligent, informed, well-spoken, and a very staunch supporter of patients' rights to be informed & to have choices in care. Somehow there's where Mayer Eisenstein, MD, JD, MPH was viewed as controversial simply for standing up as a doctor for patients' rights & choices when they sought care for their loved ones. People took shots at him, all because he wanted you to know your rights.

Dr. Eisenstein wanted you to have access to information about choices in healthcare, with him as a physician guiding you along. His 40 plus years of practice, just taken at face value, had a minimum if any severe or chronic disease, with virtually little to no asthma nor autism in the many babies he delivered at home. Dr Eisenstein's tireless devotion to his patients led him on the four decade trek to helping people day in & day out, not just by being their good doctor. He also knew he had to assure that their right to choice in health care, based on the right in turn of patients & families, to be truly informed so they could make a real choice.

It is distressingly often that we are at a medical encounter where a stack of consent forms are pushed at us and, whereby many persons are unknowingly put through a mill without ever having truly been informed at all. A person cannot at all agree to the surgery, the drug or even a test in such a setting, unless we are guided to information. That's why you bring yourself or your loved one to see a physician. Dr. Eisenstein knew, and practiced this every day and with every breath. He continually stood up for patients and their families to medically get what they wanted & needed. I saw it in action.

On one occasion another physician voiced the opinion to put patients second and essentially to sell out to the power structures, leaving patients defenseless. Dr. Eisenstein responded swiftly and effectively with a fury and eloquent and informed argument effectively squashing the other doctor's proposal. The very idea was anathema to Dr. Eisenstein. His knowledge and incontrovertible statements once again protected patients. We always have been, and we still are energized by his dedication, his energy, his warmth, and his caring demeanor.

Rest in peace Mayer. Somehow, though, I think you've taken that magical energy of yours to a higher place where it belonged all along. I am proud to have called Mayer Eisenstein my friend, and we will all miss him very much.

Phillip C DeMio, MD
US Asperger & Autism Association, Chief Medical Officer

Prescription Drug Labeling to Aid the Blind and Visually-Impaired Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Senator Markey Queries Pharmacies on Prescription Drug Labeling to Aid the Blind and Visually-Impaired Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Commends CVS for new “talking” prescription labels

– Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) today sent letters to a dozen pharmacies requesting information on their efforts to make prescription drug label information accessible to patients who are blind, visually-impaired or elderly with deteriorating vision. There are at least 20.6 million Americans who experience vision loss preventing them from reading important prescription drug label information independently. In his letters, Senator Markey asks the twelve pharmacies what steps they have taken to adopt or implement best practices for blind or visually-impaired individuals, including providing information in braille or large print, offering audible devices to deliver information, and any costs for making drug labeling information available. Earlier this week, CVS announced it is now offering its mail service customers talking prescription labels through its “ScripTalk” system, as well as braille and large print labels for free its customers who are blind or visually-impaired.

“Pharmacies are important partners in empowering our visually impaired citizens to take full control of their health,” said Senator Markey. “Putting health and prescription drug information into the hands and ears of patients who are blind or visually-impaired is critical to ensuring safety and promoting independence.

“I commend CVS for providing options for those who are visually impaired, and I encourage all pharmacies to adopt policies, technologies and services that are readily available and will help promote and protect the health of all customers.”

A copy of the letters to the pharmacies can be found HERE. Senator Markey sent letters to CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Wal-Mart, Express Scripts, Target, Safeway, Kroger, UnitedHealth Group, Sears/Kmart, Costco, and Medicine Shoppe International.

In 2012, Senator Markey’s “Prescription Drug Labeling Promotion Act” was passed as part of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Safety and Innovation Act, ensuring that the blind and visually-impaired have safe and independent access to the information on prescription drug labels. The law established a working group of pharmacists, patient advocates, and federal regulators that issued recommendations of best practices for pharmacies to ensure that people who are blind or visually-impaired have access to prescription drug labeling. The law also instructs the Government Accountability Office to analyze the degree to which pharmacists are adhering to the law and whether there continues to be a lack of access to prescription drug labeling for the blind and visually-impaired.

Eric Bridges

American Council of the Blind

Director of External Relations and Policy