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For complete information on the Call for Proposal requirements and submission process, click here: 2010 Call for Proposals This year's conference will highlight the elements of the first TASH National Agenda: Inclusive Education Community Living Employment Human Rights People of Color The 2010 conference will focus on innovative practices to promote inclusion and reduce the disparities experienced by individuals with significant disabilities in schools, community living, and employment. The conference will also address human rights concerns and issues often faced by people of color. All people have the right to lead dignified lives where personal choices are honored and cherished. Who Should Attend? Adult Service Providers  Advocates/Self-Advocates Early Interventionists Educators/Special Educators Family Support Professionals Legal/Public Policy Parents/Family Members Professors/Researchers

Click here to register for this event What: Montana state government is hosting a one-day disability employment seminar for state employees and others interested in promoting employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Jim Marks, Director, Disability Transition Programs, Department of Public Health and Human Services, will kick off the event at 9 a.m. The featured keynote speaker, Lois McElravy, will speak from her personal experience illustrating how the complexities of brain injury cause confusion and chaos with the simplest of tasks, like writing notes and making lists. Participants will gain a better understanding of how they can partner with employees with disabilities to identify accommodations needed to create a productive work environment. Other sessions include small-group exercises based on complex workplace issues, a presentation on reasonable accommodations by Anne Hirsch, Job Accommodation Network, a presentation on People without Limits, by Paul Gelderloos, People without Limits, and a panel of local experts will address commonly asked questions through locally developed case studies. The expert panel includes: Marieke Beck, Montana Human Rights Bureau Jim Marks, Department of Public Health and Human Services Anne Hirsch, Job Accommodation Network Michelle Pickell, Job Opportunity Based Services When: Thursday, May 26, 2011 9:00am - 4:00pm Mountain Where: Gateway Conference Center 1710 National Avenue in Helena, MT Registration: $50 and includes breakfast and lunch. You can register online at http://pdc.mt.gov/default.mcpx or call (406) 444-3871.

What: Fred Fay's life proves that one man can change the world, even though he has to lie flat on his back just to stay alive. LIVES WORTH LIVING looks at Fay's struggle to survive after a spinal cord injury and the small group of dedicated activists who formed the Disability Rights Movement to drive the nation towards equal rights. When: Thursday, October 27, 2011 10:00pm on local PBS affiliate

2010 TASH Summer Internship Program TASH is now offering summer internships at its national headquarters in Washington, D.C. The internship program is designed to provide undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to gain experience and learn about TASH and its work in human rights advocacy, education access, community living, employment and full inclusion. The deadline for submitting applications is March 31, 2010. A complete information packet can be downloaded here: 2010 Summer Internship Application

TASH is now offering summer internships at its national headquarters in Washington, D.C. The internship program is designed to provide undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to gain experience and learn about TASH and its work in human rights advocacy, education access, community living, employment and full inclusion. The deadline for submitting applications is March 31, 2010. A complete information packet can be downloaded here: 2010 Summer Internship Application

In 2009, the Civil Rights Division launched an aggressive effort to enforce the Supreme Court's decision in Olmstead v. L.C., a ruling that requires states to eliminate unnecessary segregation of persons with disabilities and to ensure that persons with disabilities receive services in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs. President Obama issued a proclamation launching the "Year of Community Living," and has directed the Administration to redouble enforcement efforts. The Division has responded by working with state and local governments officials, disability rights groups and attorneys around the country, and with representatives of the Department of Health and Human Services, to fashion an effective, nationwide program to enforce the integration mandate of the Department's regulation implementing title II of the ADA.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) today announced grants to 41 health programs operated by the Indian Health Service; tribes and tribal organizations; and urban Indian organizations. The grants will help improve outreach and enrollment of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) uninsured children eligible for, but not enrolled in, their state’s Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Programs (CHIP).

Blackfeet Tribe, Po'Ka ProjectMontana$300,000Indian Health Board of Billings, Inc.Montana$300,000

This project explores the life stories of thirteen leaders in the self-advocacy movement and their perspectives on key issues and leadership challenges. Part of the broader disability rights movement, the self-advocacy movement is unique in that it has been led and informed by the individual and collective experiences of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Despite its widespread existence nationwide and internationally, few works have explored the rich history, culture, and significance of the self-advocacy movement. To help fill this void, Joe Caldwell, Ph.D., Department of Disability and Human Development, University of Illinois at Chicago, undertook this life history project and donated transcripts to The Bancroft Library for its Disability Rights and Independent Living Movement collection. More about Self-Advocacy Movement oral history project.

Health Improvement Team, LLC has been contracted by Montana Department of Health and Human Services (DPHHS) to examine the health related needs of families and children. This study is conducted every five years and is used to assist DPHHS improve health related services and resources. We would like to invite parents and adolescents from the community to participate in focus groups. Their participation will be entirely confidential to allow them to share their honest thoughts and opinions.

Last fall when we heard that Temple Grandin could possibly be in Montana for spring 2014, we jumped at the chance to have her present northern Montana.  With all the discussions in the meat industry right now about humane treatment of food animals we thought this would be a perfect opportunity for Marias River Livestock Association (MRLA) to provide important education to not just our members but the general public through the Gentle Hand Livestock Conference, June 27 & 28, 2014, Shelby, Montana.   

Let's keep IDEA PTA alive with renewed parent input and involvement.    The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the home of Mary Hall of PLUK, which is located at 380 Keith, which is the NW corner of Keith and Hilda in the University area.   Several of our wonderful MT CAAN members have already brainstormed some exciting ideas as to how parents can unite with enlightened educators to utilize this group as an important vehicle by which:  Parents can gain the empowerment and voice they should have in the special education process and at school, generally; We can work together systematically to achieve the kind of meaningful changes, opportunities, and supports that we want and need to see in the school environment, so that all children, regardless of diversity, get the free and appropriate education they are due by law and that they deserve by human right.

“Nobody Is Too ‘Anything’ to Read, Write or Communicate” The late news broadcaster Walter Cronkite catalogued the ills of the world every night for television viewers. But through the cataract of daily despair he always glimpsed a reason to hope, to be joyful about the possibilities of the moment and beyond. For the tens of millions of viewers who watched his coverage of the first lunar landing 40 years ago that enthusiasm reached out from their TV sets, when, at the moment of human touchdown on the surface of the moon, Cronkite shed his cloak of objectivity and exuberantly exclaimed, “Oh, boy!”

Despite the many daily challenges that confront them in their sphere, members of school district assistive technology teams nationwide share Cronkite’s enthusiasm for the vast potential of technology to change the lives of individuals with disabilities. Sure, the struggles AT team members face are daunting: lack of time and money; too many pre-service and in-service teachers without sufficient AT training; funding-strapped districts that are sometimes reluctant to approve teams’ AT recommendations for individual students; the reluctance of some districts to accept AT’s viability, and a continuing belief in a few education quarters that some children with disabilities may never learn to read and write. Fortunately, among district AT team members – speech-language pathologists (SLP’s), occupational therapists (OT’s) and others – the technology flame burns brighter than ever. Their enthusiasm still bubbles. Their thirst for information about the latest technology developments that may aid their district’s children is unquenched. And their conviction that no child is too disabled to read or write remains not only ironclad but often translates into a hard-won happy reality for the children with whom they work.

October 2010 - Robotics and Autism: Is the Future Nao? Is now the time for Nao? Nao is a 22-inch humanoid robot (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2STTNYNF4lk) designed by Aldebaran, a French robotics manufacturer, that has been put to work by the psychology department at the University of Notre Dame. Nao’s purpose: to help researchers determine if the aid of a sophisticated robot can enhance the therapy experience for children with autism by bridging the gulf between the world of human social interaction that so often leaves them perplexed, anxious and frustrated and the world of science and technology that they prefer.

Amid growing concerns about racial, ethnic and language disparities in health care, The Joint Commission and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights have worked together to support language access in health care organizations with the video Improving Patient-Provider Communication: Joint Commission Standards and Federal Laws. 

What: Please mark your calendar and join us at the 2012 Parent Involvement Conference. This year's conference will take place at the Doublewood Inn, in Fargo, ND on April 26th, 27th, & 28th (until noon).  The conference is jointly hosted by the Pathfinder Parent Center, the Department of Public Instruction, the Department of Human Services - Part C and the Anne Carlsen Center. Parents, educators, social workers, & therapists are all invited. The Anne Carlsen Center is hosting several technology speakers and keynotes. There will be a joint registration that opens right after the new year. Email dpage@nd.gov and we will send you a link when the registration is ready. Stipends will be available for parents living outside of the Fargo area through a grant from the ND State Council on DD.  Details will be available when registration opens.  If you would like to be considered as a presentor for the conference, contact cathyh@pathfinder-nd.org or call 1.800.245.5840 When: April 26 - 28, 2012 Where: Doublewood Inn 3333 13th Ave S Fargo, ND