Kids who are bullied are more likely to experience life-long mental health issues such as depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts. They also suffer from poorer health, cognitive function, and social well-being.

The Disability and Aging Alliance of Missoula in collaboration with Parents Let’s Unite for Kids, the ARC of Montana and Disability Rights Montana is holding a Missoula County legislative candidates forum at the Hilton Garden Inn on Thursday, Oct. 2, from 4 to 7 p.m.

For years Shirky has allowed his students to bring laptops, tablets and phones into class and use them at will. But he just told students to put them away. He explains why below

Federal officials are taking steps to clarify new requirements surrounding Medicaid coverage of autism treatments. Over the summer, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a bulletin to states indicating that Medicaid programs across the country must provide “medically necessary diagnostic and treatment services” to beneficiaries with autism under age 21. Now, the agency is providing new details about the mandate.

Montana State University has launched a new, multidisciplinary center that is designed to help improve diagnosis and treatment of mental illness throughout Montana. The new MSU Center for Mental Health Research and Recovery was approved today by the Montana Board of Regents. It will draw on MSU's research strength in neuroscience, electrical engineering, computer science, biochemistry, psychology and nursing, among other disciplines, to address pressing mental health challenges in the state.

Accessibility — also referred to as inclusivity — is all about making the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad work for as wide a range of people as possible. That can include the very young, the very old, people brand new to computers and mobile devices, and also people with disabilities and special needs. With iOS, Apple has added features to specifically help those with visual impairments, including blindness, color blindness, and low vision, with auditory impairments including deafness in one or both ears, physical or motor skill impairments, including limited coordination or range of motion, and learning challenges, including autism and dyslexia. It also includes general features, like Siri and FaceTime which can provide significant value for the blind or the deaf. Many of these features can be found in Settings, all of them can be found on the iPhone and iPad.

iOS 8 is now available! Before you upgrade devices that are used by individuals with disabilities, check out our iOS 8 upgrade checklist tab to help you avoid any potential major issues.

Yet another semester is underway, and students with disabilities will yet again be left behind because schools are not providing equal access to electronic materials. The issue has been a subject of escalating tension between students with disabilities and their universities. Surprisingly, a common-sense, noncontroversial solution to solve this problem exists in a bipartisan, bicameral bill being considered by Congress. Even better, Massachusetts representatives have taken center stage in support of this solution; the Senate version was introduced by Senator Elizabeth Warren and cosponsored by Senator Ed Markey, and Representative Joseph Kennedy III supports the House version. So what’s the hold-up? A vague, unexplained opposition to “accessible instructional materials” on the part of colleges and universities and their lobbying associations.

The Ohio AgrAbility Program has a mission to promote independence for people in agriculture who want to continue to farm after experiencing a disabling condition. The program’s goal is to provide education, resources, and technical assistance to those individuals and their families so they may continue to do what they love to do, farm.

Last year, Bacher, a biomedical engineer and neuroscientist, founded SpeakYourMind Foundation Inc., a registered non-profit organization that grew out of the BrainGate lab at Brown University with a mission to "develop and support personalized assistive technologies for individuals with motor and speech disabilities."His latest invention is the 'eyeBucket.' Bacher and his associates design and help people with ALS and other paralyzing disabilities to use low-cost head trackers and eye trackers that allow them to control a computer with eye movements.A relentless innovator, Bacher, 29, managed to raise the bar when the worldwide ice water brigade came along.

Google has added features to Drive and the Docs apps suite to make the products easier to use for people who are blind or have poor eyesight, an issue over which the company has been criticized.The improvements include smoother interaction with third-party screen readers for better text-to-speech performance and expanded keyboard navigation capabilities. The enhanced products include the Drive storage service, the Docs word processor, Slides presentation app, Sheets spreadsheet software, Drawings tool and Forms creator.

He's part of a growing group of gamers with disabilities who are speaking out against accessibility issues in games and who run the whole gamut from big-budget AAA fare to tiny one-person indie productions. They're backed by charities, such as AbleGamers and SpecialEffect, plus dozens of passionate individuals doing their best to make the hobby more inclusive to everyone — disabled or not. There are signs that more developers are listening, too. Infinity Ward included a colorblind option and a special "N0M4D" control layout for disabled players in the latest Call of Duty. Indie survival adventure The Last Door has a dyslexia font and closed captions. The recently released MMO WildStar has, among other accessibility features, support for all three main types of colorblindness. Games are finally opening up to audiences that previously couldn't enjoy them, and everyone's gaining from the trend.

Siblings of children with autism are in a unique position; they face overwhelming challenges (similar to those that parents encounter), but at a time before they’ve developed appropriate coping strategies. As a result, they need support to ensure that they’re informed, feel respected, and know how to be compassionate advocates for their brothers and sisters on the spectrum. OAR’s “Autism Sibling Support” initiative is designed to guide young children, teenagers, and parents through the issues that brothers and sisters of children with autism face.

WASHINGTON, DC – As school districts around the country consider investing in technology as a way to improve student outcomes, a new report from the Alliance for Excellent Education and the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE) finds that technology—when implemented properly—can produce significant gains in student achievement and boost engagement, particularly among students most at risk.

MOSCOW, Pa. – Sara Wolff works for a law firm, sits on the board of directors for several advocacy organizations and is a gifted public speaker. But due to a federal regulation, she’s prohibited from doing something almost every other American has the right to do: save for her future. That’s because Wolff has Down syndrome and, like millions born with a disability, she receives Supplemental Security Income to help pay her living expenses. In order to meet SSI eligibility requirements, she isn't allowed to earn more than $700 a month or have more than $2,000 in savings.

U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, is proposing new legislation that would ensure parents who successfully challenge a school district under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act can recoup costs for psychologists, behavior specialists, physicians and other experts they engage in order to bring their case.

The vast majority of American children may not be receiving recommended screenings for developmental delay, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. In a government survey, parents of 79 percent of young children reported that they had not been asked to participate in screening efforts in the previous year. This, despite recommendations that children are routinely checked at pediatrician visits for signs of developmental issues.

This video series was developed through a partnership with the Hunt Institute as part of National PTA’s ongoing effort to provide accurate information about the Common Core State Standards and to assist PTA membership with developing grassroots advocacy skills.

Diseases that were largely eradicated in the United States a generation ago—whooping cough, measles, mumps—are returning, in part because nervous parents are skipping their children’s shots. NOVA’s “Vaccines—Calling the Shots" takes viewers around the world to track epidemics, explore the science behind vaccinations, hear from parents wrestling with vaccine-related questions, and shed light on the risks of opting out.