It is well known that people with special needs can accomplish amazing things despite their so-called disabilities. But in the annals of such heroics, a special place must be reserved for Joshua A. Winheld. On February 5, 2010, Winheld was awarded a Master of Arts degree in urban studies from Temple University in Philadelphia. For his thesis, he explored factors preventing local real estate developers from building more housing that is accessible to people with physical disabilities. Accessible housing was a subject that had interested Winheld since the age of 10, when he was forced into a wheelchair by Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Telling stories by building comic strips is a way to strengthen struggling students' emerging English-language skills and make the difficult job of language learning a much more enjoyable experience. Comic strips are a perfect vehicle for learning a language. Each strip's three or four panels provide a finite, accessible world in which funny or compelling characters live and go about their lives. And readers with limited reading skills are not as overwhelmed in dealing with the size of a comic strip as they can be with a book of many pages.

It can all feel overwhelming. If you’re a parent, teacher, service provider, or play another role in the life of a child or adult with a disability—and especially if you’re a person with a disability—it seems there’s too much on our plates! Inclusion, education, assistive technology, behavior, employment, supports, modifications, mobility, communication, and living accommodations are some of the issues we probably face every day. With so much to deal with, we may try to simply maintain the status quo—doing more is just too much. We may try to do it all, and experience little or no success. Finally, some of our best, most well-intentioned efforts may not have much impact on a person’s life.

A computer glitch in the state’s expanded children’s health-insurance plan that has randomly booted families out of the program is causing some patients to forego refilling critical prescriptions, according to several Bozeman doctors.

School district officials think teachers tend to be too quick to refer English-language learners to special education, while teachers think school district officials tend to wait too long to make a referral, according to a federal study of special education referral practices in three New York suburban school districts.

Welcome to TextEd.ca, your online source for everything textual. Get the 411 on texting and relationships, including healthy vs. unhealthy relationships, how to deal with harassment, and how to cope with stress. Through a variety of games and activities you can test your texting knowledge, find out how to use this great technology safely, and learn what to do when someone crosses the line.

At least 15 states mandate some type of insurance coverage for autism treatments. Now an advocacy group is offering a set of frequently asked questions breaking down the basics of each state’s law. The fact sheets created by Autism Speaks’ lobbying initiative Autism Votes and the George Washington University Law School offer a plain English guide to what’s covered by autism insurance legislation in each state.

Skier Alex Bilodeau is a hero after winning Canada’s first gold medal at the home court Olympic Games. But Bilodeau is quick to share the praise with his older brother Frederic, who has cerebral palsy, and who the skier calls his inspiration.

Welcome! This site highlights the employment successes of people with Intellectual Disabilities/Developmental Disabilities (ID/DD) who are working in paid jobs in their communities. Through the use of innovative, front-line employment support practices, these individuals are earning money, forming networks, and contributing to their communities. Learn more about these people and the promising practices that led to their success.

The Campaign for Disability Employment is a collaborative effort to promote positive employment outcomes for people with disabilities by encouraging employers and others to recognize the value and talent they bring to the workplace.

Statistics on the unemployed have been dominating the news for months. And while the current portrait of the jobless might seem dire, consider this: According to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, less than 20 percent of the disabled population in the country has work.But Aspiritech, a nonprofit in the suburbs of Chicago, is trying to help improve the job outlook for people with Asperger's and high-functioning autism.

an encyclopedia on assistive technology that anyone can edit.Articles contributed to this site will be viewable from the assistivetech.net website.

Assistive technology (AT) is "devices and aids which can help a person with a disability perform activities that might otherwise be difficult or not be possible." Our mission is to provide access to information on AT devices and services as well as other community resources for people with disabilities and the general public. This site is created and maintained through the collaboration of our Sponsors: Georgia Tech Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access (CATEA), National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), and Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA).

Farming is not only a way of living, but it is many peoples' passion. When individuals who have had an amputation wish to return to work on the farm, there are a variety of adaptations that can be made to assist in their return to work. It is important to return famers to their desired functional level so they can reach their goals of independence. It is also imperative to consider their safety and to protect them from getting injured. Use of electronics and technology, such as centralized controls, hydraulics, monitoring systems, and computerization, on modern farms is making it easier to apply assistive technology to help those that have been faced with an amputation.[1]

Heather Locke is a senior at Polson High School in Polson, Montana. Heather is a kid with "special needs". The Polson High School senior class took it upon themselves to make Heather the 2009 Homecoming Queen. The fact that it was Heather's classmates, the kids themselves that came up with this idea and chose to make it a reality is remarkable by any measure and restores one's faith in humanity. These kids have done a really good thing, to say the least. This is about as warm and fuzzy as it gets, folks. Warning! Have a box of Kleenex at hand!

Another view: MMR vaccination vindication By The Associated Press - 02/10/2010 It has been obvious for years that a British study positing a possible link between a common vaccine combination and autism failed the physician's injunction to "do no harm." Still, it's significant that the influential medical journal that published Dr. Andrew Wakefield's discredited study in 1998 finally has retracted it.The decision by the Lancet won't change the minds of some parents. It will not entirely dispel the conspiracy theories about how the medical establishment covered up a connection between autism and the MMR vaccine, which protects infants against measles, mumps and rubella. Still, the conclusive repudiation of what has been a sacred text for the anti-vaccination movement should reassure at least some of the families that have refused to accept an overwhelming medical consensus that MMR was safe as well as effective.

If autism means ‘thinking in pictures,’ then so be it

the agency is adding 38 more conditions to its list of Compassionate Allowances.  This is the first expansion since the original list of 50 conditions - 25 rare diseases and 25 cancers - was announced in October 2008.  The new conditions range from adult brain disorders to rare diseases that primarily affect children.