On disability studies

In the spring of 2013, there were approximately 17 million people attending college in the United States. Some go in knowing what it is they want to study, while others take longer to discover their calling. In recent years, though, a new field has made itself known: the field of disability studies.

Although it has been steadily gaining in popularity, the idea of disability studies has been around for a relatively short time. One of the major forces was the Society for Disability Studies (SDS), which was started in 1982 to promote the understanding of disabilities.

About 35 American colleges offer disability studies as a major or minor, including the City University of New York (CUNY). They talk about many different aspects of disabilities, both mental and physical. These include appropriate language, the many types of disabilities, and how society can accommodate them. Naturally, this major is common with people with disabilities and those with disabled friends or relatives. This major can also help with certain jobs, such as those in education or human services.

Chest Pains Not Enough to Diagnose Women with a Heart Attack

Chest pain alone is no longer being used to diagnose women of having a heart attack.

According to a recent report in the JAMA Internal Medicine journal, doctors in the emergency room are now being urged to use test such as electrocardiograms (EKG),  to accurately diagnose a heart attack. 

While as many as nine out of ten patins diagnosed with a heart attack complain of chest pains and/or discomfort, there are many other conditions that can cause these pains. In addition to chest pains, women tend to experience pain in the back and jaw, nausea, and shortness of breath when experiencing a heart attack. 

Check out http://www.doctorslounge.com/index.php/news/hd/42675 for more information and further reporting.

 

 

Relieving the Homeless Off The Streets, One At A Time

An act of kindness brought a homeless man home to the Czech Republic after 10 years of living as a homeless man. As reported by the Huffington Post, the Whatever Youtube Channel was helping out with the Thread Society to hand out clothing to the needy. They befriended the homeless man, Jaroslav. He has been homeless for 10 years after being robbed while sitting at a bus station.

The Whatever team put out much effort to help Jaroslav to return to his home country. They took great care of him by providing clothing, a hotel room and took him to a barber shop for a shave. The final touch was an airplane ticket back to his country to see his son and daughter.

This article showed the change that people can provide for others. This story is remarkable and shows the help that others may need to bring them back on their feet.

Homeless Population Up 13% Since Last Year

Published in the NY Times, there has been a study of an increasing amount of homeless people in New York City since January. This poses an overwhelming threat to the city as well as the shelter system. More Americans will be left out in the cold this year as the difference between affordable housing and income increases.

The newly elected mayor, Bill de Blasio has a huge weight dropped on him since Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s reign. During the Bloomberg administration, more promises were made than actions taken to help the homeless. Rent assistance programs were cut and even food donations were banned by Bloomberg. The hope to bring new changes lies with de Blasio to battle the increasing number of homeless people.

Broken Kitchen cabinets, walls in need of paint, rundown elevators, gas outages, dead electrical wires, infestation of mice and cockroaches, falling plaster, and persistent mold are only but a tidbit in the ongoing epidemic of negligence provided by NYCHA throughout the five boroughs.

On Monday night Nov. 18th, hundreds of Brooklyn NYCHA residents gathered at Our Lady if Mercy Church to present a long list of repair complaints to housing authority officials.

In “Brooklyn Tenants Get Vow of NYCHA  Fixes,” Residents of about 24 housing developments in Brooklyn were promised that repairs will be made by Christmas.

A big promise to uphold when other residents throughout the city are still waiting for repairs as well.

Providing a Safety Net for Former Inmates

About two years ago the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development started to press local public housing agencies to loosen their restrictions on admission policies for people released from prison who seek rehabilitation by reuniting them with their families. 

In the New York Times article “Ban on Former Inmates in Public Housing Is Eased,” the New York City Housing Authority will be first public housing agency to implement the pilot program starting next month; placing “150 former inmates in public housing and provide social services to help them find jobs and meet other requirements.”

The new program will not only hope to help with rehabilitation, but also combat homelessness in the city: “Officials with the city’s Department of Homeless Services, which will defray the program’s cost of about $700,000, says its shelters house 484 adults who were released from prison in the last 18 months.”

Public housing agencies will still have to fulfill with some of HUD important regulations:

Restrictions on HUD Housing for Convicted Felons

(Per HUDHRE.info Help Desk)

 

NATIONAL LEVEL RESTRICTIONS

1)    HUD Supportive Housing Program (SHP) OR Shelter Plus Care (SPC) –Not Applicable (No Restrictions): No conviction/felony excludes an individual from receiving HUD SHP or SPC Homeless Funds. Criteria for disallowing program participation are set at the local level.

 

2)    HUD Public Housing or Section 8

A)   Those owing back rent to any Public Housing Agency.

B)   Per a congressional mandate, the following convicted felons are BARRED from accessing HUD Public Housing and HUD Section 8 (Choice Voucher) Programs nationwide:

• Megan’s Law Offenders
• Those convicted of manufacturing methamphetamines on public housing grounds.

All other felonies/criminal convictions are not congressionally mandated and therefore policies can be developed at the local level.

 

STATE/LOCAL LEVEL RESTRICTIONS

Megan’s Law Offenders are subject to restrictions on where they may live in relation to schools, parks, daycares, etc.

Local Public Housing Agencies, Individual Supportive Housing Programs or Shelter Plus Care Programs may have additional restrictions. An example might be limitations on sex or violent offenders that apply to programs serving children. 

Road to reform solitary confinement at Rikers, report shows

The Board of Corrections recently released a report outlining a new proposal to correct the severe overuse of solitary confinement as punishment at Rikers Island.

The Gotham Gazette interviewed Ismael Nazario, 25, a current case manager for at-risk youth at the Center for Community Alternatives in Brooklyn, but formerly, a 16-year-old detainee of Rikers Island.

“You have this deep rooted anger and frustration from being in the box,” Nazario admitted to the Gazette. “I just talked to myself, answering myself, pacing back and forth.”

According to studies done by ‘Solitary Watch,’ the 22 hours or more of no human contact in a confined space, can leave detainees “socially and emotionally unstable.”

This begins to take more than a toll on the subjected, especially when a substantial number of the prison’s population, 40 percent to be exact according to the Department of Correction, is mentally ill.

Chair of the Board of Correction’s committee on punitive segregation, Dr. Robert Cohen, said that the Board is “concerned about everybody in solitary confinement, and particularly those with serious mental illness and adolescents.”

The report proposes the implementation of “a slow-moving rule making process” that will work to replace solitary confinement, a plan that could take up to a year.

Hidden disabilities in the workplace

When people think of disabilities, they tend to think of physical disabilities. Having impaired vision, missing limbs, or the like are immediately recognizable, and it’s known that people need help to live with them.

In recent years, however, “hidden” disabilities have become a hot topic. These are referred to as such because they are usually biological or mental in nature, which usually makes them less obvious. People with conditions like epilepsy, autism, or post-traumatic stress disorder often have “unusual” traits or behaviors that are not apparent at first. In addition, since many of these disabilities were not truly discussed until recently, there are relatively few people who know about them.

For people who know that they have hidden disabilities, there are two options: reveal them and risk getting belittled or stigmatized, or keep them a secret and risk getting judged for their behavior.

Naturally, one area where hidden disabilities can come into play is the workplace. Here, the distinction becomes even more important. Reporting a disability can sometimes be the difference between getting accommodations and being punished (or worse, fired) for actions caused by a disability.

But as already mentioned, there is a great risk of misunderstanding, so it is reasonable that people might want to keep their disabilities to themselves. For example, someone with ADD may be used to being ridiculed for not focusing, and someone with a mood disorder may be used to always looking bored. On top of this, people with hidden disabilities have largely gotten used to not mentioning them on résumés, as this often results in rejection.

In the end, one could argue that “hidden” disabilities aren’t truly invisible, so much as they are difficult to understand. As already mentioned, they didn’t truly enter popular discussion until recently, and many of them have a history of being dismissed as personal failings or issues that render someone completely unfit. The most that can be done at this point is getting the word out about these disabilities.

NYC Continues to Fight the Smoke

Since 2002, adult smoking has gone down 35 percent across the city. Adolescent smoking has also decreased from 11.9 to 8.3 percent between 2004 and 2010. Though the numbers look good, New York still managed to pass a law raising the age to buy cigarettes from 18 to 21 years old. The average life expectancy in New York is about 81 years old. Since smoking remains the number one cause of preventable death and illness nationwide, the city’s step may influence other cities to do the same.

Nutrition Kicks Cigarettes in the Butt

The addiction accompanied with smoking can be hard to quit cold turkey. One thing people neglect to focus on when trying to quit smoking is the benefits of eating healthy foods. Natural remedies can actually help someone who wants to quit smoking. If you stop smoking, you may or may not gain weight. Weight gain is not inevitable. Most people gain five to ten pounds when they quit smoking because food tastes better, they turn to eating instead of smoking, they eat to deal with stress or they need something to do with their hands or mouths.

Pamphlets and programs designed to help people quit smoking emphasize staying away from others who smoke, keeping yourself busy with chores or exercising. They may mention eating fruits and vegetables but it is often neglected.