Easter Seals welcomes the 112th Congress

by Katy Beh Neas

The incoming 112th Congress brings many new faces to Washington, D.C. Easter Seals pledges to work with returning and new members on legislation benefiting people with autism and other disabilities.

The bulk of Easter Seals work is done at the committee level, where the committee chair sets the agenda. Many House committees (such as Education and Labor, Ways and Means, and Transportation, along with the Appropriations’ Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee) will have new leadership come 2011.

Our office of Public Affairs staff has a strong history of working for bipartisan support with Senate leaders on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), Finance and Transportation committees and the Appropriations’ Subcommittee on Labor, Health, and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies. Leadership of these Senate committees and subcommittee is not anticipated to change with the 112th Congress.

And so, like always, in 2011 Easter Seals will work to schedule meetings with returning and new members to share our mission and legislative goals.

Special toys for special kids

by Beth Finke

It’s not even December yet, and the holiday commercials are already in full force. I remember watching all those ads while my son Gus was growing up, wondering if any of the toys advertised on TV would appeal to him. We spent hours and hours searching catalogs, visiting toy stores, playing at music shops, filing through hardware stores, perusing gift shops, looking anywhere and everywhere to find a toy Gus might like, something he might want to explore.

Therapists told us it was good for Gus to be stimulated by different things. We gave him mobiles, wind chimes, tambourines — anything we could find that was colorful and made noise. By the time he turned 9 or 10, though, we just plain ran out of ideas. And as Gus grew, it was more difficult to muscle him in and out of stores on holiday shopping sprees. I still remember wishing for one place I could go for a list of toys especially good for kids with special needs. With a list like that, who knew? Maybe Mike and I might find something out of the ordinary for Gus, something we would have never thought of on our own.

Toys “R” Us to the rescue! The Toy Guide for Differently-Abled Kids is a free toy-selection guide for parents and friends of children with disabilities. Items featured in the Guide promote the development of specific skills, such as auditory, language, visual, fine motor, thinking and social skills.

Our son Gus is 24 years old now, living happily with three other guys in a group home in Wisconsin. I’m kind of out of the toy-buying loop now, so if any of you readers have other go-to places to find special toys for special kids, please leave a comment. I’m all ears. In the meantime … happy shopping!

Download the findings from our Living with Disabilities Study today

by Patricia Wright

Hello from the Easter Seals Annual Convention in Chicago!

We released findings from our Living with Disabilities Study today. We also aired an online press conference and webcast that features actor, advocate and star of the CBS television show Criminal Minds Joe Mantegna, the parent of an adult daughter with autism. In the video, Joe weighs in on study findings, which reflect the challenges facing adults with developmental disabilities and their parents. Jennifer Bleidistel, Easter Seals 2011 national adult representative, shared her perspective — particularly about employment issues.

Findings from the Easter Seals Living with Disabilities Study provide data which quantifies anecdotal information about the disparity of supports to allow adults with disabilities to fully participate in their communities. The findings heighten awareness of the issues faced by adults living with disabilities and the services and solutions afforded adults with disabilities by Easter Seals in communities nationwide.

If you missed the webcast this morning, you can see the video online here.

Interviewing for a job without feeling weird

by Bob Glowacki

One of the many things I like about working at Easter Seals Southeast Wisconsin is the diverse array of services we provide to people of all ages. It’s rewarding to see the changes, transitions and challenges individuals with autism confront at different times of their lives.

Sue Russell, our VP of Community Engagement, recently talked with the mother of a young man who had received early intervention services from Easter Seals. Elijah is grown up now … he went to college, and earned a Master’s Degree. He has a tremendous resume and is always selected for interviews. But he never gets the job.

Is it the economy? Lack of Experience? No. It’s his autism. Elijah struggles with the social aspects of the interview, keeping his responses clear, focused and professional. He gets lost in details. The Wisconsin Division of Vocational Rehabilitation couldn’t help teach Elijah interviewing skills, since he already has an advanced degree. Sue Russell to the rescue!

After asking Elijah’s mom if he would like some help, Sue had him do a practice interview for her. She noted his “over-responsiveness” and started to give him clues and ideas on how to give the best answer, an answer that would focus on his strengths.

Elijah had an interview this past week and said that for the first time, he really felt like he had a “good interview.” All because someone took the time to help him focus. He even felt comfortable telling the interview team up-front that he didn’t always interview well, asking them to please let him know if he was giving them more information than they needed. So he had them understanding and helping him, instead of, as Elijah puts it, “thinking I was weird.”

Elijah should hear this week whether or not he got the job. We’re keeping our fingers crossed! Elijah’s story is just one of many about the individual approach we are building here. Stay tuned to the Easter Seals and autism blog until next week, when I’ll publish another post about an adult job-seeker with autism we are helping here at Easter Seals Southeast Wisconsin.

Speaking up about Communication Shutdown

by Beth Finke

If you read Patricia Wright’s blog post last Friday, you know that today, November 1, is Communications Shutdown day:

Communication Shutdown is asking us all to get by without Facebook or Twitter for just that one day. To be part of the shutdown, you make a $5 donation to receive a Charity App (CHAPP), and the CHAPP tells your Facebook friends and Twitter followers that you are volunteering to shutdown.

Facebook and Twitter really are the 21st century communication tools of choice for many, and this one-day shutdown could give those of us who are not on the autism spectrum a glimpse into the world of autism and how challenging it can be to have limited communication skills.

Turns out that some people with autism aren’t crazy about today’s Communication Shutdown. In a blog post on No Stereotypes Here, blogger Corina Becker says:

While the attempt to understand our difficulties is admirable, I don’t think that a non-autistic person can fully understand an autistic reality, even with some intense simulations.

She goes on to suggest that people with autism use today’s shutdown as an opportunity to speak up:

I would like the day to acknowledge our difficulties, yes, but also share our strengths, our passions, our interests, our “obsessions” … And so, for the intent of raising Autism awareness and battling negative stereotypes about Autism, I call that November 1st be Autistics Speaking Day.

As for me, I think I’ll participate in both. I’m going to avoid Facebook and Twitter today, and then spend that time I usually devote to social media listening to — and learning from — the people in my life who have autism.

A day without Facebook and Twitter?

by Patricia Wright

Communication skills are so important for success in our society. Communication is required for work, in personal relationships and out-and-about in daily life. Recently effective communication has also included the ability to convey yourself online. And communication is one of the core challenges for individuals with autism.

Communication Shutdown is a campaign to bring the communication message home this Monday, November 1. Communication Shutdown is asking us all to get by without Facebook or Twitter for just that one day. To be part of the shutdown, you make a $5 donation to receive a Charity App (CHAPP), and the CHAPP tells your Facebook friends and Twitter followers that you are volunteering to shutdown.

Facebook and Twitter really are the 21st century communication tools of choice for many, and this one-day shutdown could give those of us who are not on the autism spectrum a glimpse into the world of autism and how challenging it can be to have limited communication skills. Communication Shutdown hopes to raise awareness of the challenges experienced by those with autism. And who knows? Maybe those addicted to Facebook might pick up the phone and call someone on November 1st. So OLD SCHOOL!

Stopping the bullies

by Katy Beh Neas

This past Tuesday, U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced new guidance to our nation’s schools to combat bullying. This guidance highlights the protections for students in federal civil rights laws, including those that protect children with autism and other disabilities.

Earlier this year, the Obama administration hosted the first ever National Bullying Summit and launched both the Stop Bullying Now campaign and a national database of effective anti-bullying programs. If your child is being bullied, take this information to his or her school and ask them to implement an anti-bullying program.

Feeling hip and cool with autism

by Beth Finke

Last year I wrote about an iPhone application people with autism and other disabilities were using to communicate. Proloquo2Go was an application you could download from Apple’s iTunes onto an iPhone or iPod Touch. The total cost for that app was $149.99.

How much things can change in a year! A recent TV news story touted how easily the iPhone can be used as a communication device for people with autism and other disabilities. While the story didn’t release names of any specific apps, it did mention that the most basic version of this sort of software costs only $8.

The app is designed to let them tell others what they’re thinking … they touch the picture of what they want on the screen and the app says it out loud … things like “I want to watch TV,” “Hello. My name is Kristen,” or “I’m hungry.”

The jury is still out on how well developers will support these apps in the future. For now, though, I have to think that a kid with autism who finds it difficult to fit in with peers might appreciate how hip and cool it looks to use an iPhone to talk to friends!

An “adults with autism” success story on Chicago’s ABC 7 News

by Beth Finke

Once a semester, a Disability Culture class from DePaul University takes a field trip to my apartment. The idea is for students to get a glimpse, so to speak, of what it’s like to be blind and live in a big city.

The class is taught by Karen Meyer. In addition to teaching at DePaul, Karen is a reporter for Chicago’s ABC 7 (WLS-TV) News. Oh, and did I mention? She happens to be deaf.

Karen can read lips, and I’ve learned to use a lot of gestures and always face her when we talk. Her class came over just this past Tuesday, and this time when I talked with the students I didn’t just talk about blindness. I talked about autism too.

Turns out that in her job as a reporter, Karen Meyer had mentioned Easter Seals Metropolitan Chicago in a story she did on ABC 7 News. Remember the post we published here about Harry’s Buttons? Well, Karen’s TV feature was about the company too. Button Company Employs Adults with Autism covered Easter Seals’ partnership with Harry’s Buttons, where clients produce and sell custom-made buttons, magnets and key chains. Employees with autism are involved in all levels of the business, and meaningful, individualized positions are created to use the talents and skills of these individuals. Learn more by visiting HarrysButtons.com.

Thanks, CVS!

by Scott Fogo

The CVS Caremark Charitable Trust recently announced a $330,000 grant to Easter Seals to advance evidence-based autism services for young children nationwide.

We at Easter Seals Crossroads are one of the 15 Easter Seals affiliates that will benefit from the grant, made possible through the CVS Caremark All Kids Can™ Program. The grant will be used to advance professional training of our Easter Seals’ therapists and assure heightened availability of evidence-based interventions for the young children we serve here at Crossroads who have autism.

To date, CVS Caremark’s commitment to Easter Seals exceeds $8 million through their CVS All Kids Can™ Program. Thank you, CVS!