A powerful reddit thread reveals what it’s like to have a disability
Last week, one user on reddit posted a thread asking for comments from people with disabilities. Nearly 10,000 people responded to the thread, “Disabled people of reddit, what is something we do that we think helps, but it really doesn’t?” The Washington Post has compiled a round-up of the 14 most common suggestions. Read more on Wonkblog.
The National Center on Disability and Journalism news feed is a blog that showcases examples of superlative disability journalism, including investigative reports, in-depth storytelling and breaking news across various media formats.
Have you read an excellent report or seen a recent broadcast featuring people with disabilities? We want to hear about it! Email your story suggestions to the NCDJ at ncdj.asu@gmail.com. Please include a link to the story; you may also include a short synopsis if you wish.
Report: Nursing home workers paid ‘poverty wages’ by profitable industry
According to a recent report from the Keystone Research Center, Pennsylvania’s nursing homes are misusing public funds. Although nursing homes are quite profitable, the report shows that the industry readily accepts government subsidies for healthcare provided to residents but pays low wages to employees. Advocates are now calling to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Read more.
Level 14: A Home for California’s Most Troubled Children Comes Undone
In this investigative series into one of California’s largest group homes for children with mental disabilities and emotional disorders, ProPublica journalists expose failures at nearly every level to protect its troubled residents. The insitution at the center of the story, FamiliesFirst in Davis, was raided by police in June 2013 after a year of responding to hundreds of calls about drug use, rape, violence and negligence. According to reporter Joaquin Sapien’s explanation of how the story was covered, the investigators obtained data through public records requests and drew from interviews with more than three dozen subjects, including social workers and children who worked and lived in the home.
Read more, and watch the accompanying documentary “Sule’s Story,” at ProPublica.
The Silencing of the Deaf: How high-tech implants are being blamed for killing an entire subculture.
Deaf culture is unique in that it is not usually inherited– it is shared and passed down. Though implants have been lauded for their technological achievements, by helping deaf children hear, parents are essentially cutting them off from experiencing this vibrant culture. Read more on Medium.
This story from the Center for Investigative Reporting follows up on a 2012 investigation into the failures on the part of police to protect the developmentally disabled at California care institutions. The original series, Broken Shield, won the inaugural Katherine Schneider Journalism Award for Excellence in Reporting on Disability, the annual award of the National Center on Disability and Journalism.
13 deaths blamed on abuse and neglect at California state-run homes
Newly released records from the California Department of Public Health show 13 people have directly died from abuse, neglect and lack of supervision since 2002 at state-run institutions for the developmentally disabled. The Center for Investigative Reporting sued the public health department in 2012 after officials there refused to release the records over patient privacy concerns. This February, the state Supreme Court ruled in favor of CIR and compelled the department to release the documents.
These documents paint the most vivid picture yet of the poor treatment sometimes experienced inside California’s five taxpayer-funded development centers, which house more than 1,100 patients. In total, the centers have been fined for their actions in the deaths of 22 people since 2002.
Read more at Reveal, CIR’s new digital platform for its investigations.
How can Siri help people with Autism?
One thing Apple likely didn’t expect when it released its iPhone technology is how it positively impacts people with autism. Plusnet, a British internet service provider, describes how Siri, the ultimate virtual personal assistant, presents information from queries in such a digestible way that can help people with autism process that material more easily. Read more.
The American Association of People with Disabilities is now accepting applications for the 2015 NBC Universal Tony Coelho Media Scholarship. Four scholarships are available to undergraduate and graduate students with disabilities who are pursuing degrees in communications or media-relations. Each recipient will receive $5,625 for tuition and fees at their college or university.
The scholarship is named in honor of Tony Coelho, a former United States Representative from California and the primary author and sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Coelho also served as a judge for the second annual Katherine Schneider Journalism Award for Excellence in Reporting on Disability, administered through the NCDJ.
For more information about applying, visit the AAPD website and read below.
Three high school seniors from Phoenix, Arizona, took home first place in their division for C-SPAN’s Student Cam 2015 documentary competition. “An IDEA for Tomorrow,” produced by Severiano Romo, Alexis Rainery and Molly Kerwick of the Metropolitan Arts Institute, showcases the single piece of federal legislation governing the education of children with disabilities– IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
Tim McGuire, former Minneapolis Star Tribune editor who holds the Frank Russell Chair for the Business of Journalism at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, is featured in a webinar hosted by the National Center on Disability and Journalism.
McGuire discusses his experiences writing and publishing his first book, “Some People Even Take Them Home: A Disabled Dad, a Down Syndrome Son, and Our Journey to Acceptance.” McGuire, a board member of the NCDJ, tells the story of his family, his own disability and that of his son Jason.
McGuire also answers questions about tips and best practices when reporting on people with disabilities, advising against taking an “oh-those-poor-people” approach that he says he has observed in a lot of disability reporting.
Instead, he suggests that reporters “exalt and respect” people with disabilities while also normalizing their triumphs and failures as they would anyone else.
Watch a recording and access the live captions here: https://connect.asu.edu/p4rkas0o96b/
