NTAC e.News — February 1, 2007

Asian/Pacific Islander Words of Wisdom

“Ala I Sia Ala ‘I Kolonga”—Skillful at Sia, Skillful at Kolonga
An Indigenous Tongan Proverb—This expression embodies the distinction and esteem that early Tongans associated with individuals who could master and function in multiple contexts, or those who have the abilities to work in either the “sia” or the “kolonga.”
Source: http://www.tongatapu.net.to/tonga/lang/article_alaisia.html

Announcements: Local

NEW! State Employment Specialist

The U.S. Department of Education’s most recent newsletter listed State Employment Specialists in Vocational Education in Hawai’i. Included on that list is Joy Patterson, a Program Specialist with Hawai’i Vocational Rehabilitation and Services for the Blind Division. Joy can be reached by phone at (808) 692-7724 or by e-mail at jpatterson@dhs.hawaii.gov. For more information on Vocational Rehabilitation in Hawai’i, see the Web site at http://www.state.hi.us/dhs. To see the original DOE report, go to http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/vrpractices/busdev.html.

NEW! The White House Internship Program

NTAC-AAPI’s colleague, friend, and partner in the White House, Olegario D. Cantos VII, Esq., Associate Director for Domestic Policy, informs us of an excellent opportunity to explore public service in the White House Internship Program. The White House is seeking exceptional candidates to apply for this highly competitive program. In addition to typical office duties, interns attend weekly lectures and tours and complete an intern service-project. To read about the internship program, go to http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/wh-intern.html. For an application, go to http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/intern_application.doc. Direct any other questions to Karen Race at (202) 456-5979 [Voice/Relay].

NEW! Online Course Proceeding

The fifth “Introduction to Disability/Rehabilitation with Asian/Pacific Islander Americans” online course, facilitated by the National Technical Assistance Center for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders with Disabilities (NTAC-AAPI), is under way. This course, taught by Paul Leung, Professor and Director of the Department of Rehabilitation, Social Work, and Addictions at the University of North Texas, and Nan Zhang Hampton, Associate Professor of the Department of Administration, Rehabilitation, and Postsecondary Education at San Diego State University, is no longer accepting registrations. However, to be on the mailing list for future offerings, please send an email to James D. Brightman, NTAC-AAPI’s Vocational Rehabilitation Coordinator/Teaching Assistant at jamesdb@hawaii.edu. The course earns ten Continuing Education Units (CEUs), which may be applied to your CRC, and is a wonderful opportunity to further your cultural competence and enhance your counseling abilities. For more information or to preview the required readings before the sixth offering, please go to the following Web site: http://www.ntac.hawaii.edu/AAPIcourse/. Thank you, and see you online.

Announcements: National and International

Free Monthly Self-Employment Presentations for Rehab Professionals and Entrepreneurs with Disabilities

San Diego, California—“Business @ 9 am” is a once-per-month, free presentation (i.e., “business meeting”) on successful self-employment practices and procedures presented by Urban Miyares, president, Disabled Businesspersons Association, and sponsored by Interwork Institute, San Diego State University. Each month focuses on a specific topic, such as “The 5 Minute Business Feasibility,” “Money For Your Business,” “The Quick Way to Read and Write a Business Plan,” “Developmental Disabilities In Business,” and more. For a copy of the 2007 “Business @ 9 am” Schedule, exclusively in San Diego, email Urban@DisabledBusiness.com.

Employment for All—Show Me the Future—It’s Bigger Than You Think!

APSE 2007 Kansas City—Conference Call for Presentations. Submission Deadline Extended: February 15, 2007. Submit your proposal online.

Positions Available

The White House Internship Program

The White House Internship Program offers an excellent opportunity to serve our President and explore public service. We are seeking exceptional candidates to apply for this highly competitive program. In addition to typical office duties, interns attend weekly lectures, tours, and complete an intern service project.

Interns may serve a term in the Fall, Spring or Summer. Every candidate must be a United States citizen, enrolled in a college or university, and at least 18 years of age.

An application and additional information about the program can be found at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/wh-intern.html.

Applications should be submitted to Karen Race, Deputy Director and Intern Coordinator, White House Personnel, at intern_application@whitehouse.gov on or before the following deadlines:

• March 6, 2007 for Summer 2007—(May 22 to August 24, 2007)
• June 26, 2007 for Fall 2007—(September 4 to December 14, 2007)

If you have questions you may contact Karen Race at (202) 456-5979 [Voice/Relay] or at intern_application@whitehouse.gov.

Recent Products

For a complete list of NTAC products, please visit the Products section of our Web site.

Resources

Teaching and Assessing Students With Disabilities: Parents’ Materials.

The Parent Tool Kit compiles materials identified to augment the previously released CD, Tool Kit on Teaching and Assessing Students with Disabilities, and offers a collection of resources on the same substantive areas addressed, including assessment, instructional practices, behavior and accommodations. These new documents were written specifically for parents and include information they need as they work with schools to ensure that their children are receiving a quality education. Materials included in the new Parent Tool Kit provide information that will help them become active and informed participants in IEP discussions and other decision-making meetings that support students with disabilities and their families.

To encourage broad dissemination of these materials, OSERS has launched a new Web site, http://www.osepideasthatwork.org/index.asp, which includes the materials in the Parent Tool Kit. The Web site will continue to be updated with additional materials as they become available.

Connecting with Employers: Vocational Rehabilitation Featured Practices

Each state has devised practices that are useful for their regional industries, geographic profile and demographics. This resource highlights effective practices, models and tools so that agencies can learn from one another what works. http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/vrpractices/featured.html

Institutes / Conferences

For a complete list of conferences, please visit the Conferences section of our Web site.

NCTI at TRLD 2007 Conference

Meet us in San Francisco! Join us at the Technology, Reading, and Learning Diversity (TRLD) annual conference in San Francisco. Catch our presentation The Early Reading and Writing Matrices with George Peterson-Karlan. Email us to request a consultation in San Francisco: ncti@air.org. http://www.trld.com/

An Intergenerational Forum

Kapiolani Community College is joining forces with AARP, the University of Hawaii at Manoa and Hawaii Pacific Islands Campus Compact to convene an intergenerational forum, “Across the Ages: Generations Shaping Hawaii”. Today, the Silent or Greatest Generation, the Baby Boomers, Gen X and the Gen Y’s are all living their separate lives based off different sets of values, lifestyles and with little mutual understanding.

To address the perspectives and common grounds, we are sponsoring: An Inter-Generational Forum for Older Adults and Students on Tuesday, February 6, from 2:30-5:30 pm, at the Diamond Head Theatre. The event will begin with a national and local perspective of our intergenerational challenges. It will also involve exercises in visioning and intergenerational exchanges. It will also provide a service learning opportunities for everyone and a chance to network.

This event is co-sponsored by Kapiolani Community College, AARP, The University of Hawaii at Manoa and the Hawaii Pacific Islands Campus Compact. Call 808-843-1966 or email jboland@aarp.org to register for this free event.

Ticket to Work Advisory Panel Beneficiary Summit Announcement

The Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Advisory Panel (the Panel) will be having a Beneficiary Summit in Atlanta, Georgia on February 6-7, 2007, for individuals who receive (or recently received) a Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and/or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefit and/or their health insurance from Medicare or Medicaid (beneficiaries). Beneficiaries will be invited to the Summit to give us their thoughts and ideas on the way that Social Security disability and other programs operate now and how they can be made better for people who want to go to work. Also, beneficiaries attending the Summit will propose an ongoing process for beneficiary involvement in the work of the Social Security Administration (SSA).

The Summit will be a meeting of about 50 beneficiaries to discuss the disability programs as they are now and what could be changed to make them work better for people with disabilities. Recommendations will focus on work and what SSA and its partners can do to encourage work for more beneficiaries. It costs nothing to attend the Summit. The beneficiaries who are selected to attend will have their travel, meal, lodging, transportation, and incidental costs paid by the Panel. In addition, if a beneficiary requires a personal assistant or support person in order to participate, those costs will be paid by the Panel as well.

Applications can be sent via e-mail to Jenn Rigger with the Panel to TWWIIAPanel@ssa.gov or faxed to: 202-358-6440. They can also be mailed to the: Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Advisory Panel, 400 Virginia Avenue, SW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20024, Attn: BENEFICIARY SUMMIT.

If there are questions about the application, call Jenn Rigger at 202-358-6425. REMINDER: The deadline for applications is October 6, 2006.

JAN’s 2007 Accommodation and Compliance Web Training Series

Schedule of events for the Job Accommodation Network’s (JAN) 2007 Accommodation and Compliance Web Training Series. This series of webcasts will address several subjects including the ADA, hiring veterans with disabilities and assistive technologies. Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are available for these training events. http://www.jan.wvu.edu/Teleconf/

Consortia of Administrators for Native American Rehabilitation, Inc. (CANAR, Inc.): “Making Life Better, One Individual at a Time”

February 18 - 21, 2007: Washington, DC
Annual CANAR Conference, Hyatt-Regency on Capital Hill, 400 New Jersey Avenue, 202-737-1234 or 800-233-1234
The Annual 2007 National Conference on Native American Rehabilitation is scheduled for February 18 - 21, 2007 in Washington, D. C. and will be co-sponsored by the Consortia of Administrators for Native American Rehabilitation, Inc. (CANAR, Inc.), Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA), and other rehabilitation agencies. Download the registration form in Microsoft Word format.

Consumer Electronics Show Web Event: What’s Happening with Accessibility?

Do you wish you had attended the International CES Conference in Las Vegas last week with all those gadgets and gizmos? NCTI Collaborators Steve Jacobs and Eric Morrison were there, investigating the designs and possibilities for educational uses and diverse users. Find out how you can join a Web Event with NCTI to explore the emerging trends.

23rd Annual Pacific Rim Conference on Disabilities

Registration is open for the 2007 Pac Rim Conference. Be sure to take advantage of the special Early Registration Rate. Mark Your Calendar! March 12-14, 2007, Sheraton Waikiki Hotel & Resort Honolulu, Hawaii. Visit http://www.pacrim.hawaii.edu/ for more details.

CSUN Conference

Annual International Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference will be held this March 19-24, 2007. The conference, now in its 22nd year, is the largest conference focusing on assistive technology in the world, and is hosted by the Center on Disabilities at California State Univ., Northridge. With 12 in-depth Pre-Conference Workshops, over 350 General Sessions and more than 175 exhibitors, the conference serves as a major training venue for professionals around the world dealing with technology and disabilities. This year we are pleased to announce that John D. Kemp will be the Keynote Speaker and a new track featuring Aging-Acquired and Aging-Related Disabilities has been added, along with sessions devoted to Young Researchers. For more information on the conference, please visit: http://www.csun.edu/cod/conf.

Multiple Perspectives on Access, Inclusion, and Disability: Rights, Responsibilities, and Social Change

April 3 & 4, 2007: The Ohio State University, Columbus Campus
Continuing the tradition of the past six years, the Seventh Annual Multiple Perspectives conference will bring together a diverse audience to explore disability as both an individual experience and social reality that cuts across typical divisions of education and employment, scholarship and service, business and government, and race, gender, and ethnicity.

Pre-Conference Institute: E-Text: Production, Distribution & Management for Accessibility, Monday, April 2, 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM & Tuesday, April 3, 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM.

Registration is now available at: http://mpconference.osu.edu/sessions

National Association for Asian and Pacific American Education (NAAPAE)

The National Association for Asian and Pacific American Education (NAAPAE) is holding its 29th Annual Conference in Hawaii on April 20-21, 2007. With a conference theme entitled, “Pacific Pathways: Engage, Educate, Enlighten”, presenters may focus on social, cultural, and educational issues; leadership development; and outreach.

Please consider submitting a proposal to this noteworthy conference. Proposals submitted electronically or via CD by January 10, 2007 will receive priority for selection. Submit proposals to nakaoka@hawaii.edu.

Charting the Future In Developmental and Learning Disabilities

YAI/National Institute for People with Disabilities Network will hold its 28th Annual International Conference: “Charting the Future In Developmental and Learning Disabilities” on April 30 - May 4, 2007 at the Crowne Plaza Manhattan Hotel, 1605 Broadway, in New York City. For more information, contact Tina Sobel, Senior Manager of YAI/NIPD’s Professional Information Department, at tsobel@yai.org, 212-273-6457 or visit http://www.yai.org/.

Imagine...Everybody Works!

The Autism Society of America and APSE: The Network on Employment Conference & Training Event, May 10 and 11, 2007, Columbus, OH, Hyatt on Capital Square. APSE and the Autism Society of America invite sponsors and exhibitors to participate. For more information, contact: Teresa Grossi (tgrossi@indiana.edu) or Cathy Pratt (prattc@indiana.edu) or call 812.855.6508.

RESNA 2007

Instructional Courses: June 15-16, 2007; Conference Workshop: June 17-19, 2007
RESNA’s Annual Conference will be held in Phoenix, June 15-19, 2007. RESNA 2007 will feature assistive technology’s leading researchers, renowned clinicians and policy experts creating a conference program with unmatched levels of knowledge and expertise. RESNA presenters and attendees will experience a surprisingly intimate conference environment. RESNA 2007 will offer an exciting Exhibit Hall featuring product demonstrations and training sessions, two days of Pre-Conference Instructional Courses, and 3 full-days of Workshops, Interactive Poster Sessions, Themed Paper Sessions and distinguished speakers.
For the latest information and details visit their Web site: http://www.resna.org/.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development/National Institutes of Health: Summer Institute in Applied Research in Child and Adolescent Development

June 24-29, 2007: Bolger Center, Potomac, Maryland
A goal of the Institute is to support investigators who are beginning careers as applied researchers by providing training that will build upon their existing content knowledge and research skills. To be eligible for this Institute, individuals must have completed a Ph.D., M.D. or equivalent terminal degree within their field. Individuals must also:

• Have at least 1 year of post-doctoral experience in academe, private industry, non-profit, or government
• Have not more than 5 years of subsequent research experience at the time of the Institute

Application packet and Institute information are available at: http://www.nichd.nih.gov/about/org/crmc/cdb/summerinst/index.cfm. Direct all inquiries to: summerinst@mail.nih.gov. Application Due Date: February 15, 2007. Notification of Acceptance: April 1, 2007

18th Annual National APSE Conference

The 18th Annual National APSE Conference will take place from July 16-18, 2007 in Kansas City, Missouri. This year’s conference challenges you to join in shaping the future of supported employment! Register Online for the APSE Conference

National Federation of the Blind Youth Slam 2007 A STEM Leadership Academy

July 30 - August 4, 2007: Baltimore, MD
Who:Two hundred blind high school students will be selected to participate in this program. Students who would like to be considered must complete the attached application and return it to the Jernigan Institute by April 1, 2007. Students will be selected based on their ability to participate actively in the activities.

What: This four-day academy will engage and inspire the next generation of blind youth to consider careers falsely believed to be impossible for the blind. While staying at Johns Hopkins University, students will be mentored by blind role models during fun and challenging activities meant to build confidence and increase science literacy.

Cost: There is no cost to apply for the program. Students who apply and are accepted to the Youth Slam will be expected to pay a $200 registration fee by May 31, 2007.

To send questions or comments via email, please write to youthslam@nfb.org, or visit http://www.blindscience.org/ncbys/Youth_Slam.asp

Research / Publications

Medicaid Spending and Enrollment Trends

A new fact sheet and report analysis Medicaid spending and enrollment trends for 2000-2004. Medicaid trends are related to the state of the nation's economy; as the economy has strengthened, increases in enrollment and spending have slowed. Rising enrollment and health care inflation produced most of Medicaid’s spending increases. Even with a stronger economy, however, Medicaid’s enrollment pressures remain due to demographic trends and continued declines in employer-sponsored insurance. http://www.hcbs.org/moreInfo.php/nb/doc/1613