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 a thttp://humanservices.hawaii.gov/. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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