Michigan delays implementing health care program for Medicare-Medicaid enrollees (The Times Herald, Nov. 25)
The Michigan Department of Community Health announced the start date for MI Health Link – the State’s program for people eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid – will move from Jan. 1, 2015 to March 1, 2015 to make sure it’s prepared to deliver services. Enrollment will start in February and the program will operate through December 2018 instead of December 2017.
Mental illness a monumental prison problem (Philadelphia Daily News, Nov. 24)
In Philadelphia, 12 percent of the 8,500 inmates in the city’s six jails are considered “seriously mentally ill,” while another 4 percent are on the system’s behavioral-health caseload with less-serious mental-health needs.
Senate unlikely to reconsider UN disability treaty (Disability Scoop, Nov. 24)
U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin is dismayed that his effort to extend the protections of the Americans with Disabilities Act to the international community appears unlikely to gain the Republican support it needs to be ratified by the Senate.
Audit: Louisiana elderly office needs leadership (Associated Press, Nov. 24)
Gov. Bobby Jindal’s decision not to replace the fired head of his Office of Elderly Affairs for nearly three years has lessened the effectiveness of the agency’s mission to help the elderly, according to a recent audit.
#YesAllWomen, but not really: How feminism leaves the disabled behind (The Daily Beast, Nov. 24)
There are currently more than 27 million women with disabilities in the U.S. alone, and the numbers are rising. Anyone can acquire a disability at any time, and the wrongs that women with disabilities feel are wrongs that you could one day feel as well.
Here’s why ADHD may have been an evolutionary advantage (Business Insider, Nov. 24)
It turns out that many of those traits are surprisingly similar to the ones we now associate with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, better-known as ADHD. Being impulsive, impatient, or easily distracted might make learning in a formal classroom more difficult. But those traits may have helped all of us, as a species, get to where we are today.
Deciding whether to disclose mental disorders to the boss (The New York Times, Nov. 14)
The trouble is supervisors often are not trained in how to respond to such information. They frequently are not aware of the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act or even of their company’s policies regarding issues such as flexible work hours.
All technology is assistive: Why product designers need to embrace accessibility (Big Think, Nov. 3)
Her experience evoked something she’d been fighting against for years in the tech world: the tendency for designers and developers to assume that the “normal” customer is a person with no accessibility issues.
Behold blog: The secret dual lives of people living with mental illness (Slate, Oct. 28)
Starting with herself, Obert took two photos: one that showed the person she chooses to present to the world, and a second portrait that presented an image of how she existed behind closed doors when feeling depressed.