Want to know how the federal government grants disability benefits? It’ll cost you. | USA Today
The Social Security Administration is best known for running the nation’s largest retirement program. But it’s also responsible for deciding whether millions of Americans qualify for disability benefits. If you want to understand how those decisions are made, it’s going to cost you – $2.3 million. That was the administration’s response to a USA TODAY Network request for public information. Reporters are trying to scrutinize the performance of doctors hired in each state to review federal disability applications, including their workload and how fast they reviewed application files.
National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week | May 5 – 9
In 1949, the National Mental Health Association declared May as Mental Health Month. Although this nationally recognized observance began as Mental Health Week, with an increase in public interest and a broadening scope of issues, it grew into a month-long awareness campaign.
In 1991 A group of parents in Missouri got together and decided that one of the most important projects they could undertake was to raise awareness and reduce the stigma surrounding children’s mental health. They formed a coalition of parents, professionals and other stakeholders and created Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week. Over the next five years three more states, Kansas, Illinois and Ohio began their own celebration of Children’s Mental Health Week. The National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health later joined the coalition and promoted the mission.
Today, the goal of this nationally recognized event is to increase public awareness and educate communities to expand the understanding of children’s mental health needs and their resulting impact on families.
Join us and our friends at the National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health in wearing the green ribbon and supporting positive children’s mental health education and outcomes at https://www.ffcmh.org/event-planning-tools
Daryl “Chill” Mitchell, RJ Mitte Urge for More Disability Representation in Hollywood | The Hollywood Reporter
“When people see me, they say, ‘Man, you’re the only black actor on TV in a wheelchair.’ But I’m not proud of that. That’s unreal, to be the only,” ‘NCIS: New Orleans’ star Daryl “Chill” Mitchell said Wednesday on the Television Academy Foundation and Easterseals Southern California’s panel.
Disability Didn’t End Their Athletic Dreams. It Started Them. | The New York Times
You’re boxing in a wheelchair, and you get into a vulnerable position that you want to get out of. Think about it. The only way to move away from the blows is to lower your hands to the wheels, leaving your head unprotected.
Employees Start To Feel The Squeeze Of High-Deductible Health Plans | NPR
Workers with a steady paycheck already know that wages have been stubbornly slow to rise. Meanwhile, those who get health insurance through a job have seen their deductibles shoot up. In fact, says Noam Levey, a health care reporter for the Los Angeles Times, deductibles have, on average, quadrupled over the last dozen years. As a result, even some people who have health insurance are having trouble affording medical care. We talked with Levey about his latest reporting into how the issue is affecting workers and their families.
John Singleton’s family urges black men to get their blood pressure checked | NBC News
https://www.nbcnews.com/e12d4945-7e7d-4b10-b356-9e5e73a5e2a7
John Singleton’s death is a reminder that black men are hit hardest by high blood pressure, a silent killer that often comes without symptoms or warning.
Will Your Aging Parent Work In Retirement? | Forbes
The U.S. Census Bureau projects that by 2035, for the first time in American history, there will be more adults age 65 and older than children. By 2060, nearly twenty-five percent of Americans will be age 65 and above. At the same point, the number of people age 85 and older will triple. What will they all be doing in those long retirement years?
Measles Shots Aren’t Just For Kids: Many Adults Could Use A Booster Too | NPR
Measles is on the rise again, all around the globe. Though the number of people affected in the U.S. is still relatively low compared with the countries hardest hit, there are a record number of U.S. measles cases — more than 700, so far, in 2019, according to the CDC — the highest since the disease was eliminated in the U.S. back in 2000.
Finalists for the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge Announced and Showcased at the Newport Beach Film Festival | Yahoo Finance
Easterseals, the leading disability services organization, announced the finalists of the 2019 Easterseals Disability Film Challenge on Saturday at the Newport Beach Film Festival, followed by a screening of the films and a Q&A with some of the finalists. Now in its sixth year, the Film Challenge empowers filmmakers with or without disabilities to collaborate and tell unique stories while providing opportunities for inclusion and representation for the world’s largest minority group.
Child and teen deaths fall by half, but disability on the rise, global study finds | CNN
As the world’s population continues to rise, more children are surviving into adulthood, a new study finds, but rates of disability have increased as well. Research published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics found that from 1990 to 2017, global child and adolescent deaths decreased 51.7%, while disability increased 4.7%. Additionally, there is a growing gap between young people’s health outcomes between different countries.
Leaders from Intuit, Cisco, other companies promote disability inclusion at Jupiter conference| Palm Beach Post
The organizations have signed the Chief Diversity Officers for Disability Inclusion pledge, a pact developed by Highland Beach’s Springboard Consulting to promote disability inclusion in the workplace. Andres Gonzalez says his family is evidence of what he thinks is a universal truth about disabilities: “At some point, it’s going to touch you or it has already touched you.”
Biased Landlords Ignore Disability Rights, Uphold Segregation, Activists say | Afro
Disability, race, gender, mental illness, and criminal history are used by landlords against low-income renters to deny access to public housing. That’s according to Lydia Brown, a fellow with Washington’s Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law who advocates for people with mental disabilities. “All we are doing is moving the fence instead of removing it,” Brown said Thursday in a keynote speech to a District of Columbia fair housing symposium. “All we’re doing is saying that only some people deserve to feel freedom and community here, but others only deserve inhumanity and violence.”
Why aging middle-class people can’t afford assisted living | Post Bulletin
Senior housing has a problem with middle-class affordability. There are many alluring options for the wealthy, and there’s considerable financial help available for the poor. But middle-class people who need assisted living — help with daily activities and simple medical tasks like medication and meal management — often find themselves priced out of the market. In an attempt to spur the developers of senior housing to come up with cheaper alternatives before the wave of baby boomers hits old age, a group of researchers analyzed the likely needs and financial resources of the “forgotten middle” in 10 years.
Black Health Spotlight: My grandma’s Alzheimer’s disease shaped me into a warrior for the cause | Q City News
Growing up, I never understood the true definition of Alzheimer’s disease. I had my first encounter with it at the tender age of 6 years old. I watched as the disease stripped away the memories and dignity of my Grandma Trollie. I recall my mother trying to assist Grandma Trollie with bathing and grooming, as she would forget how to complete each task. Grandma Trollie would laugh, cry and constantly fight my mother. How was it that one moment she was screaming, twisting and pulling, but the very next moment, she was laughing and playing nice? Grandma Trollie always had a spirited personality about her, but this was not the Grandma Trollie I knew.
One Of The Kind Performing Arts Festival, By And For The Disability Community | Forbes
New York City is no stranger to the performing arts—it is one of the things the city is much known and admired for. However, what you usually don’t see is a room full of an audience with various disabilities witnessing performers express their own disability through spoken words and movement. Historically, people with disabilities have often served as visual objects and props, rather than active participants and creators or art and media
‘My Dad Matthew’: Award-winning disability advocate speaks at USU | HJ News
Matthew Wangeman, a disability advocate and the focus of an award winning short film, answered questions at Utah State University on Friday after showing a documentary short film about his life and his son titled, “My Dad Matthew.” Wangeman was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at 18-months-old. CP is a neurological disorder caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain and usually occurs while a child’s brain is developing around the time of birth. CP can affect the individual’s motor skills, body movement and speaking abilities.
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