Archive for the ‘Global’ Category
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Disability Policy Seminar in Washington DC
This is a special guest blog post by our Executive Director, Alanna Hendren, who is currently in Washington DC for the Disability Policy Seminar.
It’s the first day of the Disability Policy Seminar in Washington DC and it is all about Healthcare! A whole day on the legislation that passed only a couple of weeks ago to overhaul the U.S. Healthcare system. This is very long, complex legislation that’s 2700 pages long, single spaced. People with disabilities are the biggest beneficiaries, for the following reasons:
- Health insurers can no longer discriminate against people with disabilities (PWD)
- PWD are guaranteed healthcare coverage and there can be no annual or lifetime caps put on their insurance plans Premium fluctuations are also limited by formula
- Children can no longer be denied healthcare coverage because their disability is a pre-existing condition
- Rehabilitation services and devices will be covered
- This is a dramatic expansion of coverage and subsidied for low income people, who are eligible for assistance at up to 400% of the poverty level where the government will help with the cost of insurance premiums
- People can now qualify for Medicaid (the government program) at 133% of the poverty line
- The emphasis of the legislation is on home and community based versus institutional care
- There is a new government enacted long term care insuance program that everyone can opt into that includes case coordination that will create efficiencies (i.e. save money)
- There are incentives for insurers to provide preventive care and disease prevention
- People with pre-existing conditions who were rejected by insurers can immediately get coverage
- Mental health care has been included in the legislation so it must be covered by insurers
- Funding has been set aside to train health care attendants and diasability caregivers in order to expand the wokforce
- Research will also been funded to determine best practices to achieve mental and physical healthcare
There is a long way to go to get to full implementation of the legislation in 2014 and some states are already launching constitutional challenges or otherwise trying to opt out. This is of course being launched at a time when states are cutting services to varying degrees. Rules still have to be written at a federal and state level and insurers have to create plans that people can afford.
Some aspects of the legislation are far more progresive than what we have in Canada and BC, but we should never trade our healthcare system for anything! It is cheaper, easier to deal with (single-payer, no competing health insurers, less paperwork), comparatively good quality and universal. If a baby is born with Down’s syndrome in Canada, at least new parents don’t have to pay out of pocket for heart surgery, for example.
Now if we could just improve our social services and education systems…
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Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games
Congratulations to all the stellar athletes that competed in this years Winter Olympics, and congratulations to the US for having the highest total medal count, and our Canadian athletes for coming out top with the highest gold medal count of 14 golds. A full medal count can be viewed at the Vancouver 2010 website here.
Photo credit: GillTy (on Flickr)
Although plenty of the international athletes and visitors have left, and Vancouver is no longer buzzing with the same Olympic fervor, I’m excited for the upcoming 2010 Paralympic Winter Games that will be happening from March 12 – 21. Historically, Canada has consistently been placed as one of the top 10 country’s for the Winter Paralympic Games, and currently totals 96 Paralympic medals in total. With Vancouver welcoming an additional 1,350 athletes to compete in this year’s Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games, I’m sure the medal count will change for many countries.
It’s a little bit disappointing to have many of the international pavilions and attractions closed during the Paralympic Winter Games, but there’s a great list of events and sights that will still be up and available during that time, posted courtesy of Miss604.com.
The Paralympic Winter Games are an important part of the games as they represent diversity and epitomize the Developmental Disabilities Association’s motto of “overcoming obstacles, encouraging abilities”.
For more information on the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games, you can check out the official website here.
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Fundraising for Haiti with DDA
Photo Credit: Wolfgang Rattay, Reuters
With another major aftershock of 6.1 in Haiti this morning, and an ever increasing death toll, a few friends of mine decided to start a fundraising group for Haiti. We’ll be taking advantage of the Developmental Disabilities Association, Cash 4 Clothes program, to raise funds for the Haiti victims. Cash 4 Clothes, in a nutshell, works like this:
- Collect a minimum of 75 full bags of clothes and up to 150 full bags at one time, and DDA gives you $2.00 per bag
- If you collect over 151 full bags at one time, DDA gives you $3.00 per bag
- DDA will pick up all the bags after the clothing drive has been completed
Our goal is to reach $1000 for Haiti. All the money we raise from collecting bags of clothes and donating them to DDA will go directly to helping Haiti. The benefits of Cash 4 Clothes will be helping two charitable and important causes: locally, the Developmental Disabilities Association; and internationally, with the people in Haiti.
If you would like to help out with this fundraiser, you can drop by DDA’s Head Office with your bags of clothes and/or housewares. Simply leave them with the receptionist and let her know the bags are for Victor. You can also start your own fundraising group for Haiti (or for any other cause, organization, or sports team that needs money) through our Cash 4 Clothes program.
Update: I was just informed that Savers/Value Village, where DDA sells their used goods, will be delivering trailers of used clothing, bed, bath and shoes to the areas in need at Haiti!
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Developmental Disabilities in China: Part 12
This is the last entry to a continued feature multi-part blog post written by our Executive Director, Alanna Hendren. Alanna will be blogging about her recent experience flying off to China as the leader of the People-to-People Psychiatric Services and Developmental Disabilities Delegation. Every Tuesday and Friday, we will be posting about her journey in China, the developmental services offered there, and the people there. To read part 11, click here. To start reading from the beginning of Alanna’s journey in China, click here.
After lunch at the Happiness and Harmony restaurant, we went on to our final professional visit at the “Sunshine Home”. Located in one of Shanghai’s many urban communities, the Sunshine Home “aims to build a community life for the developmentally disabled”. Serving students aged 16 – 35, they provide training in simple housework, rehabilitation, entertainment and help people find jobs in the community.
Our visit began with a tour, conducted by 2 of the students in English. The father of one of the students volunteers to teach the students English, which is a skill some of them hope to use as volunteers or employees during the upcoming Shanghai Expo in 2010. Madame Chen, who operates the center, joined us, beaming with pride at the great job her students were doing. The program offers self-help and pre-vocational skills, Kung Fu, aerobics and Tae Kwon Do. Students all spend time in the fitness center as well.
We visited one class where students were making ornaments. One hallway had the academic work of its students displayed and another room had a case filled with Special Olympics trophies and banners. We saw other students in the computer room, typing in Chinese characters and a room where life-skills were taught. In another room, we were treated to a splendid Kung Fu demonstration by the students. When they insisted that some of us join them, I realized how important it was to be able to understand the leader’s commands, but it was fun. Some of our new friends were top performers at the Special Olympics, with several gold medals between them.
This Sunshine Home opened in July 2005, in a space that was too small. In 2007, with support from District and Municipal governments, they almost doubled their space and expanded to 72 students. Three different groups are supported by the center: 30 attend full time, 6 part-time (when not working in the community), and a group of people with physical disabilities receive home care or visits from volunteers. There are four full time staff. Madame Chen is the administrator and manager (and an inspiration), who is supported by a head teacher, a life-skills teacher and a hygiene teacher. They rely on many volunteers, who seem easier to recruit in China. Factories will sign an agreement with the Sunshine Home to provide volunteers and ECNU also provides support and sends students as volunteers.
Prior to the Sunshine Home, people with developmental disabilities stayed in the home with their families. The goal was to get them out of the house and provide them with educational and behavior programs so the students could show the community their strengths and abilities. Their current mission is to build dignity and self-confidence in their students and they seem to be succeeding wonderfully. Students fall into the mild and moderate range of intellectual disability.
Every morning, everyone spends ½ hour talking about the importance of appropriate behavior, social skills and communication. A big priority at present is learning English in preparation for the 2010 Expo but living skills training, ensuring that each student can cook at least one dish for their family, family planning, sex education and responsibility, rehabilitation training, sports, recreation, singing, dancing and Special Olympics training are also priorities at the Center. In the 7th Special Olympics of Shanghai, Sunshine Home students competed in track and field, badminton, biking and weightlifting. They won two silvers and one gold.
People with behavior problems are trained in appropriate behavior and assigned to another student for role modeling. If the behaviors continue or are extreme, the Center meets with the family and gives them some strategies to implement at home and a warning. If the behavior is too disruptive, then the person can lose their place in the program. They admitted they have a long way to go to fulfill their dream of having a center that’s a “paradise filled with sunshine”.
Referrals are only accepted from their local community, which has a total population of 95,000. Shanghai has 18 administrative districts that are further divided into “communities”. These districts form the focus of an individual’s life, similar to the way villages define one’s identity in rural areas. Births are registered there, social services are centered there, and families generally live close-knit, in close quarters. Their communities, like ours, are noticeably turning grey.
Families volunteer at the Center and reinforce programs at home. Adults receive welfare funding, which is based on where one is born and registered. After the age of 35, adults move on to Adult Day Care and live on welfare – 520 yuan per month (about $160 per month).
There are Sunshine Homes in other districts and they meet once per month for joint training. ECNU provides training to staff and help teach students as well. There is a Sunshine Guiding Center that organizes tours of other provinces and where they learn about fundraising, bigger centers and volunteer mobilization. The Regional Sunshine Guiding Center recruits staff and trains over 200 volunteers per year. Not everyone can be a staff or volunteer, only those with a “heart of love”. The Sunshine Home also had strong ties with the “Citizen’s School” or local community center where locals could study painting, computers, piano, recreation, movies, dancing and offer other senior’s services for very low fees ($0.50). They also have over 100 performance teams or clubs in areas such as T’ai Chi, senior’s fashion, line dancing and music. The clubs compete in tournaments and hold festivals. The Sunshine Home competes in some categories and participates in arts festivals.
The Sunshine Home was so much fun because the students were so engaging and literally ‘moving’. They gave us all little gifts and insisted on group photos before we left, with the volunteer Dad who taught English playing photographer throughout the tour happily obliging. He is a very inspirational man, as is Madame Chen, who is very proud of her students and likely doesn’t take “no” for an answer very often. She has a vision and the ability to make it a reality.
Shanghai is a lot like New York, with non-stop, narrow streets, high buildings, sales, sales, sales, fashion, non-stop action, people and money. It is all about business. Beijing is more like Washington D.C., with priorities like politics, power, research, education, monuments and history. China’s history goes back over 4,000 years, America’s only 233 and Canada’s only 142 years.
When I was packing to come home, I came across a group photo we had taken in Tianamen Square and marveled at what a great time our group had together. On the bus back to our hotel after our farewell dinner, Riley told us that he had toured with many People-to-People professional delegations from many different occupations and, whereas they experienced China through their eyes and ears, what made us different was that we travelled through China with our hearts. He told me one day that being our guide had taught him so much about some great people within his own country that he otherwise would never have met. He also learned a lot about human psychological development and psychiatric practice, as did I. Having outstanding delegates from Canada as well as Belgium, Australia, Germany and the U.S. provided opportunities for many exceptional conversations and more than a few laughs on the journey.
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Developmental Disabilities in China: Part 11
This is a continued feature multi-part blog post written by our Executive Director, Alanna Hendren. Alanna will be blogging about her recent experience flying off to China as the leader of the People-to-People Psychiatric Services and Developmental Disabilities Delegation. Every Tuesday and Friday, we will be posting about her journey in China, the developmental services offered there, and the people there. To read part 10, click here.
The next day we left the jungle, flying over the region’s uniquely Chinese mountains, the beloved Li River and acres of brilliant green rice fields. China is a country of towns that are increasingly becoming connected by an infrastructure of new roads. They also continue to make full use of their water and canal systems and have good airline service, so the movement of goods and people is becoming more inclusive of rural areas. Towns of over 1 million people are common and will likely become even more universal as China develops industry throughout the nation and urbanizes. With a recent revolution in technological connectivity – people who could not afford landlines now all have cell phones – the Chinese are developing communication and transportation networks that previous generations could never have imagined.
We arrived in Shanghai and checked into the historic Jin J’iang Hotel, which is an oasis in the middle of the insanely fast pace of the streets of the French Concession. The Jin J’iang is the hotel where Chairman Mao used to regularly meet with his National Assembly and where Deng Xiaoping first met with Nixon in 1978 to begin to open China’s window on the West. That window is now a door and wide open for business, as reflected by the growing, towering skyline of “New Shanghai”, across the river facing the old historic Bund. Comprised of old, small classical Western buildings overlooking the Huanpu River (a busy tributary of the Yangtze), compared to New Shanghai, the famous Bund looks simply quaint. Having been a busy international city in past years, Shanghai takes pride in its historical Western architecture and has some of the best examples of Art Deco structures in the world. One of them is the Jin J’iang and another is the Shanghai Garden across the street. Down the road is the Art Deco Lyceum where we saw the Shangai Acrobatic troupe, who incorporated Asian themes into very modern dance routines. The contortions of some of the acrobats left most of the physicians in our group fearing for the future physical condition of the performers in terms of arthritis and other chronic problems.
The next day we met with professionals from the East China Normal University (ECNU), including Yang Guangxue, Dean, Professor and Supervisor of the PhD program, Nan Li Zhou, PhD, Associate Professor and Lianjun Chen, Assistant to the President of the East China Normal University Graduate’s Union. Founded in 1951 (only one year earlier than DDA), ECNU was founded on the site of Great China University when it amalgamated with Fudan and Tongji Universities. It is now one of the key institutions of higher learning under the auspicies of the Ministry of Education. Influential in China and abroad, the university has 15 full-time schools including the newest – the College of Preschool Education and Special Education, which has 78 full time faculty who provide education for over 1,000 students. The college has recently established several research labs and is encouraging provincial and national research. The college has also established relationships with universities in the U.S., Britain, Germany, Australia, Canada, Singapore and Japan.
There are three doctoral programs within the school: speech, early learning and special education. There is also a special program focused on autism. Nian Li Zhou had recently completed a research project on autism and kindly led us through a presentation of her results. The researchers developed their own tool for early diagnosis and intervention where they used interviews, observation and psychological testing in order to classify the severity of the childrens’ challenges.
The research study followed 55 kids with Autism Spectrum Disorder aged 32 to 72 months and classified them into low, medium or high severity based on frequency and intensity of body language, emotional language and verbal language. It was also curiously noted during the study that, when asked to draw pictures of their families or themselves, none of the children with autism ever drew ears. For the low severity group, language was present so they focused on reciprocity of language. For the medium severity group, the focus was on language use, and for the high severity group where all the children were non-verbal, they focused on comprehension. Their research proved that it was valid to teach children with different levels of autism separately, with a more specific focus. 80% of their subjects with autism also had I.Q.’s under 70.
After special pre-schools, children with disabilities generally move on to either segregated or integrated schools, then on to vocational training schools – what we would call day programs – for people aged 16 – 35. Children who have more severe, physical or multiple disabilities usually do not attend school but are cared for at home by their families. Residentially, adults with developmental disabilities who cannot live with their families can live in apartments built for seniors, the homeless and those who require special care. Some care facilities have user fees. Otherwise, some in-home services are available, but these are extremely limited. There are also orphanages in China.
All teachers receive 20 hours of training about children with developmental disabilities and some can further specialize. Cross-discipline cooperation is as difficult to maintain in the People’s Republic as it is in B.C. Shanghai developed a coordinating board so hospitals, schools, universities and the Disabled Person’s Federation could work together. Special Education and Early Childhood Development are very new in China but together they are learning that a focus on education alone is not effective, so they have to develop a multidisciplinary approach with an additional focus on mental health, communication and socialization. They are not as far behind us as they might believe since it is precisely this type of multidisciplinary approach that we are just starting to develop in B.C. In order to further cooperation, the Vice Mayor of Shanghai proposed that other associated professionals become part of the education system because it is currently the strongest, with clinics already available at some schools. Every district has resource teachers, but students in special schools are usually the most vulnerable to funding cuts, which sounded strikingly familiar.
In China, ideology rarely trumps effectiveness, so they are enthusiastic researchers. A 7-year study indicated that the best system provided options for children from full segregation in special schools to full inclusion, with most children doing best when they were included in typical schools but had special needs classes within the school. As with all students, parents will hire tutors and aides for their children in order to accelerate learning if they have the money.
The faculty and researchers at the East China Normal University were very impressive. We hope to see Dr. Yang Guangxue when he visits Vancouver in the near future and show off what we have accomplished during our 57 year history.
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