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760 | IU Research Institute Admins Disability Resource Database | Indiana University’s Indiana Institute on Disability and Community and the AWS Foundation of Fort Wayne are partnering to implement Indiana Disability Resource FINDER as part of the university’s library information and referral services. The database provides access to community services for persons with disabilities and their families. FINDER is a free online resource specifically designed to connect people with disabilities, family members, and professionals with disability related programs and services. “Research has shown that locating information about disability services and resources is a major hurdle for community stakeholders and disability professionals,” said Derek Nord, IIDC director. “As a state wide tool, FINDER assists in making information accessible and geographically relevant for all Hoosiers. Through our extensive work across Indiana that touches on all stages of life, the IIDC is excited to expand FINDER’s reach to make it the go to resource. ”The partners say service providers, community advocates, and medical professionals regularly contribute to FINDER, keeping the information current. “Combined with IIDC’s leadership and specialized skills and experience, FINDER provides the latest technology to expand collaboration and develop new partnerships to help empower parents, teachers, caregivers, and others to find answers to disability related questions and become a more informed advocate,” said Patti Hays, chief executive officer of AWS Foundation. You can connect to the database by clicking here. Mentorship can happen at varying levels, from one off micro mentorship opportunities to deeper connections that span decades long careers. Further, mentors come in all shapes and sizes, from personal relationships to work peers or managers to educators and coaches. | 3 | https://www.insideindianabusiness.com/articles/iu-research-institute-admins-disability-resource-database | true | null |
761 | Drivers with a disability can obtain a voluntary disability self-disclosure card | It’s a new year, and there’s new policy in Maryland from the Motor Vehicle Administration. As of January 1, people who have developmental disabilities are able to obtain a card from the Motor Vehicle Administration that allows them to voluntarily disclose that information to law enforcement. The new law is designed to help people with disabilities interact with police if they get pulled over and need to communicate any challenges or issues they might have. Individuals with disabilities have different challenges. Law enforcement doesn’t necessarily know that when they’re approaching the vehicle,” Chrissy Nizer, administrator of the MVA said. The card will be a blue stock card and should be carried with a driver’s license. Law enforcement will be trained to recognize the card with a hope of both parties having a successful interaction. “There might be things that they need to be more sensitive to and more aware of. I think this can help both law enforcement as well as the individual to be able to interact and have more of a positive experience,” said Nizer. The MVA collaborated with law enforcement and the disability community to make this happen. | 3 | https://www.localdvm.com/news/local-news/maryland/drivers-with-a-disability-can-obtain-a-voluntary-disability-self-disclosure-card/ | true | null |
762 | Meet InReturn Strategies, a start-up intent on unlocking the value of America’s disabled workforce | When he was younger, James Geary never had a dream job, because people treated him as though he’d be lucky to have any job at all. Geary, 28, who has cerebral palsy, has long felt the limitations of other people’s expectations. When he was in college, people would ask: “Why are you here? No one’s going to hire you. ” In job interviews, he said, he felt pressured to downplay his disability because he didn’t want to be perceived as a burden. And when he wound up unhappy in a job that didn’t match his skill set, he was told to grin and bear it, because “people like you don’t get jobs like this. ”But everything changed after Geary connected with InReturn Strategies, a start up intent on making hiring more inclusive by bridging the gaps between employers and job candidates with disabilities. Its founder, Jim Atwater, helped Geary prepare for interviews, showing him how his perspective and experiences could be an asset to potential employers. Now, Geary works at Cerner, a global health care technology company, where his decades of experience navigating the medical system inform his work as a data analyst. He said he’s happier than he has ever been. “For me, it means that I can start building the life that I want,” Geary said, “rather than having to go along with what other people had planned for me. Diversity job openings fell nearly 60% after the coronavirus. Then came the Black Lives Matter protests. About 61 million Americans have some kind of disability, which the Americans With Disabilities Act defines as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. But even as inclusion becomes a marketing buzzword and major brands such as Nike roll out disability friendly products, unemployment among groups with disabilities is more than double that of the general population. Less than 20 percent of people with disabilities held a job in 2019, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It has been like this for decades. Atwater said he created InReturn Strategies to tackle what’s known as “the disability employment gap. ” As one of roughly 400 deaf entrepreneurs in the United States, he knows how workers with disabilities can be overlooked and undervalued by employers. He says members of this demographic are often the last to be hired and the first to be let go, and they are often relegated to jobs below their skill level. “There’s lots of people talking about inclusion and making tons of money from consulting, but very few people are doing anything about it,” Atwater said. “We are the mechanism to turn intent into action. ”Research shows that hiring disabled workers benefits firms’ bottom lines. A 2018 report from Accenture, which analyzed the disability protocols and financial performance of 140 companies, found that firms with the best practices saw 28 percent higher revenue, double the net income and 30 percent higher profit margins, on average, over a four year period. If the number of people with disabilities in the labor force grew just 1 percent, the nation’s gross domestic product could expand by as much as $25 billion, the Accenture report found. Companies looking to hire workers with disabilities usually follow traditional hiring channels, which often include processes that can be exclusionary. Meanwhile, access providers organizations offering services to people with disabilities don’t tend to have many connections in the private sector. “We’re building bridges where there aren’t any,” said Scott Brouillette, InReturn’s chief executive. “How are you going to hire someone you don’t understand and have no relationships with?”Stalling recovery raises stakes for Trump’s demands on economic relief bill Nathan Beck, who has spent 20 years helping people with disabilities access jobs in Hamilton County, Ohio, said it can be hard to get companies to care. | 3 | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/01/05/inreturn-strategies-inclusion-disability/ | true | null |
763 | Longtime disability rights advocate Michelle Duprey named to New Haven legal staff | Michelle Duprey, former director of the New Haven Department of Services for Persons with Disabilities, was sworn in Monday as deputy corporation counsel by Mayor Justin Elicker. Michelle Duprey, former director of the New Haven Department of Services for Persons with Disabilities, was sworn in Monday as deputy corporation counsel by Mayor Justin Elicker. NEW HAVEN Michelle Duprey, who has overseen efforts to make the city more accessible to people with disabilities for more than 20 years, was sworn in Monday as deputy corporation counsel. Mayor Justin Elicker swore in Duprey in the lobby of City Hall. In a statement, he said, “I am so excited for Attorney Duprey in her new role at City Hall. She will be an asset in whatever she works on. Her integrity, keen attention to detail, and experience make her a perfect fit for the role of Deputy Corporation Counsel. ”Duprey, who began working for the city in 1998, had been director of the Department of Services for Persons with Disabilities. She advised city departments, businesses and organizations on complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act and has been a frequent speaker about ADA compliance, diversity and the disability community. She is a member of the Connecticut Bar Association’s labor and employment section and is past chairwoman of the human rights and responsibilities section. “I am thrilled to be selected for this role at the City of New Haven,” Duprey said in a statement. “Even though I will no longer be the public voice for the disability community, I feel being given this exciting opportunity demonstrates that those with disabilities can serve in all kinds of jobs in our community, not just those you would normally expect. “This appointment speaks volumes to the broader community on diversity and inclusion without me having to say a word. And for that, I am grateful,” she said. Duprey also has served on the boards of Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund, the Connecticut ACLU and the Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation. She has written for law journals and other publications. Corporation Counsel Patricia King said in a statement, “We are so excited to add Michelle to our team. Her expertise in the area of disability rights, the respect she has earned among City employees and also recently working with Labor Relations on COVID 19 related issues will be invaluable as we bring a broader focus on labor and employment matters in Corporation Counsel. ” | 3 | https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/Longtime-disability-rights-advocate-Michelle-15844619.php | true | null |
766 | Disability Advocacy Group Revamps Prison Reentry Program | A group dedicated to helping those living with disabilities is also helping the formerly incarcerated get back on their feet. Sharif Brown of Raleigh’s Alliance of Disability Advocates is the manager of the Prison Reentry Program. Brown and his team typically work with the incarcerated up to 16 months before their release. They establish personal and professional goals, and sharpen their interviewing skills. Brown also connects them with resources for mental health, food security, and housing. “They have individuals who are post release who are struggling with their reentry, whether it’s homelessness, whether it’s lack of employment, they have been greatly affected by COVID, whatever it may be,” Brown says. Adrian Boone is the first successful participant of the Prison Reentry Program. Boone served a 20 year sentence in federal prison. While at Butner Federal Prison, he studied and worked as a biomedical equipment technician. He also worked on HVAC systems and got certified in fitness and nutrition. “I tried to set myself on a pathway to success, taking all the classes and training that I did while I was incarcerated,” Boone says. Before he was released, Brown met with Boone weekly to lay out his plans for reentering society. Boone had to learn how to use a smartphone through reading. By the time he was released, Boone was offered a job with the Alliance of Disability Advocates. “I think the connection I made with ADA catapulted me to another level and enabled me to reach those goals a lot faster than I would’ve been able to on my own,” Boone says. Watch Adrian Boone’s Journey here: https://youtu. be/OlDnco ISzY Boone started working as a community inclusion specialist, pairing people living with disabilities and the formerly incarcerated with the resources they need. He was recently promoted to revamp the Winston Salem Solutions for Independence, but his work has not changed. Because of the pandemic, Brown and his team are not currently permitted inside of prisons. They are helping newly released people with housing, medical care, and employment. According to Brown, traditional prison reentry programs don’t supply enough information or resources for people entering back into the world after a number of years in isolation. “So they’ll give you basic, generic information that might not necessarily meet the needs or requirements for your reentry but they met their requirement by giving you this information,” he says. Brown’s work is personal to him. His brother spent nearly 20 years in and out of prison. Brown says if he was aided with the correct tools the first time, his story would’ve turned out differently. “He didn’t know of any agency that could assist him, he fell back into that negative vibe and that negative path that he was on, and he reoffended,” he says. “As I do this job, I try to use the same passion that I would like I was helping my own brother. ” Brown’s program has a 2% recidivism rate as opposed to the State’s 40 45% recidivism rate. The North Carolina Council of Developmental Disabilities awarded the program funding in 2020. Brown has helped more than 150 people in prisons. The program is currently serving about 10 newly released people, but they are expecting more in coming months. | 3 | https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2020/12/30/disability-advocacy-group-revamps-prison-reentry-program | true | null |
767 | 5 New Year’s Resolutions For People With Disabilities | Offering New Year’s resolutions is risky, especially when you’re giving advice to a group of people already drowning in advice, like the disability community. Disabled people are constantly bombarded with advice all year, every year, mostly on how to solve problems we already know how to solve … or how to become, or at least appear to be, less disabled. Still, there are a few goals to choose from for people with disabilities interested in committing to some useful self improvement in the new year. Here are five ideas to consider:1. Explore disability issues and culture. Being disabled is often a solitary experience. Unlike many other “minorities”, disability usually doesn’t come with a built in community. So, many disabled people, , aren’t very connected to disability activism or culture. We tend to first learn about disability from people who aren’t disabled themselves, from parents, teachers, doctors, therapists, social workers, and personal care aides. Most of us have to actively seek out the company, mentoring, and support of other disabled people. Also, disabled people tend to be more praised and rewarded for bypassing or overcoming our disabilities and instead focusing on other things. And yet, disability culture and activism are vibrant, diverse, interesting, and often empowering and fun. Disabled people who aren’t involved in disability activism and culture should consider making a conscious effort to dig into them in the year ahead. No Pity: People with Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement, by Joseph ShapiroDisability Visibility: First Person Stories from the Twenty First Century, edited by Alice WongI’m not your inspiration, thank you very much, TED Talk by Stella YoungI got 99 problems . . . palsy is just one, TED Talk by Maysoon Zayid… and the Netflix documentary Crip Camp. 2. Venture beyond disability issues and culture. On the other hand, many disabled people are already deeply involved. In fact, once you’re introduced to disability culture and activism, it’s easy to become so absorbed in them that your view of the world can become distorted and unbalanced. Disabled life and culture are still part of life and culture in general. And disability issues in particular don’t stand alone; they are linked to all other political, social, and cultural issues. Disabled people who are heavily focused on disability culture can sometimes benefit from a conscious effort to reconnect with mainstream issues and culture. If you are a deeply committed disability activist, remember to think and speak out about social issues that aren’t exclusively about disability, but where your disability perspectives can be helpful. It’s especially important for disability activists to pay attention to issues affecting other marginalized groups that overlap with the disability community, and are focused on issues related to race, gender, economic justice, and other matters. Instead of considering these to be “separate issues,” explore how they link up with disability issues. Meanwhile, as you share with the world some of your most urgent concerns, remember also to share some of your happier moments and pleasures. It’s an annoying and illogical fact of life, but to some extent, people are more likely to take your serious concerns seriously if they can also share in some of the lighter side of your life and interests . If it feels like you might be too locked into narrow, emotionally grueling versions of disability activism and culture, consider taking a few modest steps to broaden your horizon:3. Support and uplift people with all kinds of disabilities, not just your own. One of the dirtiest secrets and worst habits of disability culture is the tendency for people with one kind of disability to overlook, disparage, and even ostracize people with other kinds of disabilities. This is often called “lateral ableism” – prejudice and discrimination from one group of disabled people against another. | 3 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewpulrang/2021/12/31/5-new-years-resolutions-for-people-with-disabilities-1/?sh=94c8b644830b | true | null |
769 | An Employer’s Guide To Implementing Disability Accommodations In 2021 | 2021 holds great potential for employers to improve workplace equality for people with disabilities. . . . [+] The economic crisis brought about by Covid 19 touched the lives of all Americans, but individuals with disabilities were faced with more challenges than most. About 1 million people with disabilities lost their jobs between March and August, and at 12. 3% – the unemployment rate for the disability community is double the national rate of 6. 2%. The arrival of a Covid vaccine brings hope to many that life will return back to normal. But for individuals with disabilities, a return to any semblance of normal isn’t good enough. In order to improve working conditions for the disabled community, employers must begin 2021 with a plan for improving and creating more diverse and accessible workplaces. Individuals with disabilities are often overlooked during the hiring process, but they are motivated and qualified to work in a variety of in demand industries. Many employers incorrectly assume that hiring people with disabilities is complicated and expensive, but in reality, these concerns stem from common misconceptions around accommodations and people with disabilities in the workplace. Many people with disabilities do require some reasonable accommodations in order to work, but these changes are often simple and inexpensive. Below are answers to a few of the most common questions employers have about reasonable accommodations and how to incorporate them in 2021. 1) What is a reasonable accommodation?The legal expectation of reasonable accommodations comes from the Americans with Disabilities Act and is defined as providing assistance or making changes to a position or workplace to enable qualified employees to do their job despite having a disability, unless doing so would pose an undue hardship on the employer. Qualified employees are all those who have the requisite degrees, skills and experience to perform the job’s essential functions, with or without accommodations. 2) What do accommodations look like in practice?There are a variety of changes that could be considered reasonable accommodations, including modified schedules, flexible hours, and remote work opportunities, which are now more common than ever. This last one is a policy the disability community has been advocating for, unsuccessfully, for years. Employers, citing concerns of decreased productivity, were reluctant to implement it, but the pandemic has effectively invalidated that argument. A sizable number of Americans successfully transitioned to remote work within a matter of weeks, and with many continuing to do so, there is reason to hope that more employers will offer remote accommodations to those with disabilities in the future. 3) How much will it cost to implement these accommodations?The majority of employers would probably be surprised to know that most accommodations can be provided very inexpensively. An ongoing survey conducted by the Job Association Network found that 56% of accommodations cost absolutely nothing to implement, such as those that simply require adapting previous work styles or processes, while the rest of the accommodations cost, on average, around $500. 4) What effect do reasonable accommodations have on a workplace?In general, offering reasonable accommodations turns out to be just as beneficial for the employers as it is for individuals with disabilities. These accommodations are meant to increase productivity and allow employees to work as efficiently as possible, and the general principle that investing in employees yields better overall success holds true in this instance as well. The same JAN survey found that employers who provided reasonable accommodations benefitted from greater employee retention, improved productivity and morale, reduced workers’ compensation and training costs, and improved company diversity. | 3 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulamorgan/2020/12/22/an-employers-guide-to-implementing-disability-accommodations-in-2021/?sh=123cf6665b43 | true | null |
770 | The Guardian view on disability rights: a deficit of attention | Twenty five years after discrimination was outlawed, progress towards inclusion and equality has gone into reverseThere should have been a feature film, or a primetime TV series. Maybe one day there will be. But this year, the 25th anniversary of the Disability Discrimination Act – a landmark piece of legislation outlawing discrimination by service providers and mandating “reasonable adjustments” by employers – passed quietly. The BBC screened The Disability Paradox, a thoughtful and introspective documentary by the Northern Irish film maker Chris Lynch. On Netflix, Crip Camp documented the disability rights movement in the US. But the high drama of the parallel struggle in Britain, which saw hundreds of activists chaining themselves to buses and blocking streets, is still waiting for such high profile treatment. Instead, at the end of an extraordinarily difficult year, people with disabilities have been among the hardest hit. Ministers have asked the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies to review figures showing that people with learning difficulties are dying from Covid 19 at six times the rate of the general population. The Care Quality Commission is investigating why do not resuscitate orders were allocated to some care home residents without consultation, causing potentially avoidable deaths. At the same time, in common with other minority groups whose members are disproportionately poor, disabled people have suffered acute economic hardships. Flaws in the design of benefits and years of cuts to local services were among the causes of rising extreme poverty before this year. With 2 million families predicted to have problems feeding themselves or keeping clean and warm as the recession deepens, that picture is expected to darken. Disability covers a vast range of experiences and conditions, some of which are lifelong but many of which are temporary or linked to old age. Research has found that many of the nearly 14 million disabled people in the UK think the equalities framework does not serve their needs well, and that things were better when they had their own watchdog, the Disability Rights Commission. In a speech last week, the women and equalities minister, Liz Truss, said the government’s new approach to equalities would emphasise practical issues such as “getting to work” – often a problem for disabled people who find themselves trapped at home because of inaccessible transport. Her emphasis on the enforcement of fair treatment should be welcomed; legislation outlawing discrimination is no use without it. But without new resources, such commitments are meaningless. Cuts to social security, local government and legal aid budgets are a key reason why, despite positive developments such as increased awareness of neurodiversity, progress towards equality for disabled people has, broadly speaking, gone into reverse. Until the worst of the pandemic is behind us, it’s hard to feel optimistic about the prospects for improvement, with low levels of representation of disabled people in public life another persistent problem. Priority access to the Covid 19 vaccine would signal that the government is serious about removing obstacles to participation – as would restoration of funds for the “access to work” scheme that used to help with transport costs. As the country starts to recover from this year of illness, policymakers must be pressed to ensure that their ambitions for levelling up do not overlook people with disabilities. Instead, addressing their needs should form part of the social infrastructure transformation that is long overdue – with an accompanying recognition that care, interdependency and difference are facts of human life. Twenty five years after discrimination against disabled people was outlawed, the ongoing failures are as striking as the progress. | 3 | https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/20/the-guardian-view-on-disability-rights-a-deficit-of-attention | false | null |
771 | Disability Advocates Still Have Questions About Colorado’s COVID-19 Vaccine Plan | As the state distributes its first phase of Pfizer vaccines to healthcare locations, disability organizations are looking for more information on accessibility. Kenny Maestas works with the Colorado Cross Disability Coalition and has been collaborating with the state on these issues. Maestas joined the states COVID 19 health equity panel in April, which was phased out earlier this fall. Hes now working with the state on the vaccine rollout plan. Maestas said hes been in the hospital on a ventilator before, and the possibility that there could have been a ventilator shortage encouraged him to get involved. If there was gonna be a shortage of ventilators in rural Colorado, I wanted to know when and where, said Maestas, who lives in Prowers County. Im a single dad, I got a 16 year old son that lives with me, and that I gotta take care of for a long, long time yet. Maestas said his main focus right now is working to share vaccine information with his community and answer any questions that come up. Hes still working to understand how the vaccine affects people with pre existing health conditions. According to Pfizers summary of vaccine trials, some participants experienced side effects that included fatigue, headache, muscle pain and nausea, in addition to allergic reactions to ingredients in the vaccine. Only one severe allergic reaction has been tied to the vaccine in the U. S. so far. The company does not list any other complications, but does state that additional adverse reactions, some of which may be serious, may become apparent with more widespread use of the Pfizer BioNTech COVID 19 Vaccine. Lifes already tough enough with a spinal cord injury, I dont need any other side effects coming along, Maestas said. Emily Shuman, the director of Rocky Mountain ADA, provides guidance to individuals and organizations on compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. With so much vaccine news circulating each day, she said shes concerned about a communication gap between the state and people with disabilities. I dont know if other people are just still in woohoo mode, and havent really settled back down to start thinking about the questions yet, but I know personally thats where I am, said Shuman. She said her organization has seen rushed rollouts of COVID 19 testing sites over the past few months that have neglected to address accessibility issues for people with disabilities. She wants to know more about in person and online options for people who use screen readers or may need a sign language interpreter. Shuman is also hoping for more specifics on how people with disabilities, especially those in long term care facilities, fit into the states phased distribution. According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Education, people with high health risks are slated to get the vaccine during the second phase, which starts in the spring. While disability advocates wait to see how they fit into the vaccine rollout, health care workers have been labeled high priority since the rollout’s planning stages. In Southern Colorado, UCHealth Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs vaccinated health care workers after receiving doses of the Pfizer vaccine on Monday. Pueblo County received 3,000 doses of the vaccine on Wednesday, with 1,000 going to Parkview Medical Center and 190 going to St. Mary Corwin. Public Health Director Randy Evetts said Pueblo is one of nine distribution sites across the state, so remaining vaccine doses will be distributed to neighboring counties. Evetts said receiving the vaccine felt like a turning point in the pandemic. I think it offers a glimmer of hope. Its certainly created some excitement among our staff, said Evetts. I think its a beacon of light for all of us that this is now available. The health department also received ten doses to give to nurses on staff working at testing sites. Evetts said he expects it will take several weeks to vaccinate every healthcare worker in Pueblo County. | 3 | https://www.cpr.org/2020/12/18/disability-advocates-high-risk-coronavirus-vaccine-plan/ | false | null |
772 | How To Do Something Good In The Disability Community If You’re Not Disabled | The field of disability services and advocacy is changing. One of the most significant shifts over the last few decades has been the rising prominence of actual disabled people within the disability field. While this is a positive development overall, it should prompt non disabled people interested in serving disabled people to rethink their position and approach. In the past, most of the workforce and leadership of disability organizations was made up of non disabled people – people with some kind of interest in serving disabled people, but without disabilities themselves. Traditionally, disabled people were assumed to be incapable of organizing for themselves and serving each other. At the same time, disability service professionals were mostly expected to be service providers, counselors, educators, and supervisors, and only occasionally as advocates or allies. Even in advocacy, non disabled people were, , granted the default role of leader and spokesperson. This left disabled people themselves cared for, , but not empowered, spoken for, but voiceless. Changing this power dynamic has been a major goal of the disability rights movement. The growing prominence and leadership of actual disabled people over the last few decades has also helped the disability rights movement succeed. Today, many more disability organizations are founded, led, and staffed by people with disabilities than ever before. Some, like the Autistic Self Advocacy Network and Centers for Independent Living are practically defined by being run “by and for” disabled people. Older organizations, too, are trying harder to include disabled people as leaders and spokespeople, not just as traditional recipients of charity, or objects of pity for fundraising campaigns. This is entirely appropriate and long overdue. It’s also a work very much still in progress, even in the most inclusive and progressive organizations. Where does all this leave non disabled people who feel they have a great idea for empowering disabled people, or simply a genuine desire to serve and uplift the disability community? Are non disabled advocates no longer welcomed in the newly empowered and disabled led disability sector? Should non disabled people interested in disability work brace themselves for suspicion and rejection? They should certainly expect to play a different role than they might have 30 years ago. That holds true whether you want to be a nonprofit CEO, a grassroots disability activist, or a one on one aide to a single disabled person. Non disabled people are generally welcomed, but they have a higher degree of honesty, selflessness, and humility to prove in the disability field. There is more to consider, but fortunately it’s not really that complicated. It mainly requires self reflection and a willingness to serve before leading. If you are not yourself disabled but are interested in working in the disability field, start by clarifying for yourself where your interest in disability comes from, and then put your plans through a critical checklist. Everyone who wants to get into disability work has their own individual reasons. But it helps to note some of the most common reasons people who aren’t disabled themselves take an interest:1. ParentingHaving a child with a disability is one of the most common introductions to the world of disability, and also the one requiring the least explanation. It’s a commitment born of necessity and parental love. At the same time, it’s also the most difficult position from which to see the difference between speaking for a disabled child and being an ally to a growing and maturing disabled person. 2. Extended FamilyOther family connections also introduce a lot of non disabled people to disability concerns. This includes being a husband or wife, or a brother or sister to a disabled person – or a son or daughter to disabled parents and grandparents, or niece or nephew to aunts, and uncles who have disabilities. Extended families struggle with the everyday barriers their disabled loved ones face every day, while hopefully also developing an understanding and acceptance of disability that other people don’t. | 3 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewpulrang/2020/12/16/how-to-do-something-good-in-the-disability-community-if-youre-not-disabled/?sh=377dbbf47d7f | true | null |
773 | Ministry of Health in Kurdistan, UNFPA open the disability-friendly reproductive health facilities in Erbil Governorate [EN/AR] | The Ministry of Health of the Kurdistan Regional Government, through the Directorate of Health in Erbil, with UNFPA and in collaboration with the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs opened today the first disability friendly reproductive health facilities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The seven facilities in Erbil Governorate were fit out with persons with disabilities friendly furniture and equipment. The project funded by the Swedish and Australian Governments and amounting for US$200,000 aims at facilitating access for women and girls with disabilities to quality reproductive health services. The primary health clinics are located in Soran, Khabat, Daratu, Mohammed Bajalan, Binaslawa and Koye districts in Erbil Governorate. UNFPA is also operating a disability friendly reproductive health facility in Mosul, Nineveh Governorate. The Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Ms Kwestan Mohammed, said: “We are happy to announce the launch of this important project with the Ministry of Health and UNFPA. This project provides free of charge reproductive health services to 1000 women and girls with disability including pregnant women in seven primary healthcare clinics in Erbil Governorate. We hope to expand this project and reach all cities and districts in the Kurdistan Region to reach as many women and girls with disabilities as possible. I would also like to thank UNFPA and the Ministry of health for this initiative”. For his part, the Dr Dlovan Fatih stressed on the importance of this joint project with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in identifying and taking action to respond to the needs of women and girls with disabilities in selected areas, including referrals to the clinics and hospitals. The Director General of the Directorate of Health in Erbil hoped for the partnership with UNFPA to continue to reach a larger number of women with disabilities in need of support. UNFPA Deputy Representative, Mr Himyar Abdulmoghni also spoke on the occasion and said: “Persons with disabilities are often invisible in society, and their rights for health, education and employment are not secured. The disability friendly reproductive health facilities, that UNFPA is supporting, are a first step towards the inclusion of women and girls with disabilities and the facilitation of access to quality primary health services”. “UNFPA will continue to promote the rights of women and young people with disabilities to enjoy equal opportunities, live a life free of gender based violence, and enjoy their sexual and reproductive health and rights,” he added. The disability friendly reproductive health facilities project is part of the UNFPA WE
DECIDE project that promotes the rights of women and young people with disabilities
to enjoy equal opportunities, to live a life free of gender based violence, and to enjoy
their sexual and reproductive health and rights. UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, delivers a world where every pregnancy
is wanted, every childbirth is safe, and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.
| 3 | https://reliefweb.int/report/iraq/ministry-health-kurdistan-unfpa-open-disability-friendly-reproductive-health-facilities | true | null |
774 | Disability Advocates Urge People To Get Vaccinated Against COVID-19 | Sandra Lindsay, left, a nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, N. Y. , is inoculated with the Covid 19 vaccine. As the first COVID 19 vaccines become available, advocates say that people with developmental disabilities should get vaccinated and they are pushing for this population to be eligible as soon as possible. In a statement, 20 advocacy groups are calling on people in the disability community to be immunized. “We encourage our stakeholders to receive the COVID 19 vaccine,” reads the statement spearheaded by the Autism Society of America and signed by Autism Speaks, Easterseals, the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities, the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services and the National Down Syndrome Society, among others. The groups said that getting vaccinated will “make it significantly less likely you’ll get COVID 19” and it “may keep you from getting severely ill if you were to contract COVID 19. ” In addition, doing so “will help protect vulnerable people around you. ”For those with disabilities, the advocates said that widespread vaccination could lead to an end to remote learning, resumption of regular therapy, support and respite care services, improved employment opportunities and it may allow individuals living in group homes and other congregate settings to see their families and friends again. “Mass COVID 19 vaccination would allow our global community to recover and help stop the pandemic,” the statement says, while noting that like other medical decisions, people should discuss the COVID 19 vaccine with their physicians. The benefits of vaccination could be greatest for those with more significant challenges, said Angela Geiger, president and CEO of Autism Speaks. “For someone with autism and limited communication skills or behavior challenges common in autism, protection afforded by the vaccine can have an immeasurable impact. It can enable renewed participation in community life, access to vital services and supports and an opportunity to begin the recovery from the disruptions in care that have taken place this year,” she said. “This can also be a crucial step for family members and caregivers of people with autism who have more significant needs. ”The push from disability advocacy groups comes as the first COVID 19 vaccine from Pfizer BioNTech started to be administered in the U. S. this week. With limited supply, the initial shots are going to health care workers and residents of long term care facilities. Advocates have been speaking out for months about the need for people with developmental disabilities to be prioritized in the distribution of any COVID 19 vaccines given the high risks they face. Research shows that people within this population who contract the virus face a two to 10 times greater risk of dying as compared to others. Nonetheless, only 10 states have specifically addressed people with developmental disabilities in their plans to allocate coronavirus vaccines, according to a new report from the American Network of Community Options and Resources, or ANCOR, which represents disability service providers across the nation. A poll out this week from the Kaiser Family Foundation indicates that 71% of Americans say they would “definitely or probably” get a COVID 19 vaccine, up from 63% in September. In one rural county, people with disabilities and others who have been appointed a guardian may soon lose the ability to vote even if a court has expressly preserved their right to do so. After multiple delays, federal officials are plowing ahead with a long awaited Medicaid rule establishing standards for what counts as home and community based services for people with disabilities. | 3 | https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2020/12/17/disability-advocates-urge-people-to-get-vaccinated-against-covid-19/29126/ | false | null |
775 | Alumni commemorate ADA 30 with iconic national disability rights leaders | Yale Alumni Logo Search To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act , alumni led a special livestream forum featuring two iconic national disability rights figures who were instrumental in the passage of this historic bill. The program was hosted by the Yale Alumni Association and supported by DiversAbility at Yale and the Yale Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Moderating the event were Janni Lehrer Stein ’78, an attorney and disability rights advocate who served on the National Council on Disability in the Obama administration, and Benjamin Nadolsky ’18, co founder and former president of Disability Empowerment for Yale. They led a robust discussion with Judith E. Heumann and Anthony Coelho, who shared their reflections on the ADA, its impact, and their thoughts on the future of disability policy, rights, and practices in the United States. Heumann, a lifelong disability rights advocate who served in the Clinton and Obama administrations, the nonprofit sector, and at the World Bank and State Department to promote the mainstreaming of disability rights domestically and abroad, played a prominent role in galvanizing public support to get the ADA passed. Her story was recently featured in the Netflix documentary, Crip Camp. Coelho, a former six term U. S. congressman from California who has spent his entire adult life as a champion and voice for people with disabilities, is credited by congressional colleagues as the primary author and sponsor of the ADA. Significance and Impact of the ADASigned into law in 1990 by President George H. W. Bush ’48, the ADA prohibits discrimination and mandates equal access and opportunity for persons with disabilities in all areas of public life, including employment, education, and transportation. In short, the purpose of the ADA is to ensure that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else. Noting that there are 68 million people with disabilities in the United States, and at least one billion around the world, Heumann extolled the importance and impact of the ADA but also was mindful of its limitations. “There are millions of disabled individuals that continue to be discriminated against,” she said. “The stigma of disability is such still in the United States that many people are unwilling to talk about having a disability. ”Coelho indicated that one of the challenges for the ADA is keeping up with the times, particularly with advancements in technology, to ensure equal access. He noted that 98. 2% of all websites are inaccessible to people with disabilities, and while encouraged by the Supreme Court’s recent “acknowledgement” that the ADA also covers digital accessibility, he fully expects enforcement by the Justice Department and other legal and regulatory entities would be necessary to ensure compliance. In stressing the importance and wide ranging impact of the ADA, Coelho pointed out that many of the technologies and accommodations mandated by or made possible through the act, like closed captioning and wheelchair ramps, benefit not just the disability community. “So many people besides those with disabilities benefit from what the ADA has done,” he said. He warned, however, that in light of repeated and ongoing attempts to undermine and dismantle the ADA, including by those within Congress, constant vigilance is required to preserve its existence and efficacy. “The ADA is not something that we can just ignore and not worry about because it’s going to be there forever – that’s just not true,” Coelho said. “And what we’ve got to do is to keep fighting, keep educating, in order to keep it. ”Heumann said that many more people, with and without disabilities, needed to familiarize themselves with the ADA, the rights and protections that it offers, and understand how to recognize and deal with discrimination, including how to file a complaint and report violations. | 3 | https://alumni.yale.edu/news/alumni-commemorate-ada-30-iconic-national-disability-rights-leaders | true | null |
777 | What’s Next For Disability Policy? Here Are Four First Steps | President Elect Biden’s disability plan would revolutionize disability policy. It probably won’t be fully enacted, especially if his fellow Democrats don’t end up controlling the Senate. Even if they do, they won’t have enough votes to end filibusters. But there are still many worthwhile changes the Biden Administration can make to improve disabled people’s lives, and others that can be started. It’s too early to know for sure exactly what the next steps should be. With the United States as divided as ever and consumed with the pandemic and its aftermath, there will be a lot of passive pressure to set disability policy aside as somehow less important. On the other hand, progress on disability issues has almost always proceeded below the surface of politics and current events. There’s no particular reason why dedicated activists and disability policy experts can’t work with the new administration to at least begin carrying out some of the many good ideas floated during the 2020 Presidential campaign. We can start by focusing on personnel, the pandemic, short term repairs, and long term improvement. Step 1: Make sound appointmentsThere’s a familiar phrase in government, policy, and political circles: “Personnel is policy. ” You can have the best plans in the world, but they won’t doo much good without the right people to carry them out. This is surely true in the world of disability. In much of the disability community, we try to focus on policy itself, and not rely too much on a few disability superstars to make everything happen. It’s always a balancing act, and we don’t always succeed, but we try to emphasize substance and accomplishment over celebrity, charisma, and high profile symbolism. Yet, one problem with disability policy, especially at the federal level, is that there is no acknowledged leader or coordinator to oversee how all the departments of government handle disability issues and services to disabled people. That’s why one of the first and most useful things the new Biden Administration can do is fulfill its campaign pledge to create such a leadership position and fill it with a capable, knowledgeable, enthusiastic disabled person. From the Biden disability plan: “Biden will appoint a director of disability policy within the Domestic Policy Council to ensure that these issues receive the attention they deserve at the highest levels of government and are integrated in broader policy discussions. ”Meanwhile, disabled people should be seriously considered and whenever possible appointed to other key posts in some of the many federal departments that serve disabled people. This includes Health and Human Services, Medicaid and Medicare, the Social Security Administration, the Department of Education, , the Department of Labor, Veteran’s Affairs, and the Justice Department. There’s no shortage of disabled people with the experience and dedication to do a good job for disabled Americans in these departments. So it’s also important for the Biden team to be choosy. Their disability appointments should be diverse too, including disabled people of color, LGBTQ+, as well as people who may be less well known to disability insiders, but have something important to offer. Above all, while it’s important to deliberately include people with disabilities and those with authentic personal connections to disability issues, the new administration must also insist on people with in depth activism and policy experience, and not just settle for symbolic seat fillers. With the right disabled people and disability allies in place, the chances for success in any number of disability related matters becomes far more possible. Step 2: Deal with Covid 19The first priority for the whole Biden Administration will almost certainly be to try to make the final few months of the Covid 19 pandemic less terrible, while ensuring that effective vaccines are made available fairly and effectively. As it happens, this won’t be a distraction from disability issues. At the moment, addressing Covid 19 is the highest priority of all disability issues. | 3 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewpulrang/2020/11/27/whats-next-for-disability-policy-here-are-four-first-steps/?sh=239f65797fd9 | true | null |
780 | Is Narcolepsy a Disability? | A disability is defined as any condition that interferes with your capacity to do your job or other daily activities. The World Health Organization lists three different dimensions to a disability:Narcolepsy causes symptoms that include severe daytime sleepiness and a sudden loss of muscle control. And for some people, it can create enough limitations to qualify as a disability. Research like a 2016 study has found that people living with narcolepsy are more likely to be unemployed than people without this condition. People living with narcolepsy who are employed often miss work or can’t do their jobs well because of the disorder. If you can’t work because you’re living with narcolepsy, you may be able to receive Social Security disability benefits. The first step is to find out whether your symptoms qualify you for these payments. Narcolepsy can meet the criteria for a disability in certain circumstances. The extreme daytime sleepiness and sudden loss of muscle control that may come with narcolepsy can make it difficult to work. Some people even fall asleep without warning during the day. These symptoms make certain jobs, including those that involve driving or operating heavy machinery, very dangerous. People with a disability that limits their ability to work may be able to get Social Security disability benefits. Narcolepsy isn’t on the Social Security Administration’s list of qualified disorders. But if you get frequent bouts of sleep attacks, you may still be able to get benefits. First, you’ll need to meet these criteria:To qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance , you must have worked for a certain period of time before you became disabled. In general, you’ll need to have worked for the last 5 out of the past 10 years; however, the requirement is shorter if you’ve worked for fewer than 10 years. The sooner you apply for disability benefits, the better. It can take 3 to 5 months for the SSA to process your claim. Before you apply, make sure that you have all the medical information the SSA will need from you. This includes:Your doctor can help you pull this information together. If your claim is denied, you can appeal it. You have 60 days from the date on the denial notice to file an appeal. Note that there’s a good chance your first appeal will be denied most claims don’t get approved on the first try. If your appeal is denied, the next step is to have a hearing before a judge. Hiring a disability lawyer can increase your odds of having a successful outcome at the hearing. If you still don’t get approval for disability benefits, consider asking your employer for accommodations. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, many companies are required to make changes that help their employees with disabilities do their jobs. You might ask to adjust your work hours so you can sleep later. Or you could request frequent breaks during the day to take naps. Talk with your company’s human resources manager to find out what accommodations are available to you. You can apply for Social Security disability in one of three ways:In addition to getting help from your doctor, you can seek assistance from the following resources:Narcolepsy isn’t one of the conditions the SSA considers a disability. But if your symptoms interfere with your ability to do your job, you may still qualify for benefits. The Disability Benefits Help website offers a free evaluation to help you determine whether your condition is considered a disability. Start by having a conversation with your doctor. Gather all of your medical information. Then, if possible, hire a lawyer to help steer you through the process. If you can’t afford a lawyer, don’t worry disability lawyers work on a contingency basis. That means your lawyer won’t get paid unless you win your claim. At that point, they’ll get a percentage of the back pay you’re awarded. | 3 | https://www.healthline.com/health/narcolepsy/is-narcolepsy-a-disability | false | null |
782 | The Crown's learning disability storyline highlights painful lack of progress | From employment to healthcare, learning disabled people still face discrimination and inequality There are 1. 5 million learning disabled people in the UK, but they are rarely seen or heard from. Little is spoken of this demographic of people, who in many cases completely rely on others in order to live. Unless you’re a family carer or professionally involved, you may not know or have regular contact with any learning disabled people. However, in episode 7 of the latest season of The Crown, viewers learn more about the royal family and learning disabled people. Peter Morgan, creator of the series, writes about two learning disabled women, Nerissa and Katherine Bowes Lyon. In Morgan’s fictional depiction, Princess Margaret and the Queen discover that Katherine and Nerissa, their cousins on their mother’s side, are still alive, despite being listed as dead in Burke’s Peerage, and have spent their adult lives in an “institution for mental defectives”. Despite being born into wealth and privilege, Nerissa and Katherine found that their background didn’t protect them from a harsh truth that still perpetuates today: learning disabled people are, in the main, forgotten. I would like to be comforting, to ameliorate and to say the Bowes Lyon sisters were born in another time; an age that lacked enlightenment, far removed from our own. But these institutions are still with us, now called assessment and treatment units, and a recent report showed that within NHS hospitals like these and some specialist schools, learning disabled/autistic people are subjected to prone restraint every 15 minutes. The world knows how dangerous prone restraint is, because we watched in horror as a version of the technique was used on George Floyd this summer. I’d like to be able to look back to another time and place when I reflect on the fate of the Queen’s cousins. I want to say that things have moved on significantly in all areas of life for disabled people. But this month, the BBC is commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Disability Discrimination Act and seemingly only physically disabled people are being featured in the broadcaster’s celebrations. Learning disabled people are still denied work opportunities; in England, only six in 100 people with a learning disability are in employment, compared with 52. 5% of the wider disabled community in Great Britain. And in the context of the pandemic, learning disabled people in the UK are six times more likely to die of Covid 19 and learning disabled people in the UK aged between 18 and 34 are 30 times more likely to die from Covid 19. Learning disabled people have not as yet been included on the extremely vulnerable shielding list, even though respiratory conditions were the leading cause of death of learning disabled people in 2018 and 2019. In the episode The Hereditary Principle, Morgan chooses not to forget. He wanted to tell the world that these two women – the Queen’s cousins – existed. I loved the episode, and loved too that the production team chose learning disabled performers to tell Nerissa and Katherine’s story. It’s key that the representation of learning disabled people onscreen is authentically rendered, which is definitely the case with the writing and direction. There is no sentimentality, no “inspiration porn” on view. In 2009, I launched a campaign called Don’t Play Me, Pay Me after our then 14 year old child was the first autistic person in the UK to play an autistic character, in the BBC’s Dustbin Baby. At the time, it was a radical notion. The campaign drew attention to the lack of disabled people in creative industries to highlight that disabled people’s ambitions aren’t diminished by a lack of talent, only by a lack of opportunity. I met broadcasters including the BBC and the campaign prompted widespread news coverage. I was diagnosed as autistic in 2014 and went back into the acting career I’d trained for, but if TV and film representation of disabled people is rare for young disabled actors, it’s even rarer for those, like me, in middle age. | 3 | https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/nov/26/the-crown-learning-disability-storyline-painful-lack-of-progress | false | null |
788 | Disability Groups Worried As Supreme Court Weighs Affordable Care Act | Advocates say that people with disabilities have a lot to lose as the U. S. Supreme Court considers whether or not to strike down the Affordable Care Act. The high court heard arguments Tuesday in a case brought by Texas and backed by the Trump administration and several other Republican led states challenging the federal health care law. The suit, California v. Texas, alleges that the law’s “individual mandate,” requiring that most Americans buy health insurance or pay a penalty, is unconstitutional because Congress eliminated the penalty in 2017. Accordingly, those who brought the claim say that given how central the mandate is to the law, the Affordable Care Act should be thrown out in its entirety. With the Trump administration supporting the Texas position, California and a group of Democratic leaning states as well as the House of Representatives are defending the law. Nineteen national disability advocacy groups filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court urging that the law be upheld, arguing that it “uniquely and extensively benefits people with disabilities. ”Not only does the Affordable Care Act greatly increase opportunities for people to gain health insurance, but the law protects people from being denied coverage due to pre existing conditions or lifetime limits. It also guarantees coverage of services for mental illness and developmental disabilities, provides access to home health care and bars discrimination in access to health care, the advocates said. “By including these provisions, Congress intentionally sought to benefit people with disabilities,” reads the amicus brief. “It would not have wanted to sacrifice all of these protections merely because the minimum coverage provision were declared invalid. ”Groups involved in filing the brief include the American Association of People with Disabilities, The Arc, the Association of University Centers on Disabilities, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, the Autism Society, the Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities, the National Council on Independent Living, the National Disability Rights Network and the National Down Syndrome Congress, among others. In oral arguments conducted by telephone this week, multiple justices seemed hesitant to do away with the entire law. “I think it’s hard for you to argue that Congress intended the entire act to fall if the mandate were struck down when the same Congress that lowered the penalty to zero did not even try to repeal the rest of the act,” said Chief Justice John Roberts. “I think, frankly, that they wanted the court to do that. But that’s not our job. ”Similarly, Justice Brett Kavanaugh did not seem inclined to strike the whole Affordable Care Act even if the individual mandate is found unconstitutional. “I tend to agree with you that it’s a very straightforward case for severability under our precedents, meaning that we would excise the mandate and leave the rest of the act in place,” Kavanaugh said. Disability advocates said the importance of the Affordable Care Act and the court’s determination in this case could not be more significant. “People with disabilities have long struggled to access health care that actually meets their needs,” said Alison Barkoff, director of advocacy at the Center for Public Representation, which was part of the amicus brief. “The ACA’s protections for people with pre existing conditions, essential health benefits and Medicaid expansion are tremendous advancements in that fight, and the ACA’s importance to the disability community cannot be overstated. ”A decision in the case is not expected until next year. In one rural county, people with disabilities and others who have been appointed a guardian may soon lose the ability to vote even if a court has expressly preserved their right to do so. | 3 | https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2020/11/11/disability-groups-worried-as-supreme-court-weighs-affordable-care-act/29080/ | false | null |
793 | Our adult son has a learning disability. How will he cope as coronavirus surges? | Families with vulnerable sons and daughters have been left adrift during the pandemic. We fear what will come nextMy younger son, Thomas, turned 40 in June. But the big party to which his many aunts, uncles and cousins had been invited had to be cancelled. Thomas has Down’s syndrome and a severe learning disability and lives in a residential home; until recently, he hadn’t been able to see his family since early March. His father and I have been able to keep in touch with our son via video calls facilitated by his key worker, and after the first lockdown eased, we were able to see him twice outdoors. His siblings and nephew and nieces saw him too. But now the visits have been put on hold again. We are fortunate that Thomas seems to have adjusted to his new routine, but we are concerned that he is not able to maintain the social contact he was used to with his family, nor take part in activities such as going to shops and cafes. Most of all he has missed going to Wolves’ home matches, which is an important part of his life. These restrictions risk him losing skills. Now the virus is surging again and another lockdown approaches. While attention has been given to the plight of older people needing care during the pandemic, there has been much less focus on adults with a learning disability, autism and/or complex needs; vulnerable people who are often completely dependent upon others for their safety and wellbeing. Other families have faced much greater challenges than ours. Some have not been able to see their relatives at all since the start of the spring lockdown. Three of the parents I am in touch with, all mothers now on their own, have not seen their son or daughter since the start of lockdown 1. One told me: “He must think that I’ve died, like his father. ”Others decided to bring their child back to the family home for the duration of the first lockdown, finding themselves faced with months of caring with no support. Robert is a thirtysomething young man with complex needs who, before the first lockdown, had two to one support, attended a day service every weekday and had residential respite many weekends. A few days before lockdown 1, all this support stopped overnight with no contact from social services. Thankfully, most of the support is now back in place. It is also fortunate that Robert’s mother, who is over 70, is in good physical health, is resilient and has some family support. I know I would not have coped. We have been lucky to have the video calls with my son, which have reassured me that he has been fundamentally OK, although I am concerned that the continuing isolation may have a detrimental long term impact. But even this contact has not been possible for everyone, particularly those with the most severe disabilities, who are not able to communicate in this way, or who would be too distressed. One young woman was very distressed at not being able to go home for visits as usual; others have been confused and upset by the halting of activities and unaccustomed confinement. We have all experienced some of this, but how much more difficult is it when you can’t understand why?All families worry that the virus may get into the home, that staff may not be coping, that their son or daughter may need medical treatment that was not accessible. They’ve all had to navigate considerable bureaucracy before being able to see their son or daughter. Some families still have not been able to, and the prospects of it happening any time soon are fast receding. These worries, and the loss of contact, concern about loneliness, loss of services and, for many, a lack of communication from care providers, have all added to the stress experienced by families. But my greatest concern is for those who, like Robert’s mum, are caring at home for an adult with challenging behaviour, and have suddenly found themselves abandoned with no support. | 3 | https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/nov/04/our-adult-son-learning-disability-coronavirus-surges | false | null |
795 | SoundWatch: New smartwatch app alerts d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing users to birdsong, sirens and other desired sounds | UW researchers have developed a smartwatch app for d/Deaf and hard of hearing people who want to be aware of nearby sounds. The smartwatch will identify sounds the user is interested in and send the user a friendly buzz along with information about them. Smartwatches offer people a private method for getting notifications about their surroundings such as a phone call, health alerts or an upcoming package delivery. Now University of Washington researchers have developed SoundWatch, a smartwatch app for deaf, Deaf and hard of hearing people who want to be aware of nearby sounds. When the smartwatch picks up a sound the user is interested in examples include a siren, a microwave beeping or a bird chirping SoundWatch will identify it and send the user a friendly buzz along with information about the sound. The team presented these findings Oct. 28 at the ACM conference on computing and accessibility. “This technology provides people with a way to experience sounds that require an action such as getting food from the microwave when it beeps. But these devices can also enhance people’s experiences and help them feel more connected to the world,” said lead author Dhruv Jain, a UW doctoral student in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. “I use the watch prototype to notice birds chirping and waterfall sounds when I am hiking. It makes me feel present in nature. My hope is that other d/Deaf and hard of hearing people who are interested in sounds will also find SoundWatch helpful. ”The team started this project by designing a system for d/Deaf and hard of hearing people who wanted to be able to know what was going on around their homes. “I used to sleep through the fire alarm,” said Jain, who was born hard of hearing. The first system, called HomeSound, uses Microsoft Surface tablets scattered throughout the home which act like a network of interconnected displays. Each display provides a basic floor plan of the house and alerts a user to a sound and its source. The displays also show the sound’s waveforms, to help users identify the sound, and store a history of all the sounds a user might have missed when they were not home. The researchers tested HomeSound in the Seattle area homes of six d/Deaf or hard of hearing participants for three weeks. Participants were instructed to go about their lives as normal and complete weekly surveys. Based on feedback, a second prototype used machine learning to classify sounds in real time. The researchers created a dataset of over 31 hours of 19 common home related sounds such as a dog bark or a cat meow, a baby crying and a door knock. “People mentioned being able to train their pets when they noticed dog barking sounds from another room or realizing they didn’t have to wait by the door when they were expecting someone to come over,” Jain said. “HomeSound enabled all these new types of interactions people could have in their homes. But many people wanted information throughout the day, when they were out in their cars or going for walks. ”In the second prototype of HomeSound, the tablets sent information to a smartwatch, which is how the researchers got the idea to make the standalone app. Jain et al. /CHI 2020The researchers then pivoted to a smartwatch system, which allows users to get sound alerts wherever they are, even in places they might not have their phones, such as at the gym. Because smartwatches have limited storage and processing abilities, the team needed a system that didn’t eat the watch’s battery and was also fast and accurate. First the researchers compared a compressed version of the HomeSound classifier against three other available sound classifiers. The HomeSound variant was the most accurate, but also the slowest. | 3 | https://www.washington.edu/news/2020/10/28/soundwatch-alerts-ddeaf-and-hard-of-hearing-users-to-desired-sounds/?utm_source=UW_News_Subscribers&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=UW_Today_lead&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiT1RnMU4ySTVZbVEwWmpjNSIsInQiOiJ6dDhBaUxHZVdINndBOXpYVWhKeVFCZnU2c2pXZzFDZDRcL0t6NVpJRU1UUTBnQ1VjaUo1Z0NhbHV0eVZ0NG9kQ2hIdHRSVll0dTc1M2czNHphUno3WmpOSVlQeUtsWHRFZHZLZzVRS0cxbTk2dm5jNnR3bEV5bDd0ZGJrOTdOVDkifQ%3D%3D | true | null |
796 | The Six Short Films Of “CripTales” Tell Authentic Stories Of Disability | There are still a few days left to enjoy a free streaming event presented by BBC America and the AMC Network, in partnership with the American Association of People with Disabilities. Through the month of October 2020, “CripTales,” a collection of short films from the United Kingdom, all of them written, directed, and acted by people with disabilities, is free to view on the networks’ websites. Curated by British actor and writer Mat Fraser, the collection features six filmed monologues, each about 15 minutes long, highlighting different facets of disability life. In each film, one actor speaks directly to the audience. The sets are simple. But they are enhanced by costumes, props, and set designs that place each story in historical and tonal context, and at times highlight certain objects … like wheelchairs, canes, and prosthetics . . . that are important in disabled people’s lives. These films succeed both as a collective artistic statement, and as an unusually in depth experience in disability awareness. Anyone who wants to understand disability life and culture beyond crude stereotypes and happy, progressive platitudes needs to watch these films. They aren’t all “inspiring” or “educational” in the conventional sense. But they are all moving and authentic, which is arguably more important. The six films of “CripTales” are:These can all be fairly described as “disability films. ” They aren’t “mainstream” films where disabled characters “just happen” to appear. But, they aren’t preachy “issue” films either. While they all make sharp social observations and judgments, watching them is neither a chore nor an exercise in pity or guilt. “CripTales” is an emotionally complex, topically diverse film series that makes a strong statement for the disability experience and disabled artists’ unique ability to interpret it. Emotionally complexFilms centered on disability and disabled characters are almost always emotional, but usually confined to a narrow range of responses, alternating between pity, sentimentality, and a vague sort of triumph. The six films of “CripTales” evoke a much broader range of emotions that are relatable to everyone, but especially familiar to disabled people, in particular:Topically diverseThese films are all “about disability. ” But they aren’t all about one single thing certainly not just about disability. Each story introduces viewers to several distinct but related aspects of disability culture and experience, including:The format of six short films allows the 90 minute collection as a whole to cover a much wider range of disability topics than many more famous Oscar winning and Oscar contending feature films about disability. A milestone and a statementPerhaps above all, “CripTales” underscores the added authenticity and integrity of disabled characters when they are portrayed by disabled actors. And it’s not just a matter of equal opportunity and representation. These disabled actors are able to portray disabiled characters honestly in ways that non disabled actors simply can’t. Non disabled actors are often praised for “accurate” portrayals of disabled characters, but what’s praised is mainly mimicry and a kind of stunt acting that calls attention to the actor and distracts from the person they are trying to bring to life. “CripTales” shows what is possible and better when the actor is able to focus on getting the person right rather than getting the disability right. “CripTales also offers the artistic visions of not one but several diverse disabled writers, actors, and directors. Disability on film usually offers us only one version of disability, or one disabled person’s interpretation of it. Disability itself is incredibly diverse. So bringing together many disabled voices is both historically significant and artistically more satisfying. | 3 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewpulrang/2020/10/28/the-six-short-films-of-criptales-tell-authentic-stories-of-disability/?sh=1fffc4e2b8d0 | true | null |
797 | Heading To The Polls? If You Have A Disability, Here's What To Know | Clare Lombardo An accessible voting booth, during the New Hampshire primary at a high school in Nashua, New Hampshire. Everyone in the U. S. is facing a new barrier to voting this year: COVID 19. But if you have a disability, 2020 probably isnt the first year youve faced one obstacle or another while casting your ballot. During the 2016 election, a whopping 83% of polling places posed at least one impediment for voters with disabilities say, a pathway inaccessible to a voter in a wheelchair. And, according to a study by the Government Accountability Office, less than 40% of locations equipped their voting systems for people with disabilities to cast their votes privately: electronic voting systems werent powered on, for example, or they lacked earphones, or the stations werent big enough for a wheelchair. Its a huge problem. Researchers at Rutgers University predict that 38. 3 million people with disabilities will be eligible to vote in this years election. Thats close to 1 in every 6 voters who could have extra trouble voting because of their disability. These barriers depend on where you are and what type of disability you have, says Michelle Bishop, the voter access and engagement manager at the National Disability Rights Network. Thats even more true, Id say, in 2020, where weve seen a lot of change very quickly nationwide, she says. If youre heading to vote in person on Election Day, remember: The worst thing you could do is forfeit your right to have your voice heard, Bishop says. Heres what to remember to make sure you can exercise that important right. Check your polling place. Contact your local election official. Our Time, Our Vote has resources for voters with learning disabilities. Find a local member agency within the National Disability Rights Network. Step 1: Plan ahead and try to anticipate the barriers you might face. First, check your polling place, which may have changed due to the pandemic. Many polling places that used to be in accessible nursing homes and long term care facilities have been relocated posing dilemmas for their residents and voters who relied on their accessible spaces. Your new polling station may be more or less accessible than the last one you used. And, of course, there are other factors: It could potentially be further away, and getting there in itself can be a barrier, Bishop says. You can ask about that or any other concerns through your local elections office. Look up your local office through this website. If youre a little bit concerned about your polling place working for you, find out what else you can do, says Bishop. In many places, you might be able to vote curbside: If you can get to your polling place, but its difficult for you to get in and get all the way to the voting station, they might bring the ballot out to you. It might not be too late to get a mail in ballot depending on where you are. You need all the things you usually bring when you leave the house these days. You wouldnt show up at the grocery store completely unprepared and expect them to hand you a mask and wash your hands, says Bishop. You know the drill. Youll also want to be prepared for long lines, just in case. If you take medication on a schedule, bring some, along with water and snacks. Its not fair, in my mind, that people with disabilities sometimes have to study these rights and be prepared to assert themselves. You shouldnt have to jump through extra hoops to be able to cast your ballot, says Bishop. Its not right, but it is where were at right now. Remember these rights as you head to the polls:If you dont have what you need, let the poll workers know. Bradlees learning disability is invisible, and he says that in order to make sure he has resources to vote and to make sure everyone believes him I cant just say I have a disability. I have to be more specific. | 3 | https://www.npr.org/2020/10/28/928607616/heading-to-the-polls-if-you-have-a-disability-heres-what-to-know | false | null |
798 | Mindset Matters: Arguing For A New Strategy On Disability Employment | We have only scratched the surface the value of of persons with disabilities across American . . . [+] businessThis October marks 75 years of National Disability Employment Awareness Month highlighting the significance of workers with disabilities. The idea was designed to educate the public about numerous disability employment issues while celebrating the contributions of American workers with disabilities. National Disability Employment Awareness Month can trace its origins back to 1945 at the end of World War II when Congress enacted a law declaring that the first week of October to be National Handicapped Week. It was later expanded and changed its name to the one we currently use today. Over the years this month has become a touchpoint for disability organizations and others in the community to come together with corporate America to espouse the value of hiring persons with disabilities. During these past 75 years, the very concept of disability has become more sophisticated bringing in corporate stakeholders from areas of diversity and inclusion, talent management, to human resources. Cultivating these relationships is fundamental to the continual social participation of persons with disabilities within the larger economic milieu of American business. However, even before the coronavirus pandemic, there was a sense of groupthink that was creeping into how disability employment was talked about in the context of corporate life. While companies like Microsoft, General Motors, Ernst and Young, and others were contributing new ideas to the space, particularly as it pertained to autism, there is still a traditionally held attitude that persons with disabilities are valued, and they deserved to be considered as a powerful talent pool that is overlooked within corporate America. First of all, no one should dispute this idea, while this has been the driving force behind employment strategies for persons with disabilities, we must take a moment to see what areas in the disability space should be reexamined in the context of corporate culture and how companies should reassess their true value. As horrible as the coronavirus has been, it has offered a silver lining in reimagining the culture of work. Companies of all sizes are learning how to adapt quickly. While there are certainly tremendous growing pains, this moment in time should be a wake up call for both American industry and disability organizations to recognize that it is time for a reset. The rules of the game are changing right before our eyes, and persons with disabilities should be in the mix not only as a valuable pool of human capital, but key drivers for shaping what the future of work can look like. This could potentially be the dawn of a new power dynamic, a shift in thinking where disability organizations are not only bolstering a pool of human capital but utilizing the power of ideas from the lived experience of disability to shape the new economy of the 21st century. This futurist approach offers a glimpse into how society needs to reassess the larger implications of workers with disabilities in American business. As the coronavirus pandemic has illustrated for numerous businesses, we are in a moment of transformation where day to day corporate life has become decentralized, we are relying on technology to be the connective tissue that glues us all together. For many workers with disabilities, this can be a blessing in disguise in the sense that management practitioners are forced to have everyone working within their own space, using personal devices, or perhaps technology provided by the organization. The focus is shifted squarely on productivity. However, this type of structure also allows workers to find their pacing and develop a style where one can get things done. For persons with disabilities being able to adapt and develop coping strategies have been a necessity in one’s daily life. This type of structure only bodes well for greater success. This should be a key lesson that companies need to embrace. Human resource and talent management executives ought to take this into account that persons with disabilities provide a new paradigmatic model that can be extracted from their own lived experience. This can then be directly translated into the companies changing business model that is being modified for a post pandemic world. Companies need to be ready so that employees with disabilities status within the world of work can be seen through a new lens. | 3 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathankaufman/2020/10/23/mindset-matters-arguing-for-a-new-strategy-on-disability-employment/?sh=3f9400f25e69 | true | null |
802 | Mindset Matters: Disability And The Power Of Patience As A Business Asset | The practice of patience is an essential component to the future of business strategy in the environment of the 21st CenturyThe poet and playwright Neil Marcus wrote that “Disability is not a brave struggle or ‘courage in the face of adversity. ’ Disability is an art. It’s an ingenious way to live. ” As we round out the discovery of these triumvirate themes that have defined this new Disability Narrative and its relationship to the imagination of business, it is crucial to recognize that using these archetypes will only enhance an organizations capacity to embrace the constant flow of new business thinking for the present while shaping the vision for the corporate culture of tomorrow. This new narrative and its applications serve as real agents of change when thinking about its growing impact on all facets of organizational culture. It is a framework that is built on the foundation of originality, creativity, and resourcefulness that have been key ingredients of the disability experience from time and memorial. The final theme to discuss in this triumvirate is the role of Patience. In this fast paced world of the digital economy where immediacy becomes one of the most valued currencies, organizational culture often loses sight of the status patience plays in the development of a robust business strategy that can have long term implications. For those across the disability spectrum, whether it be persons with learning disabilities to those with physical disabilities, having a deep understanding of patience and its value has been essential in designing a quality of life that allows one to set goals, measure progress and setbacks while staying focused on the mission at hand, whatever it may be. It is these very ideas that can be adopted and transformed into compelling tactics and utilized by entrepreneurs, management practitioners, to corporate leaders in helping to build businesses, shape corporate culture, and be mindful of the challenges ahead. Patience in the lived experience of disability is an essential part of life, it provides the fuel for what Neil Marcus described as the art and ingenuity that is the hallmark of those who are continually redefining their disability in a new way. This manner of thinking needs to be an essential component of the evolution of management thinking. Corporate leaders need to understand that one should not equate patience with laziness or idleness, but rather as a meaningful exercise that can help corporate culture and business leadership to find a sense of pacing that allows them to magnify their perspective and define their business strategy to continue to grow and learn. In doing so, organizations can build a strong internal culture, while developing deeper relationships with customers externally and finding the best way to shape an environment that will continually grow to meet critical challenges and position the organization to be industry leaders. The triumvirate of these archetypal themes known as Adaptation, Resilience, and Patience that guide this new Disability Narrative will help to set a standard for business while inspiring a new sense of artistry and imagination that can have a seismic impact on the corporate culture of the 21st Century. As organizations like the Business Roundtable and the World Economic Forum have broadened the definition and role of a corporation, the language of disability opens up a whole new appreciation of the power that this lived experience can have in thinking and executing new and innovative strategies around corporate infrastructure. Understanding the future of work and the inevitable evolution of corporate culture, valuing human performance will be fundamental in the long term success of any organization. Corporate leaders and management practitioners must see that embracing a human centered approach to work alongside a digital future will only be a benefit in the long run. | 3 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathankaufman/2020/10/16/mindset-matters-disability-and-the-power-of-patience-as-a-business-asset/?sh=1f24f13066d3 | true | null |
806 | A Guide to Disability Resources for Remote Learning | Students with disabilities face unique challenges with the shift to remote learning at colleges and universities across the country. Whether you’re an undergraduate, graduate, or professional student, you may be wondering how the supportive services and accommodations that you’ve grown accustomed to will work in the distance hybrid model. Azusa Pacific University understands this and has gone to great lengths to pivot its accommodations and services for disability resources. The offerings should better help students navigate their coursework, leverage cutting edge technologies, and access needed support. “These are extraordinary times,” said Carmen Varela, director of APU’s Office of Accessibility and Disability Resources . “Our service delivery model is grounded in principles of justice. And we have a commitment to care for all our students, so we want to make sure that you have the equal opportunity to participate in your education and that you’re being cared for while you’re studying at APU. ”If you’re curious to learn more about the strategies APU has put into place to support its students, here’s what you need to know. To learn how APU is shifting accommodations and services for disability resources, start with the ADR Student Guide site. This is a user friendly site where you can find a comprehensive guide to academic accommodations, a Zoom recording of the Fall 2020 Question and Answer Session, and more information about assistive technology, study tips, advice for speaking to your professors, and more. “We’ve worked really hard to make sure that it’s comprehensive,” Varela said. “It covers testing, assistive technology, note takers, captioners, scribes almost everything we could think of. ”Additionally, APU is offering remote versions of accommodations that are traditionally offered in person, including:Professors are generally eager to help students with disabilities succeed. If you feel that your professor isn’t implementing your accommodations, you should reach out to them or connect with them during office hours to talk about your needs. If that doesn’t resolve your concern, don’t hesitate to contact ADR. If you contract COVID 19, the ADR staff can help you identify what types of additional accommodations you may need. Some people have mild cases while others have more serious symptoms, so accommodations are individualized. You might need flexible attendance, extended time on assignments, or note taking assistance, for example. Don’t hesitate to be candid about your condition and ask for the help you need. If you haven’t requested accommodations for your disability, you can download and complete the Request for Accommodations form. You’ll need to return that form along with verification of your disability from a medical professional. Then, you’ll schedule an intake meeting with someone from the ADR to talk about what accommodations you might need for the semester. If it’s difficult to get an appointment with your medical provider because of COVID 19, let the ADR staff know so they can help. You can apply at any time you don’t need to wait until the start of a semester. Keep in mind that accommodations aren’t retroactive, so apply as soon as possible. Veterans with disabilities should follow the same process as other students for identifying what accommodations they need and applying for them. Veterans may also qualify for VA benefits and California rehab benefits, so it’s worth having a conversation. There are many other accommodations that can be made for students and support networks they can tap into, both within and outside of Azusa Pacific. Here are some great resources to help students with disabilities connect with additional information:Do you have additional questions about other resources that can help while you’re studying remotely? Contact the Office of Accessibility and Disability Resources to learn more. | 3 | https://www.apu.edu/articles/a-guide-to-disability-resources-for-remote-learning/ | true | null |
807 | Here Are Some Dos And Don’ts Of Disability Language | What’s the right way to refer to someone in a wheelchair, or a someone who can’t see, or see well, or a person who can’t hear, or hear well, someone who doesn’t speak, who has noticeable trouble understanding things, someone who is sick a lot, or always in pain, or who just seems strange or “off” in some undefinable way? The contentious debate never seems to end over what are the right and wrong words and phrases to use to discuss anything to do with disabilities and disabled people. The question resists all attempts to forge broad consensus. Disabled people, their families and friends, their allies and casual acquaintances, and their antagonists can’t agree on which words strike the right balance between accuracy, clarity, realism, and positivity. Some of us hammer away at words we find outdated and offensive. Others look around, confused, wondering when the disability words they once learned as progressive suddenly became not only passé, but provocative. Some try to use language to reshape the entire concept of disability, or redefine it out of existence somehow. Some use words to unify the diverse disability community, while others strive for specificity and ever finer distinctions between different disabilities and communities. Some work to curb the use of obviously insulting terms, while others take pride in the old adage about “sticks and stones. ” Some hope to use language to lift disabled people up, while others prefer precision and linguistic elegance. We are carefully taught by one wave of credible activists and diversity consultants to say “people with disabilities,” only to be told by a later generation of disabled people that this diminishes the experience and meaning of disability, and is in any case awkward and a little condescending. Is there a way for anyone to navigate disability language clearly, safely, and respectfully?Obviously, it’s impossible to satisfy everyone. But that doesn’t mean there are no useful guidelines. Here are a few tips to sort through the competing schools of thought on disability language, and ride the various waves of popularity and revision that disability language goes through. 1. Recognize obviously insulting terms and stop using or tolerating them. Idiot, imbecile, moron, and retarded for developmentally disabled or intellectually disabled . . . deaf and dumb for deaf and non speaking or non verbal . . . crazy, nut, looney, insane for mentally ill or mentally disabled . . . cripple, gimp for physically disabled or just disabled. These are all terms which should never be used in conversation, and there would be little loss in communication if we did just stop using them except for historical or explanatory purposes . One interesting thing to note is that nearly all of these insulting, offensive terms were once commonly accepted, even clinical descriptions for various disabilities. They weren’t viewed as insults at the time. And yet they have always carried the assumed prejudices of those times towards the people those terms represented. So while “moron” and “idiot” in the 19th and early 20th centuries were clinical terms for different “levels” of intellectual disability, the horrifically disdainful and disgusted opinions about intellectually disabled people helped make those words insulting, at the time and especially today. This discussion of banning or rendering certain words taboo inevitably leads to “what aboutism” aimed at people from marginalized groups “reclaiming” insulting terms for their own internal purposes. In the world of disability, this most notably applies to “cripple” and “crip,” which disability activists and participants in disability culture still use to refer to themselves, either ironically or defiantly. It’s the kind of situation where if you are part of the group you can use it for yourselves, but from other people’s mouths it’s an insult. There are a dozen ways to analyze and justify or criticize this intellectually, but it’s also just the way things work with people who are marginalized or oppressed. People should be allowed to use terms that mean something to them. And others need to recognize the limits of their power to regulate this practice. | 3 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewpulrang/2020/09/30/here-are-some-dos-and-donts-of-disability-language/?sh=52f60186d170 | false | null |
808 | New data shows that homelessness is a women’s rights issue | PhD Student, Geography, McGill University PhD Candidate, Anthropology, Western University Postdoctoral Fellow, MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michaels Hospital, University of Toronto Senior Researcher, Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, York University, Canada Hannah Brais is a doctoral student at McGill University. She receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. She is affiliated with the Old Brewery Mission and the Womens National Housing and Homelessness Network. Alex Nelson receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. They are affiliated with the Womens National Housing and Homelessness Network, the Canadian Lived Experience Leadership Network, and the Vote Housing Campaign. Jesse Jenkinson receives funding from Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. She is affiliated with the Womens National Housing and Homelessness Network. Kaitlin J. Schwan has received funding from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to support her research on homelessness. She is affiliated with the Womens National Housing and Homelessness Network. University of Toronto provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation CA. McGill University, York University, and Western University provide funding as members of The Conversation CA. McGill University, Western University, York University, and University of Toronto provide funding as members of The Conversation CA FR. View all partnersVisible homelessness during the COVID 19 pandemic has highlighted the housing crisis across Canada. For women, girls and gender diverse people, homelessness is often hidden, meaning that they are more likely to avoid shelters, couch surf or remain in abusive relationships than end up on the streets. Because of this, we know less about their experiences. New data from the Pan Canadian Women’s Housing and Homelessness Survey, the largest gender specific data collection of its kind in Canada, tells us a clear story. Lack of access to housing has gendered causes and effects, and gender equality in Canada depends on fair access to adequate housing. This survey, completed by 500 women and gender diverse people in 12 provinces and territories, shows us why housing is a women’s rights issue. Twenty eight per cent of women led households struggle with the affordability, suitability or adequacy of their housing. This is almost double the rate of households led by men. The Pan Canadian Survey found that many women and gender diverse people who have experiences of homelessness have no money after paying for housing. Only 14. 2 per cent can make ends meet after paying rent. We know that women and gender diverse people still earn less than men, limiting access to an increasingly unaffordable housing market. Women are also more likely to have minimum wage or part time employment, meaning housing is even more unaffordable for them. In the Pan Canadian Survey, 60. 2 per cent of participants reported not being able to afford a place to live, and 46. 5 per cent reported not being able to afford a damage deposit, moving expenses and/or utility hookups. Participants also noted that the available affordable housing was inadequate for children , in bad condition , unsafe or inaccessible to people with disabilities . More than one third of participants had also been forced to leave their most recent housing because they couldn’t afford it anymore . Gender pay inequities have a real impact on women’s right to housing. Homeless counts of the general population, without a gendered lens, report that the top reason people lose their housing is because of addiction and substance use. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/new-data-shows-that-homelessness-is-a-womens-rights-issue-168647 | false | null |
809 | NSW inquiry rejects expert advice on Parental Rights Bill, and it will cause students to suffer | PhD Candidate, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University PhD Candidate, Centre for Emotional Health, Macquarie University Associate Professor in Psychology, Macquarie University PhD Candidate, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University Emma F. Jackson is affiliated with the Academic Senate of Macquarie University. Jonathan David is an employee of Twenty10 inc GLCS NSW and President of Dayenu Sydneys Jewish LGBTQ+ Community. Melissa Norberg is the Deputy Director for the Centre for Emotional Health and the National President for the Australian Association for Cognitive and Behaviour Therapy . Veronica Sheanoda is a Consumer Advisory Committee member for her local Primary Health Network. Macquarie University provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU. View all partnersA newly released report by a NSW parliamentary inquiry ignores scientific research in supporting changes to the Education Act. These changes are likely to add to the risks of harm that transgender and gender diverse young people face. Schools need to provide appropriate care to all students. The proposed changes to the law will prevent staff from doing that for transgender and gender diverse young people. By further marginalising them, the changes could increase their already high rates of bullying, mental illness and suicide. Read more: Supporting trans people: 3 simple things teachers and researchers can do The Education Committee’s report ignored scientific research findings and recommendations presented in submissions to its inquiry into the Parental Rights Bill. One Nation MP Mark Latham, who introduced the bill to parliament last year, chaired the committee. Its report endorsed proposed amendments to the Education Act 1990 and Bulletin 55: Transgender Students in Schools that will prevent schools from teaching that gender and sex are distinct concepts. The amendments may also prevent school staff from affirming and supporting their transgender students until consent has been gained from potentially unsupportive parents, and lengthy, expensive medical procedures have been completed. By preventing appropriate care for all students, such changes will further alienate and marginalise transgender and gender diverse young people. Scientific research has for many decades regarded sex and gender as distinct, but related. Sex refers to the biological and anatomical characteristics attributed to males and females. Gender encompasses the social and cultural characteristics of men and women – for example, personality, stereotypical interests, and behaviour. Researchers recognize that sex and gender can be more related for some individuals and less related for others. Scientific research also acknowledges that neither gender nor sex is binary. The physiological characteristics used to define sex, such as chromosomes and external genitalia, can display variation outside a clear division of male and female. Moreover, both cisgender and transgender people may engage in gender nonconformity through their styles of dress, interests and behaviours. Nonbinary individuals can also have characteristics of both men and women, change between the categories, and/or see themselves as being outside the binary of male and female. Rates of mental health problems are much higher in gender nonconforming youths. In Australia, up to three in every four of these youths have been diagnosed with depression and/or anxiety. Much of this is due to school experiences such as peer rejection and bullying. Read more: Bullying linked to gender and sexuality often goes unchecked in schools Alarmingly, one in two transgender and gender nonconforming youths have attempted suicide. And about four in five report self harm or suicidal thoughts. Those who experience victimisation in school are four times more likely to attempt suicide than those who are not victimised. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/nsw-inquiry-rejects-expert-advice-on-parental-rights-bill-and-it-will-cause-students-to-suffer-167539 | false | null |
810 | Gender-specific health programs address important issues, but risk creating new biases | Research Fellow, University of Otago Lecturer in Health, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington and University of Otago provide funding as members of The Conversation NZ. Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington and University of Otago provide funding as members of The Conversation AU. View all partnersGone are the days when health programmes were designed to simply punish or reward people to encourage behaviour change. We now know lasting behaviour change is more complex and nuanced, and this has prompted a proliferation of programmes that attend to factors like motivation, confidence, social support and social determinants of health. Among such programmes, we’ve observed a trend towards gender targeted interventions. Examples include programmes for men focusing on rugby fandom as a route to getting them to look after their health, and those for women that concentrate on small, holistic health changes to limit the impact of damaging body ideals. While biological sex is based on our anatomy and physiology, gender is a socialised identity. Our gendered identities accompany societal expectations of how we should or should not act. There is no doubt gender shapes how we “do” health the way we eat, sleep, exercise, connect with others and manage stress. While gender specific needs are important, a gendered approach may ignore people who identify as neither and it runs the risk of creating new biases. Women focused health programmes were arguably developed as an antidote to an overwhelmingly patriarchal society. The most obvious bias in health research is that much of the data on women’s health has been collected by and from men. Gendered disadvantages or inequities for women also result from poor representation in leadership positions and unfair norms that place greater expectations on them. For example, women spend more time than men doing unpaid household work and taking on caring responsibilities. These imbalances trickle down to shape how women spend their time and care for their health. In response, women specific research centres have been established in New Zealand and internationally to help close the gap in knowledge regarding women’s health. Read more: Research into pregnancy, birth and infant care is historically underfunded – and women are paying the price Similarly, organizations like YWCA and Women’s Health Victoria position gendered inequities at the centre of their work and help create a better understanding of how health programmes can effectively support women’s long term outcomes for behaviour change. In New Zealand, Shift supports young women to be physically active through a focus on collaboration, fun, building community and leadership. Next Level Health empowers women by using a holistic and weight neutral approach to behaviour change. This moves the focus away from body weight and defines health more broadly, emphasising well being, connection to people and place and other behaviours. As a result, sleep, self care and stress management become as important as physical activity and nutrition. Such programmes create a more inclusive and relevant vision of health and counteract the body image concerns women often experience due to socialised pressures to attain an “ideal” body. Despite a male dominated health system, men continue to have a higher risk of various health conditions, including coronary heart disease and being overweight. When it comes to health behaviour programmes, men are notoriously difficult to recruit. This may be due to the fact men are less likely to seek help. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/gender-specific-health-programs-address-important-issues-but-risk-creating-new-biases-155840 | false | null |
812 | Why female bosses get different reactions than men when they criticize employees | imagine that your boss Ethan calls you into his office. He expresses disappointment in your recent performance and lack of commitment. How would you react? Would you accept the feedback and put in more effort? Or would you put in your office and start looking for a new job?
Now, would your reaction be different if your boss was not named Ethan but Emily? I’m a professor of economics, and my research investigates this very question. This has important implications for the success of women in leadership, such as Jane Fraser, who will take over Citigroup in February, becoming the first woman to lead a major Wall Street bank. If giving feedback is more likely to backfire for women in positions of power, they may adopt less effective management strategies or become altogether less interested in holding leadership positions. Women make up 45% of employees of S&P 500 companies. Yet, they only make up 37% of managers at the midlevel, 27% of bosses at the senior level and about 6% of CEOs. These disparities remain despite women having overtaken men in educational attainment. They have also begun scoring higher on leadership competency tests in recent years. Existing studies do not find clear evidence of gender discrimination against job applicants for upper management. Due to methodological constraints, such research typically focuses on hiring for entry level positions. Discrimination in promotion is much harder to study, as work interactions are more difficult for researchers to observe. My research, however, helps address this issue. For my study, I hired 2,700 workers online to transcribe receipts, randomly assigning a male or female name to a manager and randomly assigning which workers would receive performance feedback. Results show that both women and men react more negatively to criticism if it comes from a woman. The subjects reported that criticism by a woman led to a larger reduction in job satisfaction than criticism by a man. Employees were also doubly disinterested in working for the company in the future if they had been criticized by a female boss. Women in upper management are not simply being ignored. Workers hired for the transcription in our study actually spent slightly more time reading and thinking about feedback from female managers. Nor can implicit biases explain why employees are less likely to take criticism well from women. While we found that workers in this study were, on average, more likely to subconsciously associate men with career and women with family, this tendency does not predict whether they discriminate against female bosses. This type of discrimination is also not due to a lack of exposure to female supervisors. Workers stating that their previous female supervisor was highly effective were just as likely to bristle at the criticism from a woman boss. Instead, what seems to drive the results are gendered expectations of management styles. Other studies have shown that workers are three times more likely to associate giving praise with female managers and twice more likely to associate giving criticism with male managers. People react negatively if something violates their expectations. Case in point: critical female bosses. It remains unclear the extent to which results from this study can be generalized across more traditional work settings. Yet, the “gig economy” and other remote work arrangements are a rapidly expanding part of the economy. Some have argued that these jobs offer more flexibility and thus particularly benefit women. However, findings from this study highlight additional concerns about discrimination in the gig economy due to lack of regulatory oversight and equal opportunity protections in these jobs. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/why-female-bosses-get-different-reactions-than-men-when-they-criticize-employees-145970 | false | null |
813 | Gender diversity in science media still has a long way to go. Here’s a 5-step plan to move it along | Senior lecturer, Australian National University Merryn McKinnon provides science communication workshops for STEM professionals commercially as part of her work with the Centre for the Public Awareness of Science. Australian National University provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU. View all partnersPublic representation of science in the media still struggles to reflect the true diversity of those who work in science, technology, engineering or mathematics . According to a 2019 report from the Women’s Leadership Institute Australia, women are quoted as sources in just 33% of science news stories. However, this figure is based on 19 articles collected within a much broader study, of which science news was not a focus. To really understand the diversity of STEM representation in the media, we need a bigger sample. Some masters students and I collected a representative sample of 655 articles published in Australia’s mainstream and science news media during 2018. In the case of international media companies with an Australian presence, we looked at articles posted on their Australian edition, some of which were produced locally and some republished from overseas. Read more: Where are the women scientists, tech gurus and engineers in our films? We tallied the genders of the journalist, sources quoted directly or indirectly, photographer and photo subject in these articles. If any gender was not explicitly stated using a readily gender identifiable name or an explicit personal pronoun, we categorised the gender as “unidentified”. Our preliminary results show that in the 468 STEM related news articles that used direct gender identifiable quotes, both women and men were quoted as sources in 28% . Articles exclusively quoting men comprised 52% of the articles we examined. Only 20% of articles exclusively quoted women. Of course, the devil is in the detail, and when you start to look at the number of individuals quoted in stories the difference is stark. One egregious example was a “holiday reading list” from science magazine Cosmos, which featured nine books written or introduced by men, reviewed by five men. If we look just at the top five STEM news providers in our sample, results are mixed. Our sampled suggested that The Conversation, the ABC and the Daily Mail have equal or greater numbers of women writing about STEM topics, compared with men. But although some of these outlets are also close to having gender parity in expert sources, the dominant voices are still generally male. If “we can’t be what we can’t see”, then it is vital that female scientists and science writers are prominent in the media landscape. But unfortunately, our results reveal that this landscape is still dominated by men. There are many reasons for this. But let’s be clear: confronting this problem is not a job just for women, or just for the media. This is a systemic, structural and societal problem and everyone has a part to play in formulating the solution. This was one of many discussions held at this month’s Catalysing Gender Equity conference, held in Adelaide by the Australian Academy of Science and Science in Australia Gender Equity , and featuring delegates from higher education, research, government, media and the private sector. Building on the release last year of the Decadal Plan for Women in STEM, the conference aimed to develop tangible ways to work towards gender equity. Of course, gender equity is just one part of the overall problem. There are many groups throughout society that similarly need equitable representation and inclusion. Nobody should be marginalised or disadvantaged because of their age, race, culture, religion, disability, sexual orientation or socio economic status. Read more: Death by a thousand cuts: women of colour in science face a subtly hostile work environment | 1 | https://theconversation.com/gender-diversity-in-science-media-still-has-a-long-way-to-go-heres-a-5-step-plan-to-move-it-along-132174 | false | null |
814 | Cricket Australia’s new gender rules give much-needed clarity to athletes and clubs | Cricket Australia has made a significant contribution to gender diversity policy by producing a very detailed set of rules for elite level cricket, and guidelines for community cricket. They provide much needed clarity around what’s expected of transgender and gender diverse athletes, and what’s being asked of cricket clubs. Read more: Elite sport is becoming a platform to target the trans community On a global scale, including transgender and gender diverse athletes into sport is a work in progress. So far, in top level competitions, only the female category has been a cause for debate, stemming from the conclusion that male athletes have physical advantages over female athletes in terms of speed, strength and physique. For men transitioning to women , sports need assurance that this competitive advantage has been suitably reduced by surgical transition or taking hormones. In any case, transgender and gender diverse people face social acceptance challenges, to put it mildly. Cricket Australia, along with other Australian sports bodies who are starting to catch on, is providing unprecedented opportunities for people who, while “different”, can fit in and feel welcomed. For instance, Erica James, a cricketer who returned to the sport as a M2F player after 27 years, shows how inclusive sport clubs can boost mental health and self esteem, as the video below shows. In terms of elite level competition, Cricket Australia has followed the International Cricket Council’s Gender Recognition Policy from 2017, which was developed to accommodate transgender and gender diverse athletes in international tournaments or series. From a biological perspective, the International Cricket Council drew on the International Olympic Committee’s Transgender Guidelines. The IOC’s position is that a M2F athlete who aspires to enter the women’s category of sport must: demonstrate that her total testosterone level in serum has been below 10 nmol/L [Nanomoles Per Litre] for at least 12 months prior to her first competition . Read more: By excluding Hannah Mouncey, the AFLs inclusion policy has failed a key test This it what Cricket Australia has put in place. But the International Olympic Committee’s guidelines may change before the 2020 Olympics. Meanwhile, there is currently robust debate, most notably in the UK, about the efficacy of the International Olympic Committee’s policy position. Critics are underwhelmed by the International Olympic Committee’s lack of detail about how – from a scientific perspective – the transition requirements meet this IOC mantra: The overriding sporting objective is and remains the guarantee of fair competition. The problem is lack of detail. It’s not clear what evidence the policy is based upon. It may be scientifically sound, but it’s not in the public domain. In terms of high performance sport, Cricket Australia’s transgender and gender diverse policy is, to some extent, constrained by what relevant international bodies put in place. Cricket Australia has committed to review the policy annually. This means it can respond to any substantive changes to international sport, and fine tune for the Australian context. Read more: Israel Folaus comments remind us homophobia and transphobia are ever present in Australian sport | 1 | https://theconversation.com/cricket-australias-new-gender-rules-give-much-needed-clarity-to-athletes-and-clubs-121617 | false | null |
815 | Reality check: more women on boards doesn’t guarantee diversity | More women on boards is seen as an important indicator of gender equality and board effectiveness. The Australian government’s annual gender insights report, published last week, says greater female board membership helps drive more equitable pay across all levels of an organization. The Australian Institute of Company Directors emphasises other benefits. Last month, when it published its latest gender diversity progress report, managing director Angus Armour noted diverse boards help prevent groupthink , “leading to better outcomes for shareholders, consumers, employees and the community”. All this might be true, but there’s a problem in thinking board gender statistics alone indicate significant progress on diversity if the women getting picked for boards generally belong to the same networks as the male directors. Women now hold almost 30% of all board positions in Australia’s top 200 listed companies. Former AICD head Elizabeth Proust says that’s significant, because research “has shown this is the point at which you genuinely change the conversation around any table. ” Read more: Network contagion is key to getting healthier numbers of women on company boards But that’s not necessarily what the evidence from Australia’s banking royal commission shows. Equal numbers of women and men on the boards of IOOF or Commonwealth Bank, for example, didn’t seem to lead to any better outcomes than at ANZ , Westpac or NAB . Perhaps that’s because board membership is still an extremely exclusive club. In 2018 just 220 new board appointments were made in the ASX200 . Social connections drive those appointments, according to researcher Sherene Smith. There are few “outsiders”. Read more: Company boards are stacked with friends of friends so how can we expect change? So whatever progress has been made in increasing board gender diversity, there remains a fundamental problem of a lack of equal opportunity in the board appointments process. The lack of outsiders means groupthink is still a problem, because people from similar backgrounds and social circles are less likely to have very different perspectives, or be prepared to challenge the group. Mai Chen, of New Zealand’s Superdiversity Institute of Law, Policy and Business, talks about the difference between the type of diversity that promotes diverse thinking and ticking off achievement of mere “demographic balance”. This is certainly not to say that increasing female representation on boards is pointless. As Peta Spender puts it, “the role that women play on the boards of ASX 200 companies is a measure of women’s democratic leadership”. But for greater gender equality to really contribute to greater thought diversity, we have to think about all the other factors that might be just as important, such as ethnic, cultural and socio economic backgrounds, work and life experiences, educational attainment, or even personality traits. Gender is only one facet of diversity. Ideally a board should have members who are able to not only arrive at different solutions but also voice these solutions. Different aspects of diversity may be relevant for different companies. A company with offshore businesses, for example, might require foreign directors. A tech company might need to have a director with expertise in machine learning. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/reality-check-more-women-on-boards-doesnt-guarantee-diversity-103526 | false | null |
816 | Diplomacy and defence remain a boys’ club, but women are making inroads | The Lowy Institute has launched a three year study on gender representation in Australia’s diplomatic, defense and intelligence services, and the findings are critical: gender diversity lags significantly behind Australia’s public service and corporate sector, as well as other countries’ foreign services. In a field which has long ignored research on gender or feminist approaches to understanding international relations, this report is welcome and sets forth an important research agenda within Australia. Gender diversity is an important issue for all who value the pursuit of Australia’s national interests overseas. Attracting and retaining the best talent is more important now than ever before. As then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said in June 2017: The economic, political and strategic currents that have carried us for generations are increasingly difficult to navigate. The Lowy Institute found that of all the fields in international relations, women are least represented in Australia’s intelligence communities. As the funding and resources of the intelligence sector continue to grow, this is a serious problem with little transparency. The sector appears to be struggling with a “pipeline” and “ladder” problem: women are both joining at lower rates and progressing at far slower rates than their male counterparts. Another important finding is that the presence of female trailblazers in these fields, such as foreign ministers Julie Bishop and Marise Payne and Labor’s shadow foreign minister, Penny Wong, may be masking more systemic issues. This may be leading some agencies to becoming complacent, rather than proactive, on gender diversity. Read more: In the bid for more female leaders, mansplaining probably wont help Women’s pathways to leadership continue to be impeded by institutional obstacles, such as unconscious bias and discrimination built into the cultures of these sectors, as well as difficulties in supporting staff on overseas postings. For instance, the report notes that in 2017 the government cut assistance packages for overseas officers, including government childcare subsidies. This has gendered ramifications given that women continue to do the bulk of domestic labor. As such, the most important and high prestige international postings are still largely dominated by men. DFAT’s Women in Leadership Strategy has proved successful in meeting initial targets for improving women’s representation, however the industry as a whole has not yet followed suit. Further, it is not enough to just consider how many women there are, but what roles they occupy, given that women have often been siloed into “soft policy” or corporate areas and out of key operational roles needed for career progression. The report also draws attention to the marginalization of women from key policy shaping activities. From the study’s research on declared authorship, a woman is yet to be selected to lead on any major foreign policy, defense, intelligence, or trade white paper, inquiry or independent review. Read more: Women in combat: the battle is over but the war against prejudice grinds on We would mention a few exceptions of women in other high profile foreign policy roles – Heather Smith’s stewardship of the G20 during Australia’s presidency and Harinder Sidhu’s leadership in the crucial India High Commission. We would also note the contribution of Jane Duke to the ASEAN Summit in Sydney. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/diplomacy-and-defence-remain-a-boys-club-but-women-are-making-inroads-119984 | false | null |
817 | Pages and prejudice: how queer texts could fight homophobia in Australian schools | Recently, the Australian Association for the Teaching of English the peak professional body for Australian English teachers published a special issue of the journal English in Australia entitled “Love in English. ” It addressed the continued marginalization of some genders and sexualities within the classroom. One article in this journal analyzed sample text lists provided by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. The article found only two of the 21 fiction texts portrayed non heterosexual protagonists, named characters, experiences, or relationships. Before you go imagining radical queer literature stealthily making its way into the secondary classroom, the texts in question were Twelfth Night and The Great Gatsby. Read more: Telling the real story: diversity in young adult literature An extensive amount of educational research has demonstrated schools are enjoyable and productive places for some students, but not others. As much as we would like to think otherwise, it’s clear schools do not serve all members of the population equally well. Schools are sites of learning about social, cultural, political and economic positions, rights and possibilities. Schools can either double down on social inequalities or they can help change attitudes. Consider the situation of the many Australian school students who consider themselves sexually or gender diverse. A 2015 study of over 700 LGBTIQ+ Australian youth indicated 94% had heard homophobic language at school. Some 58% of these young people heard homophobic language on a daily basis. Additionally, 45% of participants had witnessed physical harassment of classmates who were perceived as being sexually and/or gender diverse. These findings are consistent with other research that indicates homophobic violence is increasing in Australian schools. The Writing Themselves In report indicated that in 1998, 69% of sexually or gender diverse young people reported homophobic violence. In 2004, this figure rose to 74%, and by 2010 it was 80%. Being provided with a safe learning environment is not the only thing queer young people are being denied. They’re also being denied the opportunity to learn about the histories and experiences of people like themselves. As researchers at Sydney and Western Sydney University have noted: Discrimination can be perpetuated by what is present and what is noticeably absent in the curriculum. Queer inclusions in curricula have the potential to make a meaningful difference to schooling environments, especially in understanding and confronting inequalities. The entire national English curriculum identifies teaching young Australians to contribute to “a democratic, equitable and just society that is prosperous, cohesive and culturally diverse” as its core purpose. In addition to this admirable aim, the Australian Curriculum’s General Capabilities and Cross Curriculum Priorities emphasize developing respect, reciprocity, empathy and open mindedness. While all of these things might be assisted by the expansion of the Australian English curriculum to include more explicit representations of LGBTIQ+ lives, it ain’t necessarily so. That’s where teachers come in. Read more: The art of seeing Aboriginal Australias queer potential | 1 | https://theconversation.com/pages-and-prejudice-how-queer-texts-could-fight-homophobia-in-australian-schools-111437 | false | null |
818 | Explainer: why removing sex from birth certificates matters to gender diverse people | Next month, Tasmania’s parliament will consider a bill that would remove sex from birth certificates. If it passes, it would be the first state in Australia to take such a step. Under the proposed law, a baby’s sex would still be recorded in the register of births and hospital records, enabling the state to track sex information for statistical purposes, but it would not appear on the child’s birth certificate. The argument behind the proposal is that people who do not identify with the sex of their birth – transgender, gender diverse and intersex people – are forced to “out” themselves constantly throughout life when their birth certificate is requested. This can cause embarrassment, raise privacy concerns and potentially lead to discrimination. Sex is a biological concept that relates to a person’s physical features and characteristics, including genitalia and other reproductive anatomy, chromosomes and hormones. These features don’t always fit neatly within “male” and “female” categories. For instance, between 0. 05% and 1. 7% of people are born intersex. In contrast, gender is a social concept that describes the way a person self identifies or expresses themselves. A person’s gender identity may not always be exclusively male or female and may not always correspond with their sex assigned at birth. The majority of Australian states and territories already permit birth certificates that record an individual’s sex as something other than male or female. South Australia, the ACT, NSW and the Northern Territory all provide a range of gender neutral options for recording a person’s sex on their birth certificate, including non binary, indeterminate, intersex, other and unknown. In April, Queensland announced a review that would consider introducing similar measures. Read more: Gender diversity is more accepted in society, but using the pronoun they still divides Other countries, including New Zealand, India, Germany and Bangladesh, as well as recently New York City, also permit gender neutral and/or non binary designations on birth certificates. The proposal being debated in Tasmania goes a step further. While providing a gender neutral option on birth certificates may improve the situation for non binary and intersex Australians, there is growing interest in removing sex designations from birth certificates altogether. A March 2018 discussion paper produced by the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia recommended doing this on the basis that: it is preferable to avoid conflating information about a person’s biological sex with information about a person’s gender identity Other jurisdictions around the world are now moving in this direction. The Canadian provinces of Ontario and Saskatchewan, for instance, recently amended their laws to permit individuals to opt out of displaying a sex designation on their birth certificate. For the transgender and intersex communities, removing sex from birth certificates just makes life less complicated. Having a gender identity that does not match the sex designation on a birth certificate can create confusion and potentially expose people to discrimination when an identity document is requested, such as when they register at a school or university or apply for a passport. Birth certificates are also used to accumulate identity “points” for anything from applying for a credit card to commencing a job. | 1 | ERROR: type should be string, got " https://theconversation.com/explainer-why-removing-sex-from-birth-certificates-matters-to-gender-diverse-people-105571" | false | null |
820 | Female corporate leaders make firms less likely to fall foul of environmental laws | Companies with more gender balanced boards are less often sued for breaching environmental laws, suggesting that these companies are more mindful of protecting the environment. That is the key finding of my research, published in the Journal of Corporate Finance. I studied 1,893 environmental lawsuits filed against any of the firms listed on the Standard and Poor’s 1500 composite index in the United States from 2000 to 2015. I found that for every additional woman appointed to a corporate board, the company experienced an average 1. 5% reduction in litigation risk. The average cost of an environmental lawsuit is estimated to be 2. 26% of a company’s market value, which translates into a dollar value of US$204. 3 million based on the current average market capitalization of the S&P1500 firms in my sample. This means that reducing the litigation risk by 1. 5% would be the equivalent of saving US$3. 1 million. My research only shows a correlation between the gender makeup of corporate boards and their likelihood of having been sued on environmental grounds in subsequent years. From these data it is of course difficult to draw any conclusions about the causes of this relationship. But there are nevertheless several theories that can potentially help to explain why more gender diverse boards might tend to make better environmental decisions. First, women and men tend to have different ethical standards, according to existing research. Male directors are stereotypically power oriented, whereas female directors show greater universalistic concerns for other people. Female voices in the boardroom could therefore conceivably help companies to keep the welfare of local communities in mind when making environmental decisions. Second, people who are more different from one another generally make better group decisions together. This is in part because different people can bring different perspectives to discussions and come up with a wider range of potential options from which to choose. This in turn allows them to find the optimal solution. Given that many arenas of business are still male dominated, hiring female directors generally improves boardroom diversity. Third, research shows that female executives and directors are more likely to seek advice to complement their own knowledge. Environmental decisions typically require specialized knowledge and skills, and women’s openness to receiving expert advice may thus help to minimize environmental risks. However, having more women on the board is not always better. If the proportion of female directors exceeds half, then any additional women appointed will reduce gender diversity. Given that diversity is key to good decision making, maintaining a balance of men and women on the board is important. I found that female directors make a bigger difference in reducing environmental lawsuits in companies run by male chief executives, compared with those companies that have female chief executives. Conversely, when I divided the firms into two groups with higher versus lower levels of female board representation, I found that a female chief executive only makes any difference to environmental lawsuit risk when the board is male dominated. This shows that female chief executives and female directors have complementary roles in a boardroom. Globally, women are underrepresented on corporate boards. According to the Australian Institute of Company Directors, only 21. 7% of board members of the top 500 companies on the Australian Stock Exchange are women – and 113 of those companies still have no women on their boards. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/female-corporate-leaders-make-firms-less-likely-to-fall-foul-of-environmental-laws-102342 | false | null |
821 | Bragg drops out of Liberal preselection battle, calling for woman candidate | Andrew Bragg, one of the frontrunners in the Wentworth Liberal preselection battle, has withdrawn from the contest, urging the party to choose a woman. Bragg has also fuelled the row over bullying in the party, declaring allegations by Liberal backbencher Julia Banks “genuinely shocked me”. Bragg, who is close to Malcolm Turnbull and quit his job at the Business Council of Australia to run for preselection, said his stepping out of the contest could pave the way for a woman. There are three women in the field Mary Lou Jarvis, a vice president of the NSW Liberal party; Katherine ORegan, a commercial board director, and Maxine Szramka, a rheumatologist. The Liberals are worried about the impact on their vote if, as expected, the high profile Kerryn Phelps, who has a medical practice in Wentworth, contests the seat, where Turnbull had a 17. 7% margin. The huge swing that cost the Liberals the NSW state seat of Wagga Wagga at the weekend will further alarm them. The seat has been won by a well known independent. Bragg said in a statement that Banks “is an incredibly impressive woman who has made it in the upper echelons of corporate Australia. ”He said her exit from public life she had she will quit at the election “is a loss for all of us. Julia is exactly the type of professional woman that the Liberal Party must be able to attract and keep in Parliament. Her loss is an enormous step in the wrong direction. ”Bragg also said comments by former foreign minister Julie Bishop that it was unacceptable for the Liberal party to drag the nation’s female parliamentary representation ranking from 15th in 1999 to 50th “equally ring true. I believe these recent events and comments have changed the mood and accordingly I will withdraw my nomination. I am also a father and a husband who wants to see professional women make it into the highest offices in the land as representatives of the Liberal Party. This preselection provides that opportunity. ”Earlier, Liberal backbencher Warren Entsch said MPs should name names in the bullying row. One Liberal backbencher, senator Lucy Gichuhi, has threatened to out people. Entsch told the ABC: “I am of the view you don’t threat, you do it. I think there should be zero tolerance and bullying, whether it be against male or female colleagues. I think it is unacceptable and we’ve seen too much of it
in the parliament in recent times. At the moment, there is a real focus on some of our female Liberal members. But don’t forget, it wasn’t that long ago that it was on the other side of
politics as well,” he said. “If there are people responsible for this type of action, I think they
should be at least identified and counseled, if you like. ”Entsch said that he knew Banks had been under “a lot of pressure”. “She’d been raising concerns from before this process started”, about both her own side and Labor, he said. Ensch said he “became aware of a female member of the party that was causing her a lot of grief at the time”; he had encouraged her to not be afraid and to stand up and identify the culprits. Entsch also lashed out at those in the media that had pressured MPs, singling out Sky. “I thought it was an absolute disgrace. I don’t think Sky News in particular wrapped themselves in glory. I actually saw texts coming through to colleagues encouraging them to get rid of the prime minister, from some of these commentators. And to me, that’s overstepping the line,” he said. Their “absolute dislike” of Malcolm Turnbull was “quite obvious”. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/bragg-drops-out-of-liberal-preselection-battle-calling-for-woman-candidate-102906 | false | null |
822 | Transgender kids get their own health-care guidelines | Clinical Psychologist and Research Fellow, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute Clinician Scientist Fellow and Paediatrician, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute Research Officer, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute Carmen Pace is a member of the Australian and New Zealand Professional Association for Transgender Health. She receives funding from the Royal Childrens Hospital Foundation to support research into transgender health. Ken Pang is a member of both the Australian and New Zealand Professional Association for Transgender Health and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, as well as a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. He has also received funding from the Royal Childrens Hospital Foundation to support research into transgender health. Michelle Tollit has received funding from the Royal Childrens Hospital Foundation to support research into transgender health. View all partnersToday the first guidelines specific to the health care needs of transgender and gender diverse children and adolescents have been released in the Medical Journal of Australia. Gender identity is a person’s innermost sense of who they are – male, female, a blend of both or neither. Most children grow up thinking of themselves as a girl or a boy and don’t question their gender. But some children and teenagers identify as a gender that’s different to the sex they were assigned at birth. This is often referred to as being gender diverse, or transgender. Being transgender or gender diverse is now largely viewed as part of the natural spectrum of human diversity. For some people, this is just part of who they are, and it’s not a cause of concern. Others experience gender dysphoria – the distress related to the mismatch between one’s sex and gender. It’s the reason many seek help from health care professionals. Read more: Explainer: what treatment do young children receive for gender dysphoria and is it irreversible? Our clinic is the largest paediatric gender service in Australia. In the last five years referrals to our service have increased tenfold. Rising referral rates have also been reported in many other countries across the Western world. Although older international treatment guidelines exist, these are no longer fully reflective of current practices. They also focus on adults and not exclusively children and adolescents. This is important because children and adolescents are continually developing in a social, emotional and physical sense. They also exist within the context of a family and school. So taking a developmental perspective is central to providing good care. The new guidelines were developed in consultation with not only clinicians who work in the area of child and adolescent transgender health across Australia, but also members of the transgender community, their families, and relevant support organizations. And they draw on findings and recommendations from previous studies. Read more: Should the family court have to approve hormone treatment for transgender teens? Although more research is needed, we know supportive, gender affirming care during childhood and adolescence contributes to improved mental health and well being. As gender diversity is an unfamiliar area for many people, the guidelines include a list of commonly used terms. Language is rapidly evolving and people may use words in different ways. An important part of providing affirming and respectful care is to understand and use inclusive language. For example, when we see young people, we often ask what name and pronouns they would like used to build rapport and affirm their gender identity. Read more: More Australian trans stories on our TV screens, please The guidelines also outline general principles for the care of transgender and gender diverse children and adolescents: | 1 | https://theconversation.com/transgender-kids-get-their-own-health-care-guidelines-98308 | false | null |
823 | School uniforms: what Australian schools can do to promote acceptance of gender diversity | Earlier in the year, the principal of a private girls’ school in Sydney’s west was criticized by some media for promoting “gender fluidity” and “boasting” that a change in the school’s uniform was enabling a “variety of gender expression”. The school had given students the option of wearing shorts and long pants. This criticism was ill informed and potentially harmful to gender diverse young people. Leaders, such as the school’s principal should be supported not pilloried. Underpinning criticisms of changes in the school’s uniform policy is the assumption clothing is an essential element of gender identity. For people who hold this view, the uniform worn by girls should be distinctly different from that worn by boys in order to prevent individual and collective notions of gender from being undermined, lest children lose their sense of gender all together. Claims that our identity as male or female is biologically determined and fixed were expressed forcefully in the lead up to the same sex marriage survey in 2017. Some people opposed to marriage equality attempted to shift the terms of reference of the public debate by suggesting legalizing same sex marriage would also result in acceptance of gender fluidity and diversity in sport, employment, welfare and violence prevention initiatives. In essence, changing the marriage laws presented a danger to the stability of gender as a binary concept, and this danger was an increasing acceptance of gender fluidity or variance in Australian society. At the heart of these concerns is a rejection of gender diversity as a legitimate, lived reality. Instead, sex and gender are conflated and viewed as biologically determined. Research conducted at the Gendered Innovations center for medical research at Stanford University, shows when the difference between sex and gender is ignored the results of research can be incorrect and possibly dangerous. While sex is biologically determined, gender is a social and cultural construct that shifts and changes across time and place. Importantly, neither sex nor gender are binary but instead operate along a continuum. People who are transgender or gender diverse are people who don’t identify with the sex or gender norms assigned to them due to their physiology. People can experience this in many different ways. While it may sometimes include transitioning by taking medication, hormones or undergoing surgery, this is not always the case. Read more: Crossroads program: should we teach children that gender identity is fluid? Heres what the research says Let’s be clear, distinguishing between gender and sex is not a radical gender theory. Those researching and investigating gender across a range of disciplines have recognized for decades gender and sex are separate and different constructs, and that they’re not always fixed. The American Psychological Association also provides resources and advice about the difference between sex and gender, as well as the reality of multiple identities across the transgender spectrum. In line with these, the Australian Psychological Association recently produced guidelines to recognize the benefits of affirming transgender identities in mental health settings. This can help to relieve distress and reduce suicidal ideation. These guidelines would also benefit trans and gender diverse young people within schools and align with the recommendations of a recent study of trans young people and their parents and carers. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/school-uniforms-what-australian-schools-can-do-to-promote-acceptance-of-gender-diversity-95134 | false | null |
824 | Company boards are stacked with friends of friends so how can we expect change? | Social connections drive board appointments and more than two thirds of directors in the 200 largest public companies are on the board of multiple companies. So whoever replaces ex AMP chairwoman Catherine Brenner will likely be drawn from a small pool of people. Brenner resigned after the Financial Services Royal Commission heard AMP had misled regulators, among a number of other scandals. Treasurer Scott Morrison expects more resignations at the Commonwealth Bank following a damning report from the banking regulator. I’ve interviewed directors, as well as looked at data from ongoing surveys of Australia’s top 200 public companies, and found there aren’t a lot of outsiders. Read more: There's no evidence that income management works . . . so why introduce it? We can see this anecdotally as well. ANZ chairman David Gonski is a mentor to ex AMP chairwoman Catherine Brenner. Gonski was also chairman of Coca Cola Amatil when Brenner was appointed to the board in 2008. Meanwhile Brenner’s sister in law, Maxine Brenner, sits on the boards of Orica Ltd, Origin Ltd and Qantas Airways. The corporate governance crisis in Australia will not be solved by greater gender diversity on boards or director independence given how many directors sit on multiple boards and how important social connections are to get there. It shows there truly is no diversity or independence on Australian company boards. Women held just 18. 1% of the board seats in ASX100 companies in 2012. This improved marginally to 25. 2% by 2015. In 2015, 58% of the directors in the ASX100 and 49% in the ASX200 were personally connected to the companies. This means they were either a substantial shareholder, supplier, customer, former executive, founder, adviser or had “a material contract” with the company on which board they served. Having a vested interest in a company can impair a director’s judgment. It may motivate a director to serve their own interests and not look after the best interests of a company and its stakeholders, as seen with the failure of Enron and HIH Australia. My interviews with directors suggest that board members are recruited in a fashion that excludes qualified “outsiders”. For instance, one director told me that identifying the most qualified person was not necessarily the focus of recruitment: What was decided was that those of us who were at the board could look at who we knew … I was not comfortable with that process and I fought that process and didn’t win. My preference was that we advertise for appointed members, but the feeling around the table was we would rather have people we know rather than people who come from an ad, and I didn’t get far pushing that change. I felt it was a boys’ club and I wasn’t happy with it. Being honest, it wasn’t casting the net wide enough. When I pressed my interviewees on how they achieved board membership, many reflected on skills, qualifications and experience. However, when the interviewees spoke about recruiting new board members the process is unstructured, featuring factors such as “reputation” and “background”. One interviewee said: The background of the candidate is very important so you feel comfortable, or you feel there’s less chance of making a mistake if you choose this person. Read more: Experienced shareholders better than independent directors for business My research found that the social identity of candidates is a significant criterion in the selection of Australian company boards. Closed social networks are the primary means of identifying new board members. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/company-boards-are-stacked-with-friends-of-friends-so-how-can-we-expect-change-95790 | false | null |
826 | We have marriage equality, now we need LGBTQi+-inclusive sexuality education in schools | The results of the same sex marriage postal survey were clear: Australia voted in favor of equality. The marriage equality bill has passed, and the mandate to deliver inclusive sexuality education in schools is more pressing than ever. LGBTQi+ inclusive sexuality education should embrace diversity in the classroom, the staff room and in whole of school policies. LGBTQi+ inclusive sexuality education reduces negative stereotypes and biases, creating a safer school environment for LGBTQi+ students. When schools adopt inclusive policies across all school curricula , all students feel safer. The acronym stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and more. Adolescents might not want a specific label, or might not feel safe disclosing their identities or attractions. So, we’re talking about a varied group, and about a lot of our country’s young people. Around 10% of Australian secondary students are same sex attracted. A smaller percentage will identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual. Gender identity is how an individual conceives of themself as male, female, both or neither. Usually, this develops in the pre school years. Read more: When do children develop their gender identity? We don’t have good Australian data yet, but a national survey in New Zealand found 1. 2% of secondary students identified as transgender. About 1. 7% of children are intersex, which means they are born with physical sex characteristics that don’t fit medical and social norms for female or male bodies. A recent survey suggested intersex adults are more likely to be non heterosexual. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation defines “comprehensive sexuality education” as being age appropriate, culturally relevant, scientifically accurate and non judgemental and acknowledges diversity. This means it includes information about, and resources relevant to, sexuality and gender diverse students. Comprehensive sexuality education also addresses values, relationships, consent and pleasure, and provides information about access to relevant health services. It has a positive impact on knowledge, decision making skills, communication with parents or carers, and use of protection against pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections for sexually active students. Read more: Rational, modern sex education is a must for all Aussie kids Canada and some states in the USA already mandate LGBTQi+ inclusive sexuality education. Australia now has a national curriculum on Health and Physical Education that generally adopts these principles. The problems are insufficient time, training, resources and policy support. This makes it difficult for many of our teachers to cover the range of topics that constitute comprehensive sexuality education for all students. A massive 44% of same sex attracted Australian young people rated their sex education at school as not useful at all. A recent survey of 2,000 students in Victoria and South Australia found young people want less repetition of biology and more information about gender diversity, violence in relationships, sexual pleasure, intimacy and love. I was the medical writer for Dolly Doctor for 23 years before the magazine closed. I found adolescents’ concerns about sex were mostly about changing bodies, feelings of arousal and attraction , and relationships. Adolescents who were thinking about having sex wanted information about consent, communication, how to negotiate various types of sexual experiences, and pleasure. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/we-have-marriage-equality-now-we-need-lgbtqi-inclusive-sexuality-education-in-schools-87501 | false | null |
827 | Sorry, but there’s no business case for gender quotas | There’s support across the globe for increased female participation at leadership levels. In Norway, it’s a legislative requirement that at least 40% of the board members of listed companies are women. Spain, Italy, Belgium and The Netherlands also have mandated quotas. Firms and organizations in other countries, including Australia, are voluntarily adopting gender targets. Of the many reasons put forward to promote gender diversity in workplaces, a call for general fairness is one of the more effective and is easily understood. But the debate becomes illogical when diversity advocates claim that company performance will automatically lift if there are more women involved in executive level decisions. In fact, it does women a disservice to raise such unrealistic expectations. The findings of a range of diverse research projects that I have been involved with, using data from a number of countries and from different periods starting in 1996, make it evident that there is no actual business case for gender targets. Some companies may do better with more women, but others may not. If it really were clear that simply adding a woman to the board would increase shareholder value by a significant amount, you can be sure that firms would already be doing it. This is business, after all. Of course, there is a fairly large literature arguing that such a business case exists. In essence, such claims point to a correlation between firm performance and gender diversity on the board. That correlation is always positive if you only look at it as a correlation. But what the literature completely ignores is the question of whether this correlation is causal. As soon as you try to address the causality question, you don’t find this positive relationship anymore. But the news is not all bad. Our research has revealed benefits that women bring to boards: notably conscientiousness, better corporate governance and performance accountability. Women also appear to be tougher monitors of management. The likelihood that a CEO will get fired if performance goes down is higher when more women are on the board. Whether a tough board is always a good thing is contestable. If a board is constantly nitpicking and looking over the CEO’s shoulder, the CEO is less likely to share much information with the board, which may be less than ideal for decision making. In the female participation debate, nothing is black and white. But we do know that women are more likely to turn up to board meetings than men, and that men show up for more meetings when there are more women on the board. Also, when it comes to directors’ pay, women are more aligned with shareholders by having a greater portion of equity in their compensation. These are likely positives. Also, contrary to their counterparts in the wider population, women on boards are less tradition bound and less averse to risk than men. This encourages the idea that if women were able to have an effect on boardroom decisions so that their values were reflected, they could facilitate innovation. Another possible positive. I’m a big advocate of diversity and value working in diverse groups. But at the same time, I don’t believe who we work with should be mandated. Some senior managers may decide that they’re happier working with men. Perhaps they enjoy going off to football games after board meetings and believe that women wouldn’t enjoy that sort of bonding. Sometimes people just work better with particular types of people. If that means men and the company is operating well, then that’s a perfectly valid approach, if regrettable from an equal opportunity point of view. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/sorry-but-theres-no-business-case-for-gender-quotas-9145 | false | null |
830 | Mind the gap: company disclosure discrepancies not sustainable | The recent decision by two Australian retailers to sign an accord protecting suppliers in Bangladesh has highlighted discrepancies in company disclosure of sustainability issues and the need for clearer reporting guidance. Kmart and Target became the first Australian companies to sign the Global Union Federations’ building and safety accord, following the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh. According to Oxfam Australia, Big W and Cotton On are also making moves to sign the accord; however, a lack of information on which companies have suppliers in Bangladesh means a potential lack of other Australian signatories. Recent research by Catalyst Australia, a collaborative policy network, shows that this lack of supply chain information is not an isolated incident and that significant gaps exist in sustainability reporting by Australian companies. Many ASX listed companies are increasingly reporting on sustainability alongside financial matters. In a 2012 report, the Australian Council for Superannuation Investors found that 83% of companies listed on the ASX 200 to some extent reported on sustainability matters. Sustainability, a term often interchangeably used with corporate social responsibility, represents a commitment to operate in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable manner. The Global Reporting Initiative provides the most well known reporting frameworks. However, previous research has shown that significant gaps exist between claimed levels of GRI reporting and the information found in company reports. Catalyst Australia developed a CSR dashboard to gauge the quality of sustainability reporting by Australian companies. It analyzed 32 companies across six topics gender equality, environmental impact, labor standards, supply chains, community engagement and community investment and found great variation in how they reported on their social and environmental activities. Some of these differences can be attributed to the tendency of companies to concentrate on those areas that affect their performance, while meeting stakeholder demands for transparency and disclosure. At the same time, discretionary reporting can lead to highlighting achievements that reflect well on companies while overlooking other important areas. However, Catalyst also found that clearly defined reporting expectations lifted reporting and performance. Gender equality, carbon emissions, energy efficiency, and worker health and safety were well covered topics, compared to other areas. The majority of companies addressed these topics in their public reports, even when disclosures revealed negative performance outcomes. It is significant that these areas have strong external reporting guidance. For example, disclosures around gender diversity have recently benefited from the increased guidance of a new reporting regime, established through Australian Securities Exchange Corporate Governance Principles. Doubtless, the CSR diversity reporting results reflect the clear guidance provided by the ASX Principles, along with a more activist approach by the federal government in spearheading the new Workplace Gender Equality Agency. External policy underpinning environment topics also helps steer public disclosures. In addition to a growing number of companies voluntarily reporting to the Carbon Disclosure Project, corporations registered under the commonwealth government’s National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 are required to report carbon emissions and energy consumption. This has focused attention on reporting in these areas, particularly when compared with other environmental indicators such as waste production and water consumption. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/mind-the-gap-company-disclosure-discrepancies-not-sustainable-15083 | false | null |
831 | Women’s contribution to science goes unheard | Editor and Proposal Developer, University of Toronto Junior research group leader, Max Planck Institute Deborah Buehler received funding from Natural Science and Engineering Council of Canada and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research. Julia Schroeder receives funding from the Volkswagen Foundation, Germany, and a Marie Curie Career Integration Grant. University of Toronto provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation CA. University of Toronto provides funding as a member of The Conversation CA FR. View all partnersEven today there are few women graduate students and even fewer women academics, especially in the STEM fields . Why is this the case, even in 2013, and what can we do about it?Lower visibility of female scientists is one of many potential reasons for the under representation of women in senior academic ranks. To succeed in academic science, researchers must produce many widely cited publications and attract independent funding. Success clearly requires doing excellent science. However, academics can also raise their profiles and improve their work through presenting their findings at major international conferences. In academic science, as in many other high profile professions, it is hard to advance if your voice is not heard and your work is not known. In a new study published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology, along with 37 academics from around the world, we investigated the numbers of female and male invited speakers at six biannual congresses of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology – the most prestigious gatherings of evolutionary biologists in Europe. Male speakers invited to the congress outnumbered female speakers, a finding that was expected since women make up a smaller proportion of the pool of potential speakers. But women were under represented even after taking this into account. We compared the number of female and male invited speakers to the number of females and males available in the potential pool of candidate speakers. What qualifies a candidate to be considered is debatable, therefore we investigated two pools. Using sex ratio data from the world’s top ranked institutions for life sciences and first authors in the top tier journals we found only about half as many females as expected. This shows that high quality science led by female academics is under represented in comparison to that of their male counterparts. If this dearth of female voices in conferences harms women’s advancement within academia, then society as a whole is also losing some of its best scientists. On delving deeper into the data from the 2011 congress, we found women were under represented as invited speakers, not because men were invited proportionally more than women, but because men accepted invitations more often. This result is based on a single conference in a single discipline, and the two lead authors of the study, Julia Schroeder and Hannah Dugdale, are investigating whether this trend can be generalised. So why would men accept speaking invitations more than women? There are many reasons, but two stick out. First, the most demanding phase of a career in academic science coincides with the age at which most scientists, women and men, are starting families. In a perfect world, women and men would share the demands of building a family equally, but recent research has shown that babies matter more in the careers of female academics. Second, women are less likely than men to self promote – behaviour that may be a form of self defence, since studies show that it doesn’t pay for women to be seen as successful and ambitious. The roots of these trends probably begin long before girls and boys embark on academic careers. We are conditioned from a young age to believe that caring for the children is the woman’s domain, whereas career success is the man’s domain. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/womens-contribution-to-science-goes-unheard-15532 | false | null |
833 | Stand by your woman: shareholders should demand more balanced boards | The lone lady in a suit is always a matter of interest, whether on a listed company board or in Tony Abbott’s cabinet. Not only does it seem inequitable that women are underrepresented in these influential positions, but there is now considerable research to suggest that organizations perform better and more efficiently if there are women at the top. Much has been said about whether governments should set quotas or targets for female participation on boards, but what about shareholder action? As the legal owners of a corporation’s equity, perhaps it is time for shareholders to push for gender diversity amongst their elected board representatives. In the United States this is exactly what has happened companies with all male boards have been targeted by institutional investors. Over the last two proxy seasons at least 45 shareholder resolutions have been filed asking these companies to reveal their approach to increasing gender diversity. This is against the background of a very slow increase in female board representation. The latest Catalyst figure for women on boards in Fortune 500 companies in the United States is 16. 6%, only marginally higher than the 2005 figure of 14. 7%. In a country that has rejected the concept of affirmative action, it is unlikely that strong regulatory action will be implemented. The concept of imposing a Norwegian style quota on corporate America has hardly been discussed. So perhaps it is not surprising that women’s groups have focused their powers of persuasion not on government, but on institutional investors. The Thirty Percent Coalition has teamed up with some of the major activist funds to try to persuade companies to consider gender diversity in the boardroom as a priority. The Coalition’s goal is for women to hold 30% of public company board seats by 2015. Their campaign, aimed at stimulating dialogue about diversity policies, began with letters sent to 168 companies that had no female directors. Further action has included the filing of shareholder resolutions with 20 companies in the 2012 proxy season and 25 companies in the 2013 proxy season. In 2013 three resolutions went to a vote. At CF Industries the vote received support of 50. 7%. This marked the first time a board diversity resolution received majority support. Will Australian companies face similar pressures this AGM season? Even though at the last formal count there were 281 companies in the ASX 500 with all male boards, with only 9. 2% of all ASX 500 board seats held by women, it is unlikely. This is for several reasons. Firstly, Australian corporate law makes it relatively hard for shareholders to file resolutions. Section 249D of the 2001 Corporations Act dictates that shareholders can only requisition a meeting if they have 5% of the votes or if 100 members sign a request for a meeting. This has resulted in only a few large groups being able to put forward shareholder resolutions – the Australian Shareholders Association, Green groups and Unions. As Stephen Mayne has often lamented, “The requirement that 100 signatures are necessary to produce a shareholder resolution in Australia has long been a ridiculous barrier to a proper culture of shareholder pressure. ” In the United States literally hundreds of shareholder resolutions are filed every season. Although there are still rules on who can file a resolution they are less strict than in Australia – only 1% of the votes or a total shareholding worth $2000 is required. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/stand-by-your-woman-shareholders-should-demand-more-balanced-boards-18909 | false | null |
834 | Gender equality reporting is not ‘red tape’ | Associate Professor of Law, The University of Melbourne Beth Gaze receives funding from the Australian Research CouncilUniversity of Melbourne provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation AU. View all partnersAmid the federal government’s broader agenda to cut red tape, business groups are reportedly lobbying the federal government to weaken legislation requiring companies to report on gender equality measures. The Business Council of Australia, previously a supporter of such reporting is said to be among the lobbyists arguing it is too onerous and expensive. Legislation for workforce gender equality was first introduced in 1986 and revised in 1999 and 2012. It applies to all private sector employers and higher education institutions that employ 100 or more people. The Hawke Labor government’s Affirmative Action Act required companies to develop and report on an affirmative action plan to provide equal opportunity for women in their workforce, and to report on their progress in implementing the plan. Plans were supposed to set targets for inclusion and promotion of women, but there was little incentive for compliance the only sanction was being named in a report to Parliament, and the monitoring agency had limited powers and resources. Howard government changes in 1999 renamed it the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workforce Act, reduced reporting requirements, made more of the data confidential, and allowed organizations that complied to report every two years rather than annually. The Gillard government’s 2012 changes to the Act aimed to make it more effective in encouraging companies to act on equal opportunity for women at work. Consistent with the modern emphasis on monitoring outcomes and indicators rather than inputs and processes, the Workforce Gender Equality Act 2012 shifted the emphasis in reporting from policies and their implementation to workforce data. Employers are required to report on several “gender equality indicators”, including the gender composition of the workforce and governing bodies such as councils or boards of directors; pay equity between women and men in the workforce; and availability and use of flexible working arrangements for male and female parents and carers. Reporting was made more transparent: reports are publicly available except for personal information and pay data, which can only be reported in aggregate form. Employees and shareholders have to be notified about the report and how to access it. The Act’s only requirement is for employers to report data on their workforces once a year to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency. It does not require any particular workforce practices to be adopted. Companies that fail to improve gender equity at work are not punished. The only incentive for change is positive recognition. The Agency recognizes top performing companies through awards, by its Employer of Choice for Women certification, and by publicising best practice initiatives. It also publicises “the business case”, the evidence of the benefits to business when there is greater equity for women in a company’s workforce. Even with compliance by major companies, change in the workforce has been glacial. The Workforce Gender Equality Agency’s annual Census of Women in Leadership has shown negligible improvement in the proportion of women in senior executive ranks in Australia’s top 200 companies over ten years. Pay equity data shows the current pay gap between men and women is 17. 5% and has consistently been between 15% and 18% over the past two decades. This suggests that little or no progress has occurred in moving towards workforce gender equality. Women remain concentrated in a small range of industries that pay less than male dominated industries, and in all industries women have lower pay and lower workforce status than men. Some of this gap might be explained by family and caring responsibilities that some women have, but the fact that it affects women who don’t have such responsibilities (for example the gender gap in graduate pay immediately out of university, indicates the pervasive and complex nature of the issue. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/gender-equality-reporting-is-not-red-tape-22892 | false | null |
836 | More women on FTSE 100 boards, but still not enough | The number of women on the boards of FTSE 100 companies has reached 22. 8% and 17. 4% for FTSE 250 companies according to the latest Women on Boards Interim Report. This is significant progress for gender equality/diversity at the top level of business, marking an 82% increase in the number of women on FTSE 100 boards and a 124% increase for FTSE 250 companies. The progress report was launched by Nicky Morgan and Jo Swinson, MPs and compiled by me and my colleagues at the Cranfield School of Management. It monitors how the UK’s largest companies are complying with the Financial Reporting Council’s updated Corporate Governance Code. Introduced in October 2012, changes to the code meant companies are now required to now include levels of diversity in their annual reports. Companies are now required to report on their boardroom diversity policy, any measurable objectives and progress against these objectives. Diversity was also to feature as part of the board evaluation process. From measuring the reality of the statistics on women in leadership and board positions across the top FTSE 350 companies, we aimed to comment on the extent to which gender diversity is becoming an integrated part of corporate strategy. In March 2011, the Davies Report into women on boards identified a number of actions required to redress the significant gender imbalance in organizations’ leadership. This is still a major problem when there are women obtaining better qualifications than men, but not being rewarded for their work commensurately. In some professions this has been the case for more than 20 years. Lord Davies set what was considered a stretch target of 25% women on boards by 2015, as the figure had plateaued at around 12% for a few years. His report cites a number of the many business case arguments for a better gender balance in company leadership teams. The strongest one for me is that of optimizing how talent is managed and ensuring that the UK’s largest listed companies really are being run by the most talented individuals. It is undoubtedly clear that significant progress has been made in the past three and a half years on increasing the overall proportion of female held directorships in FTSE 350 companies. It was only in June this year that the last all male board in the FTSE 100 finally appointed its first woman director and now only 28 out of the FTSE 250 boards remain all male. With little more than a year left to reach the 25% target set by the government, the number of women now on FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 boards marks good progress after years of inertia. The momentum that has gathered is a testament to the many people involved in making this happen, but there is still some way to go. What is also encouraging to see is the substantial number of companies reporting thoughtfully and in detail on various aspects of their diversity strategies. Some of the best examples of managing the talent pipeline cited in the report come from those companies in traditionally male sectors, such as engineering, mining and resources. In the FTSE 100, the numbers of companies complying with some aspects of the amended Code have increased substantially in the past year. The emphasis on clear and transparent reporting of gender metrics, measurable objectives and best practice across the boardrooms and senior management teams of our largest organizations is beginning to have an effect. This demonstrates that gender diversity is becoming an integral part of corporate strategy, which is only a good thing for businesses. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/more-women-on-ftse-100-boards-but-still-not-enough-33854 | false | null |
837 | Why women should not use the non-profit sector to reach corporate boardrooms | Australia is one of the worst performers in board gender diversity. In an attempt to combat this, women have been encouraged to head to the not for profit sector to gain board experience as a stepping stone to the male dominated corporate boardroom. Yet this advice is not actually supported in practice. Research shows it is still a corporate career that counts with the big boards. The opening line on the Women on Boards website is: The Third Sector is usually a good hunting ground for women seeking directorships. It offers personal satisfaction and rewards as well as valuable experience and networks to up and coming directors. Most ASX directors have at least one Third Sector Board in their portfolio. In her top five strategies for cracking a corporate board, research professor Carol Kulik suggests starting small and volunteering on a local charitable board. Korn Ferry managing director Katie Lahey recently included in her top ten tips for getting a board seat, experience on non profit, government or smaller boards. This emerging career strategy for women seeking corporate board membership raises two questions. Do women actually move from non profit directorships to corporate boards? And what is the benefit for not for profit organizations? Research conducted in the United Kingdom has highlighted the importance of networks and that women recruited to corporate boards are more likely to have experience as directors on boards of smaller firms. However, the 2012 Census of Women in Leadership reveals that Australian women on the boards of the ASX top 200 companies often had strong backgrounds in the fields of law, finance and accounting. Many women also had careers in investment banking. Around 25% had public sector experience as regulators, politicians or academics. The question was not asked, but reviewing the figures and the backgrounds of the women on our major corporate boards, no female director had been recruited from a long career working in the non profit sector. Moreover, research suggests that when it comes to head hunting board members, the search is predominantly not for profits seeking corporate experience. There are many not for profits that require unpaid board and management committee members such as local Out Of School Hours organizations. Some such as the YWCA also specifically seek female board members. Serving on the board of a not for profit can be an enriching experience. Aside from the satisfaction that flows from working for the public good, it can broaden one’s resume in skills and experience. It may even lead to new job opportunities. However, the idea that corporates look to not for profit boards to recruit board members is not supported by the evidence. Not for profits, like women, battle unjustified prejudice. The range of not for profit organizations is not dissimilar to the range of for profit businesses. There are small volunteer operated organizations, services concentrated within states or nationally, and international organizations with Australian subsidiaries. Similar to other businesses, some not for profits are exceptionally effective in governance and operations and some are not. Nonetheless, the sector is often regarded as amateurish, inefficient and in need of the superior expertise of the business sector. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/why-women-should-not-use-the-non-profit-sector-to-reach-corporate-boardrooms-32907 | false | null |
838 | Diversity fatigue: why business still struggles to close the gender gap | Many large organizations are now on their second or third wave of diversity and inclusion programs. A good number of them are still struggling to identify obvious improvements in the metrics they hoped to see changes in. Yet, ironically, increasing numbers of people are beginning to express “diversity fatigue”. The statistics on corporate diversity in Australia still paint a frustratingly dismal picture. Today’s report from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency finds women comprise 39. 8% of “other managers”, but their representation falls to 26. 1% of key management personnel and just 17. 3% of CEOs. At a board level, women hold only 23. 7% of directorships and just 12% of chairs. In the non ASX listed and medium sized company landscape, diversity and inclusion fare even worse. In these companies, diversity hardly rates a mention on the agenda of many chief executives. Despite this lack of success, there is a growing notion that men will become an endangered species in the ranks of leadership. How is it that on one hand organizations are struggling to make substantial progress, while on the other it is perceived that the pendulum has swung too far in favour of women and minority groups? Men are expressing fears that decision making is no longer merit based and that the women they manage increasingly expect a “free pass” to leadership. They also feel they are forced to promote under qualified women because of the company’s diversity targets. Diversity fatigue can most readily be heard on the part of committed practitioners and advocates. Many have become literally exhausted at the constant battle to get diversity and inclusion on the agenda, and then get it funded well enough to achieve tangible gains. Not surprisingly, a 2012 McKinsey report revealed that diversity sits very close to the bottom of the agenda for the majority of human resources professionals in large firms. Another type of diversity fatigue can be seen in the training rooms of the corporate world. Over stretched, mostly male senior executives are hauled in to workshops on unconscious bias and exhorted to add yet another aspiration to a crowded list of key performance indicators. At the same time, many of these men believe women’s gains will be at their expense. It is increasingly common to hear male executives worry they will have to compete harder for promotion with more qualified senior women. The concern is this undermines women’s merit based promotions. One of the most fundamental causes of diversity fatigue is that neither academics nor practitioners have yet identified a comprehensive, programmatic solution to increasing diversity across organizations. As a result, many initiatives are introduced that fail to yield tangible outcomes. Without being part of a broader strategy, they are then promptly forgotten. This undoubtedly contributes to the misconception that, given the amount of “diversity talk”, men may soon be in danger of disappearing from leadership. The rhetoric of diversity has outpaced the action and people have become tired of hearing about it, despite the lack of substantial progress. The WGEA report shows around half of employers have policies on the known enablers of gender equality, but few are developing strategies in these areas. Nearly half of employers have policies on flexible working but only 13. 6% have a strategy for flexible working. Similarly, 45. 2% have a policy for supporting employees with family and caring responsibilities but only 13. 2% have a strategy in this area. The 2012 McKinsey report also highlights some of the more general challenges to human resources functions in large organizations. These challenges present significant obstacles to achieving diversity and inclusion. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/diversity-fatigue-why-business-still-struggles-to-close-the-gender-gap-33834 | false | null |
840 | Early-career researchers the missing link for STEM diversity | When high school physics teacher Moses Rifkin wrote a recent blog post on “Teaching Social Justice in the Physics Classroom,” he ignited a new round of conversation about white privilege and the kinds of skills scientists need. Rifkin outlined how he incorporates into his teaching a unit on “Who does physics, and why?” to highlight the lack of diversity in science, particularly physics. The problem isn’t new and it isn’t going away by itself. But it is getting more and more attention. The United States National Science Foundation recently released a report, “Pathways to Broadening Participation in response to the Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering 2011–2012 Recommendation,” intended to “build on best practices and offer new approaches” that would “increase participation in STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering and Math] from underrepresented groups. ” This isn’t the first initiative of its kind for the agency; since 1980, NSF has had a mandate to increase the participation of women and minorities in science and engineering. A diverse science and engineering workforce is critical for innovation, entrepreneurism and a competitive national economy. Although women earn about half the bachelor’s degrees awarded in biology and chemistry, they are underrepresented in all other STEM disciplines – mathematics, computer science, earth sciences, engineering and physics. Women are half the population, but hold only 28% of science and engineering jobs. Native American and Alaska Native students earn bachelor’s degrees in STEM fields at about the same rate as white students , but are not employed in STEM fields proportionally. The number of black and Hispanic students earning degrees in STEM fields is lower than the national average, and their employment in STEM – once again – isn’t proportional. We train students in STEM fields, but ultimately they leave the carousel that is employment in research. The issues with relying largely on one demographic group to do science are many, particularly when that group does not reflect the population. Research has shown that “promoting diversity not only promotes representation and fairness but may lead to higher quality science. ” Policies that increase equity are often good for everyone – here is a recent example showing this using standardized math test scores. Increasing the diversity in science opens up the possibility of stable, high paying jobs in STEM fields to more Americans. Pulling from the entire population, including traditionally underrepresented communities, provides a more robust base for economic innovation and the knowledge intensive jobs of the future. Equity is good for business, too. Although women in technology are some of the highest performing entrepreneurs, men receive 2. 8 times more startup capital. The National Science Foundation is a key player for academics, as its budget funds approximately 24% of all federally supported basic research. NSF uses a peer based merit review system to invest in basic research that lays the foundation for important discoveries, as well as applied research that provides innovative fodder for our economy. Its prominence as a funding source for colleges and universities is part of the reason its initiatives are important for many researchers. According to the new diversity report, “the ultimate goal is to have participation in STEM fields mirror the population of the Nation. ” Specifically, that means we need to focus on recruiting and retaining the best talent from currently under represented groups: blacks, Latinos and indigenous communities, including Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders. Based on recent estimates, by 2044 the United States will be a majority minority country, so to have the research workforce mirror the population we need a clear path to retain people in research positions. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/early-career-researchers-the-missing-link-for-stem-diversity-38026 | false | null |
841 | The 30% Club is coming to Australia, but ‘men speaking for women’ may miss the point | Launched in the United Kingdom in 2010 with the aim of increasing women’s board representation, the 30% Club will launch an Australian chapter in May this year. The local arm of the organization aims to increase the number of women on the boards of ASX 200 companies by 2018. Founded by Helena Morrissey, the organization takes an anti quota, business led approach by lobbying the chairs and CEOs of listed companies to commit to improving gender balance at the top table. A recent Dealbook column in the New York Times approvingly suggests the group has been instrumental in helping to “almost double” women’s board representation on listed UK companies since 2010 . On joining this club, senior male leaders are only asked to “believe in the value of diversity”, not to make any tangible commitment to actually promote women to senior roles or boards. Membership does not require a commitment to achieving the 30% representation, nor any accompanying actions aimed at improving diversity. Undoubtedly, targeted, persuasive messaging to better engage senior male business leaders is absolutely critical to making gender balance the norm in the senior ranks of organizations. However, the snail’s pace of progress challenges the apparent success of these initiatives. Any attempt to promote the issue of organizational diversity is laudable. It is a welcome change to hear prominent CEOs talking publicly about topics such as unconscious bias, and positioning diversity as a core business issue. The Australian Human Right’s Commission’s Male Champions of Change initiative is a local example of this kind of “men speaking up for women” movement. As Commissioner Liz Broderick recently pointed out, the MCC provides strong visible leadership on the issue of diversity, and proponents insist the initiative is much more than just a self congratulatory talk fest. However, in the absence of firm commitments to specific actions, how can a group of mostly white, middle class, middle aged, and well educated men avoid becoming an ideological echo chamber, mirroring each other’s concerns but neglecting to engage with the issues at a brass tacks level. The Male Champions of Change have just released their first “report card”, and it shows that companies headed by a third of them achieved as below average results in at least one of the WGEA’s diversity performance benchmarks. Commissioner Broderick rightly points out that change is more likely where a senior leader is involved. However, she also highlights a weakness for these initiatives; that change is dependent on the direct intervention of individual leaders. If our diversity achievements remain dependent on the “passion projects” of individuals, then progress risks being unpredictable, and ultimately unsustainable. When it comes from moving beyond traction, and toward action, the tougher questions of whether diversity will ever rate as a pressing organizational performance issue , are unlikely to be tackled in these private members clubs. Indeed it is hard not to notice that these group do not exactly exemplify the kind of diversity they aim to promote. If diverse groups perform better , then surely these “CEO clubs” could benefit from embracing a broader membership. Perhaps this is why the comforting rhetoric does not seem to be matched by concrete action. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/the-30-club-is-coming-to-australia-but-men-speaking-for-women-may-miss-the-point-38156 | false | null |
843 | Daniel Andrews, board quotas and the myth of ‘insufficient women’ | PhD Candidate, University of Newcastle Katherine Watson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. University of Newcastle provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU. View all partnersVictorian Premier Daniel Andrews has set gender quotas for appointments to Victorian government boards, but his rationale may be counterproductive. Andrews stated that, because of his policy: “By the end of 2018, no director of an ASX company will be able to look me in the eye and tell me there aren’t enough women in our state who are qualified to join them at the table. ” Although this policy is no doubt well intentioned, Andrews’ comment reaffirms two unhelpful assumptions. Firstly, that the reason there are not more women on boards is a lack of qualified women. Secondly, that prior experience on an equivalent board is the only legitimate precursor to future board positions. These assumptions are both untrue and unhelpful. The assertion that there are insufficient qualified women for board positions is an argument used worldwide to defend gross gender inequality which cannot be justified any other way. However, in the UK, considering that 200 female board appointments would change the landscape of UK board gender diversity, researchers identified 2551 women with sufficient executive level experience, debunking the common excuse that there are insufficient qualified women. Australian research suggests female directors are held to a higher standard; of directors appointed to ASX200 boards, 80% of male directors but only 57% of female directors had no prior experience on an ASX200 board. Not only are there a great number of qualified women who could benefit the boards of ASX200 companies, but the number required to bring about equality in new appointments is small. There have been only 24 new appointments to ASX200 boards so far in 2015 and only seven of these appointments were female. Just five qualified women would be required to bring parity. In 2014 an additional 53 women would have brought parity to new ASX200 appointments. The issue is not the availability of appropriate females but the will to appoint them. Pretending the fault lies with women is illogical to the point of offence. There is no shortage of women with experience relevant to ASX200 boards, but there is an even greater pool of women who could benefit boards with their alternative fields of experience. Prior service on an equivalent board must no longer be the only legitimate qualification for “a seat at the table”. A board of diverse talents and experience is far more equipped to address complex problems and avoid “group think”. Despite this, board recruitment often relies on narrow requirements. Decisions about the necessary skills for a board director remain largely unquestioned and experience is overused as a surrogate for job skills. Although the statement “past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns” is oft repeated, it is rarely applied to board recruitment decisions. Implementing quotas on government owned boards is a popular and effective means of promoting gender diversity on boards. Many countries have taken this step, including Austria, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Israel, Kenya, Slovenia and Switzerland. Indeed, Israel and Norway have had gender quotas for the boards of government owned companies for decades. Also, policy regarding government boards does not have to address the social contract vs free market argument regarding governmental intervention in private company affairs. In supporting the use of quotas Premier Andrews has notable supporters such as former Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner Liz Broderick, former Governor General Quentin Bryce, Treasurer Joe Hockey and Greens Senator Christine Milne. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/daniel-andrews-board-quotas-and-the-myth-of-insufficient-women-39501 | false | null |
844 | Why a boycott of ‘lily white’ Oscars might just start to change the film industry | Each year, the Academy’s announcement of Oscar nominees leads to an inevitable public outcry. Critiques of the Academy Awards’ lack of diversity have become a well rehearsed response to the revelation of nominees. Last year, I wrote an article about the white, male face of 2015’s Academy Awards and the frustrations it evoked – and, at first glance, it seems like a very similar story can be told about this year’s event. When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented this year’s nominees on January 14, we were, predictably, presented with a homogenous group of predominantly white, male contenders across all categories. The all white line up of this year’s acting nominees is perhaps particularly noticeable – but considering that only 8% of nominations in all acting categories have gone to black actors over the past 20 years, this is hardly news. Following this year’s announcement, there has been the familiar liberal handwringing, with broadsheet newspapers contemplating the marginalisation of women and racial minorities in particular. But there is also something different going on. Something more profound and potentially punchier. It is a more overtly angry, activist response from within the industry – from black directors and actors who’ve simply had enough. Most notably, director Spike Lee and actor Jada Pinkett Smith have announced that they will not attend the main Oscar ceremony in February. Pinkett Smith has also called for a boycott: “people of colour” should not attend the event in protest of what Lee calls the “lily white” awards show. The president of the Academy, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, even issued a public apology over the lack of nominee diversity. She also announced that steps would be taken to alter the Academy membership in order to address the lack of diversity among the group of people who vote and decide who is nominated. Boone Isaacs is an African American woman. She became president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2013. As the public face of the organization, her presence is encouragingly refreshing. It seems to indicate progress, diversity and openness. The overwhelming majority of Academy members, however, are white and male – and only 14% of voters are under 50. One argument goes that a more diverse group of voters will change voting patterns and lead to more diverse nominations, as well as public recognition of a wider range of filmmaking practices. And this may well be true. Awards are not “objective measures of excellence”. They reflect the values of those whose voices count. But attempting to change the faces of voters and nominees is a bit like treating the symptom rather than the root cause of the problem. It is the make up of the film industry as a whole that needs to change – and Boone Isaacs has recognized this. Not only has she pushed for more diversity in Academy membership . She has also launched A2020, a new initiative that aims to increase diversity in Hollywood over the next five years. Especially when it comes to decision making, gate keeping and key behind the scenes roles within the mainstream film industry, women and ethnic minorities continue to be severely underrepresented. This is not to say that an increase in black producers and directors, for instance, will automatically lead to more roles for black actors and, eventually, to more awards and other kinds of recognition. But the presence of a wider range of different perspectives and experiences will no doubt, over time, challenge the white, male norm that is intrinsic to Hollywood’s institutional structures and practices. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/why-a-boycott-of-lily-white-oscars-might-just-start-to-change-the-film-industry-53518 | false | null |
845 | When good intentions aren’t supported by social science evidence: diversity research and policy | Professor of Psychology; Faculty Fellow Institute for Policy Research; Professor of Management and Organizations, Northwestern University Alice H. Eagly does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. View all partnersYou’d be forgiven for assuming a quick and sure way to multiply profits and amplify organizational success is to increase the gender and racial diversity of any group. According to claims in the mainstream media, the effects of gender and racial diversity are universally favorable. News stories tend to mirror this 2014 Washington Post article’s claim that “researchers have long found ties between having women on a company’s board of directors and better financial performance. ” And as Nicholas Kristoff wrote in The New York Times in 2013:Scholarly research suggests that the best problem solving doesn’t come from a group of the best individual problem solvers, but from a diverse team whose members complement each other. That’s an argument for leadership that is varied in every way in gender, race, economic background and ideology. The truth is there’s actually no adequate scientific basis for these newsworthy assertions. And this lack of scientific evidence to guide such statements illustrates the troubled relations of science to advocacy and policy, that I have analyzed in an article in the current Journal of Social Issues. I began to think more deeply about these issues during my recent service as president of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. This organization has worked since 1936 to join social science findings to responsible advocacy and effective social policy. This goal is laudable, but the task is supremely challenging. As I’ve come to realize, different camps have varying goals. Scientists aim to produce valid knowledge. Advocates work to promote their favored causes. Policymakers hope to efficiently deploy resources to attain social and economic ends. And they’re all assuming their claims are supported by the same body of social science research. In politically sensitive areas, advocates may eagerly invoke social scientific data that support their objectives but ignore nonsupportive findings. They may highlight politically congenial findings that are unrepresentative of the available scientific knowledge. Researchers, in turn, may fail to communicate their findings effectively. Communication is challenging when study outcomes are more complex and less affirming of advocates’ goals than what they desire and expect. These issues often arise when research addresses controversial questions of social inequality. That’s where social science myths can and do emerge. To illustrate these problems, consider two prominent social science myths about diversity. One concerns the effects of the gender diversity of corporate boards of directors on firms’ financial performance. The other pertains to the effects of the gender and racial diversity of workgroups on their performance. Advocates for diversity generally maintain that the addition of women to corporate boards enhances corporate financial success. And they hold that diversity in task groups enhances their effectiveness. Abundant findings have accumulated on both of these questions – more than 140 studies of corporate boards and more than 100 studies of sociodemographic diversity in task groups. Both sets of studies have produced mixed outcomes. Some studies show positive associations of diversity to these outcomes, and some show negative associations. Social scientists use meta analyzes to integrate such findings across the relevant studies. Meta analyzes represent all the available studies on a particular topic by quantitatively averaging their findings and also examining differences in studies’ results. Cherry picking is not allowed. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/when-good-intentions-arent-supported-by-social-science-evidence-diversity-research-and-policy-54875 | false | null |
846 | The real reason more women don’t code | Professor, Department of Computing and Information Systems, The University of Melbourne Karin Verspoor works for the University of Melbourne. She receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Defence Science and Technology Group, and the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services. She is affiliated with Victorian ICT for Women and is a volunteer for the upcoming Go Girl, Go for IT event aimed at high school girls. University of Melbourne provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation AU. View all partnersI menstruate and I code. I share this perhaps shocking personal information in the interest of full disclosure, and in solidarity with a new satirical campaign from Girls Who Code. The campaign proposes a simple explanation for the low numbers of women in tech: that our hormonal cycles interfere with our ability to code. Other explanations offered up in the campaign include that women can’t code because their boobs get in the way or their long eyelashes make it hard to see the screen. These explanations are obviously ridiculous and therein lies the point. For example, if women can’t code because they menstruate, then there isn’t much we can do. After all, menstruating is part of our basic female biology. If it prevents us from concentrating, or thinking rationally, or coding … what hope do we have?According to the Australian Computer Society’s recent figures, only 28% of all ICT jobs are held by women in Australia. The proportion is even lower for specifically technical roles in ICT. So there is certainly a basis for wondering whether there is a fundamental reason that women are so underrepresented in IT and computing roles. But I’m not convinced that the latest campaign from Girls Who Code is asking the right question. “Why can’t girls code?” is a question that starts from the assumption “girls can’t code”. Is this really the prevailing attitude? There is, certainly, evidence that boys favour other boys when estimating the performance of their peers in science class. There is also evidence specifically from the open source software community that there is bias against accepting code produced by women, despite the overall high quality of their contributions. Anecdotally, most technical women can share a story of a situation where their work wasn’t taken seriously. Dr Maria Milosavljevic, national manager innovation & technology and chief information officer at the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre , told me how when she was the only girl in a year 12 computer science class, every boy in the class offered to “help” her with her assignments because they assumed she would need their help. The implication seems to be that if boys don’t accept that girls can code, then girls can’t code. To me, that’s horribly paternalistic. Worse yet is the idea that female biology is not suited to coding, an idea that was recently floated citing a 1999 study of 15 people that identified brain differences between men and women. Surely, there are biological differences between men and women. Periods, brain structure and so on must exclusively determine what women enjoy doing and what we are good at. Right?!Let’s start from the default assumption that girls can, in fact, code. Nothing in our biology prevents us from being able to learn how to code. There are plenty of examples that this is the case – after all, the proportion of women in technical roles is not 0%. And there have been some very high profile female computer scientists. They include: arguably the first computer programmer, Ada Lovelace ; the developer of the early COBOL programming language, Grace Hopper; her syster’s keeper Anita Borg; and Google’s first female engineer, now Yahoo’s CEO, Marissa Mayer. Here in Australia, Kay Thorne was one of the early programmers of the CSIRAC computer nearly 60 years ago. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/the-real-reason-more-women-dont-code-59663 | false | null |
848 | Where are the women scientists, tech gurus and engineers in our films? | Hon Research Fellow in Poetry and Theatre studies, The University of Western Australia Vivienne Glance is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia, and a member of MEAA, Australian Writers Guild and the Greens. University of Western Australia provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation AU. View all partnersPerennial stories about the lack of women working in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics often revolve around why women are not studying these subjects, and when they do, why they don’t make their careers in these areas. The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in the Media asks a different question. Are women not working in science because there are very few women portrayed in films and on TV who are working in science?Academy Award winning actress, Geena Davis, founded the institute that bears her name to educate, advocate and influence the media and entertainment industry to encourage more diverse representations of women and girls.
Over the past eight years it has provided quantitative research that exposes the unconscious gender biases in casting, screen writing and story telling. The institute has teamed up with Google to use their machine learning technology – along with the University of Southern California’s audio visual processing technologies, called GD IQ – to analyze the content of films. GD IQ automates the analysis of media content with greater precision than the human eye and can process vast amounts of data quickly. At the Equity Foundation’s Gender on the Agenda Summit held in Melbourne this week, the institute’s CEO, Madeline Di Nonno outlined some recent research findings. The institute reviewed the top grossing, non animated films of 2014 and 2015 as reported by Variety, the US published film and TV magazine. Only 17% had female leads. Male characters dominated the screen – as the main figure in the camera shot – almost twice as much as women . When a film had a male lead, men dominated the screen thrice as much as women . In films where the lead character was a woman, men still had slightly more screen time than women . When looking at speaking time for both genders, results were similar – but in male led films the gap was even greater. In films with a male lead, men spoke 33. 1% of the time while women spoke less than 10%. Further research across the same time period shows a stark lack of women characters in STEM jobs. Looking at family films, characters in STEM careers were 83. 8% male. Breaking down the figures, women were shown in life and physical sciences more often than men but in computer science, maths and in engineering just 7. 7% of those characters were women. In prime time TV programs, no women were shown in engineering, at all. Communicating science and technology to a non specialist audience is difficult enough. My research into the dramaturgy of science in performance shows approaches that can be taken to aid translating technical language and practices into accessible stories. The issue of gender in the stories we tell ourselves about science adds another layer of complexity. However, if we agree that young women and girls are influenced by the way women are depicted in film and TV, then the way women are depicted in the work place will have an effect on their career choices. Showing female characters in prestigious occupations, such as leading a team of science researchers, managing or designing major engineering projects, or applying complex mathematics to real life problems, will help build their aspirations and ambitions in these important STEM areas. The argument usually given by studios in casting men as leads is that films featuring women are not good at the box office. However, the institute’s research shows that films with lead female characters grossed 15. 8% more on average than those led by men. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/where-are-the-women-scientists-tech-gurus-and-engineers-in-our-films-70032 | false | null |
849 | By excluding Hannah Mouncey, the AFL’s inclusion policy has failed a key test | Hannah Mouncey is a transgender female who wants to play in the Australian Football League’s women’s competition . Virtually every Australian jurisdiction says an attempt to stop her doing so would amount to discrimination. But instead of taking an inclusion based, “unless there are compelling reasons not to” approach, the AFL waited until the day before the AFLW draft to announce that Mouncey was ineligible to be selected. The decision to exclude Mouncey may well breach anti discrimination law and certainly contradicts the AFL’s public position of embracing diversity and inclusivity. In its announcement this week, the AFL claimed to have been “guided by” the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission’s guidelines on trans and gender diverse inclusion in sport. Victoria’s Equal Opportunity Act says sporting bodies must not discriminate against another person by excluding them from participating in a sporting activity. But, it also provides an exception that allows organizations to exclude a person if their “strength, stamina or physique is relevant”. The AFL has relied on this provision to block Mouncey’s right to play. It said its subcommittee had:… carefully considered all the information provided by Hannah, as well as the available data on transgender strength, stamina, and physique along with the specific nature of the AFL competition. The AFL was careful not to say what information Mouncey provided and did not specify what the “available data” were or where they could be sourced. The AFL also did not go into detail about how her strength, stamina or physique were relevant. Presumably, it relates to Mouncey being 190cm tall and weighing 100kg. But Mouncey has been legally and medically cleared to play handball by its governing body, and her doctors also provided evidence to support her case for inclusion in the AFLW. There’s no doubt Mouncey’s physique is imposing. But, in women’s sport, she will be in good company. There are many examples of non transgender women in Australian national teams who are of a similar stature and strength, such as basketballer Liz Cambage . Anyone who has ever played a collision sport like AFL knows how hard it is to push a big player around, whether they are strong or not. The same goes for strong players of any size. You have to learn to deal with them in other ways, and the good players learn those techniques. And the AFLW is the elite level. It is not clear how Mouncey’s “stamina” has been measured, or why or how the AFL regards it as significant. AFL is played on the wide open space of an oval. The smaller, fitter women will run rings around Mouncey. The subcommittee said its decision was also based on “the stage of maturity of the AFLW competition”. One can only speculate on what that means, particularly where the AFL has encouraged Mouncey to reapply again next year. It may suggest the AFLW players are not yet at a sufficient level of “strength, stamina or physique” to be able to play with or against Mouncey. But, apart from being condescending and insulting to the current AFLW players, this statement also contradicts Mouncey being given permission to continue to play locally. She has been cleared to play in Canberra’s AFL women’s competition, which is arguably of a lesser standard than the AFLW. No one, including the AFL, is suggesting that Mouncey’s decision to transition to a woman is in any way motivated by an intention to play women’s sport. The AFL’s concern instead is expressed as a belief that she would have had an unreasonable physical advantage. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/by-excluding-hannah-mouncey-the-afls-inclusion-policy-has-failed-a-key-test-85900 | false | null |
850 | Why can’t a man think like a woman, and a woman think like a man? | Men and women may feel like they differ on much more than just the possession or not of a Y chromosome. How we react emotionally to a situation, remember events and navigate our way around the environment has also been shown to differ between genders. Gender differences in some of our physical features can be easily determined, aside from just the obvious differences in terms of genitals. A skeleton can be identified as male or female based on the shape of the pelvis, skull and sternum. Whether our brains differ structurally is a hot topic in neuroscience. Recently, a neuroimaging study suggested that female brains are functionally more suited to social skills including language, memory and multi tasking, while men are hard wired to be better at perception and co ordinated movement. But are these abilities innate to our gender, or are they influenced by the environment? Are these studies subject to gender biases themselves? During fetal development, male and female embryos start off the same. This is why we all have nipples! But the presence of different hormones such as oestrogen and testosterone during gestation causes physical differences to start to arise – for example guiding the formation of ovaries or testes. Exposure to different cocktails of hormones as a fetus may change how the brain develops. A group of Cambridge scientists led by Simon Baron Cohen suggested that men are, on average, better at analytical tasks, whereas women are better at empathising and emotional processing. These traits were linked with testosterone levels during development. Baron Cohen analyzed foetal testosterone levels from amniotic fluid samples of their mothers. In later life they measured the children’s empathising or systemising abilities. He found lower levels of testosterone were correlated with greater empathy during childhood development. This supports the idea that women are better at empathising and detecting emotion than men. Male brains are, on average, 10% larger than females . But some scientists say that a large brain is not simply a smaller brain scaled up. A larger brain means more distance, which can slow the transmission of information down. So differences in structural connections and arrangement may reflect wiring adaptations of larger brains. A group of researchers found regional size differences of male and female brains, which may balance out the overall size difference. In females, parts of the frontal lobe, responsible for problem solving and decision making, and the limbic cortex, responsible for controlling emotions, were larger. In men, the parietal cortex, which is involved in space perception, and the amygdala, which regulates emotion and motivation, particularly those related to survival, were larger. But experiences change our brain. So are these differences due to the brain adapting to demands – in the way a muscle increases in size with extra use? Some scientists disagree completely that male and female brains differ structurally. Neuroscientist Prof Gina Rippon, of Aston University, Birmingham says that differences in male and female brains are caused entirely by environmental factors and are not hard wired at birth. The gender specific toys children play with for example dolls for girls and cars for boys – could be changing how their brains develop. Many toys aimed at boys involve physical skills and logic, whereas many girl aimed toys involve nurturing behaviours and socialising. These kinds of gender specific toys and encouraging only gender specific play could limit potential in both sexes. This has recently lead to companies developing more gender neutral toys that can aid the development of balanced skills in children. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/why-cant-a-man-think-like-a-woman-and-a-woman-think-like-a-man-24663 | true | null |
852 | In families with same-sex parents, the kids are all right | A central argument made against same sex marriage is that children born into these marriages will be disadvantaged: they will grow up with inappropriate gender role modelling, be bullied at school and suffer poorer emotional well being than their peers. Same sex attracted people may come to parenthood in many ways – though former heterosexual relationships, as a foster parent or a step parent. Increasingly, lesbian couples and single women are forming families using known sperm donors or a clinic sourced anonymous donor. Male couples are also increasingly turning to egg donation and surrogacy services to become parents. The 2011 Australian Census counted 33,714 same sex couples. Around 4,000 of these couples had dependent children living with them. But this is likely to be an under representation, as not all same sex attracted people declare their relationship in the census and single parents who identify as same sex attracted would not be identified. In the United States, of the 594,000 same sex couple households in 2011, 115,000 reported having children. People may not agree with gay marriage on moral or religious grounds. But the argument that it harms children does not stack up against current evidence. In 2010, American researchers published results from a meta analysis of 33 studies comparing the well being of children raised by opposite sex couples with children raised by same sex couples. This study found no evidence that children raised by same sex parents fared any worse than other children on a range of behavioural, educational, emotional or social outcomes. The researchers also concluded there was no evidence that children raised by a single parent or same sex couples were less competent or well rounded than other children. If anything, studies of single parent families show these men and women are more flexible in their parenting styles than they are given credit for. Men are capable of gentle, nurturing parenting. Women are capable of setting rules and boundaries for children, while also teaching them football. Political concerns about lesbians’ access to fertility services means the well being of donor conceived children has entered debates about same sex marriage and parenting. In 2013, the story of Narelle Grech, a young Australian woman who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, hit the news media. Grech was donor conceived and desperately wanted to meet her biological father before she died. Grech’s story made a powerful statement about the importance of donor conceived children having the option to know their genetic heritage. But media reports often gave the impression that every donor conceived child was searching sadly for their genetic parent. This is not the case. Some donor conceived children are highly driven to meet donor parents, some are curious and others aren’t interested. There is no evidence that donor conception causes children emotional or social damage. A 2008 study by the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network in the United States found many children raised by same sex parents had experienced or witnessed some form of homophobic harassment at school. But more commonly, young people reported feeling excluded or isolated because schools did not acknowledge their family makeup. In some cases, staff actively discouraged students from speaking about their families due to a misguided concern that this amounted to talking about sex or sexuality in the classroom. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/in-families-with-same-sex-parents-the-kids-are-all-right-42605 | true | null |
853 | Engineers don’t just build things, they can help save the world | Engineers like to claim their primacy as problem solvers. But while this ability will always be critical for engineers, there is more to engineering than just solving problems. Engineering careers have become highly diverse over the past 50 years. They are now tackling complex social issues such as poverty, inequality, disaster recovery or climate change. Their work is in mega cities and small towns, remote communities and in both high and low income countries. But universities still need to catch up with this new reality. A mission to improve the living conditions of the least privileged citizens of the world – in Australia and overseas – seems to be almost entirely absent from engineering education in Australia. Serious engagement with the bigger social challenges, locally and globally, might be just what some highly motivated students are missing in this field. It could be one of the reasons why some potential students, especially women, choose to avoid engineering as a career option. Some disciplines, such as biomedical engineering, have clearly articulated their links to enhancing human lives and, at the University of Sydney at least, do attract many female students. But that’s not the case in other areas of engineering study, where the proportion of female students is as low as 14%, despite women making up about 55% of all undergraduate students in Australia. Engineering educators should make sure that students understand that, as future engineers, they can go beyond just learning how to design and build things. We need them to understand that engineering is also about dealing with issues of public interest. We need to attract students interested in problems such as those faced by people living in slums in Manila, refugee camps in Jordan and remote communities in Australia. For this to happen, engineering teaching should include more content addressing such issues, including topics that have been traditionally in the domain of social sciences. Ideally, engineering degrees should give students who are interested in these issues the opportunity to directly learn from people living in these areas by interacting with them. Such experience should include project based work directly connected to theoretical content provided in the classroom. We need to avoid two types of risks when developing new formats of engineering education with global social issues at their heart. First, the curriculum should not be framed as “engineering for poor people who cannot help themselves”. A survey commissioned by the University of Sydney showed that words such as “humanitarian engineering” resonate well with Australian students. But they are less attractive to international students, many of whom understand the conditions in developing countries first hand. A student from India might be interested in more contextually relevant education for work in her home country but would not necessarily consider work in India as “humanitarian”. It is important that a curriculum tackling global challenges that are of concern to many nationalities should not simply reflect a first world view of world affairs. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/engineers-dont-just-build-things-they-can-help-save-the-world-49814 | false | null |
854 | The evidence is in: greater gender diversity in science benefits us all | The World Economic Forum estimated last year that at the current slow rate of progress, it will take until 2133 to close the global gender gap across health, education, economic opportunity and politics. We clearly need to take greater measures to close the gap. And, fittingly, the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day, celebrated today, is: Pledge for Parity. It’s a call to action that the scientific community should heed. That female scientists are underrepresented at a senior level is now well recognized; despite the fact that women comprise more than half of PhD science graduates, in Australia female academics hold only 17% of senior positions. The story is similar in the corporate sphere: the 2015 Male Champions of Change progress report found that only three in 29 affiliated major organizations – Ten Network, the Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Qantas – achieved minimum gender parity goals in key management positions. Beyond the ordinary challenges for women in the workforce, female scientists face specific difficulties, especially in a cut throat funding environment. The years of intensive research required to establish an independent research career as a laboratory leader coincides inconveniently with the period during which people tend to start families. In addition, grant success hinges on a productive publication record, which adds difficulty for women who have taken career breaks to have children. A 2014 report from the Office of the Chief Scientist found that women “continue to leave STEM in unacceptably high numbers at secondary, tertiary and early career level”. Unquestionably, the lack of women in senior roles is an unfortunate waste of expertise and investment. But gender imbalance should be an issue that concerns the majority, because it’s the majority who benefit from diversity in the workplace and laboratory. Research suggests that institutional performance is positively associated with gender balance. For example, a 2012 Credit Suisse study of 2,360 companies globally found that those with at least one woman on the board outperformed companies without any female board members by 26% over six years. Another study that looked at the gender composition of management teams in S&P 1,500 companies found that women in top management positions were associated with “an increase of US$42 million in firm value. ” The same study found that companies that prioritized innovation saw greater financial gains with female managerial representation. Racial diversity has similar benefits for innovation: a study of 177 US banks found that in banks with an innovation focussed business strategy, a racially diverse workforce was related to enhanced financial performance. Diversity in science also has benefits for researchers. A study of the authors of 2. 5 million scientific papers found that publications authored by ethnically diverse groups of researchers receive more citations than do papers written by researchers of a single ethnic group. When authors with similar publication histories were compared, homophily – sticking with one’s own – was associated with lower impact papers. In terms of female underrepresentation at senior levels, a lack of role models is often cited as a reason for the attrition of female scientists. Successful women in senior positions provide crucial guidance as mentors and role models, and are also key to challenging the stereotype that science is masculine. The more schemes that promote female researchers, such as the Australian Research Council’s special female Laureate Fellowships, or the inaugural United Nations International Day of Women and Girls in Science, just passed, the greater the benefit. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/the-evidence-is-in-greater-gender-diversity-in-science-benefits-us-all-55643 | false | null |
855 | Searching for diversity in Silicon Valley tech firms – and finding some | Silicon Valley technology firms have had serious problems with demographic diversity, including accusations of hostile climates toward women and minority employees. A new analysis of company level employment data I helped conduct finds, however, that some firms seem to have figured out how to create more diverse workplaces. A 2016 report from the U. S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, for example, concluded that the technology industry has a problem recruiting and retaining women of all races, as well as black and Hispanic men. And a 2017 report documented that while people of Asian descent were a large proportion of technology workers, their representation in management and executive positions lagged behind that of white men and white women. That suggested a glass ceiling prevented Asian workers from moving up corporate ladders. Recent research from the University of Massachusetts–Amherst’s Center for Employment Equity, where I am the director, analyzed employment data for the 177 largest Silicon Valley technology firms; included in the sampling frame were headline making firms such as Airbnb, Cisco, Facebook, Google and Uber. We confirmed that there is a diversity problem in Silicon Valley, although we also found firms that are doing better than their peers. There are two common explanations offered for the technology industry’s diversity problem. The first is that there are relatively few diverse applicants in educational and professional pipelines. The second reason, observed by industry critics, is that technology firms aren’t welcoming for anyone other than white men. For instance, two thirds of all women and three quarters of black women in the industry reported having to prove themselves over and over again to managers and co workers. Additionally, most women reported backlash from co workers and managers when they did not conform to female stereotypes. Further, a recent report on people who leave tech firms shows that unfair, disrespectful and stereotype infused treatment is widespread and an expensive source of female and minority turnover for technology firms. Both explanations suggest that the problems are the same for every firm. That seemed improbable to us: Companies differ in many ways, and we reasoned that this must be the case in managing diversity as well. In our study we looked at employee data firms supplied to the federal government about the gender and ethnic backgrounds of people working at different levels throughout the company, from entry level to top executive. We focused on the 177 largest firms in the region, but also developed a comparison to 1,277 smaller Silicon Valley area tech workplaces. What we found confirmed our suspicions that each company is different – despite the overall diversity problem in large Silicon Valley technology firms. In most of the top 177 firms we analyzed, there were few women in technical jobs and even fewer in top executive positions. Black and Hispanic men and women were rare, and were nearly entirely absent from managerial and executive jobs. Asian men and women were common in technical jobs, but rare in leadership positions. These largest firms have more black men and women than the 1,277 smaller firms – but fewer Asian men and women, and more white men. In contrast, we found that in 7 percent of these 177 largest Silicon Valley technology firms, most of the employees are women. In a handful of companies, black and Hispanic men and women make up more than 5 percent of the professional workforce, and more than 5 percent of management – which is four times their proportion in the local workforce. And though there are firms with no Asian men or women in management, there are also firms in which more than 20 percent of managers are Asian men and women. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/searching-for-diversity-in-silicon-valley-tech-firms-and-finding-some-96176 | false | null |
856 | Sex and gender diversity is growing across the US | Hallquist, a transgender woman from Vermont, in 2018 made history as the first openly trans person to ever win the nomination of a major political party for governor. Sex and gender diverse people were once only able to be their authentic selves in gay and lesbian spaces. Today, from Danica Roem in Virginia to Betsy Driver in New Jersey to Hallquist in Vermont, they are running and winning major political posts throughout the United States. While it might be a surprising to see sex and gender diverse candidates run and win in political elections, with sex and gender diversity growing across the United States, this is likely only the beginning. More people of all ages are identifying as something other than male or female. According to the Williams Institute at UCLA, which studies sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy, the percentage of trans adults an umbrella term used to describe those whose gender does not match with the sex they were assigned at birth has doubled in the last 10 years from 0. 3 percent to 0. 6 percent. In 2006, a survey discovered that 1. 2 percent of Boston high school students identified as trans. And in a recent issue of the journal Pediatrics, researchers showed that 2. 7 percent of Minnesota’s youth identify as trans and gender nonconforming. Similar to trans, gender nonconforming describes those who reject gender expectations that assume only females can do femininity while only males can do masculinity. I’m a sociologist and for more than 10 years, I have been studying sex and gender diverse people in the United States. I’ve witnessed researchers analyze everything from brain differences to the hormones a fetus is exposed to during gestation to explain the growth of sex and gender diversity. Looking to human anatomy and physiology alone is inadequate in explaining the demographic sex and gender changes that are rapidly occurring throughout our society. Does culture also play a role? Historical accounts of sex and gender diverse people date as far back as the 18th and 19th centuries in the U. S. and elsewhere. But why is it that we are now witnessing a growth in the percentage of people publicly identifying as sex and gender diverse? Did human anatomy and physiology change overnight? Or is it that people are now more comfortable rejecting the simplicity of “We’re all just male or female”?What the rising statistics likely reveal is that thanks to activists and their allies across various movements, more people, especially millennials, are now aware that people are more complex than male or female. And they are embracing this complexity by not only choosing sex and gender diversity for themselves, but by also sharing their life experiences in stories across print media and on television. Activists are organizing in the streets and fighting in the courtroom for rights. This is not recent news: For example, earlier generations of activists demonstrated against police brutality in the 1960s in what is now known as the Stonewall Riots. But the activism has accelerated and spread. Pride celebrations seem to be everywhere these days. And in the courtroom, transgender teenager Gavin Grimm is currently in the middle of a lawsuit against his Virginia high school that wouldn’t allow him to use the boy’s bathroom. That suit has raised Grimm’s profile and put him at the “center of the national debate,” according to The Washington Post. This activism lets the public know there is life beyond male or female. People now have customizable sex and genders to choose from on everything from Facebook to the dating site OkCupid. On OkCupid, one can identify as male, female, transgender, nonbinary, genderfluid or genderqueer, or choose up to five categories from many other options. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/sex-and-gender-diversity-is-growing-across-the-us-98610 | true | null |
857 | Australian sex education isn’t diverse enough. Here’s why we should follow England’s lead | How children are taught about sex, relationships and sexuality at school is shaping up to be a political hot potato in Australia . It’s already been slated to be an issue in the Victorian state elections later this year. That’s just a short time from being on the agenda during the same sex marriage debate. Now a radical shift in how children in England are taught about sex, relationships and sexuality promises to be the biggest reform of its kind in nearly 20 years . Here’s what Australia can learn from the new English system, which proposes mandatory sex and relationships education across primary and secondary schools, inclusive of diversity, with age appropriate content. There is, however, a clause to allow parents to withdraw their children from these classes, and for faith based schools to continue to teach according to the tenets of their faith. Read more: Sex education gets a revamp but parents still allowed to opt kids out Current English guidelines on sex education in schools, introduced in 2000, present heterosexuality as the “norm” of human sexuality, and explicitly restricts the “promotion” of diverse sexual orientations. But the new guidelines are presented in a framework of equality and inclusion, with more balanced views of sexual and gender diversity. They have a particular emphasis on healthy relationships; safely navigating the online environment, including sexting, pornography, sexual harassment, and bullying; and will be LGBTIQ inclusive, aiming to prepare young people for their future relationships. So, the proposed changes provide an opportunity to transform the experiences of young same sex attracted and gender diverse young people at school. For the first time sexual diversity and issues relevant to LGBTIQ young people will be addressed in the curriculum explicitly. Read more: Bullying linked to gender and sexuality often goes unchecked in schools These reforms also mirror change in other western European countries , where sex, sexuality and relationships education has become much more inclusive of diversity. Together, these more progressive approaches acknowledge that, at the core of our identities are our sexual orientation, gender identity and the relationships we establish throughout our lives. In Australia, the approach is less progressive. Sex and sexuality education continues to raise anger from more conservative elements of the community. The public criticism of the Safe Schools program resulted in a fragmentation of sex education in Australia. Read more: FactCheck: does the Safe Schools program contain highly explicit material? And as the marriage equality debate in Australia unfolded, conservative political, academic, policy, religious and media commentators tried to hijack the public debate about the Safe Schools program. While marriage equality was seen as inevitable in Australia, there was less of a flavour for sexuality and gender education in Australian schools. The Safe Schools program was designed and originally implemented in Victoria, and later rolled out to all of the states and territories. It was designed to fill the gap in inclusive sex education. While sex education is addressed in the Australian Curriculum, and each of the state and territory versions of the curriculum, it’s only explicitly mentioned as part of health and physical education. So sex education is largely dealt with in biological terms ; healthy relationships are expressed in vague terms; and references to sexual orientation and gender identity are just as vague. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/australian-sex-education-isnt-diverse-enough-heres-why-we-should-follow-englands-lead-100596 | true | null |
858 | On gender diversity in Indonesia | Indonesian people often perceive gender and sexuality in a binary way – male and female, masculine and feminine – without considering other genders and sexuality. Heterosexuality is deemed as the “normal” sexual orientation, if not compulsory. Homosexuality and bisexuality are considered unacceptable. Hence, the massive recent onslaught against LGBT people is not surprising, particularly in the media. However, people should understand that gender and sexual diversity are inherent in Indonesian societies. Culturally, Indonesians have recognized sexual and gender diversity as part of their daily lives. Indonesia has a rich history of homosexuality and transgenders. This fact contradicts the common belief that they are Western imports. It is time that people stopped considering homosexuality and transgender as products of Western culture. Indonesia’s culture has long been accustomed to gender diversity before colonialism and modernity exerted their strong influence in the society. Let’s take a look at the Bugis people in South Sulawesi with their gender flexibility. Since the pre Islamic era, the Bugis people have recognized five genders. They divide the society into man , woman , male woman , female man and androgynous priest . Similarly, in the same province, Torajan people also recognized a third gender, or to burake tambolang. Anthropologist Hetty Nooy Palm said the Torajan people believed the most important religious leaders in their culture are a woman, or burake tattiku, and a man dressed as a woman, or burake tambolang. In the past, transgender religious leaders in both Toraja and Bugis played important roles in their communities. Bissu and to burake led spiritual ceremonies or harvest rituals in villages. The people would admire and honour a village with a to burake. Unfortunately, this tradition has diminished due to modern values and education brought by colonialism. Same sex practices have also long existed in Indonesia. Some tribes in the southeast of Papua – similar to tribes in the eastern highlands of Papua New Guinea – practiced “ritualized homosexuality”. This practice required young men to perform oral sex on elder males as part of their rites of passage to manhood. They believed that semen was the source of life and the essence of masculinity, important for boys to become real men. In East Java, the traditional dance performance Reog Ponorogo depicts intimate relationships between two characters, warok and gemblak. The main male dancer, or warok, must follow strict physical and spiritual rules and rituals. Under these rules, a warok was prohibited from engaging in a sexual relationship with a woman. But he was allowed to have intimate relationships with young boys’ characters, or gemblak, in the performance. Although warok and gemblak were engaged in same sex acts, they did not identify themselves as homosexuals. Nowadays, women have begun to play the gemblak character. In other Javanese traditional drama performances like ludruk and wayang orang, a man playing a woman’s character or vice versa is not unusual. These rich and intricate traditions of gender diversity in Indonesia have diminished due to colonialism. Colonialism redefined the concepts of gender and sexuality according to modern religions and values. Modern religions strongly emphasize heterosexuality within marriage. Sex is considered a moral issue, so sex that happens outside marriage or between a non heterosexual couple is immoral. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/on-gender-diversity-in-indonesia-101087 | false | null |
859 | God made the rainbow: why the Bible welcomes a gender spectrum | This article is part of a series exploring gender and Christianity “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve,” is a line I’ve heard more than once in Christian circles. The Bible is often evoked to support so called traditional views about gender. That is, there are only two binary genders and that is the way God intended it. But is this really the case? Claims about gender in the Bible usually begin with the creation narratives. But the Adam and Eve story is also not as straightforward as it might appear when it comes to gender, namely because in English, we miss the Hebrew wordplay. Adam is not a proper name in Hebrew, but rather the transliteration into English of a Hebrew word a d m. Using the imagery of God as potter, “the adam” is a humanoid being created out of the adamah . Read more: On gender and sexuality, Scott Morrisons blind spot may come from reading the Bible too literally Biblical scholar Meg Warner writes we might best translate this person as “earth creature”. The first human appears genderless. In fact, gender roles are only introduced into the story when a counterpart is made for the earthling, when this human being is separated into two. At that point, they both become gendered: “Eve” is called woman taken from the man’s rib. Some Christians have read a gender hierarchy into this text as Eve is called a helper – or “helpmate” in the old English versions – for Adam. This term, “helper”, does not indicate a subordinate status. It is a word frequently applied to God in the Bible, and so without any sense of inferiority. There’s no doubt traditional male female gender roles are common in the Bible. After all, this is an ancient text that reflects the values of the societies from which it emerged. In these societies, masculinity was the ideal and polygamy not uncommon. This makes it all the more astonishing there are moments of gender subversion and gender diversity found within the Bible’s pages. Another creation story is found in the very first chapter of Genesis 1. It states: God created the human in God’s image, in the image of God s/he created him; male and female God created them. At first glance, this might seem obvious: God made two different, discrete sexes. But if we look at this line in its context, we see this creation account follows a poetic structure made up of a series of binaries that indicate the breadth of God’s creation: light and dark, seas and dry land, land creatures and sea creatures. In the structure of the Genesis poem, these binaries are not discrete categories, but indications of a spectrum. Read more: To Christians arguing no on marriage equality: the Bible is not decisive The sea and dry land merge on tidal plains. Some animals inhabit both land and sea. Darkness and light meet in the in between spaces of dusk and dawn. God didn’t create night or day, but night and day, inclusive of everything in between. If we apply this same poetic logic to humanity, a case can be made for sex and gender diversity built into the very fabric of creation. A creative diversity categorically called “good” by God. Queer and feminist scholars have highlighted other moments of gender subversion in the biblical text. For instance, Jacob is “smooth” and “stays in the tent” – traditional female attributes in the ancient world. Yet he is chosen over his hairy, hunter brother to lead God’s people. Rabbi Jay Michaelson describes Jacob as “gender non conforming”. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/god-made-the-rainbow-why-the-bible-welcomes-a-gender-spectrum-126201 | false | null |
860 | Trans Day of Visibility offers chance for community to stand in solidarity and support | Visibility within the transgender community is often a Catch 22, especially for trans people of color, or those living in rural, conservative areas. Hiding one’s identity can be a damaging experience and increase feelings of isolation, stigma and shame. But standing out as a trans person can make someone a target for discrimination or violence. As a trans man who studies transgender health and well being, I believe Trans Day of Visibility – celebrated annually on March 31 – is an important day that allows community members to come together and find support and solidarity by knowing they are not alone. Trans Day of Visibility acknowledges the contributions made by people within the transgender, nonbinary and gender diverse communities . TDOV has been marked annually since 2009. Before then, the only day of recognition the trans community had was Transgender Day of Remembrance – a day of mourning held on Nov. 20 to commemorate trans people who have died in the previous year. Trans Day of Visibility, then, is an attempt, as the trans community puts it, to “give us our roses while we’re still here. ”Rachel Crandall, a transgender activist from Michigan, organized the first Trans Day of Visibility. By 2014, the day was being celebrated internationally. In 2015, I along with other local trans activists in Omaha, Nebraska, hosted the first of several annual events for our local community. It featured panels, Q&As and support groups for family members, trans people themselves and cisgender, or cis, people – which refers to people who identify with the sex they were assigned at birth – who wanted to learn how to be better allies to the trans community. Some of us wore T shirts that said “Ask Me I’m Trans” on the day of the event to facilitate dialogue between the trans and cis communities. Visibility as a transgender person is not a one size fits all approach for people within the trans community. Some people may embrace visibility while others, for comfort, safety or other deeply personal reasons, may not feel comfortable being visibly trans. After all, threats of violence within the trans community are not uniformly distributed. Trans women of color are most at risk, as they often face multiple forms of discrimination including transphobia, racism, classism, misogyny and misogynoir – the unique misogyny that Black women face. Because of job discrimination, roughly 20% of trans people engage in the underground economy, including commercial sex work, and may confront additional transphobic discrimination as a result of their work. Trans Day of Visibility is an attempt to break these cycles of violence and discrimination against trans people. To say this past year has been difficult for the trans community would be an understatement. During this period, trans people have been largely unable to provide in person support to one another, and those who have had physical changes can’t fully celebrate those changes with friends. Furthermore, the past year has seen an escalation in legislation that targets trans people with sports bans and attempts to limit access to health care. Over 20 states introduced at least one anti trans bill in 2020. That kind of coordinated policy campaign against a very small community – estimated to be less than 1% of the U. S. population – sends a very specific message to the trans community that we are not welcome. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/trans-day-of-visibility-offers-chance-for-community-to-stand-in-solidarity-and-support-157213 | false | null |
862 | What are gender pronouns and why is it important to use the right ones? | Senior Lecturer in Psychology. Clinical Psychologist, Victoria University Glen Hosking does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. Victoria University provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU. View all partnersGender pronouns are the terms people choose to refer to themselves that reflect their gender identity. These might be he/him, she/her or gender neutral pronouns such as they/them. Knowing and using a person’s correct pronouns fosters inclusion, makes people feel respected and valued, and affirms their gender identity. While people may use the terms sex and gender interchangeably, they mean different things. Sex refers to the physical differences between people who are female, male, or intersex. A person typically has their sex assigned at birth based on physiological characteristics, including their genitalia and chromosome composition. This is distinct from gender, which is a social construct and reflects the social and cultural role of sex within a given community. People often develop their gender identity and gender expression in response to their environment. While gender has been defined as binary in Western culture, gender is on a broad spectrum; a person may identify at any point within this spectrum or outside of it entirely. Gender is not neatly divided along the binary lines of “man” and “woman”. Read more: The difference between sex and gender, and why both matter in health research People may identify with genders that are different from sex assigned at birth, some people do not identify with any gender, while others identify with multiple genders. These identities may include transgender, nonbinary, or gender neutral. Only the person themself can determine what their gender identity is, and this can change over time. People who identify outside of a gender binary most often use non gendered or nonbinary pronouns that are not gender specific. These include they/them/their used in the singular, ze in place of she/he, and hir in place of his/him/her. Everyone has the right to use the gender pronouns that match their personal identity. These pronouns may or may not match their gender expression, such as how the person dresses, looks, behaves or what their name is. It’s important people, workplaces and organizations support people’s use of self identified first names, in place of legal names given at birth, and self identified pronouns, in place of assumed pronouns based on sex assigned at birth or other’s perceptions of physical appearance. Being misgendered and/or misnamed may leave the person feeling disrespected, invalidated and dismissed. This can be distressing and threaten the person’s mental health. Transgender and non binary people are twice as likely to have suicidal thoughts than the general population, and are up to four times as likely to engage in risky substance use. Read more: Almost half of trans young people try to end their lives. How can we reduce this alarming statistic? Conversely, using correct pronouns and names reduces depression and suicide risks. Studies have found that when compared with peers who could not use their chosen name and pronoun, young people who could experienced 71% fewer symptoms of severe depression, a 34% decrease in reported thoughts of suicide and a 65% decrease in suicide attempts. The following tips might help you better understand gender pronouns and how you can affirm someone’s gender identity: 1. Don’t assume another person’s gender or gender pronounsYou can’t always know what someone’s gender pronouns are by looking at them, by their name, or by how they dress or behave. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/what-are-gender-pronouns-and-why-is-it-important-to-use-the-right-ones-169025 | false | null |
863 | Transgender and gender diverse teens: How to talk to and support them | Transgender youth have been around long before the word transgender has. Yet today, transgender teens are increasingly visible in society. For parents and caregivers, knowing how to talk to their children about gender can present a steep learning curve. The Conversation U. S. on Oct. 21, 2021, hosted contributors Jules Gill Peterson, an associate professor of history at Johns Hopkins University, and Dr. Kacie Kidd, medical director of the pediatric Gender and Sexual Development Clinic at West Virginia University Medicine Children’s Hospital, in a webinar titled “Transgender and gender diverse teens more visible than ever: Who they are, what they need and how to talk about sensitive issues. ”The speakers, who have both written articles for The Conversation, shared their expertise on gender diversity in teens and answered commonly asked questions. Below are some highlights from the discussion. Please note that answers have been edited for brevity and clarity. Transgender and gender diverse youth have become more visible than ever. How does transgender history inform us about where society is at in the United States? Jules Gill Peterson: A lot of the rhetoric around [trans] kids frames them as totally new – most people are getting to know that there are trans youth for the first time. The visibility that we’re dealing with today is pretty unprecedented. But that doesn’t mean [transgender] people themselves haven’t existed before. One of the challenges that anyone who’s trans faces is coming to an understanding of yourself in a culture that fundamentally doesn’t recognize that you exist. One of the most remarkable things about trans youth is that they’re able to stand up in this world that we’ve created, that gives them no reason to know who they are, and say, “Hey, actually, I know something about myself that none of the adults in my life know. ”I think history can be a really powerful grounding force to give young people a sense of lineage. It’s not like you look back in time and you see yourself reflected, by any means. But I think it can be profoundly reassuring, in a moment of not just political backlash but the general isolation that trans people face in a cis normative society, to be able to [see] that you’re not the first person to ever go through this. [I think] that is just kind of a powerful message and one that I certainly subscribe to as an adult too, but I can imagine it’s especially important for young people. What does “cis” mean and where does it come from? Jules Gill Peterson: This is actually a term from chemistry. It’s a prefix that you can put in front of words. So is the word “trans. ” Trans as a prefix means across – it’s the spatial metaphor moving across something. Cis means on the same side of. At some point on the internet, people started using that word; they were looking for a word to distinguish between people who are trans and people who are not. Cisgendered came to mean that your gender identity matches what was assigned at birth. That being said, it’s not a totally kind of innocent or uncomplicated term. I’m not sure how helpful it is to think of cisgender as something that people need to own up to, for example, in a pronoun circle . I think often the pressure for people to [identify] as cis doesn’t make any sense, either. It’s like, well, what makes you cisgender? Did you really go through that long process of deciding if your gender matched what’s on your birth certificate, like trans people have to deal with? I tend to use the word cis in my work to describe large historical structures that created that very obligation in the first place. | 1 | https://theconversation.com/transgender-and-gender-diverse-teens-how-to-talk-to-and-support-them-170992 | true | null |
864 | Students are left to fend for themselves when disability is not valued at Hopkins | Self advocacy is an important tool that many people who require accommodations use. This is when an individual informs others how best to support them. However, I believe this should be a last resort. In a perfect world, all environments, including classrooms, would not require accommodations rather, they would be accessible for everyone from the start. This is the idea of universal design. Everyone has needs regardless of disability, whether it be requiring the lights in a room to be on, a ramp instead of steps, access to food or breaks during testing. In universal design, no needs are seen as “extra” but are accounted for from the start. This is not always possible, which is where Student Disability Services steps in. SDS should exist to alleviate the strain of requesting accommodations, but this is not always the case. Lack of support from the administration forces gaps into its system. SDS requires students to do a lot of the bargaining for basic access needs on their own. This is especially true now that it has switched platforms for requesting accommodations from Accessible Information Management to Accommodate. Now, students must forward the letter approving their accommodations to their professors; in the past, this was automatically done by SDS. Many have been confused by this switch one of my friends called it “the new instruction free software. ” SDS should have devoted its energy to helping professors understand how to provide accommodations for online learning rather than to implementing a new system. Personally, I have had a much harder time getting the accommodations I need this semester than ever before. This is especially frustrating given that they have never been more important for me. I am hard of hearing, and I need recorded lectures to include captions. I have had this accommodation throughout my previous two years at Hopkins, and it has generally worked well. This semester, though, SDS has had a hard time keeping up with this request. Given that our entire system of learning has been uprooted, this is understandable to a point. I can tell that my professors feel just as lost about this process as I do. Several have come to me to ask questions about how to add captions, but I don’t know how to help them. SDS is happy to answer the questions, but this is not clear to faculty. Four weeks into the semester, my professors are still unsure how to provide access. Sometimes, working with SDS can be a frustration on its own. If a student requires an accommodation, they may be required to tell SDS exactly what they need. This is fair, but the process can feel one sided. If an accommodation cannot be met, it is often up to the student to come up with new solutions. Furthermore, a leader from SDS has told me they want to ensure they provide accommodations that are absolutely “necessary” and not those that are just “wanted. ” I believe that if an accommodation is wanted and would benefit the student, there is a good chance it should be included. Just because students can survive without an accommodation does not mean they should have to. SDS would not have to restrict their resources to just those that are “most essential” if the administration valued and encouraged their work. Since universal design is largely unavailable at Hopkins, the next best option is for SDS and the University to advocate on behalf of the student in the face of inaccessibility this is what they strive to do, even if it’s not always executed. Once a student has demonstrated to SDS that they qualify for accommodations, SDS should then discuss with the professors how to adjust the classroom to be accessible. This is important, because many disabled people are uncomfortable speaking to professors directly because of the power imbalance inherent in a student professor relationship. Unfortunately, there is a lot of stigma associated with disability too, and some students fear being judged by professors for their accommodations. | 3 | https://www.jhunewsletter.com/article/2020/09/students-are-left-to-fend-for-themselves-when-disability-is-not-valued-at-hopkins | false | null |
865 | Study Finds Recreation Websites Lacking in Disability Inclusion | A new study published in the Journal of Kinesiology and Wellness finds the majority of college recreation programs assessed had “only minimal information for and representation and visibility of students with disabilities at their websites. ”A group of kinesiology researchers at Oregon State University Anna M. Bruning, Bradley J. Cardinal and Winston Kennedy examined 24 campus recreation websites for terminology and images inclusive of students with disabilities. The researchers found “large variability” in the use of inclusive language across the websites, “with one university continuing to use the outdated term ‘handicap. ’ Two universities accounted for nearly 40 percent of the observed frequencies of the 11 terms investigated. ”Similarly, while researchers identified 49 total inclusive images across the 24 websites, 14 of the programs “showed neither a person with a disability or a piece of adaptive equipment on their website. Of the remaining 10 programs, three accounted for nearly 60 percent of the images. When images were shown, they were more than twice as likely to show a piece of adaptive equipment than they were to show a person with a disability. ”Of the 24 campus recreation program websites examined, six had a statement specific to the recreation program relating to inclusivity of people with disabilities. “Unfortunately,” the Oregon State researchers write, “only a few programs seem to be making an active and intentional effort to promote inclusion of students with disabilities. | 3 | https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/09/29/study-finds-recreation-websites-lacking-disability-inclusion | false | null |
868 | ‘Indisposable’ Reveals the Lived Experience of Disability Through Art | The short film El Dios Acostado, from Ecuadorian American artist Alex Dolores Salerno, describes how Americans in search of health and longevity flocked to Vilcabamba in Ecuador, changing local culture and creating more pollution. The film incorporates access as part of its aesthetic, featuring captions and audio descriptions in Spanish and English. Courtesy of Alex Dolores SalernoA Ford Foundation Gallery exhibition co curated by Professor Ann Fox and Jessica Cooley ’05 to mark the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act debuts Sept. 17. The exhibition will unfold online in chapters throughout the year, with an in person component scheduled to open summer 2021 in New York. The exhibition features visual and performing artists, writers, poets and activists whose work focuses on disability. The novel coronavirus sweeping through the United States has largely dealt its most deadly blows to the elderly, Black, Brown and Indigenous people, the poor, the chronically ill and disabled. They’re people often dismissed by a society that values vitality, productivity and whiteness. The inequities have always existed. The pandemic and recent protests against racism have just further exposed them in particularly stark terms, said Davidson College English Professor Ann Fox. These events of 2020 have posed an uncomfortable reckoning of our values, she said, and raise the question: “Who do we see as disposable?” Fox and Jessica Cooley ’05 pondered that as they prepared an exhibition to mark the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. With the world in deep turmoil, they wanted to remind audiences that we can’t talk about disability without also discussing race, gender, sexuality and class. They wanted to highlight presenters who’ve experienced barriers based on social inequities, and the support systems they’ve created. Their collaboration turned into the upcoming Ford Foundation Gallery exhibition: Indisposable: Structures of Support after the Americans With Disabilities Act, which debuts Sept. 17 and will unfold in periodic online chapters over the next year. The in person component of the exhibition is scheduled for summer of 2021 at the Ford Foundation Gallery, housed in the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice in New York City. English Professor Ann FoxCooley and Fox co curated the exhibition, which features visual and performing artists, writers, poets and activists whose work focuses on disability. They include well known and emerging Black, Brown, LatinX and LGBTQ artists. It’s an evolving exhibition, “We’re kind of building the plane as we fly it,” Fox said. The original exhibition was scheduled to be in person this past summer, but the pandemic turned it into an online offering and postponed the New York show until next summer. The pandemic and ongoing protests against racism following the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black people also reshaped their concept. “When the pandemic collides with calls for social justice, it brings into question the value of human life in so many ways,” Cooley said. “Who is deemed worthy of life sustaining medical intervention when ventilators must be rationed? Whose lives matter when police draw their weapons? We’ve seen the horrific evidence that some lives are deemed more disposable based on ability and race and particularly the intersection of ability, race, gender and sexuality. Jessica Cooley ’05“This exhibition tackles this question: How is human life valued?,” Cooley said. “How can we insist that ableism, racism, sexism, transphobia and homophobia are called out for their destruction of life? How can we insist on our indisposability?”Access AestheticThe online components of the exhibition will range from poignant to funny to hopeful. Television and stage actor Ryan J. Haddad will serve as the emcee for the exhibition’s first online event. | 3 | https://www.davidson.edu/news/2020/09/15/indisposable-reveals-lived-experience-disability-through-art | true | null |
869 | Disability parking enforcement, in the end, is about empowerment | Dennis Polselli is chair of the Fall River Commission on Disability. I’m writing in response to the story in The Herald News published on Wednesday, Sept. 9, regarding the Disability Parking Enforcement Program and its relationship with the Fall River Police Department with regards to the Disability Parking Enforcement Program. While the article was very informative and brought awareness to the issue of disability parking enforcement and its importance, some clarity is necessary regarding the Fall River Commission on Disability and the use of parking fines. The Fall River Commission on Disability was established in August 2006 as a result of an accessibility complaint filed with the Department of Justice by a current member of the commission. Its establishment was part of the settlement with the City of Fall River and the Department of Justice. The commission was established under city ordinance. Massachusetts General Law Chapter 40 Section 8J establishes municipal commissions on disabilities and allows for, under MGL Chapter 40 22G, disability parking fine money to be set aside in a separate account for use by commissions on disability for programs and services provided by a municipality or organizations that provide services to individuals with disabilities. Disability parking enforcement was sporadic at best from 2006 2011 when it was decided to pay two full time police officers to take on this task of consistent disability parking enforcement. The commission contributes approximately $128,000 toward this effort. We were asked to purchase two police cruisers in addition to the $128,000 we already contribute out of our account. Some of the other ways we have contributed in the past include: Disability Awareness Days, including the successful days at the Kuss Middle School coordinating by Lisa Silva, a member of our commission; scooters for the Fall River Veterans Agency; vehicles for the Fall River Veterans Agency; an accessible children’s playground at Kennedy Park; the Audible Local Ledger which provides radio reading service, including the reading of this newspaper, for persons with print disabilities; the SHARE Foundation out of UMass Dartmouth which has contributed richly to the lives of individuals with disabilities in the Fall River area, founded by Les Cory; and the Fall River Police Department’s parking enforcement program. The commission appreciates and has always supported by annual renewals, since 2011, the hard and often thankless job of enforcing disability parking and confronting non disabled persons who insist on parking in disability parking spots “just to run in for one minute” not realizing that even one minute is making it difficult for an individual using an accessible van to park. So on Wednesday, Sept. 9, the commission did not approve any vehicles by simply not seconding the motion, letting the issue die for this year. When the program comes up for renewal next year, we can have a full discussion on how best to use the money we provide for this program. We can determine how best to use the funds we dispense instead of having the terms dictated, and that’s the way it ought to be. That is the essence of disability empowerment. Dennis PolselliChair, Fall River Commission on Disability | 3 | https://www.heraldnews.com/story/opinion/2020/09/17/opinion-disability-parking-enforcement-in-end-is-about-empowerment/42908465/ | true | null |
870 | Hopes Fade For Coronavirus Relief For People With Disabilities | Another round of stimulus checks for people with disabilities and long sought funding to ease the fallout of the COVID 19 pandemic on home and community based services are looking increasingly uncertain. Disability advocates have been pressing lawmakers in Washington since the start of the pandemic to address the needs of people with disabilities, who have been especially hard hit. Advocates were optimistic when the U. S. House of Representatives passed a wide ranging relief bill in May, but since that time, negotiations between Democrats and Republicans have dragged. Now the situation appears to have hit a new low. Last week, a pared down coronavirus relief proposal failed in the Senate marking the latest stalemate and coming just weeks before lawmakers are set to break ahead of the November election. It’s safe to say that the disability and aging communities are feeling very demoralized and ignored by Congress,” said Nicole Jorwic, senior director of public policy at The Arc. “It’s very discouraging to hear that Congress is not feeling the pressure when you have service providers that are ready to close their doors, a direct support workforce that’s putting their lives at risk and family caregivers and individuals with disabilities who don’t know when assistance will be coming. ”The $3 trillion measure approved by the House in May included billions in additional federal funding to states to pay for Medicaid home and community based services, added benefits for direct support professionals and more stimulus payments for people with disabilities, among other items. Senate proposals released since then, however, have not addressed the specific needs of people with disabilities, advocates say, and have included provisions weakening protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Meanwhile, a recent survey of disability service providers across the nation found that 77 percent had already shut down or discontinued programs as they contend with increased costs and lower utilization because of the pandemic. Without help from the federal government, that could just be the beginning, advocates say, especially with the coronavirus also tightening state and local budgets. “It’s really frustrating because our providers and our DSPs continue to go to work every day. They can’t just put a pin in this until after the election,” said Shannon McCracken, vice president for government relations at the American Network of Community Options and Resources, or ANCOR, a national trade group representing disability service providers. “They need to get the job done in Congress so we can get our jobs done,” she said. In one rural county, people with disabilities and others who have been appointed a guardian may soon lose the ability to vote even if a court has expressly preserved their right to do so. After multiple delays, federal officials are plowing ahead with a long awaited Medicaid rule establishing standards for what counts as home and community based services for people with disabilities. With a slew of new actions and additional resources, federal education officials are taking steps to ensure that students with disabilities and their families can access school services. | 3 | https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2020/09/14/hopes-fade-for-coronavirus-relief-for-people-with-disabilities/28948/ | false | null |
871 | emote learning may not be an option for children with disabilities | school for those in the Westhill Central School District, all kids will be staying home because the district is going with a hybrid learning model, using Wednesdays as cleaning days. But for some parents, the hybrid model of learning is both bitter and sweet. NewsChannel 9’s Julia LeBlanc spoke with a family who shared how the model is affecting them. Jackson Terek has non verbal autism. His parents said they are grateful he will be in school four days a week, but they know on Wednesdays, he won’t be getting the help he needs. Also, they are terrified that at some point, COVID 19 could force an all remote learning model, which doesn’t work for Jackson. It’s been months since 5 year old Jackson has gotten the education he needs. He has non verbal autism and with his schooling, comes many services. His mom, Nickole Terek, said, “He normally gets physical therapy, he gets occupational therapy, speech therapy, music therapy, behavioral therapy. He was missing all of that while the school was closed. ”With the Westhill model, he’ll be getting most of that help four days a week, except for behavioral therapy. For that, his parents are paying for an outside service. They’ve been struggling to keep up during the pandemic. Joe and Nickole Terek say Jackson only got a few weeks of learning in after his summer program closed because of COVID. His dad trying to take on the role of parent, teacher, and therapist ever since. “It’s been great news that he’s going back to school for me, as far as work wise. But also that he’s getting his therapies and he’s getting what he needs,” Joe said. Especially since his parents say they notice Jackson’s been losing his progress. It’s hard for him to pick up on social cues, so he uses non verbal communication and physical touch to let others know how he’s feeling. Those are all things that can’t be done through a computer. “Remote learning has not been something that’s been beneficial for Jackson. I’ve talked with other parents whose kids also receive special education and remote learning isn’t working for them, either,” Nickole said. And though Jackson won’t be in a typical kindergarten class, he will be getting one on one attention with a small group of students. Precious time and attention his parents are terrified could be ruined if COVID strikes again. Nickole said, “I just want people to be patient with the kids and parents, you know, with special needs. It’s a rough time for everybody, but especially for these kids. ”The Tereks say Jackson has been receiving services during school for three years and they say the district has been great when it comes to making sure Jackson gets what he needs during the pandemic. Westhill Superintendent Casey Barduhn spoke with Julia LeBlanc on Wednesday morning. Click the player below to watch the interview | 3 | https://www.localsyr.com/back-to-school/how-learning-looks-for-children-with-a-disability/ | false | null |
872 | Views of disability, deafness | Jaipreet Virdi was living and teaching in Canada, where she had grown up and earned her doctorate in the history of science, technology and medicine, when she found out about a job opening on the faculty of the University of Delaware’s Department of History. “I looked into it, and I learned about the University’s Hagley Program [in the History of Capitalism, Technology and Culture] and its strength in the field of material culture studies, and I thought: This is the job for me,” Virdi said. UD agreed, and Virdi joined the faculty as an assistant professor of history in 2018. Since then, she has continued to teach, conduct research, write, give public lectures around the country and work on several other scholarly projects all related to her special interests in how disability, and particularly the technology and medical interventions associated with it, have been viewed throughout history. This year will see the publication of two of her books. Virdi is a co editor of Disability and the Victorians: Attitudes, Interventions, Legacies, published in April by Manchester University Press, and is the author of Hearing Happiness: Deafness Cures in History, published in August by the University of Chicago Press. Disability and the Victorians is a collection of essays that discuss such topics as deafness, blindness, language delay and the portrayal of characters with disabilities in popular fiction, all focused on the Victorian Era. The writers also explore how attitudes toward, and treatments of, disabilities at that time have affected society’s views even today. In addition to editing the book, with co editors Iain Hutchison and Martin Atherton, Virdi wrote a chapter on how deafness was medicalized in Victorian London, examining the Royal Ear Hospital from 1816 1916. Hearing Happiness, originally scheduled for publication in May but delayed a few months by the current pandemic, looks at deafness in America from the 1860s to the present. Virdi’s research includes a history of what the book’s publisher calls “curious cures” many of them pseudo medicine or outright fakes for hearing loss, from electrotherapy to skull hammering. The book combines scholarly research with Virdi’s personal recollections, after a bout of meningitis at age 4 left her almost totally deaf. Her struggles to adapt to her condition and to the way she was perceived by society helped fuel her personal and professional interest in disability studies. “It’s an academic book, but I guess because I’m deaf myself, I wanted it to be readable, too,” Virdi said of Hearing Happiness. Scholars, writers and activists who reviewed the book have called it “a moving story [that] will resonate with any reader seeking to understand what it truly is like to be deaf in the U. S. ” and “a landmark study in the history of technology. ”Virdi also is continuing to contribute to a long term project, “Objects of Disability,” an online resource database of historical artifacts used or made by Canadians with disabilities, and is at work on another book. Her work has been recognized by the Forum for History of Human Science, which presented her its 2019 Early Career Award. She is the subject of the “Office Hours” feature in a recent issue of the UD Magazine, where you can see some of the many disability related objects that fill her shelves, reflecting her research and attracting visits from students and colleagues. | 3 | https://www.udel.edu/udaily/2020/september/disability-history-deafness-jaipreet-virdi/ | true | null |
873 | Disability Activist Melissa Blake Speaks Out After TikTok Challenge Mocks People With Disabilities | Parents tape themselves showing their children an image of their new teacher but in reality, the viral prank mocks people with physical differences. Some of these videos featured photos of Melissa Blake, a disability activist who was born with a rare genetic bone and muscular disorder called Freeman Sheldon syndrome. Since she’s not a TikTok user herself, Blake found out about the so called prank from people who follow her on other social media networks. Her followers messaged her to say they saw her photo in these videos and reported the accounts, she says. Dealing with people mocking her appearance isn’t new for Blake, but she says online bullying is getting worse. She fights back by sharing her story and remaining visible on social media despite the bullying she experiences. When people use photos of people with physical differences in this way, she says, it displays how society hasn’t normalized people with disabilities or who look different. “I feel like every time, you know, I post a selfie or I share something about my life as a disabled woman, I feel like that is representation that is going to really combat this ableism,” she says. Vocal online activists like Blake use social media to normalize people who are part of everyday life through heightened exposure and understanding. Now 39, Blake had 26 surgeries from the time she was 10 weeks old to 16 years old. With limited mobility, she can walk short distances but uses a wheelchair most of the time. Many people reacting to this trend on social media express outrage toward what these parents are teaching their children about difference by turning people’s appearance into a joke. Blake says she could understand a bit more if teenagers were driving this prank but it’s the parents choosing the photos. “When I found out that it was the parents that were doing this, I thought theyd be the ones that are teaching their children that this sort of thing isnt okay,” she says. “What I was most shocked about is that it was actual adults that think this is funny. ”When people report these types of videos, social media platforms need to take them down, she says. Blake supports zero tolerance policies for bullying on social networking services. While TikTok has since cracked down on removing videos that break its community guidelines, Blake says multiple people who reported videos that featured her face showed screenshots of the platform saying the posts didn’t violate any rules. “People with disabilities like myself can speak out all we want,” she says. “But if these social media platforms arent taking a proactive role to take down these videos when they see them, then me being so vocal is only go so far. ”Some parents who never participated in the challenge have told Blake that they used her story as an opportunity to talk with their children about physical differences. Parents can turn this “horrible prank” into something positive by using it as a vehicle to teach children not to fear disabilities, she says. “I think if we have these open conversations about disabilities and about what its like to be disabled and that people with disabilities arent so different,” she says, “I think for the next generation, they can grow up in a world where theyre not afraid of people with disabilities. | 3 | https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/09/07/tiktok-new-teacher-challenge-melissa-blake | false | null |
874 | Academy Awards Make Push For Increased Disability Representation | The Academy Awards will phase in new inclusion standards in the coming years to promote better representation of people with disabilities and other underrepresented groups in film. For the first time, movies will have to meet inclusion standards in order to contend for best picture at the Oscars and disability representation is a significant piece of the puzzle. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said this week that eligibility requirements will take effect beginning with the awards given in 2024. The move is intended to “encourage equitable representation on and off screen in order to better reflect the diversity of the movie going audience,” the Academy said. Under the new requirements, films must meet two out of four standards to be eligible for Hollywood’s top honor. The standards cover a film’s casting, storyline and who’s working behind the camera as well as training opportunities and promotional staff at the company backing the movie. Including people with cognitive or physical disabilities as well as those who are deaf or hard of hearing are among the ways that a film can satisfy the standards. For example, a film could qualify under one standard if its storyline focuses on this group or if actors with such disabilities account for a significant number of secondary or more minor roles. The new inclusion mandate also covers underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, women and members of the LGBTQ+ community. In order to be considered for best picture in 2022 and 2023, films must submit a confidential Academy Inclusion standards form, but they won’t be expected to meet the criteria until 2024. The standards will only apply to the best picture category. “We believe these inclusion standards will be a catalyst for long lasting, essential change in our industry,” Academy President David Rubin and Academy CEO Dawn Hudson said in a statement. Hollywood has long faced criticism for minimal representation of people with disabilities and other minority groups. A report out last year found that only 1. 6 percent of all speaking characters in the 100 top grossing films of 2018 had a disability. Lauren Appelbaum with RespectAbility, a nonprofit that works to promote disability inclusion in Hollywood, welcomed the Academy’s initiative. “We are especially pleased to see people with disabilities included, as too often disability is not included in diversity conversations,” she said. In particular, Appelbaum indicated that it’s significant that the Academy’s plan encourages people with disabilities to be in roles behind the camera since that will help bring about more authentic stories. While there is still work to be done, she said, “this is a major first step to bringing about change in an industry that has been resistant to change. ” In one rural county, people with disabilities and others who have been appointed a guardian may soon lose the ability to vote even if a court has expressly preserved their right to do so. After multiple delays, federal officials are plowing ahead with a long awaited Medicaid rule establishing standards for what counts as home and community based services for people with disabilities. With a slew of new actions and additional resources, federal education officials are taking steps to ensure that students with disabilities and their families can access school services | 3 | https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2020/09/10/academy-awards-push-increased-disability-representation/28932/ | true | null |
875 | Metro Disability Coalition says TARC isn't following COVID-19 guidelines | Leaders with the Metro Disability Coalition protested Tuesday what they called a horrible situation facing drivers with disabilities aboard Transit Authority of River City buses. Marcellus Mayes, president of MDC, stood in front of TARC headquarters and compared buses to a nursing home on wheels. He and Bobbie Jones, the vice president of MDC, said TARC isnt enforcing personal protective equipment on buses; isnt providing drivers with enough cleaning supplies and PPE for their routes; is not making drivers coming in from hot spots or other countries quarantine before driving; and is not treating a personal care attendant like an individual who factors into the headcount. TARC has a 25 person limit on fixed routes, and TARC3, which provides transportation for people with disabilities, has a two passenger limit on buses and a one passenger limit on vans and cars. The transit authority said in a statement that every driver receives a supply of gloves, masks and sanitizer every day and that All vehicles are sanitized daily. This mirrors the safety and precautionary measures TARC has implemented on fixed route service. Those gathered at TARC headquarters on Tuesday said those guidelines are not enforced. Opinion:TARC is running on fumes amid COVID 19, putting people at risk Theo Hamilton, the president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1447, said Tuesday that drivers have said they may get three sanitary wipes for 18 trips. Behind him, roughly 20 people gathered in support, holding signs that read, We dont feel safe, TARC should respect disabled veterans and TARC must follow CDC guidelines. The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends keeping passengers 6 feet apart and being aware of high traffic surfaces. Our drivers recognize the importance of wearing masks and social distancing, TARC said in a statement. They too want to be safe and healthy while ensuring the safety of all passengers. TARC and TARC3 remain diligent about the safety of our community. MDC wants TARC3 to only allow one person per bus, which Mayes said is feasible. Drivers face a predicament now, he said: They feel like they have to put themselves at risk of COVID 19 or at risk of losing their jobs. You just have to decide in Louisville and Kentucky, said Mayes, whether it is more important to save lives or to make money. | 3 | https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2020/09/08/metro-disability-coalition-tarc-isnt-following-covid-19-rules/5750601002/ | false | null |
876 | Kansas Public Radio | Incorporated in Lawrence helps about 75 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities with jobs, assembling things like cargo straps for the federal government and medical kits. When the day is done, Cottonwood takes them back to their homes in the community. Ettie Brightwell stood outside the building in August, telling people goodbye. Brightwell, Cottonwood’s community relations and development director, even stopped one man to tie his shoe before he boarded a van. Cottonwood has more than 200 staff members, and there’s a help wanted sign outside of their building. The state was prepared to give organizations that provide in home care and disability services a $9 million funding increase this year to help boost workers’ pay. Cottonwood CEO Sharon Spratt said that could have translated to about $1 or more per hour. Right now, she said, the pay is often between $10 to $12 an hour, making it hard to attract staff. “We know in today’s world that’s not a very competitive wage,” she said. But Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly eliminated the $9 million increase when the state’s revenue forecast plummeted by more than $1 billion after the coronavirus closed businesses and led to massive layoffs. As part of her $700 million plan to balance the budget, Kelly wants to delay payments, take out a loan from a state investment pool and trim money for many services including disability care and juvenile justice. Kelly said her goal with the budget cuts is protecting what she calls the state’s economic drivers. That means avoiding cuts to education, transportation and economic development programs. “When we come out of this pandemic, I don’t want a crumbled infrastructure,” she said. “I want a solid foundation upon which to grow. ”Kelly also acknowledged that while she has supported increased funding for disability services, this year is not ordinary. “It’s just not responsible to increase funding for a program when you’re going to have to be cutting everywhere else,” Kelly said in an interview. Disability services in Kansas went almost a decade without a funding increase, though that has changed in the last few years. Matt Fletcher, who is executive director of the advocacy group InterHab, said the $9 million would have been the largest increase yet, at about 5%. In home care workers sometimes have to bathe and feed people or change colostomy bags. “Its very demanding, taxing work,” Fletcher said. “And the wage that’s paid in most of the state is less than what someone could earn … in fast food or a big box retail store. ”Corrections money redirected another target of the budget balancing plan is an established fund for juvenile corrections programs. The fund has more than $40 million in it to pay for services that help keep troubled kids out of detention centers. “In my opinion, putting kids in custody wasn’t working,” said Peggy Pratt, director of Northwest Kansas Juvenile Services. Her organization manages programs in the northwest part of the state, including counseling for kids who are having violent outbursts and mentoring for their parents. The goal is keeping kids on a path that can keep them out of the corrections system later in life. “I really do think these are invaluable programs,” she said. “Really, we’ve just gotten started. ”Kansas changed how it ran juvenile corrections programs in 2016 and money has been building in the fund ever since. Republican state Rep. Russ Jennings said the juvenile programs haven’t ramped up as quickly as hoped, but losing $40 million might hinder future growth and impact the most vulnerable kids. “If we want to change the trajectory of children who are behaving in ways that are offensive and unlawful, we have to have the resources to do it,” Jennings said. Kelly disagrees, saying it won’t impact services because the juvenile programs have more funding than they can currently use. | 3 | https://kansaspublicradio.org/kpr-news/kansas-disability-services-were-supposed-get-boost-pandemic-changed | false | null |
877 | The Wariness That Comes With Disability | Although there are many words to describe the disabled experience, I’ve been thinking a lot about the word “wariness” this week. Many of us in the disabled community are indeed wary of many things. We go through great lengths to anticipate pitfalls, challenges, and risks in our everyday lives. We plan out our days carefully and prudently. We make accommodations for ourselves and come up with workarounds. We have our own kind of internal calculus to consider dangers, because our bodies aren’t always dependable, and the world isn’t as inclusive as it should be. This constant wariness is something I’m trying to be mindful of in my own life because wariness can be good or bad, depending on the situation. It’s important to try to channel this feeling of wariness in a positive direction. When my siblings and I were children, my father didn’t necessarily talk about wariness, but he impressed upon us the importance of anticipating problems and challenges. Whenever I undertook a new activity, he reminded me to anticipate. And whenever I failed at something, he suggested it may have been because I didn’t anticipate all the possible pitfalls. As my siblings and I have gotten older, we’ve tried to take my father’s advice to heart. Thus, the word “anticipate” has, in some ways, become my family’s shorthand version of the widely used adage, “Prior preparation prevents piss poor performance. ” So, a manageable level of wariness can oftentimes be a good thing. It has helped me and others to be creative in making accommodations for our bodies while still pursuing the life we want to lead. For those of us with Charcot Marie Tooth disease , this often means being creative and finding ways to make up for our weak hands and ankles or our unpredictable levels of energy. And because many in our community are always looking for solutions to our unreliable bodies, the kind of wariness that inspires ingenuity and flexibility is something worth celebrating, so we can come up with solutions together. For example, I’m always on the lookout for different exercises that benefit a CMT body. Although I’m sometimes embarrassed by them in front of my able bodied friends, I’m always appreciative when my father shares his latest adaptive tools such as bottle and jar openers. On the other hand, it is easy to be overwhelmed when imagining all the ways a body can fail you. Many of my biggest regrets in life are marked by fear. From the fear of twisting my ankle and embarrassing myself in front of my tennis instructor to the fear of pity during summer church events and birthday parties at the local roller rink, I’ve too often allowed the thought of everything that could go wrong to prevent me from trying my best and possibly succeeding. Or, at the very least, fear may have prevented me from failing in a more spectacular and worthwhile manner. Although making adaptations and compensating for an uncooperative body is one thing, making excuses for society when it should be better is another thing entirely. Encountering and overcoming problems and challenges abled bodied folks don’t give a second thought to is nothing new for the disabled community. There was a time when disabled folks needed to plan around the fact that curb cuts weren’t common and handicapped parking was rare. Such was the situation as recently as 30 years ago right before the Americans with Disabilities Act became law in 1990. I can hardly imagine a world without the benefits the ADA has created for many disabled folks in the United States. In the past, I’ve wondered where the disability movement goes from here. Nowadays, whenever I think of opportunities to move the needle of progress forward, I think of all the challenges and risks that we in the disability community often account for. They exist not because of our disabilities, but because of how society is lacking. | 3 | https://charcot-marie-toothnews.com/2020/08/25/wariness-living-with-disability/ | false | null |
880 | Mentally Preparing To Return To Work With A Disability | Experiencing a severe health condition or injury that prevents you from working is a serious enough issue to deal with – not to mention the financial hardships and potential loss of savings and retirement funds that can come with it. Another struggle, albeit one that’s often overlooked, is getting oneself comfortable with the idea of returning to the workforce if you medically recover from a disability, no matter how badly you may wish to become financially independent again. Sure, job hunting, creating a successful resume, and succeeding during an interview are challenging tasks. But sometimes, overcoming the mental anguish and anxiety that comes with embracing a new routine and returning to work after years of dealing with a medical condition can be even harder. Fortunately, there are approaches to this process that can help you mentally prepare for this transition. First, understand that recovery is different for everyone. Take your time and go at your own pace. You don’t need to apply for 50 jobs the first day you embark on a job hunt. Beef up your resume and cover letter, send out some applications, and prepare your answers to common interview questions. Keep it up and keep it steady. Second, consider easing your way back into the workforce. Especially if your disability kept you from working for a few years, it may be a better option to locate a part time position instead of a full time job. This may provide protection from becoming immediately overwhelmed. If you’re participating in the Social Security Disability Insurance program, there is more good news. SSDI is a financial backstop paid for by your FICA taxes and managed by the Social Security Administration for people who are unable to work for at least 12 months due to a severe health condition. An important advantage of SSDI is the program known as Ticket to Work, which allows you to try to return to work without risking your SSDI or Medicare benefits. The program includes a Trial Work Period that allows you to attempt work and earn as much as you can. If you learn through this process that you’re not able to work just yet, you won’t lose the benefits you’ve worked so long and hard to receive. Third, it’s important to take your specific disability into account, and think through how best to accommodate it when you return to work. If you have a behavioral disability, it could be worthwhile to talk to your therapist and/or doctors about how to handle work related increases in anxiety or worry. If you have a physical disability, it might be worthwhile to increase your average activity level to what will be expected of you getting up and potentially going to work on a daily basis. This could include going on evening walks, or even just doing some more things around the house. Also, don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. Finally, another approach can be to start volunteering. If you’re unsure of what type of work you would like to pursue following a disability, volunteering offers a low level introductory activity that can open your eyes to new interests, while keeping you in control of your schedule. It’s great for mental health and wellness, for practicing social skills and collaborating with others, and the options are endless: playing with dogs or cats in shelters, serving at food banks, giving time to the American Red Cross. As long as you’re doing something you’re passionate about, and doing it slowly to prevent setbacks, you’ll be one step closer to fulfilling your goals. Returning to work comes with both physical and mental challenges. By taking a thoughtful approach and keeping these tips in mind, you can absolutely overcome the hurdles. | 3 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulamorgan/2020/08/25/mentally-preparing-to-return-to-work-with-a-disability/?sh=3646dde81917 | false | null |
882 | It's time for business to fix the 'disability inequality crisis': Activist and entrepreneur | Disability activist, social entrepreneur and founder of The Valuable 500 initiative, Caroline Casey, has told CNBC that business needs to be at the forefront of accelerating change to end the disability inequality crisis, as the world emerges from the coronavirus crisis. This problem is too big for governments and charities alone to resolve. It needs the most powerful force on this planet, which in my mind is business, she said. As we reset our system, our recovery needs to be inclusive of everyone. There are no more excuses. Casey told CNBC that disability is still not understood as valuable, but with the exclusion of people with disabilities estimated to cost countries up to 7% of their annual GDP, according to the International Labour Organization, business needs to understand the value, not just the cost of inclusion. She said people currently consider a disability as something more akin to being weak or dependent, but actually this is an incredible market that has insight and innovation and potential. Casey, who is registered legally blind, said she hid her own disability at work until she was 28 years old, mistakenly thinking that if she spoke up about it she wouldnt have the same chances. She launched The Valuable 500 initiative a global movement putting disability on the business leadership agenda at the World Economic Forum, Davos in 2019. Named to emulate the Fortune 500 list of top global companies by revenue, the movement aims to sign up five hundred of the worlds largest multinational and private sector companies to commit to unlocking the business, social and economic value of the more than 1 billion people living with disability worldwide. Nearly 300 companies have already signed up across 30 countries, including Boston Consulting Group , Black & Veatch, Tommy Hilfiger, Voya Financial, Calvin Klein, Greene King and Roche Pharma UK. Speaking alongside the former CEO of Unilever and Chair of The Valuable 500, Paul Polman, Casey told CNBC that it was extraordinary that over 54% of our global boards have never had a conversation about disability. Polman, who has championed business inclusion and sustainability, told CNBC that in the U. S. only four out of ten people with disabilities had a job, and while 98% of companies in America think inclusion is important, less than 4% include disability within that. As such, he said there is an enormous missed opportunity, with the disability community representing an estimated global spending power of $8 trillion. Were talking here about 15 to 20% of the world population. If you include their families with it, its probably half of the people in the world affected with disability, and yet we prioritize that to a level that to me is incomprehensible, he said. Fifty percent of companies operating in the OECD countries rather pay a fine than fulfilling the requirement, as written in the law, to include people with disability. Asked whether corporates were likely to put inclusion initiatives before their bottom line given the current economic climate, Polman said inclusion was a major part of optimizing longer term returns. Were seeing that now happening and unfolding in the U. S. around racial issues, weve also seen that with gender equality. Companies that are more gender equal tend to perform better, and were just advocating for the same obvious reasons that it is the same with people for disability, he said. Casey and Polman told CNBC that unconscious bias and stigma, misconceptions around costs of inclusion, and leadership awareness, motivation and accountability were some of the reasons disability had been on the edges of business until now. Polman, who is also co founder of Imagine, a foundation bringing CEOs together to drive change, said the Covid 19 crisis had disproportionately affected people with disability who often have less income, less access to health and less education. | 3 | https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/14/caroline-casey-its-time-to-fix-the-disability-inequality-crisis.html | true | null |
883 | States Pressured To Remove Disability Bias From Medical Care Guidelines | In what’s being called a national precedent, yet another state is agreeing to change its approach to providing medical care during the pandemic in order to prevent disability discrimination. The U. S Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights said Thursday that it has reached a resolution with the state of Utah to revise its crisis standards of care guidelines. At issue is the state’s plan to ration care in the event that ventilators or other resources are in short supply, an issue that’s come to the fore amid the coronavirus pandemic. Disability advocacy groups have filed complaints against nearly a dozen states alleging that such plans discriminate against people with disabilities. In the case of Utah, the state has altered its plan so that medical providers must conduct an individual assessment rather than making decisions based on age, disability or functional impairment. Language allowing a person’s long term life expectancy to be factored has been removed and providers can no longer consider resource intensity or duration of need as criteria for a person to receive medical resources. In addition, under the updated policy, hospitals should not reallocate personal ventilators that people with disabilities have brought with them. Most significantly, advocates noted that Utah will not allow blanket “do not resuscitate” policies if resources are scarce and the state is including protections to keep providers from steering people into decisions to withhold life sustaining treatment. “We’ve been pleased by the cooperation of states we have approached with civil rights concerns regarding their policies and Utah’s plan is the best yet,” said Roger Severino, director of the HHS Office for Civil Rights. “Older persons and persons with disabilities have equal worth and dignity and should not be deprioritized for health care based on stereotypes and other impermissible factors. ”The HHS Office for Civil Rights previously resolved complaints against Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Alabama regarding crisis standards of care guidelines. “Today’s resolution sends a clear message during a dire time: people with disabilities must have equal access to life saving treatment during the COVID 19 pandemic,” said Alison Barkoff, director of advocacy at the Center for Public Representation, one of the groups that brought the complaints against Utah and other states. “Many states’ medical rationing plans have discriminatory provisions similar to those in Utah. We urge states across the country to heed this warning and revise their plans now to comply with federal disability laws. ” In one rural county, people with disabilities and others who have been appointed a guardian may soon lose the ability to vote even if a court has expressly preserved their right to do so. After multiple delays, federal officials are plowing ahead with a long awaited Medicaid rule establishing standards for what counts as home and community based services for people with disabilities. With a slew of new actions and additional resources, federal education officials are taking steps to ensure that students with disabilities and their families can access school services | 3 | https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2020/08/21/states-pressured-to-remove-disability-bias-from-medical-care-guidelines/28783/ | false | null |
884 | Yes, Disability Is Political | Politics is often a subject most people don’t want to tackle. However as a disabled and mental health advocate, I believe it should be my and other advocates’ priority to use our influence and platform to speak out about disability politics. I have often heard people say that talking about hot topics, such as Black Lives Matter and the rights of LGBTQ+ people doesn’t have a place on disability advocacy pages. I am here to argue otherwise. Disability is political, and so is disability advocacy. Disability can intersect with any marginalized group. To not amplify and advocate for those voices within our community is dividing us further. Being disabled places me as part of a marginalized minority group. Within that minority are other smaller disabled marginalized groups. As a disabled cis white woman, I have had my fair share of dealing with ableism, gaslighting and medical trauma. However, I have never been treated this way due to the color of my skin or my sexual orientation. Related:? Download The Mighty app to connect in real time with people who can relate to what youre going through. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act. If you haven’t seen the documentary “Crip Camp,” please check it out. It discusses the protests and sit ins that had to take place for those with disabilities to get Section 504 and the ADA in place. This affirms that disabled advocacy is in fact political. Disability is political when we have to fight our government to get equal treatment. Disability is political when disabled BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people are being ignored, mistreated and dying because of the color of their skin and sexual orientation. We all have different stories to share, but when we decide to ignore the political part of our disability advocacy, we ignore our fellow disabled minorities. So what can we do as fellow disabled advocates or partners to continue the discussion about disability in politics? What can we do to help out disabled minorities? I understand many of us who are disabled cannot protest, however, there are many ways to amplify, advocate and make disability advocacy intersectional. Related:? This Virtual Education Guide Can Help Disabled Students Navigating the PandemicHere are several small ways to amplify, advocate and diversify your disabled advocacy, whether it’s on social media or in everyday life. 1) Follow, post, repost and/or share Disabled Black voices. Change up your feed. How do disabled BIPOC and LGBTQ+ stories differ from your personal experiences? Share these experiences. Follow and amplify disabled black voices. Make a post or share in stories your favorite disabled BIPOC or LGBTQ+ advocates. 2) Educate yourself. Learn about systematic racism through books, media, art and podcasts. What are the facts about how the disabled BIPOC and LGBTQ+ community are treated in the medical community? Share those facts with others and on your pages. 3) Talk to family and friends about racism and homophobia. This might be small but can be so powerful. Share your thoughts on what is going on in the disabled community and how discrimination disproportionately affects minorities. 4) Get involved. Join a peaceful protest, contact your elected officials, sign petitions. Related:? 5 Free Back to School Resources for Kids With Disabilities5) Make protests accessible. 6) Donate to causes and support disabled BIPOC and LGBTQ+ businesses and creators. Advocate, amplify and diversify. Its OK to Have Mixed Feelings About Living With a DisabilityYouTube Will Discontinue Community Captions Feature in SeptemberStride Rite Releases Adaptive Sneakers for Kids With Disabilities RespectAbility Hosts Free Virtual Event About Disability Representation Near warp speeds | 3 | https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/yes-disability-political-064036182.html | false | null |
885 | Disability and COVID-19: A deadly virus made worse by discrimination | The coronavirus crisis has exposed existing inequalities in the UK and “excluded” disabled people from society, campaigners have warned. As the UK grapples to manage the crisis amid fears of a second wave across Europe, charities have said that disabled people are being discriminated against, leaving them vulnerable to the virus. The statistics are stark. Disabled women who identify as “limited a lot” are 3. 2 times more likely to die of the virus than non disabled women, while disabled men in the same category are 2. 5 times more likely to be killed by COVID 19, data from the Office for National Statistics showed. According to the ONS, “limited a lot” signifies someone “usually needing regular, continuing support from family members, friends or personal social services for a number of normal daily activities”. When fully adjusted for factors such as occupation, region, area deprivation and socio economic position, the data found that “limited a lot” disabled women are still 2. 4 times more likely to die of coronavirus than non disabled women, and “limited a lot” disabled men are 1. 9 times more likely to die than non disabled men. The data also showed that 30. 3% of COVID 19 deaths in England and Wales were disabled people in the “limited a lot” category and 28. 9% were disabled people in the “limited a little” category between 2 March and 15 May. Disabled people make up 16% of the working adult population, and 45% of adults over state pension age. They are more likely to live in poverty: 19% of families with at least on disabled member live in relative income poverty, compared to 15% of families with no disabled members. There is wider evidence to suggest disabled people are not getting sufficient support during the pandemic. According to the Greater Manchester Disabled People’s Panel Big Disability Survey, 76% of the 677 people surveyed said they were dissatisfied with the help provided by the government. A third said they felt neglected by the government, citing a reduction in the number of health visits; a deterioration in their mental health; and difficulty sourcing personal protective equipment as reasons for their frustration. Sisters of Frida, a volunteer led disabled women’s organization, found that increased social isolation during the pandemic is causing psychological distress for disabled women the organization is calling for more inclusive networks of disabled people locally and online to better support and empower this community. Co director Lani Parker said: “We need to start looking at the institutional oppression that we face. That includes disabled people of color. “We need to look at the word ‘vulnerable’. It’s about who is made vulnerable rather than an assumption that someone is vulnerable to the virus. “What are the factors through which we are made more vulnerable to the virus? Most of those factors will be structural discrimination and complex and intersecting issues. ”Parker, who is a wheelchair user, said people were surprised at seeing her outside at the beginning of the pandemic, that they had assumed wheelchair users had to stay inside and shield. She said: “If you think somebody is vulnerable, you strip them of their agency, they don’t have thoughts and feelings of their own, and they are not part of a community. That is the way that ableism and the exclusion of disabled people works. ”Although some disabled people may be more likely to suffer from pre existing health conditions, making them more susceptible to complications caused by COVID 19, the Department of Health and Social Care said that until more is known about the virus, the reasons behind the ONS data cannot be fully understood. | 3 | https://sports.yahoo.com/disability-coronavirus-discrimination-ons-135611408.html | false | null |
895 | Debt wiped for Corinthian students as bigger decisions loom | As college graduates wait to see whether President Joe Biden will wipe out some of their student loan debt, his administration is taking a more limited step to address a fraud scandal at Corinthian Colleges, a for profit chain that collapsed nearly a decade ago. Anyone who enrolled in the company’s schools will have his or her federal student debt erased, clearing away $5. 8 billion for more than 560,000 borrowers the largest single loan discharge ever, according to the Education Department. Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday called it a milestone in “a journey for justice for everyone who was defrauded” and will “put real money in the pockets of real people. ” She made only a brief reference to lingering questions about the next steps on student loan debt. “As a nation, we have a lot more work to do on these issues,” she said. Biden, as a candidate, promised to address the matter if elected, and he has expressed interest in canceling $10,000 per borrower. There’s been no word on how Biden will handle the issue, even with pressure building on him. The White House has suggested there would be some kind of income criteria that would prevent high earners from benefiting. Debt payments were paused by President Donald Trump near the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, and Biden has kept the freeze in place while considering a more permanent solution. Any decision carries political risks. Republicans accuse Biden of plotting an election year giveaway. Activists are pushing him to cancel at least $50,000 per borrower, and anything less could disappoint them. “President Biden, canceling $10,000 in student debt is like pouring a bucket of ice water on a forest fire,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement. Black students and other students of color are more likely to take out loans to pay for college. The announcement about Corinthian, which operated from 1995 to 2015, seeks to close the books on one of the most notorious cases of fraud in American higher education. At its peak, Corinthian was one of the largest for profit college companies, with more than 100 campuses and more than 110,000 students at its Everest, WyoTech and Heald schools. When Harris was California’s attorney general, she worked with the Obama administration to uncover how campuses were falsifying data on the success of their graduates. In some cases, schools reported that students had found jobs in their fields of study even though they were working at grocery stores or fast food chains. Students told investigators they were often pressured to enroll with promises of lucrative employment, only to end up with huge sums of debt and few job prospects. Federal officials found that the company falsely told students their course credits could be transferred to other colleges. Harris said Corinthian tried to attract students who were single parents or unemployed and looking to improve their lives. “The company believed they could get away with it because, as predators are wont to do, they targeted people who they assumed wouldn’t fight back,” she said. Tens of thousands of former Corinthian students were already eligible for debt cancellation, but they had to file paperwork and navigate an application process that advocates say is confusing. Now, the relief will be made automatic and extended to additional borrowers. Those with a remaining balance on their Corinthian debt will also get refunds on payments already made, department officials said. But the action does not apply to loans paid in full. A spokesperson for the Education Department did not respond to a question about why that decision was made. The Corinthian scandal led to a federal crackdown on for profit colleges, and the Obama administration promised to forgive loans for Corinthian students whose programs lied about job placement rates. That administration went on to expand a process known as borrower defense to repayment, which allows any defrauded student to apply for debt cancellation. | 2 | https://apnews.com/article/miguel-cardona-government-and-politics-education-higher-91b302f6ba45c463f69a9eed48ebd4b0 | false | null |
896 | After groundbreaking slave reparations report, what next? | Reparations experts and advocates largely welcomed a move by California to publicly document its role in perpetuating discrimination against African Americans but wondered if the slew of recommendations in its report released this week will result in measurable change. Justin Hansford, a longtime reparations advocate and law professor at Howard University, called the report an exciting development. “The danger here is that everyone reads it and nods their heads and waits on the task force to initiate the response,” said Hansford, who also serves as the director of the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center in Washington, D. C. “We need to have universities, local governments, businesses and others working together to do their part to address some of the recommendations. ”The 500 page document released Wednesday details the harms suffered by descendants of enslaved people and how federal, state and local laws, public officials and the courts were active in sustaining systemic racism in all facets of life for African Americans, despite the abolition of slavery in the 19th century. The California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, which was created by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2020, recommended a long list of actions the state can take to address the racial wealth gap, including housing reforms, reducing mass incarceration, creating a state subsidized mortgage program for qualifying African American applicants and by offering free tuition to California colleges and universities and expanding scholarship opportunities. “This country has ignored the harmful history the African American community has faced in this country and the inequities the community continues to face for far too long. This is a monumental moment not only for the State of California but the United States,” said Rick Callender, president of the California Hawaii State Conference NAACP in Sacramento, California. “When reports such as these are created for the first time in the nation’s history, they are a compelling model for other states to address the same issues. As California goes, so goes the nation,” Callender said in a statement to The Associated Press. The task force, which began meeting in June 2021, will release a comprehensive reparations plan next year. The committee voted in March to limit reparations to the descendants of African Americans living in the U. S. in the 19th century, overruling advocates who wanted to expand compensation to all Black people in the U. S. But activist Yvette Carnell said she worries that the California report and others like it could be used as a scapegoat for the federal government to avoid its responsibility to fund a national reparations movement. “I’m not opposed to this, because I think it is all for a good reason, but I would rather see these reparations commissions use that as leverage to force the federal government to do something,” said Yvette Carnell, president of ADOS Advocacy Foundation. The Georgia based grassroots organization, which began in response to a question about Black wealth, has advocated for reparations since 2020. “My fear is that all of these states will end up maybe doing something and the government at the federal level will say we support local reparations initiatives. When, truthfully, the only government that has trillions of dollars to pour resources into our community and pay us what was owed is the federal government,” said Carnell. Carnell said it feels like the report took every recommendation from Black people around the U. S. and put it all in one report, arguing it could be seen as a “Black agenda. ” But she said she wants to see specific efforts to financially repay what was taken from enslaved people and their descendants, not just repaying them by creating the kinds of programs and offices that are recommended in the report. | 2 | https://apnews.com/article/thurgood-marshall-california-race-and-ethnicity-government-politics-racial-injustice-e50a9292aeca0bc8be76147fb5633841 | false | null |
898 | George Floyd protester sues Florida police over eye injury | A protester who suffered eye damage when a rubber bullet fired by Fort Lauderdale police struck her in the face during a 2020 protest over George Floyd’s murder filed a federal lawsuit this week accusing the officer and the department of violating her civil rights. LaToya Ratlieff, 36, is seeking unspecified monetary damages in her lawsuit against Fort Lauderdale, Detective Eliezer Ramos, who fired the rubber bullet, and five other officers for the injuries she suffered on May 31, 2020. She was taking part in a Black Lives Matter protest that drew thousands over Floyd’s videotaped slaying six days earlier by a Minneapolis police officer who knelt on his neck for eight minutes. A bystander’s video shows Ratlieff was struck as she choked on tear gas that had been fired by officers and stumbled into a street. She suffered a broken right eye socket, nerve damage to that eye and a 20 stitch gash to her forehead that left a scar. Her attorneys say she also suffers migraines and mental trauma. The round that struck Ratlieff was made of collapsible, hollow foam that is typically filled with a chemical irritant. According to its manufacturer, it is about the size of a golf ball, weighs slightly less and has an initial velocity of 200 mph . The rounds are supposed to be aimed at the legs and buttocks as they can be lethal if they hit the head or chest. “Two years ago, I came to Fort Lauderdale to raise my voice against police brutality. Today, I return to do the very same,” Ratlieff said in a statement read by her attorneys at a Thursday news conference outside Fort Lauderdale police headquarters. The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday. “I have every reason to believe that if the same circumstances were repeated today, the risk of someone becoming the victims of brutality at the hands of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department are as high as they have ever been. ”A police department investigation in December cleared Ramos of wrongdoing, saying he was aiming at a man who had thrown a tear gas canister back at officers when Ratlieff walked into his line of fire. The department’s then interim chief also issued an apology to Ratlieff. A department spokesman said this week it does not comment on pending lawsuits. The police investigation put the blame for the violence on some of the protesters, saying they had come to the city looking to start a confrontation with officers. Some bottles and rocks were thrown at officers but Ratlieff’s attorneys say that only began after an officer pushed a kneeling woman to the ground. The lawsuit alleges that Fort Lauderdale police did not train its officers on how to use the weapons in crowd control situations and that state law bans the firing of tear gas or rubber bullets into a crowd without first giving a warning to disperse and then ample time to leave. Stuart Ratzan, Ratlieff’s lead trial attorney, said the protest had been peaceful and lawful for several hours until police fired without warning. “To open fire on American citizens who are asking you to stop using violence against them there is no excuse for that,” Ratzan said. | 2 | https://apnews.com/article/death-of-george-floyd-politics-health-florida-8a793bd8428ccae33a388232ef2d40af | false | null |
899 | Report: Israel arrested no Jews over violent, racist march | Israeli police arrested dozens of Palestinians but no Jews during a nationalist march through Jerusalem this week in which crowds of Jews chanted racist slogans, assaulted Palestinians and vandalized Palestinian property, an Israeli newspaper reported Thursday. Israeli police had said after Sunday’s march that over 60 people were arrested, but have refused to give a breakdown, despite queries by The Associated Press. The Haaretz daily reported Thursday that it checked arrest records name by name, and found that no Jews were among those detained. It said two Jews were arrested in a separate, related incident. Tens of thousands of Israeli nationalists participated in Sunday’s parade an annual march that celebrates Israel’s capture of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians consider the event a provocation. Israeli police cleared out the area for the marchers, who passed through a Palestinian neighborhood before proceeding to the Jewish Quarter of the Old City to pray at the Western Wall. Large crowds, many of them young Orthodox Jewish youths carrying Israeli flags, gathered at the entrance to the Old City’s Muslim Quarter, dancing and chanting slogans such as “Death to Arabs,” before continuing on their way. Inside the Old City, the marchers pounded on the gates of Palestinian businesses and scuffled with angry Palestinian residents. Videos captured on social media showed marchers spitting, beating and spraying pepper spray at Palestinians and journalists. Fights broke out along the route, as police mainly intervened to protect Jews and forcibly disperse Palestinians. According to the Haaretz report, nearly all of those arrested Thursday were Palestinian. Two Jewish suspects were arrested after the parade in the beating of a Palestinian journalist during unrest outside the Old City, it said. The newspaper compiled the statistics by going through court records in the days after the parade. Israeli police did not respond to a request for comment. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has said only a small minority of the flag marchers was responsible for the bad behavior and vowed to prosecute anyone who broke the law. Several other journalists were physically assaulted while covering the march, according to the Foreign Press Association, which represents international media outlets operating in Israel and the Palestinian territories. It said Israeli participants verbally and physically assaulted a BBC team, and assaulted a France 24 reporter on air. It said Quique Kierszenbaum, a freelance photographer and producer covering the march for foreign media, was pepper sprayed by an Israeli participant and punched in the face by an Israeli Border Police officer. “It is unacceptable for a police officer to attack a clearly identified photojournalist who was wearing the wristband police distributed to identify accredited journalists at the event,” it said. The association called on police to take action against the officer and Israelis who attacked reporters. “Those who attack reporters should be arrested, not protected, by police,” it said. “Unfortunately, such violence against journalists has become routine. We expect Israeli authorities who profess to respect freedom of the press to put their words into action. ” Palestinian residents of east Jerusalem have long complained of a double standard in which Palestinian crowds are frequently arrested and violently dispersed by police with clubs, tear gas and rubber bullets, while Jewish settlers often carry out attacks and vandalism with virtual impunity. Israeli police deny such charges, saying they are merely enforcing the law. The Old City is part of east Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in a move not recognized internationally and considers part of its capital. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state. | 2 | https://apnews.com/article/politics-israel-jerusalem-arrests-religion-aab822a3d8656dbc178eb875271f8084 | false | null |
902 | Accused Buffalo mass shooter had threatened a shooting while in high school. Could more have been done to avert the tragedy? | Professor of Criminal Justice, Metropolitan State University Professor of Criminal Justice, Hamline University James Densley receives funding from the National Institute of JusticeJillian Peterson receives funding from the National Institute of JusticeView all partnersNearly a year before he was charged with shooting and killing 10 shoppers, and wounding three more, at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store, a then 17 year old student reportedly told his classmates at Susquehanna Valley High School that he “wanted to do a shooting, either at a graduation ceremony, or sometime after. ”He also reportedly mentioned that he wanted to do a murder suicide at the school, which is located in Broome County in New York. A teacher reported the comment – made online – to a school resource officer. Since the perpetrator had been at home when he made the comment, it triggered a visit from state police, as opposed to the school resource officer, according to an official account of the episode published in the wake of the shooting in The Buffalo News. “The State Police visited the home, talked to the student and persuaded him to undergo a mental health evaluation at Binghamton General Hospital,” the article states. “When a doctor evaluated as not dangerous – a key hurdle required in the Mental Hygiene Law to hold someone against their will – he was returned home and allowed to graduate days later. ”The story is not unlike the dozens of stories that we, a forensic psychologist and a sociologist, have collected in recent years in our effort to study the life histories of mass shooters. It typifies what we believe is one of the biggest challenges that schools face when it comes to averting school shootings – and in the case of Buffalo, mass shootings in general. And that challenge is recognizing and acting upon warning signs that mass shooters almost always give well before they open fire. With funding from the National Institute of Justice, the research arm of the U. S. Department of Justice, we have built a database of 180 mass public shootings that have taken place in the United States since 1966. A mass public shooting is defined as an event in which four or more victims are killed with a gun in a public place. The goal of this project is to use data to look for patterns in the lives of mass shooters. The purpose is to develop a better understanding of who they are and why they did what they did, in order to prevent future tragedies. The findings, detailed in our 2021 book, “The Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic,” show the person charged with the Buffalo shooting on May 14, 2022, shares many commonalities with other mass shooters. He was a young man – 98% of mass shooters are men – who targeted a retail establishment, which is the most common location for a mass public shooting in our database. The majority of mass shooters – 80% – showed signs of a crisis, as exhibited in their behavior, before the shooting. Much like the accused Buffalo shooter allegedly did, nearly half revealed their plans ahead of time, such as by posting on social media. Communication of intent to do harm is most common among younger shooters, like the accused Buffalo perpetrator, who is just 18. Over 30% of mass shooters were suicidal prior to their shooting, and another 40% intended to die in the act, according to our database. A news report indicates that the Buffalo perpetrator considered taking his own life over a dozen times. In his online diary, the accused Buffalo shooter detailed the white supremacist ideology he discovered in internet chat rooms. Our database shows that 18% of mass shootings are underlined by hate. At the same time, like a quarter of all mass shooters, the accused Buffalo perpetrator developed an interest in past mass shootings. He reportedly praised other mass shooters who were similarly inspired by racial hatred, such as the 2015 South Carolina church shooter. And like 25% of perpetrators we’ve studied, he left behind a “manifesto” for the next generation of potential mass shooters to read. | 2 | https://theconversation.com/accused-buffalo-mass-shooter-had-threatened-a-shooting-while-in-high-school-could-more-have-been-done-to-avert-the-tragedy-183455 | false | null |
903 | Desegregating schools requires more than giving parents free choices – a scholar studies the choices parents of all races make | My research at this moment focuses on school choice in New York City, and particularly the role of race in how people choose high schools in New York City. This is important for a couple of reasons. One, New York City is the largest school district in the United States. Over a million kids attend school in this school district. And in 2014, there was a study that came out that was completely surprising to me as someone who was new to New York City. It said that New York state’s schools were the most segregated in the country. And that was surprising for two reasons. One, we often think of New York and particularly New York City as this really racially diverse metropolitan area. The other reason this is surprising is that, for high school in particular, there is school choice, which means students can choose to attend school anywhere across the city. A lot of the reasons we think about or talk about school segregation is that it’s tied to racially segregated housing and neighborhoods. But in New York City, those two ties are broken up. People can technically choose to attend school anywhere across the city. But yet you still see these really stark patterns of segregation. I ask in my work, why do we still see racial sorting patterns across schools and really stark racial segregation? I use both data from families’ actual applications to high schools and an experiment to understand why we see segregation in New York City schools. What’s one thing you want people to take away from your research? Even though we might think of school choice as a race neutral policy, the ways in which families interact with school choice policies are very racialized. By that, I mean a couple of things: One, that means families interpret information about schools through what I call their racial prisms – that is, their racial biases toward groups, general cultural stereotypes around groups, other experiences and exposures to different racial groups. So families are interpreting information about schools through race. They also have racial preferences for schools. In the experiment and in the administrative data, I examine schools that are the exact same but differ only by their racial demographics. And what I find is that families across different racial groups express racial preferences for schools. So in particular, I find that white and Asian families have had really stark desires to avoid Black and Latino spaces. I find that Latino families also want to avoid majority Black schools, and I find that Black families often desire not to attend majority white schools. So again, I really want to emphasize that even though we might think of school choice as race neutral or even a racial equity policy, the ways in which people are interacting with that policy are very racialized and based upon their own experiences and exposures and cultural stereotypes in our larger structure of racism. | 2 | https://theconversation.com/desegregating-schools-requires-more-than-giving-parents-free-choices-a-scholar-studies-the-choices-parents-of-all-races-make-182645 | false | null |
904 | Racism is different than colorism – here’s how | Professor of Social Work, Michigan State University Ronald Hall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. Michigan State University provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation US. View all partnersRonald Hall is a professor in the School of Social Work at Michigan State University. He has written over 200 books/articles/monographs, etc. , on colorism – discrimination on the basis of skin tone, often among the same ethnic or racial group. Below are highlights from an interview with The Conversation. Answers have been edited for brevity and clarity. Why does your research matter and why do you study it? Hall: This research matters as the nation and indeed the world assume a more multiracial demographic. I study it to correct some of the errors made by “experts” and prepare for the future. I grew up a child of the ‘60s, and I saw and heard about a lot of racism – but I didn’t understand as a kid how to connect that to my life directly. By the time I started college in the 70s, I wanted to approach racism from a different perspective. I realized that the same kinds of behaviors that we normally label as racism are actually a form of colorism that’s acted out among people of color. “Experts” refer to colorism as a bias against dark skinned persons exclusively, but I view it more broadly as bias via complexion regardless of skin color. It’s a taboo subject. I guess for fear of being embarrassed, we just don’t discuss it publicly, and I decided to change that. I want to emphasize that it’s a misconception to think it’s something localized to African Americans. When I started to study this topic with my own money, I took to traveling the world. And it took me about 11 years. I’ve collected quantitative and qualitative data from all racial groups, including African descended Americans, Latinos, Native Americans and Asians. What’s something about your research that people would be surprised by?Most would be surprised to know that it exists among Asians. Also, I thought people in Africa of African descent would idealize African features. But in fact, having been there, particularly when I visited South Africa about 15 20 years ago, that wasn’t true. This is the product of colonization. And the Black South Africans were colonized by Europeans, and so you find this behavior that is a norm as much in Black Africa as it is anywhere else in the world. I had a focus group at one of the universities in South Africa, and I gave a question to the students. I said, “You have the ability to determine the skin color, the hair texture, the eye color of your expected daughter. And you can design their features any way you so choose. ” And for about a minute, there was silence in the room. Eventually one young man bravely raised his hand – a South African. He said, “I want my daughter to have blond hair, blue eyes and white skin. ” And this is in the aftermath of apartheid. I was shocked by that. I was shocked. One article I published using this data pertains to the “bleaching syndrome” among Latinx Americans. What do you think led to his wanting that? The social value that we put on those physical features? My guess is that this young man had been seduced by apartheid
and dominated by a Western, Eurocentric environment where everything white is ideal. Although apartheid officially ended in 1994, it is now embedded in the culture, which may extended decades into the future. Fortunately or unfortunately, I believe the world is given to Eurocentric ideals. One of the most dangerous phenomena that I came across is, there is currently a global market in something called bleaching creams. For example, 77% of Nigerians use bleaching creams. | 2 | https://theconversation.com/racism-is-different-than-colorism-heres-how-182316 | false | null |
907 | The Cleveland Indians changed their team name – what’s holding back the Atlanta Braves? | E. P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics, Occidental College Peter Dreier does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. View all partnersIn October 1995, as the Cleveland Indians and Atlanta Braves prepared to face off in the World Series, a group of Native Americans rallied outside Atlanta Fulton County Stadium to protest what they called both teams’ racist names and mascots. Some protesters carried signs, including one that said, “Human beings as mascots is not politically incorrect. It is morally wrong. ”They marched outside the ballpark, where some vendors were selling the foam tomahawks that Braves fans wave during the “tomahawk chop” – a cheer in which they mimic a Native American war chant while making a hammering motion with their arms. It wasn’t until 2018 that the Indians officially removed their logo, a cartoonish Native American named Chief Wahoo, from their merchandise, banners and ballpark. In 2020 the owners agreed to change the Indians name itself. For the 2022 season, they would begin using the new name, the Guardians. The Atlanta Braves’ owners, however, have dug in their heels, refusing to replace a name that many Americans – including Native Americans – find offensive and derogatory. In July 2020 – in the midst of the nationwide protests around racism, sparked by the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police – some Atlanta fans again urged the team to change its name. In response, the Braves’ brass sent a letter to season ticket holders, insisting, “We will always be the Atlanta Braves. ”The insistence on preserving the team name – along with fan traditions like the tomahawk chop – is even more glaring given the city’s links to the civil rights movement. For many years, NFL football team owner Dan Snyder refused to change the name of his Washington Redskins – perhaps one of the more egregiously racist team names in any sport. But in 2020 he finally relented, yielding to pressure from investors and corporate sponsors. The team played as the Washington Football Team for two seasons before becoming the Commanders this year. However, when professional sports teams do change their names, it’s usually done for marketing reasons rather than social ones. The NFL’s Tennessee Oilers rebranded themselves the Tennessee Titans in 1999, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays became the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008 and the New Orleans Hornets turned into the Pelicans in 2013. The Braves have had their own merry go round with team names. The story begins in 1876, when Boston’s professional baseball team was known as the Red Stockings. In 1883, they became the Beaneaters and kept that name until 1907, when new owner George Dovey changed it to the Doves, a tribute to himself. In 1911, William Russell bought the team and renamed it the Rustlers, also after himself. But a year later, James Gaffney, a New York City alderman, purchased the team. Gaffney was part of Tammany Hall, a New York City political club named after Tamanend, a Delaware Indian chief. Tammany Hall used a Native American wearing a headdress as its emblem and referred to its members as “braves. ” So Gaffney gave his team a new moniker. From thenceforth they would be known as the Boston Braves. In 1935, Bob Quinn purchased the Braves after a season in which they sported the worst record in baseball: 38 wins and 115 losses. Hoping to give the team a fresh start, he renamed it the Boston Bees, but the team continued to perform poorly. In 1940, construction magnate Lou Perini bought the team and changed the name back to the Braves. In 1953, Perini moved the Braves to Milwaukee – the first team relocation since 1903. Nine years later, he sold the Braves to some Chicago investors led by William Bartholomay, who quickly began looking to move the team to a larger television market. | 2 | https://theconversation.com/the-cleveland-indians-changed-their-team-name-whats-holding-back-the-atlanta-braves-181662 | false | null |
908 | Students of color in special education are less likely to get the help they need – here are 3 ways teachers can do better | When I was a special education teacher at Myrtle Grove Elementary School in Miami in 2010, my colleagues and I recommended that a Black girl receive special education services because she had difficulty reading. However, her mother disagreed. When I asked her why, she explained that she, too, was identified as having a learning disability when she was a student. She was put in a small classroom away from her other classmates. She remembered reading books below her grade level and frequent conflicts between her classmates and teachers. Because of this, she believed she received a lower quality education. She didn’t want her daughter to go through the same experience. Ultimately, the mother and I co designed an individualized education plan – known in the world of special education as an IEP – for her daughter where she would be pulled out of class for only an hour a day for intensive reading instruction. When compared to white students with disabilities, students of color with disabilities are more likely to be placed in separate classrooms. This may lead to lower educational outcomes for students of color in special education, as students with disabilities perform better in math and reading when in general education classrooms. Researchers, such as University of Arizona education scholar Adai Tefera and CUNY Hunter College sociologist of education Catherine Voulgarides, argue that systemic racism – as well as biased interpretations of the behavior of students of color – explains these discrepancies. For example, when compared to students with similar test scores, Black students with disabilities are less likely to be included in the general education classroom than their non Black peers. To curb this, teachers can take steps toward being more inclusive of students of color with disabilities. As a Black feminist researcher who focuses on the intersection of race and disability, here are three recommendations I believe can help teachers to better support students of color with disabilities. Federal law requires that schools provide parents and guardians with Procedural Safeguards Notices, a full explanation of all the rights a parent has when their child is referred to or receives special education services. These notices need to be put in writing and explained to families in “language that is easily understandable. ” However, research shows that in many states, Procedural Safeguards Notices are written in ways that are difficult to read. This can make it harder for families, especially immigrant families, to know their rights. Also, families of color report facing greater resistance when making requests for disability services than white families do. When meeting with families, teachers can take the time to break down any confusing language written in the Procedural Safeguards Notice. This can assure that the families of students of color are fully aware of their options. For example, families have the right to invite an external advocate to represent their interests during meetings with school representatives. These advocates can speak on behalf of the family and often help resolve disagreements between the schools and families. Educators can tell families about organizations that serve children with disabilities and help them navigate school systems. The Color of Autism, The Arc and Easterseals are striving to address racial inequities in who has access to advocacy supports. These organizations create culturally responsive resources and connect families of color with scholarships to receive training on how to advocate for themselves. | 2 | https://theconversation.com/students-of-color-in-special-education-are-less-likely-to-get-the-help-they-need-here-are-3-ways-teachers-can-do-better-178111 | false | null |
910 | Ketanji Brown Jackson confirmed as Supreme Court justice: 4 essential reads | Breaking News Editor Associate Professor of Law, Rutgers University Newark Adjunct Professorial Lecturer, American University School of Public Affairs Associate Professor of Law, Santa Clara University Professor of Political Science, University of Florida View all partnersThe phrase “in a historic vote” gets thrown around a lot in journalism – and it isn’t always warranted. But shortly after 2 p. m. EDT on April 7, 2022, a Senate roll call confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson as the next U. S. Supreme Court justice – the first Black woman to sit on the bench. The elevation of Jackson to the Supreme Court will not change the ideological setup of the bench – which would continue to be split 6 3 in favor of conservative justices. Nonetheless, it is an important landmark in the history of the court – of the 115 justices on the Supreme Court since it was established in 1789, 108 have been white men. Race featured in Jackson’s confirmation process; so too did attempts to define her “judicial philosophy. ” The Conversation has turned to legal scholars to explain the meaning of Jackson’s potential ascension to the court. The Senate Judiciary Committee vote moving Jackson’s confirmation toward a final Senate roll call took place on April 4, 2022 – 54 years to the day since Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. The significance of the date was not lost on American University’s Bev Freda Jackson. King’s words came up in Jackson’s confirmation hearing. Republican lawmakers suggested that his vision of an America in which people are judged “not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” was at odds with critical race theory, a concept much maligned by conservatives that holds that racism is structural in nature rather than expressed solely through personal bias. Their implication: that Jackson believed in critical race theory and therefore rejected King’s vision. Bev Freda Jackson argues that this is a distortion. “By recasting anti racism as the new racism, conservative GOP leaders … use King’s words that advocated for a colorblind society as a critical part of their national messaging to advance legislation that bans the teachings of so called divisive concepts,” she writes. “Ketanji Brown Jackson is the very dream that King envisioned,” Jackson notes. “But he died before seeing the results of his nonviolent movement for social justice. ” Read more: Ketanji Brown Jackson and the color blind society of Martin Luther King Jr. Now confirmed as the next Supreme Court justice, Jackson has broken through the ultimate glass ceiling in terms of legal careers. She did so so on the shoulders of pioneering Black female judges. University of Florida’s Sharon D. Wright Austin notes, even now, “relatively few Black women are judges at the state or federal level” – which makes the achievement of those who have made it to this level all the more remarkable. Of the judges highlighted by Austin, there is Judge Jane Bolin, who became the country’s first Black female judge in 1939, serving as a domestic relations judge in New York for almost four decades. Later, in 1961, Constance Baker Motley became the first Black woman to argue a case before the Supreme Court. In all she argued 10 cases before the court, winning nine of them. Meanwhile, Judge Julia Cooper Mack is noted as the first Black woman to sit on a federal appellate court, having been appointed in 1975 and serving 14 years on the bench. These women are to be celebrated and remembered. As Austin writes, “Representation matters: It is easier for young girls of color to aspire to reach their highest goals when they see others who have done so before them, in the same way that women like Jane Bolin, Constance Baker Motley and Julia Cooper Mack encouraged Ketanji Brown Jackson to reach hers. ” | 2 | https://theconversation.com/ketanji-brown-jackson-confirmed-as-supreme-court-justice-4-essential-reads-180838 | false | null |
911 | The color of someone’s skin doesn’t equate to definitive sameness | Despite the highly publicized 2020 murder of George Floyd and subsequent calls for change, many people of non African descent around the world have yet to consider the lasting impacts of anti Black racism. Anti Black racism is rooted in the enslavement and historical experiences of people of African descent. It continues to harm Black people and communities, “othering” their existence while creating and maintaining tensions between non Black and Black people. As a result of anti Black racism, non Black people remain ignorant about how Black people experience discrimination and how it acts as a barrier that suppresses the civic, political and economic success of Black communities in a dominant white society. Canadian scholars like Carl James and Johanne Jean Pierre explain anti Black racism as both historical and contemporary race based discrimination that upholds white supremacy. Although George Floyd’s murder was a reminder that anti Black racism exists in western societies, it also illustrated that race based discrimination is not homogenous among Black people. The murder of George Floyd resulted from anti Black racism coupled with deep rooted, stereotypical notions of Black masculinity. In his book The Man Not: Race, Class, Genre, and the Dilemmas of Black Manhood, philosopher Tommy J. Curry demonstrates that Black men are denied social spaces, defined and perceived as brute savages. And sociologist Tamari Kitossa reminds us that Black men and their bodies have been simultaneously hated and dominated by non Black people. This domination is rooted in a historical belief that Black men are uneducated and savages, which has been perceived as a social truth. In the eyes of non Black especially white people, George Floyd’s body was deemed unworthy. Black men and their bodies suffer from further discrimination when their gender is perceived as hypersexual, violent and savage. In turn, white settler society responds by attempting to control and “other” the existence of Black men. This attempt leads to social, economic and political barriers, and the murdering of Black men. Black men and women do not experience the same anti Black racism. African American studies researcher Keeanga Yamahtta Taylor outlines the unique racial and gender based oppression experienced by Black women in white capitalist societies that challenges their survival and liberation. Black women continue to experience an upward battle to be recognized. Sociologist Patricia Hill Collins contends that Black women’s social oppression is centered on the intersections of their Blackness, gender and social class. Western societies maintain social inequalities where Black women have to experience more moments of struggle to assert themselves economically and politically in comparison to white women. Black men do in fact share similar economic and political barriers but their social experiences lead to heightened sense of oppression. For instance, research has demonstrated that Black men’s experiences in education have been more challenging than Black women’s. And Black male youth are more likely to continue to be marginalized as they enter adulthood in comparison to Black women. Interrogating the difference in social experiences between Black women and Black men can lead to an appreciation of intersectionality. Doing so can help us recognize the comprehensive ways to address social inequality on the axes of race, gender, social class, sexuality, disability and age, which distinctively shape people’s lives. This all illustrates that anti Black racism is intersectional and experienced differently by Black people based on various characteristics, including gender and socio economic status. | 2 | https://theconversation.com/the-colour-of-someones-skin-doesnt-equate-to-definitive-sameness-179986 | false | null |
912 | People are more likely to react to a Black person’s story of injustice – even if it happened to someone who is white | The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. People appear more willing to boycott a retailer in response to a video message about a consumer’s experience of injustice while shopping when the narrator is Black, even when the source of the actual information is from a white person, according to research I conducted with several colleagues that’s currently under peer review. We wanted to observe whether and how the race of the person telling a story of racial injustice affects the reaction of their audience. So we conducted three studies that manipulated details about the race of the storyteller and victim to isolate the role the storyteller’s race plays. In the first study, we recruited 370 white male participants using a crowdsourced academic research panel. We asked them to watch a video in which a professional male actor portraying a consumer describes shopping in a store with his family and being unfairly suspected of shoplifting. Half the participants heard the story from a white man, the rest from a Black person – who was seen as more credible on the issue in an earlier test. But after finishing the story, the man reveals that the actual source of the tale was his friend Jay, who was reluctant to speak out. A picture of him is displayed on the screen. At random, some participants see a Black man, others see a white man. Others weren’t given this information, as a control condition. Participants were then told that the speaker in the message is organizing a boycott and asked how willing they’d be to support it. We found that people were most likely to support taking strong punitive actions against the retailer if the initial source of the information was Black, even when he reveals the incident happened to his white friend. But if the storyteller was white, there was significantly less support for a boycott – though that changed if the incident happened to a Black friend. To better understand what is going on here, we conducted a second study, this time with 301 white men. The setup was the same except we didn’t use a control and asked more follow ups. In particular, we asked participants to rank how morally outraged they were about the story – a process that has been explored in the literature on consumer ethics and morality. We confirmed our earlier results and also found that the Black source causes more moral outrage a negative moral emotional reaction to unethical behavior. In other words, the Black storyteller was more effective at causing perceptions of injustice, which subsequently reduced their likelihood of altering their initial judgment in response to new information. A third study, involving 300 white men and women, replicated the study but revealed the true source of the story of racial injustice at the beginning of the video. The impact was that participants were less likely to support punitive action if they learned at the outset that the actual source was white, even if the storyteller was Black. More and more research on the persistence of misinformation shows that people often do not update their beliefs formed in response to a message in light of new information. This past research focuses on the enduring influence of message content. Our research suggests that source related judgments can exert similar enduring influence. For policymakers and others trying to share information with the public, this shows the importance of who they choose as the source of the message – such as a well known celebrity to combat vaccine misinformation. For the rest of us, it helps to recognize this bias and pay attention to the source of a message – whether it’s in a television ad or in a tweet – and consider the message separate from the source. | 2 | https://theconversation.com/people-are-more-likely-to-react-to-a-black-persons-story-of-injustice-even-if-it-happened-to-someone-who-is-white-172122 | false | null |
914 | Ketanji Brown Jackson set for historic Supreme Court confirmation vote: 3 essential reads | Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are scheduled to vote April 4, 2022, on Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination for the Supreme Court. It kicks off a potentially historic week in which a full Senate vote could set course for the nation’s highest court seating it’s first Black female judge. The elevation of Jackson to the Supreme Court would not change the ideological setup of the bench – which would continue to be split 6 3 in favor of conservative justices. Nonetheless, it would be an important landmark in the history of the Court – of the 115 justices on the Supreme Court since it was established in 1789, 108 have been white men. Race featured in Jackson’s confirmation process; so too attempts to define her “judicial philosophy. ” The Conversation has turned to legal scholars to explain the meaning of Jackson’s potential ascension to the court. Jackson, if she wins confirmation at the next stage, a vote by the full Senate, will have broken through the ultimate glass ceiling in terms of legal careers. She would have done so on the shoulders of pioneering Black female judges. University of Florida’s Sharon D. Wright Austin notes, even now, “relatively few Black women are judges at the state or federal level” – which makes the achievement of those who have made it to this level all the more remarkable. Of the judges highlighted by Austin, there is Judge Jane Bolin, who became the country’s first Black female judge in 1939, serving as a domestic relations court judge in New York for almost four decades. Later, in 1961, Constance Baker Motley became the first Black woman to argue a case before the Supreme Court. In all she argued 10 cases before the Court, winning nine of them. Meanwhile, Judge Julia Cooper Mack is noted as the first Black woman to sit on a federal appellate court, being appointed in 1975 and serving 14 years on the bench. These women are to be celebrated and remembered. As Wright Austin writes: “Representation matters: It is easier for young girls of color to aspire to reach their highest goals when they see others who have done so before them, in the same way that women like Jane Bolin, Constance Baker Motley and Julia Cooper Mack encouraged Ketanji Brown Jackson to reach hers. Read more: Ketanji Brown Jackson’s path to Supreme Court nomination was paved by trailblazing Black women judges The fact that a Black female Supreme Court justice is long overdue is testament to the slow progress the U. S. has made toward racial – and gender – equality. Margaret Russell, a constitutional law professor from Santa Clara University, saw signs of this lack of advancement during parts of Jackson’s Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings. Questions directed at the would be Supreme Court justice were, according to Russell, tantamount to race baiting. They also sounded eerily similar to criticisms that then Supreme Court nominee Thurgood Marshall, the first Black American nominee to the court, faced in his own confirmation hearings in 1967. Both Jackson now, and Marshall then, stood accused by senators of being soft on crime and were asked about how they intended to bring race into their legal decisions. Are you prejudiced against white people in the South?” Marshall was asked by a known white supremacist senator. Similarly, Jackson was asked during her confirmation hearings if she had a “hidden agenda” to incorporate critical race theory, which holds that racism is structural in nature rather than expressed solely through personal bias, into the legal system. “I find it striking,” Russell writes, “that race has surfaced in such a major way in these hearings, more than five decades after Marshall’s nomination. In some respects, there has been progress on racial equity in the U. S. , but aspects of these hearings demonstrate that too much remains the same. ” | 2 | https://theconversation.com/ketanji-brown-jackson-set-for-historic-supreme-court-confirmation-vote-3-essential-reads-180531 | true | null |
915 | Ukraine refugee crisis exposes racism and contradictions in the definition of human | Not only has the Russian invasion of Ukraine brought to light the awful tragedies that accompany armed conflict, but the subsequent refugee crisis has also uncovered deeply seated racism in the country. Reporters have documented dehumanizing treatment against international students from Africa, South Asia and the Middle East in Ukraine. This treatment also extended to racialized permanent residents of Ukraine, including a long time practicing Nigerian doctor. While white women and children were given priority on vehicles departing the country, African women were barred from trains leaving Kyiv even though there were empty seats. These incidents demonstrate a racist logic that positions some people as vulnerable, and others as beyond the realm of moral obligation to receive protection. Black and racialized people, it seems, are not as deserving of care. As Black Studies researchers in the field of education, we study how colonialism and anti Blackness shape what we know. Although some have been shocked by these reports, we are not surprised. The contradictions inherent in the incidents of racism occurring in Ukraine are part of a long legacy of the exclusive ways the West defines who counts as human. The liberal notion of western society was forged during the 15th 19th centuries when Africans were enslaved across the West. Because of this, liberal conceptions of justice do not consider Indigenous, Black and racialized persons to be on the same level as white Europeans. For example, the French Revolution pursued the values of liberté, egalité, fraternité even while the French fought to uphold Black enslavement in Haiti . Similarly, the American constitution declared that “all men are created equal” while declaring that Black persons counted as only three fifths of a person. The 1948 UN Declaration of human rights was created to contest Nazism and anti semitism, but did not seek to redress centuries of colonialism of racialized people. Author and poet Aimé Césaire pointed out: “Europeans tolerated Nazism before it was inflicted on them… because until then, it had been applied only to non European people. ”Jamaican philosopher Sylvia Wynter explores the contradictions within our working definitions of what it means to be human. She explains that since the rise of Renaissance Humanism and the spread of colonialism, western origin stories have used a binary opposition between an ideal Human and a “deselected other”, where the “other” is Black, Indigenous or racialized. Beginning in the 15th century, when Europeans began colonizing the Americas, European intellectuals introduced an origin story that considered rationality the defining characteristic of being human. In contrast, they framed Indigenous people in the Americas, and Africans everywhere, as inherently lacking rationality, marking them as less than fully human. This logic justified European colonialism and the dispossession of Indigenous peoples. Africans and their descendants would be viewed as enslaveable by nature, supposedly the most lacking in reason. Around the 18th century, a revised origin story placed all human groups in a supposed evolutionary hierarchy in which white people were seen as the pinnacle of human development. | 2 | https://theconversation.com/ukraine-refugee-crisis-exposes-racism-and-contradictions-in-the-definition-of-human-179150 | false | null |
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