March 27th Webinar, Tuesday, March 27, 2018
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM MDT
Reserve your webinar seat now

It is never too early to start thinking about and planning for your child's future, especially if your child experiences a disability and will need ongoing support to access their quality adult life.

Intended audience:  Parents and other family members of youth/young adults with disabilities, teachers, and individuals who support young people in their transition to adult life.

Author: Martin E. Blair
Executive Director of the Rural Institute for Inclusive Communities, and Associate Professor of Teaching and Learning, The University of Montana

https://theconversation.com/stephen-hawking-as-accidental-ambassador-for-assistive-technologies-70627

"For us, Hawking was a valuable role model for more than the next generation of scientists. With his recognizable wheelchair and computer-generated voice, he demonstrated the value of technological solutions to liberating the voice of those with physical and communication disabilities."

The Utah Regional LEND, or URLEND, is a LEND (Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities) training program that serves five states: Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and North Dakota. Professionals from these states are trained to move beyond discipline boundaries to provide optimal services to children and adolescents with special health care needs.  URLEND brochure (PDF)

Partnering with Women with Disabilities to Develop a Health Information Website

Rosemary Hughes

Women with disabilities are living longer with better quality of life as a result of advances in medical science, pharmacology, and technology. For those with access to those resources, the risks of morbidity and mortality from disabling conditions combined with common diseases and injuries have been significantly reduced. The problem society faces, however, is bringing this life-saving knowledge, particularly in the area of women’s health, beyond the walls of academic medical centers to the community clinics and homes of the women and their families.

Read more about Rosemary Hughes Project

RTC:Rural co-director Dr. Tom Seekins was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Public Health Association at their October 2017 meeting. He was unable to accept the award in person, but recorded this acceptance speech.

Marty Blair, Executive Director of the Rural Institute, recently traveled to Kenya through the Americans with Disabilities Act International Fellowship Program to help implement early intervention to young children with multisensory impairments.  Please feel free to review a this presentation (PDF) on his time in Kenya or click on the ADA Fellowship link for more information.

Parents, is your baby’s or young child’s development on track for his or her age? Try CDC’s new FREE Milestone Tracker app to find out! Tracking, supporting, and celebrating your young child’s development, from ages 2 months to 5 years, just got a whole lot easier and much more fun!

Public Health Workforce Competencies

Webinar recording available now!

Dr. Adriane Griffen from the Association of University Centers on Disability (AUCD) talks about how public health can improve the health, employment and participation of Montanans with disabilities.

This webinar covered the Including People with Disabilities - Public Health Workforce Competencies, designed to increase the capacity of public health providers to include people with disabilities in their public health plans and efforts. The competencies provide foundational knowledge around the relationship between disability and public health programs and outcomes. Visit http://www.aucd.org/template/page.cfm?id=830 for more Information on the AUCD Public Health Workforce Competencies for Including People with Disabilities.

Movin' On in Montana is a transition seminar for high school students with disabilities who are considering college. It is hosted at the University of Montana by the Rural Institute for Inclusive Communities. Forty-eight Montana high school students have participated since 2015.

#MapMonday today features American women with disabilities! These numbers are based on women’s responses to the US Census Bureau American Community Survey. Read more about the survey questions that determine the disability rates you see in the map.

Disability among females tends to be higher (19.03-35.62%) in Appalachia, particularly along the KY-WV border, as well as pockets in the South, and Puerto Rico. Disability among females tends to be less common (3.8-19.02%) in AK, southern CA, and regions of the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains. Rates range from 3.8%-35.62%. Map by RTC: Rural, July 2017.