INCLUSIVE COMMUNITIES

"Inclusive Communities" is a podcast that explores human questions from different perspectives. One in four adults in the US have a disability, but there aren't enough accommodations for them. People with disabilities face many barriers in education, work, and society. Special education provides different strategies and adaptations to help students with disabilities succeed. Attitudinal barriers, like people not believing in their abilities, are a major issue. Emotional, social, and thinking skills are important for individuals with disabilities to be successful. Therapeutic options and accommodations, like occupational therapy and individualized education plans, help enhance their skills. Early intervention is crucial, especially for individuals with autism. Inclusive Communities is a collaborative student podcast that explores complex human questions from a variety of perspectives. Opinions and commentary are our own and do not reflect that of St. Ambrose University. Hello everybody, my name is Margaret Lucas and I'm a freshman at St. Ambrose University. I'm majoring in psychology to one day work as an occupational therapist in a pediatric setting. And I'm Olivia Winter, also a freshman here at St. Ambrose University and I'm majoring in elementary education with focus on the second grade level. We have a very important topic to discuss and cannot wait to jump right in. Did you know that one in four adults in the United States have some type of disability? That's right. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, one in four adults live with disabilities. For one in four adults, there sure aren't enough handicapped parking spots. Well, not everyone with a disability needs a handicapped spot. Some people have cognitive disabilities rather than mobility disabilities. But some people with disabilities are so seriously affected that they can't even drive. That must be really hard. When you really research like we have, there are a lot of barriers that people with disabilities have to overcome in order to participate to their fullest potential as a student, member of the workforce, or even as just a member of the community. Luckily, we have this podcast to explore the barriers those with disabilities face, the skills needed to overcome these barriers, and how one can gain these skills. Before we start looking at what skills can be taught to individuals with disabilities to help them overcome barriers, we need to define these barriers. We asked Dr. Bless, a School of Education professor who specializes in special education, what he thought about the subject. You have a child who has a disability, and that disability could be, most students with disabilities have learning disabilities. Some have emotional behavioral disorders. Some have intellectual disabilities, what we used to call mental retardation. Those are the largest groups, and of course we have students with sensory impairments, visual impairments, or hearing impairments, physical disabilities. We have students with autism, kids with traumatic brain injury. So different is that those students, because of their disability, require something different in terms of a modality. So maybe that child needs to be taught one-on-one, or in a smaller group, or they need to be pulled out of their classroom to a resource room, where they're going to have that one-on-one. Or maybe there's a strategy that's different, that's more unique to special education. So they need some sort of adaptation or accommodation in order to be successful, right? So if you have a child, for example, with a learning disability, let's say the student's a fifth grader, but they read at the second grade level. Well, so placement then becomes really a curricular question, right? It's not so much where they're going to receive that instruction, but how they're going to receive that instruction. So if you're a fifth grader, right, and you have a disability, say, in reading, but you're reading at the second grade level, you're not going to be able to keep up with your other students. Any adjustments that are made to a special education classroom to help those students? Certainly could be. It depends on the student or students, right? So autism gets a lot of attention, right? And not always, but typically a child with autism will have some sensory integration issues. For example, hypersensitive to light. If you have a real bright room, this could be a problem, right? So maybe we're going to turn down the light to make a difference. Some students are hypersensitive in terms of touch, right? That they're tactfully hypersensitive. What do you think is the biggest barrier for individuals with disabilities in the outside world, in the professional world? If you're asking the biggest one, it's probably attitudinal. You know, that people don't believe in the ability of persons to lead independent lives. If you think about employment, for example, two-thirds of Americans with disabilities are unemployed. Now, the image that might come to your mind is that child in a wheelchair or that child, that adult with intellectual disability. But the largest group, you know, approximately half of our students, half of adults with disabilities have learning disabilities. Half. So you're talking about two-thirds of Americans with disabilities not being employed. And another third, the other third, most of them are underemployed. You've got a lot of persons with learning disabilities. Maybe that learned helplessness comes from, well, I really can't do that, when they could have done that, whatever that is, you know. Maybe they don't have those same experiences in the community to develop those relevant job-related, community-relevant skills. Think about something like as messy as dating. Dating's kind of messy, right? No matter how old you are, it can be messy. Going to dances, you're more likely to have had dates, and students with disabilities tend to have less of those opportunities. And so they fall flat on their face more than we do. We've had jobs, or have jobs now, in these different domains of the world of work. Socially, you have to get along in the job. You can't lose your cool. Maybe that boss, how many jobs have you had where no one really told you how to do it? Like, here you go. And so you have to ask other people, how do you cook this burger, right? And so your ability socially to seek out that help, all of that, is some basic skills, perhaps. It makes sense that Dr. Buss stresses the prevalence of attitudinal barriers. From a young age, people with disabilities are seen as the other. They're segregated into their own environments, stared at, and just spoken to differently. When being told that you can't do something, you begin to believe you can't do that thing, and self-esteem plummets. The United States Disability Service Foundation highlights three primary skills that individuals with disabilities need in order to be successful. These include emotional skills, social skills, and thinking skills. Within these broad categories are more specific skills, such as communication, creative thinking, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, mental resilience, coping skills, and self-awareness. CEO of Stride Autism Center, Brad Zinglinger, mentions his thoughts on the skills. I see three buckets that illustration, two would be social skills, and three would be creative intelligence. When someone is strong in these skills, honing in on communication skills and critical thinking, that person will be more confident in their abilities and therefore have better resilience when faced with adversity. With more confidence, that person will have a more optimistic attitude towards their role in the community. Individuals faced with disabilities are faced with a variety of therapeutic options to better enhance their skills. Some of these therapeutic methods include occupational therapy, physical therapy. There are also accommodations offered to those with disabilities who need extra help with school, transportation, or even everyday living. Brad Zinglinger, CEO of Stride Autism Center, spoke to us about his sister. It's a job to be supportive of someone like my sister. And so, they made the difficult decision of having her go into a home that's staffed with individuals that can support them. And, you know, her and her ex-social peers that live there. And, it's essentially a home in a community that covers that. You know, other families, some, you know, children, others not. And, you know, she lives in that home with other individuals who she's grown up with. And, you know, creates, you know, a dynamic where she's independent and living in her parents' home. But, now has her own space and is still a CILA. And, technically, like, the type of home that she lives in is a total home, I believe. Individuals in her home, you know, hearing types of, you know, staff positions to help them grow in the home. And, you know, keep them engaged and take care of them and create, you know, social opportunities as well. So, yeah, I think it's great. It's a big notch in institutions, you know, like institutionalized, which is really important. And, it's really a home. I do see it as a neighborhood. And, yeah, I think it's a good outcome. Community-integrated living arrangements are one of the more involved accommodations for those with disabilities, such as IEPs. An IEP, an Individualized Education Plan, provides adaptations so individuals with disabilities partake in getting an education. These accommodations may include instruction in reading and writing braille, orientation and mobility services, teaching a student how to use a cane, supplying a larger desk for a student in a wheelchair, providing alternative settings for those needing sensory support, and so on. These IEP accommodations are enforced through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which ensures that all students with disabilities are provided free, appropriate special education and related services that will prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living. A possible way of requiring fewer, less-involved supports is early intervention. Brad explained to us that there were not super-efficient therapies being offered to a sister when she was young. Now, research has shown the importance of early intervention, especially with individuals with autism. The research base for what we do does suggest that the earlier you intervene, the greater the chance is of convening a student and having her support time. They gain an IQ and functional skills as individuals with autism, so these are independent lives. By having a facility like STRIDE that takes in young kids who have disabilities and teaches them socialization, communication, and behavioral skills, the child is receiving the building blocks to transition to the world outside, specifically in transitioning to a school environment. In the bigger picture, these skills lead to what the United States Disability Service Foundation considers the benefits of independence, relationships, physical and mental health, and community integration. As today's episode is coming to an end, we just want to say thank you for joining us. We hope that you have enjoyed it. We have run through a large amount of information. Les and Brad both had amazing stories and valuable information. It was very eye-opening to see how their stories had played out in their lives and how it drew them to the special education field and working alongside with people who have disabilities. Even though there seems to be a large amount of barriers and setbacks for people with disabilities, that has not stopped them from trying to become part of their community. Every day there are steps being taken to help break down those barriers at all age levels, both young and old. We'll leave you with this question. What can we do to help break down barriers? And how can we be a part of this movement in creating an inclusive community? Thank you again for joining us today. This podcast was recorded at the studios of KALAFM St. Ambrose University. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of KALA Radio or St. Ambrose University.