Disability.Blog

May 20, 2013 by kathyb

Summer Fire Safety
Summer Fire Safety

Categories: Community Life, Emergency Preparedness

By Guest Blogger Teresa Neal, Lead for the U.S. Fire Administration’s (USFA) Public Education Program, Prevention and Information Branch

Summer is an exciting time. I am looking forward to spending time outside, going to the pool or beach, enjoying picnics with friends and family and, of course, vacation.

However, fire never takes a vacation. Even in the festive summertime, you need to test the batteries in your smoke alarms every month and practice your home escape plan. Know two ways out of every room. If you have trouble hearing the alarm, there are alarms available with strobe lights and bed shakers to ensure you wake up when the alarm sounds.

My Story: Onward and Upward
My Story: Onward and Upward

Categories: Community Life, My Story

By Guest Blogger, Stephen Wampler, Founder, The Wampler Foundation

My name is Steve Wampler. When I was born in 1968, I got stuck in my mother’s birth canal and was deprived of oxygen for a time. As a result, I have cerebral palsy. Having said that, I was the first-born child of parents who, after absorbing the initial blow, educated themselves about my condition and its severity and worked with doctors to try to understand all that I would face. They also got very thorough evaluations from medical establishments to determine what my life would be like, physically and mentally.

Once my parents had all the answers they needed, they were armed with information and ready to educate me. What they were told was that I would need to use a wheelchair my entire life, but that my brain function had not been impaired – basically I would have no balance or coordination, but I could be educated “normally.”

I would say that, given that knowledge, my first memories of my parents were both the love they had for me, as well as the expectation that in spite of my physical limitations, I would excel in my life and make the most of it in every imaginable way. Fast forward to today. I’m 44, have been married to my wife Elizabeth for 17 years, and we have a 13-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son. Life is good.

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May 6, 2013 by Disability.Blog Team

The Intersection of Foster Care and Mental Health
The Intersection of Foster Care and Mental Health

Categories: Health

May is National Foster Care Awareness Month

By Guest Blogger Stephanie Orlando, Member, National Council on Disability (NCD), with the assistance of Robyn Powell, NCD’s Attorney Advisor

May is recognized as both National Foster Care Awareness Month and Mental Health Awareness Month. What most people do not realize is the overlap that often occurs with these populations.

In the United States, there are more than 400,000 children and teens in foster care. Research reveals that children and teens in the foster care system have disproportionately high rates of psychiatric disability.

One study by the National Institute of Mental Health found that nearly half (47.9 percent) of youth in foster care were found to have clinically significant emotional or behavioral problems. Likewise, researchers at the Casey Family Programs estimate that between one-half and three-fourths of children entering foster care exhibit behavioral or social competency problems that warrant mental health services.

Youth who have “aged out” of foster care also show high rates of psychiatric disability. According to a study by the Casey Family Programs and Harvard Medical School, a high number of former foster children have psychiatric disabilities as adults. Over half of foster care alumni had mental health diagnoses, compared to 22 percent of the comparison group.

The disproportionate level of mental health diagnoses is perhaps most evident with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Thirty percent of foster alumni are diagnosed with PTSD, which is about twice the rate of U.S. combat veterans.

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