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Ensuring
Equitable Access to People of Color with Significant Disabilities and
Their Families
Strand
Coordinators: Wanda Blanchett and Ralph
Edwards
This
strand was formed to address the needs of people of color with significant
disabilities and their families. Despite much evidence that suggests that
people of color experience significant disabilities at disproportionate
rates when compared to their white peers, little attention has been given
to ensuring that essential education and community-based services and
resources are tailored to their needs. For this reason, this strand offers
sessions that will inform educators and service providers of the
prevalence of development disabilities in communities of color, the
strengths and resiliency of individuals of color with significant
disabilities and their families, and community and political action that
is needed to ensure that people of color with significant disabilities and
their families receive equitable access in all arenas and facets of life.
The strand is being co-sponsored by The Joint Center for Political and
Economic Studies (www.jointcenter.org),
a national, nonprofit research and public policy institution, who will be
publishing the proceedings from this strand in cooperation with TASH.
Thursday, November 10, 2005
9:45 am - 10:45 am
Health Disaparities of People of Color with Disabilities
People of color experience higher morbidity and mortality rates, have
less access to services due to lack of insurance and/or availability of
services, and endure greater negative health and social consequences in
comparison to whites. The
presence of a disability exacerbates these experiences and outcomes.
This interactive session will present an opportunity for
participants to discuss the Joint Center Health Policy Institute (HPI) and
its efforts to identify and address the economic, social, environmental
and behavioral determinants that can lead to improved health outcomes,
especially as it relates to people of color with disabilities. Speakers:
Gail C. Christopher
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Families of Color's Perspectives on the Interaction of Race, Culture,
and Developmental Disabilities
Families'
success in managing disabilities and securing relevant services is
influenced their ability to successfully negotiate the "white
American experience" as they interact with providers, policy-makers,
and other citizens in their pursuit of appropriate services for their
family member with a significant disability. This session will highlight
two families of color's lived experiences with regard to the influence of
race and culture on their ability to successfully gain access to
services, appropriate assessment and service planning, and community
inclusion while maintaining their individual family dynamics.
Speakers: Ralph Edwards, Linda Rodriguez, Kerri Tyler
3:15 pm - 4:15 pm
Working Effectively with Families of Color
Families
of color are resourceful, engaged, and committed to the health and
well-being of their family member with disabilities. Three advocates (two
from an urban and one from a suburban area), will discuss effective
strategies and techniques to empower families of color as they seek and
access desired and needed services. This session will also highlight
system-level barriers and attitudes that serve to deny families of color
access to needed resources and services. Strategies for overcoming these
system-level barriers will also be discussed.
Speakers: Charlotte Cronin, Charlotte R. Spinkston, Pat Patterson
Friday, November 11, 2005
9:45 am - 10:45 am
What is Cultural Competence? Serving Individuals of Color with a
Disability
This
session will give participants an overview of central constructs that
influence cultural diversity, present a framework for understanding
cultural competence and critically examine commonalities and differences
among various cultural groups. Participants
will gain knowledge of the role that cultural factors play in determining
the behaviors and attitudes of African American and Latino consumers with
disabilities as they try to
navigate monocultural educational and service delivery structures.
Additionally, this session will discuss consumer participation, outreach,
retention and intervention from a cultural competence perspective.
Speakers: Fabricio Balcazar, Celestine Willis
11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Vision cón Esperanza 360 /
Visions with Hope 360°
The
purpose of this presentation is to describe a family national
demonstration project that serves Latino families in Kansas City who have
children with disabilities. As a result of intensive work with various
focus groups, a generic agency that provides services to Latino families
has been engaged in a partnership that will build the agency's capacity to
work with Latino families that are experiencing a disability.
In addition, this session will describe and discuss the outcomes of
support groups that were designed to prepare Latino parents to be problem
solvers for themselves and other families. Speakers: Carl F. Calkins,
Michelle Reynolds
1:30 pm - 2:30 pm
Education and Employment Options for Young Adults with Disabilities
through Cultural
Cultural
Brokering is a mechanism to improve access and outcomes in postsecondary
education, training, and employment for young adults with disabilities
from diverse cultures. Young adults from non-mainstream backgrounds
experience the worst postsecondary educational opportunities and tend to
remain under- or unemployed, lack satisfying social networks, and
experience a quality of life remarkably different from those of their
peers without disabilities (Hasnain, 2001).
In this session, participants will learn how cultural brokering can enhance the learning environment and outcomes of
diverse individuals with disabilities.
Speakers: Rooshey Hasnain
2:45 pm - 5:00 pm
A Town Hall on Meeting to Develop a Political & Community Action
Plan for Ensuring Equitable Opportunities for People of Color with Disabilities
and their Families
A Town Hall meeting format will be employed to elicit participants'
ideas regarding the next steps in increasing people of color's access to
services, resources, and participation in national and local advocacy
organizations with a particular focus on political and community activism
to ensure that the rights of people of color with disabilities are not
denied or benignly neglected. Local political and community leaders will
also be invited to participate in this town hall meeting in hopes of
involving civil and human rights activists in the struggle for equitable
treatment of people of color with disabilities.
Speakers: Wanda J. Blanchett, Allen C. Crocker, Ralph Edwards, Barbara
Ransom
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