Demographic data projections for the United States indicate a significant increase in the population of older persons with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mandates community access for individuals with disabilities, including older individuals who are aging with or aging into disabilities. However, there is limited research…

Advocating for deaf or hard of hearing child can be a daunting task … and intimidating. So many professionals around a table and the parent. What can parents do to advocate for deaf or hard of hearing children? Why is advocating for these child at school meetings important? As Apple says (2009), "There's an app for that!" The Laurent…

From 2012 to 2017, nearly 15,000 New England residents participated in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. DACA students are ineligible for federal financial aid programs, but state and institutional aid can flow to undocumented students. As of March 2017, 20 states, including Connecticut and Rhode Island, offered in-state…

This book presents an in-depth discussion of how human disability and parental advocacy have been constructed in American society, including recommendations for a more authentically inclusive vision of parental advocacy. The authors provide a cultural-historical view of the conflation of racism, classism, and ableism that has left a deeply…

There is a great need for education and training about neurodiversity due to the rapid increase of neurodivergent students enrolling in postsecondary educational programs. As neurodivergent professionals, we offer a look at the common myths and misunderstandings that plague neurodivergent students as well as highlight the strengths neurodivergent…

The article documents findings from a pilot study undertaken in 2012-2013 in a special needs secondary school in the England, that trialled the use of a multimedia advocacy tool, "The RIX Wiki". The trial was part of the pathfinder programme, which aimed to reform existing Special Education Needs provision, from the system of…

Parent advocacy is an essential component to help children with disabilities receive appropriate school services. However, there are limited studies about parent advocacy for children with disabilities living in rural areas. To address this issue, semistructured interviews were conducted with 12 parents of children with disabilities. The purpose…

Using the definition of self-advocacy from M. E. Skinner (1998) as the conceptual framework, and the Self-Advocacy and Conflict Resolution Training developed by Palmer and Roessler (2000) as the foundation, the researchers solicited feedback on the construction of an abbreviated virtual self-advocacy training for traditional freshmen college…

Student mobility is a key aspect of internationalization of higher education. Within the broad population of students who have the opportunity to study abroad, however, there are particular groups who are under-represented. In the United States, for example, approximately 11% of undergraduate students in postsecondary degree-granting institutions…

This article is part of an illustrative study of federal leadership in special education based on interviews with persons who served as Assistant Secretaries in the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services and Directors of the Office of Special Education Programs. The perspectives cover the time period…

Special educators are responsible for a myriad of roles as part of their responsibilities as teachers. In addition to developing and monitoring individualized education programs (IEPs), co-teaching with general education colleagues, and engaging in direct instruction, they often also support students with behavioral needs. Although not all…

Although the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) mandates parent participation in their children's education programs, the implementation of IDEA results in parent effort beyond participation, specifically, an expectation of advocacy. To date, research on the advocacy expectation is mixed, with some parents perceiving…

House Republicans passed a bill that would dismantle the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the current health care insurance plan provided to low income families. The non-Partisan Congressional Budget Office reviewed the legislation, and has determined that if some portion of the legislation is also passed by the Senate, it would leave 14 million more…

Competent social work practice includes the use of advocacy to promote equal opportunity and justice for all individuals, particularly those living in vulnerable circumstances. Group role-play exercises are an innovative teaching method that can promote advocacy skills guided by social work values and the code of ethics. Group role-play exercises…

This article draws parallels between the concept of "Black lives matter" and the efforts of caregivers to advocate for the value of the lives of their children who have disabilities. The authors identify three key concepts that undergird their argument: first, the concept of systemic bias as built in to the hierarchical valuing of…