#cognitivedisability
One of the classic metaphors for exiting prison is ‘going home’. However, more than half of people exiting Australian prisons either expect to be homeless or don’t know where they will be staying when they are released. The connection between imprisonment and homelessness presents special risks for people with complex support needs (i.e. mental health conditions or cognitive disability). Post-release housing assistance is a potentially powerful lever in arresting the imprisonment–homelessness cycle, and breaking down the disabling web of punishment and containment in which people with complex support needs are often caught.
This seminar presents new research by Dr Chris Martin and colleagues from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) on the reality and potential of housing assistance after prison. Analysis of linked administrative data shows ex-prisoners with complex support needs who receive public housing have better criminal justice outcomes than comparable ex-prisoners who receive private rental assistance only. Public housing ‘flattens the curve’ of average predicted police incidents, time in custody and other measures, and in dollar terms achieves net savings relative to assistance in private rental and homelessness services. However, while, imprisonment in Australia is growing, declining investment in social housing means assistance capacity is diminishing. Interviews with criminal justice, housing and other support workers, and with ex-prisoners, indicate a dearth of post-release housing options. The evidence strongly supports much greater provision of social housing to people exiting prison, particularly for those with complex support needs.
Chris Martin is a Senior Research Fellow in the UNSW City Futures Research Centre. With qualifications in economics, law and criminology, Chris specialises in housing research, including rental housing law, social housing policy and intersections between housing and criminal justice. He has a long involvement with housing advocacy organisations.
Pt 2 of a theoretical & evidenced-based understanding of history, development and use of the Cognitive Disabilities Model in dementia care.
Pt 1 of a theoretical & evidenced-based understanding of history, development and use of the Cognitive Disabilities Model in dementia care.
In this workshop we will focus on three kinds of vulnerable populations, Seniors, Medically Fragile,Cognitive Impairments. We will discuss additional challenges you or a loved one may face and how to avoid barriers. Learn about what is important to keep in your kit as well as additional resources.
Do you support an adult with cognitive disability to make important legal decisions?
This online workshop works through the various ways supported decision-making can occur in Victoria, considering all the legal possibilities. We will explore how supported decision-making can be recognised for people with cognitive disability.
Who should attend
Carers of an adult with cognitive disability.
Topics will include
- What is supported decision-making?
- Why do we need an understanding of decision-making capacity?
- Who are the decision supporters?
Join us for this 1 hour concert of performances as we bring awareness to domestic violence and support the Colorado-based Non-profit, INITIATIVE.
Founded over 30 years ago, The Initiative (previously known as the Domestic Violence Initiative for Women with Disabilities or DVI) is the only organization in Colorado that focuses our services on the intersection of cross-disability issues and abuse. “Cross-disability” means that we serve people with all kinds of disabilities, including physical, sensory, cognitive, developmental, mental-health, and health-related. Through our advocacy and outreach programs, The Initiative strives to create an abuse-free culture for all.
Join us as Denver area female and non-binary artists come together to support this important cause. Attendance is FREE - donations to INITIATIVE encouraged.
30
Are you between the ages of 13 and 30?
Are you helping to care for someone in your home or community?
Are you living with someone who has a chronic, degenerative, physical, cognitive or mental health disability or illness?
At Openlab’s Supporting our Supporters workshop we want to work together with you to design and create a support tool for young carers by young carers.
Please join us on Tuesday July 30th from 5:00-7:30** at the Dufferin & St Clair Library Meeting Room 1625 Dufferin St, Toronto, ON M6H 3L9.
'Antifreeze' molecules may stop and reverse damage from brain injuries
The key to better treatments for brain injuries and disease may lie in the molecules charged with preventing the clumping of specific proteins associated with cognitive decline and other neurological problems, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report in a new study published in Neurobiology of Disease.
Concentrations of these brain molecules -- called N-acetylaspartate (NAA) -- are known to decrease when people suffer from brain injuries and diseases. Its possible NAA is creating "peptide backbones," the authors said -- the NAA inserts itself between layers of amyloid-beta clumps and protofibrils, preventing the formation of mature amyloid fibrils.
"We show a new and potentially significant biological function of NAA in the brain, as a surprisingly effective agent for inhibiting and even reversing aggregation of amyloid-beta," said lead author Jean-Pierre Dolle?, PhD, of the Penn Center for Brain Injury and Repair. Source.
Jean-Pierre Dollé, Jeffrey M. Rodgers, Kevin D. Browne, Thomas Troxler, Feng Gai, Douglas H. Smith. Newfound effect of N -acetylaspartate in preventing and reversing aggregation of amyloid-beta in vitro. Neurobiology of Disease, 2018; 117: 161 DOI: 10.1016/j.nbd.2018.05.023
Code for Cognitive Aid is a hackathon/makeathon with a goal to design a device that enhances the lives of those with cognitive disabilities.
About this Event
If you are interested in this event, please visit this link to learn more or register!
High school students of Woodside Priory are hosting a hackathon/makeathon event called Code for Cognitive Aid (with a theme of empowering those with cognitive disabilities). This event is completely free and run by high school students with the purpose of engaging more of our community in STEM, providing opportunities for those who wish to be more active in computer science, and raising awareness of certain issues.
*This is not a sleep-away event. Participants will return home in the night and come back the next morning*.
Event Information:
Come show off your abilities and gifts at Code for Cognitive Aid! Code for Cognitive Aid is a hack-a-thon and make-a-thon for the purpose of enhancing the life quality for those with cognitive disabilities. During a 26 hour period, attendees will code a program, design, or machine a piece that somehow enables, increases accessibility, or otherwise supports those with disabilities through any platform they choose. Exact times will be sent in the confirmation email following registration, but it will be Friday evening, and all day Saturday and Sunday. You are encouraged to bring your own materials (particularly computers) but there will be limited computers and lots of building material available. Minimal coding experience required. Live software help available. This event will be supervised by adults. Entry is free and there will be food available for purchase during mealtimes.
A little bit of background of the hosts:
The first of these is hosted by a group of high school members of the Woodside Priory robotics team 751. We have been dubbed “The Ramen Club,” dedicated to the ramen restaurant near our meeting spot that we frequent. We were founded with the intent to increase community involvement, accessibility, and interest in STEM and thrive to use STEM to assist in solving pressing global inequalities such as cognitive disabilities and blindness.
The hosts are not otherwise affiliated with the Woodside Priory school or their robotics team, simply all the members of the club happen to attend the robotics team. This is not a school-sponsored event, and the views and events of the club do not represent those of the staff or administrators of Woodside Priory.
Learning more information or registration can be done at this link, as well as viewing the flyer and the club website. Alternatively, one can directly register here.
Jul 13, 2018 at 5 PM to Jul 15, 2018 at 8 PM PDT
Advances in information technology have provided many benefits for people with disabilities, including wide availability of textual content via text to speech, flexible control of motor wheelchairs, captioned video, and much more. People with cognitive disabilities benefit from easier communication, and better tools for scheduling and reminders. Will advances in machine learning enhance this impact? Progress in natural language processing, autonomous vehicles, and emotion detection, all driven by machine learning, may deliver important benefits soon. Further out, can we look for systems that can help people with cognitive challenges understand our complex world more easily, work more effectively, stay safe, and interact more comfortably in social situations? What are the technical barriers to overcome in pursuing these goals, and what are the theoretical developments in machine learning that may overcome them?
Clayton Lewis is Professor of Computer Science at the University of Colorado Boulder, and a visiting advisor to the DIAGRAM Center of Benetech, a Palo Alto based nonprofit organization that supports learners with disabilities. He is surveying the machine learning field for the Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities, part of the University of Colorado System. Lewis has served previously as Scientist in Residence for the Coleman Institute, as Fellow of the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg (Delmenhorst, Germany) and as technology advisor to the director of the National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research, US Department of Education. He has been honored by appointment to the ACM SIGCHI Academy, by the SIGCHI Social Impact Award, and by the Strache Leadership Award (CSUN Assistive Technology Conference).
Families say minimum-wage changes are cutting jobs for people with disabilities
Local non-profits provide below minimum wage work contracts for people with cognitive and physical disabilities to do the work in sheltered workshops – work centres that employ people with disabilities to work separately from others.
Vicky Mochama: To advocate successfully, we must advocate specifically
Women with disabilities have long struggled against a culture that sees them as less human. When it comes to sexual assault, women with disabilities face a substantial and often under-discussed risk. According to Statistics Canada, the rate of sexual assault among those with a disability was approximately two times higher than those without one. For people with an intellectual or cognitive disability, that risk is five times as much.
An app for those with cognitive needs — inspired by sibling love
New App Magnusmode Helps those with Cognitive Needs Conduct Daily Tasks
Marlena Books
We provide meaningful leisure and cognitive stimulation in the form of reading to individuals with Alzheimer’s or dementia.
