March 2024

Utah Disability Today

The official newsletter of the Institute for Disability Research, Policy & Practice

Phone: (435) 797-1981

You received this monthly newsletter because you are a friend of the Institute for Disability. Keep reading for news, resources, events, and job openings!

NEWS

2024 Legislative Disability Wrap-Up

DEI restrictions, educational rights amendments, sheltered work programs for people with disabilities: How they are affected by the last Utah legislative session and what that means to you.

Latest DDNJ Podcast: Loving My Skin

"When it comes to race, and gender, and disability, it's a hard pill to swallow. If you’re not strong enough, you won't stay in the room. But we need more people in my intersectionality to be in the room to share awareness so you can help other people that look like me." Read the story or listen to the interview. You can subscribe to DDNJ Author Insights anywhere podcasts are found.

More Than Able: The Perspective of a Black Man

I am black, hard of hearing, visually impaired, and in a wheelchair. I encounter discrimination regularly.

... But, when you have a strong character, you remain hopeful and persevere because you refuse to let anything define or minimize your value and contribution.

Guest blogger Derrick Tuff reflects on his experience at the intersection of race and disability in Utah.

A student cradles a service puppy's face in her hands

News From Around the Institute for Disability

Pictured: The IDRPP's Interdisciplinary Disability Awareness and Community-Engaged Learning (IDACEL) class learned about the USU Police's new service animal: Sage, the Critical Incident and Crisis Response Canine Officer-in-training.

IDRPP's WebAIM reports that it trained 2152 participants on how to create accessible digital documents, including 36 people with disabilities who were included through WebAIM's scholarship program.

Over the past month, IDRPP's Center for Technical Assistance for Excellence in Special Education facilitated 8 specialized training events for state and local education associations throughout the United States.

On March 1st, Rhiana Medina from Utah's Multicultural Disability Network hosted a free virtual meeting on Exploring Intersectionality Between Rurality and Disability for practitioners. Watch on their YouTube channel!

IDRPP's Project ECHO hosted five free virtual training sessions in February.

Utah's Assistive Technology Program highlighted the use of frame runners in a recent story.

The Center for IDEA Fiscal Reporting teamed up with partners to present a national webinar on Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part B Allocations to Charter School local School agencies.