Down syndrome teen posed for her cheer team’s yearbook photo. When it published, she was left out.

Morgyn Arnold spent her eighth-grade school year learning all her cheerleading squad’s routines while serving as its team manager. So when she recently got her middle school yearbook, Arnold excitedly flipped through it to find the photo taken of her surrounded by the team. But the 14-year-old girl from Utah, who has Down syndrome, was devastated to learn the photo was missing. In its place was a nearly identical version showing 26 Shoreline Junior High […]

How first responders command the emergency: When someone with special needs goes missing

The call comes into the police department for a missing person. Sometimes it’s regarding an adult who didn’t show up for work. It might be a teenager who has run away from home. It might be a child who got separated from their parents while on an outing. Police train for these kinds of missing person cases. But what happens when the missing person has special needs and may be unable to communicate with authorities? […]

People with disabilities direct service providers what they need to know about COVID-19?

Direct Service Providers (DSPs) include personal care attendants, direct support professionals, paraprofessionals, therapists, and others. They provide a wide variety of home and community-based, health-related services that support people with disabilitiesexternal icon. Services provided may include personal care, activities of daily living, access to health services, and more. DSPs have close and consistent contact with people with disabilities and those providing healthcare support services in day and residential programs for people with disabilities. DSPs are […]

Often Overlooked In Pandemic Response Are People With Intellectual Disabilities

Peter Prater’s family wasn’t thinking about COVID-19 when the call came that he had been taken to the hospital with a fever. It was April, and the Tallahassee Developmental Center, where Prater lives, hadn’t yet had any COVID-19 diagnoses. Prater, 55, who has Down syndrome and diabetes, became the Florida center’s first known case, his family said. Within two weeks, more than half of the roughly 60 residents and a third of the staff had […]

A Dating Study – Love on the Spectrum

It is that time of year where love is on everyone’s mind. There are pink hearts, red roses, and chocolate practically everywhere. While there have been many advances in services designed to improve the lives of people with autism, one thing has been crucially missing: romance and dating. “Netflix recently released Love on the Spectrum,” a show which aims to spread awareness about some of the difficulties people with autism experience when pursuing a romantic […]