Privacy Policy

Last Updated April 19, 2023

Easter Seals, Inc. (d/b/a "Easterseals") ("we," "our," or "us") understands that data privacy and the protection of personal information is important to you. This Privacy Notice explains how we collect, use and share your personal information, and your rights and choices regarding the personal information we collect about you.

Please read this Notice carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your personal information and how we will process it. You can also click on the links below to navigate to a specific section.

Scope of Notice
Personal Information Collection
How We Use Personal Information
How We Disclose Personal Information
Easterseals Affiliate Members
Links to Other Sites
Security of Personal Information
Transmission of Health-Related Information
Retention of Personal Information
Your Rights and Choices Regarding your Personal Information
Cookies
International Transfers of Personal Information
Information from Children
Changes to this Notice
Contact Us

1. Scope of Notice

This Privacy Notice applies to all donors, members, website visitors, business partners, employees, job applicants, and individuals who otherwise interact with Easterseals whom we collect personal information from. We often refer to your interactions with us as using our "services" throughout this Notice.

2. Personal Information Collection

We collect a variety of information as part of our operations, including personal information and other information. "Personal information" is any information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with an identifiable individual.

a. How We Collect Personal Information

Easterseals collects information, including personal information, from and about its donors, event attendees and program participants, individuals who interact with our affiliate members, employees and job applicants, individuals who visit our website and other individuals who choose to interact with us. We collect information from or about you in the following ways:

Directly from you. We collect information directly from you when you make a donation, create a user profile on our website, attend an event or program we are offering, apply for employment or gain employment with us, when you visit our website, and when you otherwise voluntarily submit or provide information to us.
Automatically. When you visit and interact with our website, we collect information automatically through cookies. For more information about cookies on our website, please visit the section below titled "Cookies."
From our Affiliate Members. We rely on our affiliate members to provide us with information about the individuals they provide services to and interact with so that we can understand the impact of our and our affiliate members' programs and services, yield actionable insights, and drive future-forward decision making to ensure that our services and programs make the most impact in the communities we serve.
From Other Sources. We may collect information about you from other sources and we may combine information from other sources with information we collect through our services or interactions with you. Examples of the other sources we most frequently collect information from includes national donor data bases and registries, and companies that compile mailing lists about individuals.

b. Types of Personal Information We Collect

The types of personal information we collect depends on how you interact with us, including whether the interaction is through one of our affiliate members or directly with us. In many cases, the personal information we collect will be apparent from the context in which you provide the information.

We collect the following types of personal information from you depending on how you interact with us (i.e., donor, employee, etc.).

Categories of Personal Information	Categories of individuals
Contact Information. This includes your name, mailing address, email address, social media handle, or other similar identifiers.	Donors Employees and job applicants Website visitors Event attendees Program participants Individuals who interact with our affiliate members Easterseals affiliate member users
Identification Information. This includes your SSN, driver's license number, passport number, or similar legal identification information.	Employees and job applicants
Profile Information. This includes information about your activity and interactions with us, including your donor tendencies and donation history, information you voluntarily provide to us or that we collect from other sources regarding your interests, preferences, and characteristics. We compile this information we collect about you to better understand you.	Donors Website visitors Event attendees Program participants Individuals who interact with our affiliate members Easterseals affiliate member users
Health Information. This is information about your health, disability, or medical condition which may include "Protected Health Information" (PHI).	Event attendees Program participants Individuals who interact with our affiliate members Employees and job applicants (if you choose to participate in our group health plan)
Financial Information. This includes information about your wealth and financial status, income, credit card, bank account, or payment information.	Donors Employees and job applicants Individuals who interact with our affiliate members
Location Information. This includes information about your location.	Donors Website visitors Easterseals affiliate member users
Professional or Employment-Related Information. Current or past job history or performance evaluations.	Employees and job applicants Affiliate clinical and non-clinical service providers
Internet or other similar network activity. Browsing history, search history, information on your interaction with a website, application, or advertisement.	Website visitors Donors Easterseals affiliate member users
Interaction Information. This includes information about your attendance at events we host or programs we sponsor, as well as information about correspondence with us and other ways you interact with us.	Donors Event attendees Program participants Website visitors Individuals who interact with our affiliate members Easterseals affiliate member users
Sensitive Personal Information. We may collect certain sensitive personal information including race, gender, and age information. This information is collected in aggregate form.	Employees and job applicants Individuals who interact with our affiliate members Easterseals affiliate member users

We may not collect all of the above categories of information from each category of individual who interacts with us. Please note that if you voluntarily provide us with additional information when you interact with us that does not fit one of these categories of information or individuals set forth above, we will collect the information and use it for the purposes you direct or that we disclose to you.

As noted above, in certain circumstances, we may also collect "Protected Health Information." "Protected Health Information" ("PHI") is individually identifiable health information. We sometimes collect PHI when we gather information about the effectiveness of our programs in order to understand whether a program that we or our affiliate members offered resulted in improved outcomes for the individuals or communities our programs are designed to serve.

3. How We Use Personal Information

We use personal information for our legitimate business purposes to further our mission and for other purposes disclosed to you at the time data is collected. More specifically, we use personal information in the following ways:

Provide our services, programs, and events to the communities and individuals we serve.
Send you confirmations about event or program registration, or donations.
Process donations and gifts made to Easterseals or our affiliate members.
Understand our donor base and potential donors.
Measure the effectiveness of our services, programs, and events, including services, programs, and events offered by our affiliate members.
Communicate with you about our services, programs, events, happenings, and news.
Respond to your comments, inquiries, and customer service requests.
Market our events, services, programs, and potential donor opportunities to you. You may opt-out of marketing communications at any time.
Provide you with employment, or consider you for employment with Easterseals.
Process payroll and other benefits afforded to our employees.
Improve and personalize our content and services.
Monitor and analyze trends regarding our services, programs, and events, including services, programs, and events offered by our affiliate members.
Protect against and prevent fraud, unauthorized transactions, and manage risk exposure.
Enforce our legal rights and agreements.
Comply with applicable legal requirements.
Carry out any other purpose you consent to, that we disclose to you at the time your data is collected, or that you direct us to.

We may aggregate and de-identify personal information we collect from you to understand the effectiveness of our programs, services, and offerings, as well as to understand our donor base and donor trends. When we aggregate or de-identify information, it is no longer personally identifiable.

4. How We Disclose Personal Information

Easterseals may share your personal information in the following circumstances, and as otherwise described in this Notice:

Affiliate Members. We share information with our affiliate members in order to understand and improve the impact of our and our affiliate members' programs, services, and offerings. Please see the section below titled "Easterseals Affiliate Members" for more information.
Service Providers, Vendors, and Consultants. We rely on third parties to perform functions on our behalf. Some of these service providers include marketing service providers, payment service providers who help us process donations and pay our employees, cloud storage providers, website hosting platforms, client relationship management providers, HR or employee benefits providers, and content providers. We endeavor to ensure written agreements are in place with all service providers, vendors, and consultants where feasible and appropriate. All service providers, vendors, and consultants are required to use the information we disclose to them at our direction and only for the purpose(s) for which it was disclosed to them, and they are required to adhere to security and confidentiality measures.
List Rental and Exchange Program. We may share certain information about our donors with national donor registration and list service providers in order to grow our donor base and more effectively reach current and prospective donors. If you do not wish for your information to be shared with these third parties, you may opt-out by contacting us via a method set forth in the "Contact Us" section below or by visiting our website and contacting us through a means listed on our website. If you would like to know which third parties participate in the list rental and exchange program, you may also contact us via one of the methods listed below.
Law Enforcement Agencies, Courts, Regulators, Government Authorities, or Other Third Parties. We may disclose your information: 1) to apply with a legal obligation or court order; 2) when we believe in good faith that the law requires it; 3) at the request of governmental authorities conducting an investigation; 4) to verify or enforce our policies, procedures, terms of service, and other agreements, or to protect the rights, property, safety, and security of Easterseals, our members, vendors, business partners, service providers, affiliate members, website visitors, or the public; 5) to respond to an emergency; or 6) when we believe it is necessary or appropriate to prevent physical harm or financial loss, or in connection with an investigation of suspected or actual illegal activity.
Successor Entities, Buyers, Transfers and Mergers and Acquisitions. We may disclose your information to a buyer, potential buyer, successor in interest, or to an organization in connection with a bankruptcy, transfer, merger or acquisition, or other transfer of some or all of Easterseals' or an affiliate's assets, which may include your information. If this occurs, we will endeavor to ensure that the successor entity uses your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Notice, or provides you with notice and a choice about future use of your personal information.

5. Easterseals Affiliate Members

Easterseals has a number of affiliate members throughout the United States who interact directly with the populations we serve by bringing Easterseals' mission and work directly into the community in which the affiliate member operates. While our affiliate member organizations are associated with and use Easterseals branding, they may have their own practices regarding how they collect, use, share, and retain information when you interact with them.

As described above, affiliate members share information with us, and we share information with our affiliate members. This information sharing occurs so that we can understand the impact of our and our affiliate members' programs and services, yield actionable insights, and drive future-forward decision making so that we can continue to further the Easterseals' mission of equity, inclusion, and access for individuals with disabilities.

6. Links to Other Sites

Easterseals' website may contain links to other sites, including to our affiliate members, as well as links to non-affiliated third parties, such as social networks or business partners. These linked sites may have personal information collection, use, and disclosure practices that differ from Easterseals' practices. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of websites that you visit before sharing your personal information with them. Please also be aware that if you disclose personal information, PHI, or other sensitive information through public forums, at an event, or on online message boards, this information may be used by others. We take no responsibility for the content, security, or confidentiality of any information posted on or conveyed in these public spaces.

7. Security of Personal Information

Easterseals knows that information security is of the utmost important to our donors, affiliate members, website visitors, and individuals whose information we collect. We maintain reasonable technical, administrative, physical, and organizational safeguards in proportion to the sensitivity of information we collect that are designed to prevent unauthorized access, use, and disclosure of personal information.

However, no electronic data transmission or processing of personal information is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee the security of personal information. We encourage you to assist us with securing your personal information by using a strong password and not disclosing your login credentials, where applicable, to anyone. If we become aware of an incident that affects your personal information, we will investigate and comply with all reporting obligations.

8. Transmission of Health-Related Information

Easterseals understands the sensitivity of collecting and using health-related data. It is not Easterseals' intent to collect personally identifiable health-related information or PHI. If we do collect personally identifiable health-related information or PHI, it will not be used by or shared with entities other than Easterseals or our affiliate members, unless the information is de-identified. Any transfer of personally identifiable health-related data between Easterseals organizations will take place in a secure environment with access allowed only to certain qualified employees of Easterseals. Easterseals will comply with all regulations set forward by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). To learn more about HIPAA, visit the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights.

9. Retention of Personal Information

We will retain your information only for as long as necessary to achieve the purpose for which it was collected. This may mean that we will continue to retain certain information even after we stop providing our services directly or indirectly to you, after you delete your user profile, or cease interacting with us, as required by law or for our legitimate business purposes. We may also retain de-identified, aggregated, or anonymous information that does not identify a particular individual. In all cases where we retain data, we do so in accordance with limitation periods and record retention obligations that are imposed by applicable law.

10. Your Rights and Choices Regarding your Personal Information

Easterseals offers various rights that are consistent with state consumer privacy laws. Easterseals offers the option to access, correct, and delete your personal information. If you are a registered user of our website, you can access your Easterseals profile and update your contact information and user preferences by clicking here. Upon your request, we will delete, aggregate, or de-identify personal information related to you that is retained in our organizational databases, unless we are required to continue to retain the information in an identifiable format. To exercise your right to deletion, or to modify or correct your information other than through the link above, please contact us via a method set forth in the below "Contact Us" section.

You can also change your communication preferences and opt-in or opt-out of marketing communications from Easterseals. To opt-out of receiving email communications, postal mail or from participating in the list rental and exchange program, or to request a disclosure of list rental and exchange information, please follow the directions below.

Email: If you are a registered user of easterseals.com, login to change your email preferences.You may also opt out of certain non-essential marketing email communications using the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of the email.
Postal Mail: Opt-out of postal mail solicitations
List Rental and Exchange: Opt-out of list rental and exchange program
Disclosure Request: Request disclosure of list rental and exchange practices

We will endeavor to fulfill all requests within a reasonable timeframe.

11. Cookies

Our website uses or may use cookies, web beacons, pixel tags, and similar technologies (collectively, "cookies"). Cookies are small text files stored directly on a website visitor's computer or mobile device that automatically collect certain information from users such as browser type, IP address, time spent online, pages visited, referring URL, and additional aggregated website traffic data. We also rely on partners to provide features of our services, which may involve using cookies.

We use cookies for the following purposes:

Functionality. These cookies are necessary for us to ensure that the website functions properly.
Security. These cookies are necessary for us to mitigate the risk of data breaches and similar attacks by ensuring that requests are submitted to our website from proper domains.
Authentication. These cookies allow us to authenticate user requests and to maintain session information related to users.
Preference. These cookies allow our website to remember which events you have signed up or registered for, the products you place in your shopping cart, and to recognize your device.
Advertising. These cookies allow us to provide you with more relevant advertisements.
Analytics. These cookies enable us to learn more about how users and visitors interact with our website, including pages visited, how much time is spent on each pages, and similar information. We use this information in aggregate.
Third-Party. These cookies are placed by third parties such as Google and social media networks. These cookies track and monitor how you interact with our services and other websites, provide us insight into how you interact with our website (such as analytics), facilitate account registration and login, and also enable the sharing of content from our services to these third parties. We do not control the data use or sharing practices of these third parties. If you do not wish to accept third party cookies, we encourage you to update your browser settings accordingly.

The use of cookies has become standard among website operators. Most browsers are initially set to accept cookies. You can usually set your browser to refuse cookies that are not necessary or to indicate when a cookie is being set. To understand your options regarding cookies, you can visit the help section of your web browser, or take a look at the links below:

Chrome: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647?hl=en
Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/cookies-information-websites-store-on-your-computer
Edge: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/delete-cookies-in-microsoft-edge-63947406-40ac-c3b8-57b9-2a946a29ae09
Internet Explorer: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/delete-and-manage-cookies-168dab11-0753-043d-7c16-ede5947fc64d
Safari: https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/manage-cookies-sfri11471/mac

If you refuse cookies, you may not be able to use certain functions on our website and our website may not function as smoothly as it does when cookies are enabled.

12. International Transfers of Personal Information

Easterseals and all of its affiliate members are located in the United States, and all programming offered by Easterseals and its affiliate members occurs in the United States. Because of the global nature of the internet, the Easterseals website may be accessible from jurisdictions other than the United States, even though Easterseals does not operate, provide, or market its services outside of the United States. If you access the Easterseals website outside of the United States, your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States. Since the data protection laws of various countries differ, information transferred to the United States may not be subject to the same level of protection as the jurisdiction in which you reside. If you choose to access our website from a jurisdiction outside the United States, we rely on your consent to transfer the data to the United States. To the extent you do not consent to data transfers to the United States, please do not provide us with your personal information or visit our website.

13. Information from Children

Our website is not directed towards children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of 13 through our website without parental consent. If you become aware that we have collected personal information from an individual under the age of 13 through our website without parental consent, please let us know so that we can take appropriate action.

14. Changes to this Notice

We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time. If we make material updates to this Notice, we will endeavor to provide you notice by placing a prominent notice on this website and/or sending an email notification of the change. We will also update the "last updated" date at the top of this policy. Any changes will be effective immediately on posting unless otherwise indicated. Continued use of our services after updates to our Notice will be deemed consent to the changes.

15. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Notice or our information practices, please contact us by emailing us through this link or directly at info@easterseals.com, calling us toll-free at 800-221-6827, or writing to us at:

Easter Seals, Inc.
Attn: Privacy Manager
141 W. Jackson Blvd
Suite 1400A
Chicago, IL 60604

HIPAA NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES AT EASTER SEAL SOCIETY OF WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA

Effective Date: April 12, 2003

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION.
PLEASE REVIEW IT CAREFULLY.

If you have any questions about this notice, please contact Easter Seal Society of Western Pennsylvania’s Privacy Officer at (412) 281-7244.

Privacy Officer’s Contact Information:

Tina L. Outrich
Vice President of Programs/Services
2525 Railroad Street,
Pittsburgh, PA 15222

WHO WILL FOLLOW THIS NOTICE

This notice describes the privacy practices of Easter Seal Society of Western Pennsylvania and all of its Affiliates and other persons listed below (together, “Provider” or “we”). “Affiliates” means:

Any health care professional authorized to enter information into your medical chart.
All departments and units of the organization and its affiliates.
Any member of a volunteer group we allow to help you while you are receiving care from the Provider.
All employees, staff, Board Members and other Provider personnel.

All of these persons and entities follow the terms of this notice and may share protected health information with each other for treatment, payment or provider operations purposes as described in this notice.

OUR PLEDGE REGARDING PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION

We understand that protected health information about you and your health is personal. We are committed to protecting your protected health information. In order to provide you with quality care and to comply with legal requirements, we create a record of the care and services you receive from the Provider. This notice applies to all of the records of your care maintained by the Provider. Your other health care providers, such as your personal doctor, may have different policies or notices regarding the use and disclosure of your protected health information created and maintained in the doctor’s own office or clinic.

This notice provides the ways in which the Provider may use and disclose your protected health information. It also describes your rights and certain of the Provider’s obligations regarding use and disclosure of your protected health information.

The provider is required by law to:

safeguard your protected health information;
give you this notice of our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your protected health information;
follow the terms of this notice as currently in effect; and
notify you of any changes to this notice.

HOW WE MAY USE AND DISCLOSE PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION ABOUT YOU

The following categories describe different ways that we “use” and “disclose” you protected health information. Each category is followed by an explanation and in some instances an example. For purposes of this notice, the term “use” refers to protected health information that is used within the Provider for your treatment, the Provider’s operations, or the payment of your care. The term “disclose” refers to protected health information that is given to outside entities for one of the purposes described in this notice. Whether your protected health information is used or disclosed, the use or disclosure will fall within one of the categories listed below and will be used or disclosed only in the minimal amount necessary to carry out the purpose. The term “may” means that the Provider is permitted under federal law to use or disclose this information without obtaining an additional or specific authorization from you to do so. Even though the Provider may be permitted to use or disclose information in a given instance, it does not mean that we will use or disclose the information. We will still try to assure that any use or disclosure is in your interest or is consistent with practices in the health care field.

For Treatment. We may use and disclose protected health information about you to provide you with medical treatment or services. We may disclose protected health information about you to doctors, nurses, technicians, medical students, and Provider personnel who are involved in taking care of you at the Provider. For example, a doctor treating you for an injury may need to know if you have diabetes because diabetes may slow the healing process. In addition, the Provider may need to tell the dietician if you have diabetes so that the dietician can arrange for appropriate meals. Different departments of the Provider also may share protected health information about you in order to coordinate the different things you need. We also may disclose protected health information about you to people outside of the Provider who may be involved in your medical care when you are absent from the Provider, such as family members, clergy, providers of day services, volunteers, Independent Support Coordinators, case managers, respite care workers and others we have engaged to provide services that are part of your care.

For Payment. We may use and disclose protected health information about you so that the treatment and services you receive from the Provider or other providers may be billed to and payment may be collected from you, the government, an insurance company or a third party. For example, we may disclose information to the county or state mental health and/or mental retardation agency in order to receive payments for your treatment. We may also tell your insurer or governmental payer about a treatment you are going to receive to obtain prior approval or to determine whether your plan or the government will cover the cost of the treatment.

For Health Care Operations. We may use and disclose protected health information about you for Provider operations or operations of another provider or payer. These uses and disclosures are necessary to run the Provider and make sure that all of our clients receive quality care. For example, we may use protected health information to review our treatment and services and to evaluate the performance of our staff in caring for you. We may also combine protected health information about many Provider clients to decide what additional services the Provider should offer, what services are not needed, and whether certain new treatments are effective. We may also disclose information to doctors, nurses, technicians, medical students, direct care providers, behavioral therapists, special therapists, and other Provider personnel for review and learning purposes. We may also disclose information in order to comply with our incident reporting requirements under state, local, or federal law. We may also combine the protected health information we have with the protected health information from other providers to compare how we are doing and see where we can make improvements in the care and services we offer. We may remove information that identifies you from this set of protected health information so others may use it to study health care delivery without learning who the specific clients are.

Health Care Quality Units and Other Quality Review Organizations. We may disclose information to the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, the Office of Mental Retardation, and other state and county mental health and mental retardation agencies through their appointed agents, including Health Care Quality Units and independent monitoring groups, in order to comply with federal, state and local laws and regulations.

Appointed Reminders. We may use and disclose protected health information to contact you as a reminder that you have an appointment for treatment or medical care at the Provider.

Treatment Alternatives. We may use and disclose protected health information to tell you about or recommend possible treatment options or alternatives that may be of interest to you.

Health-Related Benefits and Services. We may use and disclose protected health information to tell you about health-related benefits or services that may be of interest to you.

Fundraising Activities. We may use contact information, such as your name, address and phone number, and the dates you received treatment or services from the Provider to contact you and your family members in an effort to raise money for the Provider. We may disclose this contact information to a foundation related to the Provider so that the foundation may contact you and your family members in raising money for the Provider. If you do not want the Provider or the foundation to contact you or your family members for fund raising efforts, you must notify the Privacy Officer in writing.

Provider Directory. We may include certain limited information about you in the Provider directory while you are a client of the Provider. This information may include your name, location at the Provider, your general condition, and your religious affiliation. The directory information, except for your religious affiliation, may also be released to people who ask for you by name. Your religious affiliation may be given to a member of the clergy, such as a priest or rabbi, even if they do not ask for you by name. This is so family, friends, and clergy can visit you at the Provider and generally know how you are doing.

Individuals Involved in Your Care or Payment for Your Care. We may disclose protected health information about you to your family members, your personal friends or any other person identified by you, but we will only disclose information that we feel is relevant to that person’s involvement in your care or the payment for your care. If you are feeling well enough to make decisions about your care, we will follow your directions as to who is sufficiently involved in your care to receive information. If you are not present or cannot make these decisions, we will make a decision based on whether we believe it is in your best interest for a family member or friend to receive private health information and how much information they should receive. Obviously, we are inclined to provide greater information to close family members than to friends.

We may also disclose information to disaster relief agencies or to family, friends or others in an effort to locate or identify members or personal representatives.

Research. Under certain circumstances, we may use or disclose protected health information about you for research purposes. For example, a research project may involve comparing the progress of all clients who received one therapy to those who received another, for the same condition. All research projects, however, are subject to a special approval process. This process evaluates a proposed research project and its use of protected health information, trying to balance the research needs with clients’ need for privacy of their protected health information. Before we use or disclose protected health information for research, the project will have been approved through the research approval process, but we may, however, disclose protected health information about you to people preparing to conduct a research project, for example, to help them look for clients with specific medical needs, so long as the protected health information they review does not leave the Provider.

In certain situations, we are required to ask your specific permission, such as when the researcher will have access to your name, address or other information that reveals who you are, or will be involved in your care at the Provider.

As Required By Law. We will disclose protected health information about you when required to do so by federal, state or local law. For instance, the Provider is obligated to report to public health officials the occurrence of certain communicable diseases, or acts of violence. Additionally, the Provider is required to report certain incidents to the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare.

To Avert a Serious Threat to Health or Safety. We may use and disclose protected health information about you when necessary to prevent a serious threat to your health and safety or the health and safety of the public or another person. Any disclosure, however, would only be to someone able to help prevent the threat.

Day Providers. We may use and disclose information about you if necessary to facilitate your application for admission to, or use of day programs such as supported employment and sheltered employment.

Residential Facilities. We may use and disclose information about you if necessary to facilitate your application for admission into, or use of residential facilities.

In-Home Services. We may use and disclose information about you if necessary to facilitate your application for, or use of in-home services.

Family Living Arrangements. We may use and disclose information about you if necessary to facilitate your application for admission into, or use of family-living arrangements.

Supports Coordinators. We may use and disclose information about you as necessary for supports coordinators and case managers to complete their duties for you.

Transfers. We may use and disclose information about you to another Provider to which you are being transferred or which is considering you as a transfer.

Employers. We may use and disclose information about you to an employer or prospective employer in connection with your application for, or continuation of employment.

SPECIAL SITUATIONS

Organ and Tissue Donation. If you are an organ or tissue donor, we may release protected health information to organizations that handle organ procurement or organ, eye or tissue transplantation or to an organ donation bank, as necessary to facilitate organ or tissue donation and transplantation.

Military and Veterans. If you are a member of the armed forces, we may release protected health information about you as required by military command authorities. We may also release protected health information and foreign military personnel to the appropriate foreign military authority.

Workers’ Compensation. We may release protected health information about you for workers’ compensation or similar programs. These programs provide benefits for work-related injuries or illness. Under the privacy regulations, workers’ compensation claims are exempted from coverage, and thus we may release protected health information about you to your employer for workers’ compensation purposes.

Public Health Risks. We may disclose protected health information about you for public health activities. These activities generally include the following:

to prevent or control disease, injury or disability;
to report births and deaths;
to report child abuse or neglect;
to report reactions to medications or problems with products;
to notify people of recalls of products they may be using;
to notify a person who may have been exposed to a disease or may be at risk for contracting or spreading a disease or condition;
to notify the appropriate government authority if we believe a client has been the victim of abuse, neglect or domestic violence. We will only make this disclosure if you agree or when required or authorized by law.

Health Oversight Activities. We may disclose protected health information to a health oversight agency for activities authorized by law. These oversight activities include, for example, audits, investigations, inspections, and licensure. The federal government had determined that it must have access to this information to adequately monitor beneficiary eligibility for government programs (for example, Medicare or Medicaid), compliance with program standards, and/or civil rights laws.

Lawsuits and Disputes. If you are involved in a lawsuit or a dispute, we may disclose protected health information about you in response to a court or administrative order. We may also disclose protected health information about you in response to a subpoena, discovery request, or other lawful process by someone else involved in the dispute, but only if appropriate efforts have been made to tell you about the request or to obtain an order protecting the information requested.

Law Enforcement. We may release protected health information if asked to do so by a law enforcement official:

in response to a court order, subpoena, warrant, summons or similar process;
to identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person;
about the victim of a crime if, under certain limited circumstances, we are unable to obtain the person’s agreement;
about a death we believe may be the result of criminal conduct;
about criminal conduct at the Provider; and
in emergency circumstances to report a crime; the location of the crime or victims; or the identity, description or location of the person who committed the crime.

Coroners, Medical Examiners and Funeral Directors. We may release protected health information to a coroner or medical examiner. This may be necessary, for example, to identify a deceased person or determine the cause of death. We may also release protected health information about clients of the Provider to funeral directors as necessary to allow them to carry out their duties.

National Security and Intelligence Activities. We may release protected health information about you to authorized federal officials for intelligence, counterintelligence, and other national security activities authorized by law.

Protective Services for the President and Others. We may disclose protected health information about you to authorized federal officials so they may provide protection to the President, other authorized persons or foreign leads of state or conduct special investigations.

Inmates. If you are an inmate of a correctional institution or under the custody of a law enforcement official, we may release protected health information about you to the correctional institution or law enforcement official. This release would be necessary (1) for the institution to provide you with health care; (2) to protect your health and safety or the health and safety of others; or (3) for the safety and security of the correctional institution.

YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU

You have the following rights regarding protected health information we maintain about you:

Right to Inspect and Copy. You have the right to inspect and copy protected health information that may be used to make decisions about your care. Usually, this includes medical and billing records, but does not include psychotherapy notes.

To inspect and copy protected health information that may be used to make decisions about you, you must submit your request in writing to the Privacy Officer. If you request a copy of the information, we customarily charge a fee for the costs of copying, mailing or other supplies associated with your request.

We may deny your request to inspect and copy in certain very limited circumstances. If you are denied access to protected health information, you mat request that the denial be reviewed. Another licensed health care professional chosen by the Provider will review your request and the denial. The person conducting the review will not be the person who denied your request. We will comply with the outcome of the review.

Right to Append and Amend. If you feel that protected health information we have about you is incorrect or incomplete, you may ask us to append or amend the information. You have the right to request an amendment for as long as the information is kept by or for the Provider. If we do not agree to amend your information, you may add a supplemental statement to your records indicating why you believe the information should be changed. We will append or otherwise link your statement to your records.

To request an amendment, your request must be made in writing and submitted to the Privacy Officer. In addition, you must provide a reason that supports your request.

We may deny your request for an amendment if it is not in writing or does not include a reason to support the request. In addition, we may deny your request if you ask us to amend information that:

was not created by us, unless the person or entity that created the information is no longer available to make the amendment;
is not part of the protected health information kept by or for the Provider;
is not part of the information which you would be permitted to inspect and copy; or
is accurate and complete.

Right to an Accounting of Disclosures. You have the right to request an “accounting of disclosures.” This is a list of several types of the disclosures we made of protected health information about you.

To request this list or accounting of disclosures, you must submit your request in writing to the Privacy Officer. Your request must state a time period which may not be longer that six years and may not include dates before April 14, 2003. Your request should indicate in what form you want the list (for example, on paper, electronically). The first list you request within a 12-month period will be free. For additional lists, we may charge you for the costs of providing the list. We will notify you of the cost involved and you may choose to withdraw or modify your request at that time before any costs are incurred. The Provider will comply with your request within 60 days.

Right to Request Restrictions. You have the right to request a restriction or limitation on the protected health information we use or disclose about you for treatment, payment or health care operations. You also have the right to request a limit on the protected health information we disclose about you to someone who is involved in your care or the payment for your care, like a family member or friend. For example, you could ask that we not use or disclose information about a surgery you had.

We are not required to agree to your request. If we do agree, we will comply with your request unless the information is needed to provide you emergency treatment. To request restrictions, you must make your request in writing to the Privacy Officer. In your request, you must tell us (1) what information you want to limit; (2) whether you want to limit our use, disclosure or both; and (3) to whom you want the limits to apply, for example, disclosures to your spouse.

Right to Request Confidential Communications. You have the right to request that we communicate with you about medical matters in a certain way or at a certain location. For example, you can ask that we only contact you at work or by mail.

To request confidential communications, you must make your request in writing to the Privacy Officer. We will not ask you the reason for your request. We will accommodate all reasonable requests. Your request must specify how or where you wish to be contacted.

Right to a Paper Copy of This Notice. You have the right to a paper copy of this notice. You may ask us to give you a copy of this notice at any time. Even if you have agreed to receive this notice electronically, you are still entitled to a paper copy of this notice.

To obtain a paper copy of this notice, please call our Privacy Officer at 412.281.7244.

CHANGES TO THIS NOTICE

We reserve the right to change this notice. We reserve the right to make the revised or changed notice effective for protective health information we already have about you as well as any information we receive in the future. We will post a copy of the current notice at our site. The notice will contain on the first page, in the top right-hand corner, the effective date. In addition, each time you register at or are admitted to the Provider for treatment or health care services as a client, we will offer you a copy of the current notice in effect.

COMPLAINTS

If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you may file a compliant with the Provider or with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. To file a complaint with the Provider, contact:

Tina L. Outrich
Vice President of Programs/Services
Easter Seal Society of Western Pennsylvania
2525 Railroad Street,
Pittsburgh, PA 15222

All complaints must be submitted in writing.

You will not be penalized for filing a complaint.

OTHER USES OF PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION

Other uses and disclosures of protected health information not covered by this notice or the laws that apply to us will be made only with your written authorization. If you provide us permission to use or disclose protected health information about you, you may revoke that permission, in writing, at any time. If you revoke your permission, we will no longer use or disclose protected health information about you for the reasons covered by you written authorization. You understand that we are unable to take back any disclosures we have already made with your permission, and that we are required to retain our records of the care that we provide to you.

Our blog

The Runway of Dreams Celebrates Disability in Fashion
Tuesday, September 19, 2023, 4:01 PM

The Runway of Dreams Celebrates Disability in Fashion

Tuesday, September 19, 2023, 4:01 PM

On September 13, Adaptive and accessible fashion was center stage. The Runway of Dreams Foundation, …

Mindy Scheier. Photo Credit: Runway of Dreams Foundation

On September 13, Adaptive and accessible fashion was center stage. The Runway of Dreams Foundation, a public charity that empowers people with disabilities through inclusion in fashion and beauty, hosted the event at the Powerhouse Arts building in Brooklyn, NY during the highly popular New York Fashion Week. As an organization that promotes and celebrates innovative design, this year’s theme of A FASHION REVOLUTION called for models with disabilities to come down the runway in the latest apparel and footwear from companies like Tommy Hilfiger, Zappos, Steve Madden, and Target. Victoria’s Secret also unveiled their first-ever Adaptive Intimates line. As with every Runway of Dreams show, every model highlighted the diversity of disability. There were models of different ages, BIPOC models, wheelchair users, cane users, folks with limb differences, little people, models with care assistants, and other presentations of disability.

Elicia Tate. Photo Credit: Runway of Dreams Foundation

“Every runway show is better than the last,” says Mindy Scheier, founder of The Runway of Dreams. “The most exciting part of the 2023 A FASHION REVOLUTION was having 11 mainstream brands on our runway, including Victoria’s Secret, who decided that this was the runway to debut their Adaptive Intimates. Having women with disabilities on our runway proudly wearing Adaptive bras and panties that were developed with and for women with disabilities left me awestruck.”

Mindy says conviction is what inspired her to start the charity in 2014, after 20 years working as a fashion designer and stylist. When her then 8-year-old son Oliver, who has Muscular Dystrophy, asked for jeans that he could button himself and wear over his leg braces, she adapted the jeans herself – and then conducted extensive research on how to mainstream and manufacture accessible clothing. In 2016, she partnered with Tommy Hilfiger to create the first-ever mainstream adaptive clothing line on the market.

Caitlin Connor. Photo Credit: Runway of Dreams Foundation

With an overwhelming response to the collaboration with Tommy Hilfiger, companies have been looking to hire people with disabilities to build their own inclusive and accessible offerings. In 2019, Mindy founded GAMUT Management, a consulting and talent management company that represents people with disabilities across fashion and entertainment.

Mia Ives-Rublee, a client of GAMUT Management and one of the Zappos models in the Runway of Dreams show, also participated in the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge as a film maker and actor. “Being able to see yourself in clothes or on screen shows that you matter as a person; that your story matters,” she says. Mia also mentioned that disabled people are often excluded from media and fashion, even though, according to the CDC, 1 in 4 Americans identify as having a disability: “With that understanding, it is easy to explain to non-disabled people the importance of creating clothing for a variety of body sizes and needs. To understand those needs, disabled people need to be a part of the fashion industry from the designers to the board members. Working together, they can create clothing that is adaptable to wider body types and needs.”

Mia Ives-Rublee. Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for Runway of Dreams.

Advocate and model for Runway of Dreams, Caitlin Connor, agrees. “So many people in the disability community are left out of the fashion industry and shopping can be depressing. We need organizations like Runway of Dreams to show brands that we harness both buying and selling power and that disability impacts everyone at some point in life.” Caitlin learned about Runway of Dreams when searching for resources for her nonprofit Be More Adaptive, which is a one-stop resource and community for all things adaptive and accessible. “When I became an amputee through a traumatic accident, my world spiraled with confusion as I searched to understand my new life with a physical disability. While recovering from the accident, I was also pregnant and eventually got laid off from my job. It gave me time to research for as many resources as possible and led to me developing Be More Adaptive.”

Lachi. Photo Credit: Runway of Dreams Foundation

Runway model and music artist, Lachi, shared that we can change the fashion industry “…by supporting models who celebrate their disability as a unique part of their identity, or by spreading awareness to adaptive fashion brands and disabled designers, and by embracing the cutting edge, newness of the disabled body and the untapped stories it tells.”

Lachi is another participant of the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge, with the “Unlucky in Love” short film alongside Imani Barbarin and Rachel Handler. Like the Runway of Dreams show, Lachi says, “the film challenge proves that there are as many opportunities as there are ideas, that we create our own opportunities, and that we need to stop waiting to be discovered and need to start being the discoverers. Both the Runway and the Challenge allow folks with disabilities to cut their teeth in fashion or film and to grow among a supportive community of peers, allies, friends, and collaborators.”

Fashion isn’t just the stylish clothes we wear – fashion is expression, empowerment, and a part of culture. Lachi is a big fan of what she calls “glam canes” – white canes used by people with low vision to navigate and bejeweled with rhinestones from top to bottom. She has a cane to match every outfit. “It’s an instant showstopper, icebreaker, and leaves an impression,” Lachi says. “It also allows me to celebrate my blind identity in a very bold and sophisticated way.”

Self-expression and community are at the core of the Runway of Dreams Foundation. It’s evident in how supportive models are of each other … Evident in the hundreds of people who attend the runway show with enthusiasm and pride… shown through the diversity seen at every event … bringing people with and without disabilities on the same path toward possibility and inclusivity. And, with the efforts of such an incredible community, we are seeing progress in fashion – with much more ahead.
Read this Post
The Joy of Educating Kids About Disability in School
Monday, September 11, 2023, 3:40 PM

The Joy of Educating Kids About Disability in School

Monday, September 11, 2023, 3:40 PM

Before schools went on summer break this year, my Seeing Eye dog Luna and I were invited to do a spe…

Before schools went on summer break this year, my Seeing Eye dog Luna and I were invited to do a special school program at The Admiral, a senior residence where I lead weekly memoir-writing classes for older adults who live there.

Goudy Elementary is a Chicago public school located so close to The Admiral that the third-graders can walk there. They do exactly that every Friday to attend a “reading buddies” program sponsored by the Admiral. Each third grader reads out loud to an assigned Admiral resident, their “reading buddy,” and the Admiral Reading Buddy reads aloud to their third-grade buddy, too.

Things went a little differently the Friday Luna and I were there, though. “Instead of having the children work with reading buddies today, could you give a special presentation to them about what it’s like to be blind?” they asked. “And could you have your Seeing Eye dog with you, too, to explain how the dog gets you where you need to go?”

Teachers at Goudy emphasize social awareness with their third-graders. Students there benefit from having the ability to take the perspective of — and empathize with — others from diverse backgrounds and cultures, including people with disabilities.

So of course I said yes.

I love doing presentations like these for schoolkids, and the request to have my Seeing Eye dog with me was no problem: Luna comes with me everywhere I go!

Very few of the children had family members or friends who were blind, and none of the children had ever met a Seeing Eye dog before.

The timing of this visit was perfect: the “Understanding Disabilities” series of children’s books from Cherry Lake Publishing, in partnership with Easterseals, had been released a month earlier. Each book in the series is written by an author with a disability, and I wrote two of them: Service Dogs and What is the Americans with Disabilities Act? Weeks earlier, I secured 50 copies of the Service Dogs book, which meant that after our presentation, I’d be able to send each third grader a copy of the book to take home with them.

The afternoon was delightful, and so were the children. They arrived well-prepared, each of them holding a card with a question they wanted to ask me when it was their turn. Every single child told me their name, then introduced their question, a la, “Hello, my name is Sunil, and here’s my question …” Their older reading buddies were also there but sitting further away. Again, no problem — I just made a point to repeat each question so the older “Reading Buddies” could hear it too.

I have a habit of getting longwinded when I answer questions kids ask me, so I’ll limit myself here and only answer the questions that challenged me the most.

Q. How can you dress when you don’t see?

A. I have all sorts of systems for keeping track of my clothes. If a shirt is black, I put a safety pin in the tag. If a shirt is white, I put a paper clip in the tag. Every piece of clothing I own that is black has a safety pin in the tag, and everything that is white has a paper clip attached to the tag; I just memorize the color people tell me my other clothes are and figure out which is which by the way they feel.

Q. What if you need to go somewhere and your dog is sleeping?

A. I wake her up.

Q. How do you write books if you can’t see?

A. I learned to type on a keyboard when I was in high school and could still see — I wasn’t blind until I was 26 years old, and I still have the keyboard memorized. The computer I use to write books comes with a speech synthesizer. The speech synthesizer calls out letters as I type so I can hear and fix any mistakes as I go. I can manipulate keys on the keyboard to read a page of type by word, line, or paragraph when I want to check for spelling and grammar. Over the years, the synthesized voice has become more and more human-sounding, but when I let people hear it, they usually say it sounds like something out of a science fiction movie.

Q. Is it scary being blind?

A. It was scary at first, but I went to a special school for a few months to learn how to use a white cane to get around, how to cook and clean for myself, how to read Braille and stuff like that. I have been blind for so many years now that I’m used to it and it isn’t scary anymore.

Q. How does your dog know where it’s going?

A. I have to be the one who knows where we’re going, so when we get outside in front of our apartment building, I hold onto my dog’s leash and harness, turn the way we need to go, and give her a command she learned at the Seeing Eye School she went to: “Luna, forward!” She pulls forward, and I feel the pull by holding the back of her harness and follow her lead.

Q. What are your biggest challenges if you are blind?

(Note to blog readers: this was my very favorite question of them all –the question told me that the kids had enough empathy to understand that being blind could be challenging sometimes, and they weren’t afraid to ask me what some of those challenges were).

A: Oh, there are lots of challenges, but rather than focus on the things I can’t do – I can’t play video games, for example – I focus on the things I can do. I know how to play the piano, and I know how to swim and can go to the beach, and I can write books, too, and get to bring my dog with me wherever I go!

Easterseals partnered with Cherry Lake Publishing Group to come out with the “Understanding Disability” series to explore disability in a comprehensive, honest, and age-appropriate way. One of their goals was to open the door for critical conversations about disability to young readers, and those questions the Goudy Elementary School students asked me that day tell me they are eager to learn.

The senior who’d emceed our presentation that day sent an email message to Luna and me later, thanking us for our program and especially for the books: “I want you to know that when I held up the books to show the kids, they were so excited and happy!”

What a coincidence: I am excited and happy about those books, too. Even now, months after that presentation, thinking that some of those third-graders might have brought their new Service Dogs book to read to their “Reading Buddies” the Friday after our presentation makes me smile.
Read this Post
ASL in Education: It’s Not Just a Trend
Wednesday, September 6, 2023, 3:43 PM

ASL in Education: It’s Not Just a Trend

Wednesday, September 6, 2023, 3:43 PM

Editor’s Note: Allison Friedman is an educator, advocate and artist with experiences addressin…

Editor’s Note: Allison Friedman is an educator, advocate and artist with experiences addressing common barriers that people within the Deaf community might face when it comes to education. Among the many things she does, she provides ASL access for people in the Deaf and blind community. We had a conversation about the importance of inclusion in education, including what others may not realize about Deaf culture in today’s “trendy” landscape.

Let’s talk a little bit about your background. How did you get where you are today?

Allison Friedman: I grew up in Chicago, Illinois. I’ve always had a passion for the arts and I’m a professor and an advocate. I’m involved in several programs that are trying to spotlight different walks of life for different individuals. I’m very passionate, creative, and I work in the film industry, too. I help people get an insight into what it is like to be a person with a disability.

You have a lot on your plate, it seems.

Allison Friedman: I do! But from here, I do want to go ahead and talk about my journey as a Deaf individual and being a part of the disabled community.

What would you say is one accomplishment that stands out during your career?

Allison Friedman: Oh, that’s a tough one. I do have several, but the one that sticks out happened when I was working at Columbia College in Chicago. They invited me to do a TEDx presentation, and gave me a theme for it: essence.

Wow. That’s a pretty broad topic! What did you come up with?

Allison Friedman: My presentation focused on sign language and human connection. I am passionate about sign language and ensuring Deaf children have access to their own language. For the project, we surveyed several Deaf children who were language deprived, including my own father, who, for 13 years, didn’t have access to any of those resources for him. That really hit home for me.

I can imagine why –13 years old without any of those services?

Allison Friedman: Yes. My father, again, he didn’t have language until 13 years later. My grandparents didn’t know that there was a Deaf school.

So, your father never went to school at all?

Allison Friedman: Oh, he finally did go — as soon as my grandparents found out there was a school for the Deaf, they sent my father there and that’s where he really thrived and came into his own being. All those resources available for him there played a huge impact in his life.

How about you? What was your schooling like?

Allison Friedman: Growing up, I didn’t see ASL in the public, not until I was older. And that’s why I’m really thankful to social media and also Gallaudet University. American Sign Language wasn’t really recognized as a language until the 60s. And having it recognized as a language and also being validated as a community was really beneficial to us.

Nice! Sounds like advocating and teaching and helping people understand more about the Deaf community is paying off! What is something you wish more people understood, actually really got, about the deaf community and ASL in general?

Allison Friedman: I’m happy that ASL has gained more recognition globally, but Deaf children are the ones in crucial need of it. That’s something I want to really emphasize. Again, my father didn’t have language until 13 years. ASL is something very trendy now and something that’s seen as pretty cool. I want the world to know that ASL is not just a trend, it’s not just something to have fun with, but it’s actually some people’s main mode of communication for everyday life. I really want to emphasize that having language accessibility for children is what we need. There’s an irony in it being such a trend lately — seeing it at speeches, during the singing of the National Anthem, more out in the public in schools and colleges — while Deaf children still struggle sometimes getting access to ASL.
Read this Post
Navigating College with Depression: Advice for New Students
Monday, August 28, 2023, 1:50 PM

Navigating College with Depression: Advice for New Students

Monday, August 28, 2023, 1:50 PM

by Mids Meinberg Going to college represents a major shift in every young student’s life. Now consid…

by Mids Meinberg

Going to college represents a major shift in every young student’s life. Now considered by society to be an adult, a freshman experiences an unprecedented freedom in managing their schedule and their life. This greater freedom is then coupled with an increased difficulty in coursework, leading to a large amount of stress. To further complicate things, turning eighteen is also when a lot of mental illnesses begin to present themselves more powerfully. This increased stress, these newly emergent symptoms, and the relative absence of a support network can make the first year of college nearly impossible to navigate for some.

This is the situation that I found myself in during my first year of college. I went an ocean away from my family and friends to a prestigious school. My depression was making itself known in a way far more intense than anything I had ever experienced before, which was coupled with finding the academics of college a struggle, a first in my life. The sense of failure began early in the semester and continued to snowball throughout the year, with every failed test and missed assignment piling into an avalanche of guilt and remorse that I lacked the tools to escape from.

I flunked out of Rice University at the end of that year and the repercussions of that failure have lingered with me ever since. I have struggled both economically and mentally because of my inability to get a degree. Rice offers a need-based free ride scholarship to all students attending, paying for all of their expenses above what the family can be reasonably expected to contribute. I wound up attending other schools and accumulating debt in my effort to complete education, debt that I would not have had if I completed my education at Rice. In addition, the shame I felt, however unreasonable, has remained with me, intensified by and intensifying my depression.

My situation did not have to unfold the way it did. Resources are available in most colleges for those that need them, but these resources can only be accessed if you ask for them. It would have helped a lot if there were those in the community who could see how I was flailing, how I was unable to meet the demands of the coursework, and were willing to take that first step in helping me to get the aid that I needed. Instead, I allowed the compounding guilt to make me think that I was too late to ask for help, even when there was still time to turn things around.

A crucial understanding that it has taken me decades to realize is that my failures were not my fault. It wasn’t a lack of academic preparation or a lack of “intelligence” or a lack of drive that led to my failures. My failures were rooted in my disability coming head-to-head with structures that were built to inhibit disabled people from succeeding. Indeed, so much of the cultural constructions around “laziness” are built upon ableism and a failure to understand how disability affects the ability of a person to do work in the same way as a nondisabled person.

Now, just because higher education is structurally and systemically built upon ableist principles, this does not mean that the individuals working within academia are inherently ableist. I found a lot of success in my later academic career in speaking directly with professors about my failings and struggles. Being clear in why and how I was struggling led to a greater understanding from my professors and a willingness on their part to meet me halfway to ensure that I was able to achieve the success that we both wanted out of my time in the course.

Not every professor is going to be so welcoming, but there is no harm in making the attempt. A professor refusing to help is a sign that they are not someone who you want to take courses with in the future. In that case, dropping the class might make the most sense. While dropping courses feels like a major failure, it’s merely a re-evaluation of your position and the ability to get some breathing room. One of the things I struggled with heavily in the beginning of my academic career was taking an overloaded course load in an attempt to finish college earlier. A slower but steadier course load is much more likely to achieve success for any student, but especially for any disabled student considering the extra challenges posed by higher education.

Rice University

In addition to these one-on-one approaches, there are additional tools that can help a disabled student achieve success in higher education.

First, most colleges and universities have programs to help disabled students with their specific accommodations. Researching the options available at any school and then using them can result in removing a lot of barriers. While these options will rarely help with the laziness myth, every advantage can be useful.

For those with mental illness, counseling options are usually available, which can include access to medication. While new students with newly intensified mental illnesses may struggle with accepting counseling and medication, the impact on one’s success not just in school but in life can be life saving. Thankfully, the shame around therapy has decreased since my time in college, but you should not allow shame to stop you from seeking these vital aids.

Second, most colleges have tutoring services available for all students. Again, shame and doubt may keep a student from pursuing these options, especially students who had excelled in high school, but it is important to remember that the use of these services does not reflect a personal failing but rather a need to overcome ableist structures. This tutoring can serve a vital function in helping a student to structure and order their time on campus – something that can be a huge barrier for students with mental illnesses.

Third, disabled students can form study groups with classmates in order to handle homework assignments and prepare for tests. Even if you have more barriers to overcome, higher education is difficult for every student new to it. By working together, classmates can find the ability to succeed despite these new difficulties. In addition, these study groups can serve as vital support networks and the start of new friendships which can help anyone to achieve their goals in higher education.

If I had pursued any of these options when I first started college, I would have found my experience far easier and likely would not have struggled as I have for so long. Hopefully this advice can help others get the help that I didn’t and make college a surmountable challenge.

Mids Meinberg is a writer and game designer working out of New Jersey. They have an AA in Creative Writing from Brookdale Community College.
Read this Post
As I See It – Disability Education and Inclusion
Monday, August 21, 2023, 1:49 PM

As I See It – Disability Education and Inclusion

Monday, August 21, 2023, 1:49 PM

By Scott Klumb In the world of education, we need to have more inclusion and representation in early…

By Scott Klumb

In the world of education, we need to have more inclusion and representation in early and higher education. We have made great strides in improving disability education and inclusivity through K-12, but we still have a long way to go. Creating space to educate others on disability is imperative to making sure people have a better understanding of the disabled community. This can be done through the academic setting as well as other creative avenues.

As an autistic person with Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD), not only did I struggle academically in a traditional school setting, but socially too, as I was bullied for most of my life. The bullying began in preschool and continued throughout my entire education. I was scared to go to school because of the bullying, and I was also nervous to share it with my family or my teachers. I didn’t want the school officials to intervene due to fear that the bullies would pick on me even more.

When I was pursuing higher education, it was going well, and most of my teachers were very accommodating and accepting of wearing a microphone that would allow me to process everything they were saying while I wore a headset. But one semester, I went up to my new instructor showing her my accommodation paperwork, which included wearing a microphone for my CAPD. She looked at me and said, “you don’t honestly expect me to wear that, do you?” Then she laughed at me and looked at the classroom and said, “don’t you all think I speak loud enough?” The class then began to laugh with her. This humiliated me in front of a large classroom and made me feel awful as a human being. I went home in tears and called my parents about it. We then reported it to my film school, and the teacher was fired. It is illegal to not follow state accommodations, and I was honestly in shock that I would come across someone that would question me. I feel for any other disabled person who has gone through something similar because we should never have to feel bad for being a disabled human being.

Looking back at my experience, I believe that if public and private schools beginning at the preschool level focused on the inclusion of the disabled community into their traditional curriculum, that disabled people would be more normalized. I believe that it would result in fewer instances of bullying towards disabled people in an academic setting. This can be as simple as reading stories to young children that include characters who are disabled, to inviting people with various disabilities to volunteer directly in the classroom or have them read to the children during story hour. Allowing the schools to create a community that is inclusive to everyone will ultimately create more acceptance and inclusivity for disabled children. It is important to teach that there is a wide range of disabilities, and that not all disabilities are visible. The majority of people that meet me can’t imagine that I have a disability. One of the biggest struggles for someone like myself who is autistic is that it is an invisible disability.

Going into school, whether it is for early or higher education, can be scary because people can be quick to judge. People think they are complimenting me by saying, “you don’t look autistic” but the thing is, autism is a spectrum and doesn’t have a look. This can be extremely dismissive and anxiety provoking because someone should never have to explain why or how they are disabled because of another person’s ignorance. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1 in 4 adults in the United States have some sort of disability. Because of this significant number, we need to be more open to teaching kids and young adults about disabilities as well as having fair representation that disabled people can go to school comfortably knowing that they will not be judged or bullied for being “different.”

We as society have been doing a good job of educating the disabled community so that they can reach their full potential, which should be the goal for all human beings. In Colorado, there are schools like TACT and the Temple Grandin School that are specifically focused on this goal for autistic people. Last Fall, I taught filmmaking at TACT (Teach Autism Community Trades). I was told by many teachers there that they have never seen the students so engaged. I think part of this was because the students knew I was also autistic and that we were able to connect on another level with our shared experiences. The students learned a lot and TACT will most likely have me back to teach again.

Educating people about disability doesn’t just have to just be in the school setting. A creative way to do this is through film. Films like Crip Camp and CODA are excellent for exposing students to the disabled world. Crip Camp shows how far we’ve come since the 1970s and how we can continue to push forward today. There are many disabled filmmakers who can speak to their films and do panels in a classroom through Zoom or in person.

I personally have a passion for filmmaking, and I love to educate people through my documentary work. I began by making my film called Autism: One Man’s Journey, which was a story about my life. My goal was to help educate people on the autistic experience as well as give others hope for fighting through the extreme struggles of mental health. My therapist, who is an autism specialist, always says that he learns about autism from the real experts, his clients who experience it every single day.

It is important that we as a society can continue finding ways to normalize disability which can be the first step to acceptance. We can make sure that we are creating safe environments in the school setting to educate children about the disabled community to help prevent bullying. We can also use creative avenues to help others learn about disabilities in the hopes of creating a more inclusive world.

Scott Klumb is an award-winning filmmaker. He is a storyteller, cinematographer, and editor, knowledgeable in a wide array of film styles, including documentary, where he creates artistic films with meaningful stories to captivate his audience. Scott has found a passion for filmmaking, pursuing his talent both professionally and in his free time. Scott’s films have been in dozens of festivals across the world. The notoriety has been encouraging, but Scott’s primary focus is to encourage others and continue his growth as a filmmaker.
Read this Post