By Michael Rock:
Journalists don’t always consider interviewing people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Fortunately, ProPublica and the Arizona Daily Star have partnered to get such sources to better understand the limits of the state’s services.
In New Jersey, group homes are beginning to allow regulated visits designed to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. In Middletown, Oasis Therapeutic Life Centers, which offers farms where young adults with autism can work, and their neighbors dropped lawsuits against each other.
In New Windsor, Maryland, ten-month-old Natalie Dorsey, who has cerebral palsy, has shown improvement in her movements after undergoing remote online occupational therapy. In nearby Montgomery County, Allison Wohl, who has a son with Down Syndrome, has discussed how schools can improve remote learning for students like her son.
Michael Rock is a New York City-based reporter and self-advocate with autism. A graduate of Brandeis University, his work has appeared in Kings County Politics, Chelsea Now, Our Town, Queens County Politics, and WhoWhatWhy.