This year’s theme for the United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities on December 3rd is “Inclusion is for everybody” [1] What does inclusion mean in a community? Inclusion is the opposite of segregation. While historically children with disabilities have been educated in separate classrooms or sometimes schools, more and more schools are reaching … Continue reading “What is inclusion: International Day of Persons with Disabilities”
Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is a condition that you may not have heard of, but it is the number one genetic cause of death in infancy. [1] SMA can onset at any age, and is staged by the age and functional ability of a person at onset of the disease. [1] While only 1 in … Continue reading “Spinal Muscular Atrophy Awareness: What is it?”
World Down Syndrome Day is creatively on March 21. Why is that creative? The numeric date, 3/21, is a nod to the chromosome alteration that causes Down Syndrome: an extra (or third) 21st chromosome, is the cause of the most common chromosomal condition, which affects 1 in 700 people in the US—each year, 6000 babies … Continue reading “Beneath the surface: Down Syndrome Awareness”
A few years ago at Stanford Medicine X, I met a guy named Terry Marlin. Terry has two sons who have Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, and tirelessly advocates for people with this form of muscular dystrophy, DMD. Because of Jonah and Emory, Terry started the Fight DMD Foundation, to help the 1 in 3500 boys born … Continue reading “Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Awareness Month”
January is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. What is a developmental disability? Well, it’s a catch-all term for many diagnoses that affect a child’s behaviours, movement, learning, language, or other types of development [1]. Organizations or researchers may define what classifies as a developmental disability differently, or define the time to onset in a different timespan—for instance, … Continue reading “Demystifying Developmental Disabilities”
It may seem a bit like sci-fi—or Frankenstein—that you could be able to print replacement body parts like hands or even organs using a 3D printer. However, ongoing work in this field is making this a reality in some areas of medicine, and closer and closer to a possibility in others. At Stanford MedicineX in … Continue reading “3D Printing for Better Health: Applications in Medicine”
Last year, only 17.9% of Americans with a disability were employed, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. [1] Disability Employment Awareness Month aims to promote the skills of people with disabilities in the workforce, and encourage more companies and employers to hire employees with disabilities. Some events that may be held for Disability Employment Awareness Month … Continue reading “October is Disability Employment Awareness Month”
Studying Kinesiology & Applied Health in university, we learned about falls in older adults, falls prevention, and the risks that may be associated with older adults if they fall. However, did you know that falls can impact anybody’s life, and that children under age 5 and older adults are more likely to be seriously injured … Continue reading “Falls Prevention Awareness: Preventing Falls in Older Adults”
If you have a child with a disability or other special needs, your child may receive support at school from a Teaching Assistant, also known as a Teacher’s Aide or Educational Assistant, or a Paraprofessional or Instructional Aide depending on where you are—and sometimes, according to their training, depending on where you live. Today, we’re … Continue reading “Not “at the head of the class”, but still very important: Teaching Assistants”
The concept of school nurses, for me as a Canadian living in a suburban area, is a bit foreign. However, even if you or your child has a school nurse present in their school, you may or may not be aware of all these health care providers do to keep kids healthy during the school … Continue reading “The important roles of School Nurses”
