Critique 1A- 

The two Web sites I chose to contrast are http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/cp/index.html and http://www.ndss.org/Down-Syndrome/What-Is-Down-Syndrome/ . The first link is Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the link brings it to a page about Cerebral Palsy and the second link is the National Down Syndrome Society. The link for cerebral palsy seems helpful and easily functional for the families of members with this disease because it has easy access links right on the page to bring up information about cerebral palsy and some facts to learn about the disease. It also has data and statistics links, screening and diagnosis links, research and tracking, and articles to learn more information. The second link is helpful as well because it is also easy to access and get from page to page. The page is mainly to describe what down syndrome is and the different types and doesn't provide much insight into resource services. Although, by clicking at the top there is a link for resources. At the end of the page there are more links to find more information about down syndrome, there are also books listed to find out more information. The website provides a helpline, it also provides information about the organization itself, and links for local support. All in all, both websites seem to be good sources for resource services and have easy and clear features to navigate your way around the sites.

Critique 1B-

One iPad app I have found that would be helpful to indiviuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities would be Proloquo2Go. Unfortunately, this app is very expensive costing 219 dollars. Although, it seems to be something that would be very useful to individuals who are nonverbal or have problems learning language. It is used to promote visual language because many times seeing the picture assigned to a word is easier for communication and helps these individuals. This app allows these individuals to speak by tapping buttons with words or phrases. A second app is See.Touch.Learn, which is free, and See.Touch.Learn Pro which is $39.99. The apps are flashcards with pictures to help autistic students learn to recognize what the picture is with a voice that responds saying what the picture is. Both essentially have the same features, just the one that costs money has more flashcards loaded into the program. One last app is My Choice Board. The cost of this app is $9.99. This app helps those with autism, or communication delays/limited communication skills, to be able to communicate and express what they need or what they want. The individual will click an image as a preferred choice and you can also record voice messages so that when the individual clicks on the image, it will say what the image is. 

Critique 1C-

The device technologies that are enabling Stephen Hawking to express himself is speech-generating devices. They are AAC systems that act as a supplement to speech being that these individuals do not have the ability to speak. These devices allow these individuals like Stephen Hawking to be able to effectively communicate and act as their voice. http://www.hawking.org.uk/the-origin-of-the-universe.html and http://www.space.com/20710-stephen-hawking-god-big-bang.html both are websites that illustrate and discuss many of stephen hawking's main ideas. 

First off, I found this article extremely interesting. I think this article can be appreciated by other parents of teenagers with developmental and intellectual disabilities. I completely understand that parents want to say their child is their hero. I completely understand that these children are also extremely strong for everything that they have to deal with, but this idea of them being "heroic" can make them feel as though they have to constantly act strong and cannot break down. Ernie Bufflo, to me, is correct because first and foremost you want your child to be just that, a child. They shouldn't have to feel like they need to act tough and like they can always deal with their issues because the reality is that they cannot. The children will break down and will have days where they can't be strong and the parents need to do that for them. Therefore, I found the article very interesting and think parents could appreciate the article and it may be eye opening for them.

I was very impressed by the presentations given to us at AHRC New York City Adult Day Services on the assistive communication devices. The presentations provided a lot of information that I did not know about the assistive communication devices. I found it interesting to find out that they now even make Samsung Tablets as these devices. It is awesome that technology has improved so much over such a short period of time. I really enjoyed that they sent around one of the devices as well for us to look at it and get a feel for how it works and what it does. I also loved the introduction given by Adil with his assistive communication device. It was really cool to see how he uses it being that this is something he uses on a daily basis and it even helps him in the workforce and attending school.

I couldn't exactly find a self-advocacy story but I did find an interesting story about a teen, Esteban Barriga, with special needs who invited Ellen DeGeneres to prom. This is a small step toward self-advocacy because the boy was able to make the decision on his own to go to prom and to ask Ellen to be his date, despite thinking he didn't have friends. He then learned from this that he has a community and great family behind him, causing him to decide to go to prom. This is similar to the stories we heard at 156 William Street because Lisa spoke about how she now lives on her own and makes decisions on her own and has a job. 

Today we met with our AHRC New York City partner's. My partner is Evelyn. Although we were both a little shy, we learned a lot about eachother and learned that we have a lot of similarities. Evelyn loves typing, singing, and dancing. She really enjoys hiphop dance and disco. I am a dancer so learning that she loves to dance was really exciting and something that we are hoping to incorporate into our project. I also found out that Evelyn is in a band! She plays the drums and the tamborine and also sings in the band. We spent a little bit of time going on youtube and just listening and singing along to some of Evelyn's favorite songs. I really enjoyed today's class and this was only day one with Evelyn. I'm really excited to see how we grow and learn more about each other. This class is such an amazing experience and I'm so excited to be apart of this. 

The article I chose is "iPads Helping Kids With Autism Learn to Speak". Although this article does not directly relate to my partner, it does show how these different technologies, specifically iPad apps, help people in different ways. This article describes how a study they had done shows how children up to the age of 8 can be significantly impacted by these communication apps on their iPad devices. They are encouraging kids to mimic the words that they hear from their device and it is in turn allowing kids to begin using short phrases as well. This, for some children, is a major improvement because some children are absolutely nonverbal and this not only gives them a voice but is in some cases allowing the children to even learn how to speak. My partner uses an iPad for recreational use. She enjoys listening to music on it and is learning how to use the iPad. So although it doesn't directly relate to my partner Evelyn, it does show that different technologies are helping individuals with disabilities. 

http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2013/11/19/ipads-autism-speak/18904/

My partner, Evelyn, unfortunately was out sick today. I looked up places that may interest her that we can hopefully do and visit in the future! I know Evelyn loves music and singing. She is currently in a band class, where her and some friends formed their own band. I was looking up to see if there were any museums of music around New York City. I found that the Metropolitan Museum of Art actually has a department on musical instruments. So that is possibly something we can do in the future. I also found out that Evelyn LOVES sandwiches. They are her favorite food. The first day I saw her she actually had Subway with her. Right on Fulton Street there is the new sandwich shop Potbelly, maybe one day I can see if Evelyn would be interested in going there to get lunch. I would also like to make her a playlist maybe on a cd so that she can put it on her iPad because she loves music so much and this way she can hear some of the music I like along with the music she likes. So although it is unfortunate that Evelyn isn't here today, I have created some plans so that in future we can bond more and do some things she likes.

I think the film will be a great model for the Hollywood mainstream media. I think that many people don't really understand disabilities that well so this may be a great chance for people to see how these disabilities are portrayed. This film was very helpful for Beau in his life and he did well in the film. The connection that he had with his on-screen brother was real. I think that it is important for people and Hollywood mainstream media to realize that it is difficult for people with disabilities to have to learn to control their emotions and learn to act different ways for certain scenes, though this is difficult they can do it. That is the message that is being sent to parents of children with disabilities around the world. I think this is important because it shows that your child is capable of so much and it is also a reminder to Hollywood that people with disabilities are capable of so much as well. To conclude, I think this movie is a good model for the Hollywood mainstream media.

Today I met with Evelyn and we had a lot of fun together. Me, my partner Evelyn, Tenzin, and her partner Evette teamed up. We went with a staff member from AHRC and gave Evelyn and Evette a tour of Pace. We went into the library because I know my partner loves to read. We were going to look for a book that I would check out for her but she couldn't think of any today so we are going to go back next week after she thinks of one this upcoming week. We also went to the cafeteria where my partner ate her lunch and we just joked around with eachother and also all got snacks together. When we returned to the class my partner and I decided to discuss our project. We want to make a video where we will be showing Evelyn at some of the places we decide to visit over the semester. We also want to record her singing because singing is something Evelyn loves to do! She also dances as do I, so we are thinking of creating a little dance to put into the video to just showcase some of the things about Evelyn that she loves. We are also going to take a picture together each week to showcase our progress and what we have done that week. Our picture today was us holding 'Nerds' because we both realized that is one of our favorite snacks. This was pretty much it for today! 

I actually work in the Birnbaum Library at the circulation desk, so I've become very aware of how this is a problem in our library. My coworker/good friend Shannon is currently working on trying to resolve this issue and it is something I would like to begin helping her with. I know she has written an article about it for the Pace Press as well. I would advocate by bringing it to the attention of the head of library and to the school as a whole. Maybe if it is not taken care of quickly and easily, we can get a petition signed to show how important the Pace community thinks this is and to bring it to the attention of the Pace community. I think it is terrible that this is not something that has been taken care of yet. I feel terrible when students with wheelchairs or other handicap disabilities come up to me asking for someone to take them in the elevator because there is no easy access to it. This needs to be changed.

Last week when I met with Evelyn I told her to think of a book she would like to check out from the library this week. Evelyn wasn't able to think of one, so today when I got to class I helped her look one up. We spent about an hour discussing what kind of books she likes and trying to find ones that weren't too big but would interest her. I found out she really enjoys romance novels just like I do. She also likes mysteries as well as books about music. We eventually found a book about music that isn't too big that Evelyn would like to read. When we went to the library and found the book I took pictures and videos of Evelyn looking through the books to include in our project because reading is one of the things Evelyn loves! When we came back from the library I played some music on the computer and recorded videos of her singing as well for the project because Evelyn would really like to include her singing being that it is one of her passions. 

Today Evelyn and I stayed in the classroom. We spoke more about our project, and decided instead of just doing a video, we would also create a powerpoint. The powerpoint contains information about Evelyn that she wanted to share such as where she grew up, what her hobbies are, and her goals in life. Most of our project is now already finished. We will be taking photos each week to add to the slide of our photos as well as creating a video. The video will be containing Evelyn singing because she enjoys it so much, and possibly dancing!! I taught Evelyn how to use powerpoint because she had never used it before. She loved it!! I showed her how to insert pictures and how to center words. I feel like while creating the project she opened up a little more towards me and seemed so much more excited and happy to be learning something new! It made my day! 

I read the article and I found it truly inspiring. I think it was so great how Kevin Grow got the opportunity to fulfill his dreams by playing with the 'Sixers'. I feel like many times, individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities are not offered enough opportunities to do what they would like to do, even if they are fully capable. I love that the Sixers treated Kevin just as an individual who wanted to fulfill his dreams.

Today, Evelyn and I worked on our project some more being that the time we have left is very short! We spoke with Julia and decided it would be a good idea to import our powerpoint into keynote on the iPad and get Evelyn familiar with how to work an iPad. So, that is what we did and now Evelyn will use the iPad to present the project. We also learned how to use iMovie today. I have never used iMovie before so it was actually a new experience for the both of us and we helped each other figure it out. We also added more to the video that we are creating for the powerpoint.

I would first like to say that when reading the article, I found the statistics to be completely disheartening and it really bothered me that the crime rates for individuals with disabilities is so high. I think individuals with disabilities should have some service offered to them to learn how to deal with situations like these. It should be something that is practiced continuously to help them remeber and better prepare them for situations like these as well. They also need to be taught to know when someone is acting in wrong ways towards them so they know when to speak up. Andrew Cuomo is one legislator in New York State who is advocating for individuals with disabilities. He has created the New York State Developmental Disabilities Planning Council, which works to lead these individuals to be able to fully participate in society, provide them with information to lead them to better decision making, and uphold their equality. This so far seems to be an effective part of the NYS Government and hopefully people become more aware of it.

My partner, Evelyn, was absent today. Since she wasn't here I worked on the project myself and tried to teach myself how to use KeyNote more as well as iMovie. Evelyn and I had begun using these Apps together and I had never used them prior to this time. It was a good opportunity for me to learn more about these Apps and this way the next time I see Evelyn I could better help her in using them. I also added some photos to our project and will see if Evelyn likes them next time we meet. I spoke with Julia and Evelyn and I may be meeting next Tuesday, when we don't have class, to hopefully continue working on our project.

Discuss how the death of Jerome Murdough at Rikers Island in New York City might (or might not) be an apparent regression to the mentality evident from the period of Willowbrook, Staten Island, by Tuesday, 4/8/14, Mid-Nite.

First off, I would like to say I find this so disheartening. I had read this article from the DailyNews, http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/corrections-boss-grilled-baking-death-inmate-jerome-murdough-rikers-blog-entry-1.1737213. It broke my heart because they said how Jerome Murdough should not have been in Rikers Island to begin with. Yes, he trespassed, but it wasn't as severe as some other crimes. He is also schizophrenic as well as bipolar.  Jerome Murdough had passed away while at Rikers Island due to extreme heat in his cell. The person in charge at Rikers Island never bothered to check on him and other cell mates as he was instructed to, which led to Jerome suffering and passing away. The prison also failed to let the mother of Jerome know that her son had passed away until almost a month after.I believe there is an apparent regression to the mentality evident from the period of Willowbrook. I think this is similar to cases at Willowbrook, Staten Island because these inidividuals with disabilities had been treated so poorly and you would think that now-a-days this type of treatment towards these individuals would not be occurring. It clearly still is evident though as we can tell from the case with Jerome. This is a serious problem that needs to be fixed.

Today, in class, Evelyn and I took a trip to the library to return the book she had taken out. She loved it. While we were there, we took some pictures of her actually returning the book for the project, to show her love for the library and reading. After the library, we went upstairs and added the pictures to our project. We actually finished our presentation today. The presentation is about Evelyn's life, and she said that she thinks we included everything  and she didn't want to add anything else. After finishing the project we had some fun learning how to play new games on the iPad.

Although the punishment of individuals with disabilities in Florida is different in fairness than many other states, I actually found that Texas as well as Florida put people on the death penalty when they are not competent of even realizing they are. Texas has 13 known cases where the people who were killed had mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, and were still put to death. This and the Florida case both are a little crazy to me. Obviously what these individuals have done is wrong, but these individuals many times are often to incompetent to even realize that. In the Florida case, I think it is crazy how being off from one number doesn't deem you as having enough of a mental illness to be able to be kept alive. I have added in the article I read on about Texas.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/01/death-penalty-cases-mental-illness-clemency

Today I unfortunately had to leave class an hour early due to a field trip for my science class. Prior to leaving, Evelyn and I completed our project and showed it to Professor Lawler. Due to losing an hour with Evelyn though, I will be attending AHRC tomorrow to meet with Evelyn and add another part to our video, as Yuliya suggested we do. I also just wanted to make note of something that I had noticed the last two classes. Prior to these last two classes, Evelyn had not used an iPad. But ever since she had to bring it in for me to upload the PowerPoint, she has loved it. She came into class today and immediately took out her iPad and began playing games such as wordsearches and others. I was amazed at how happy it made her and how excited she was because she doesn't usually act that way. I also found it interesting because I feel like the wordsearches help her. When doing the project she typed up all of the information herself, but she would often ask me for help spelling whereas with the wordsearches she was beginning to realize what the words spelled out meant. It was pretty awesome for me to see that reaction!

Mr. Herrera might be an inspiration for my AHRC New York City partner because Mr. Herrera shows that even if you have a disability, you are capable of doing anything. He is a strong individual who does what he loves to do and has been so successful. I think he could be an inspiration for my partner because it just shows that no matter what you have wrong with you, there are ways to overcome it and deal with it. So many people at Mr. Herrera's job are also so inspired by him. Whether you have a disability or not, Mr. Herrera is someone who can be an inspiration to you through his strength and hard work, and ability to deal with his disability.

Today was the day we presented our projects to the rest of the class. The projects all turned out so well! I was very impressed by many of them! Evelyn was actually so eager to go today that when we didn't get called to go up until the very end, she began crying. She loved the class and project so much it made her upset to not get to share right away. Although, after we finally presented our project she was so happy and excited. Seeing these projects today was really eye opening for me. I realized just how much I loved this class and love volunteering with individuals with disabilities!

I believe Mr. Richie Parker could definitely be an inspiration for my partner Evelyn. Watching this video inspired me so much and I think an individual with a disability could find it even more inspiring than I did. It is amazing to know that someone who we think would have such a difficult time completing certain tasks, could actually do them just as we can, many times even better than we can! Mr. Richie Parker even said himself, many people at his job first thought upon his arrival, "How is he going to do anything here?" and sure enough he does his job and better than some people! 

We saw everyone's presentations last week. I think everyone did absolutely amazing on all of them! The individuals who come to class from AHRC NYC progressed so much and it was amazing to see what all of them did throughout the semester. Today we got to see the video that was created of all of us and I thought it was amazing! It showcased everyone's projects so nicely and it was so nice to know that their parent's or family that was with them got to see this piece of what we did in class. I just wanted to say thank you for this amazing experience in this class!!