© 2004 PACER Center Building Program Capacity to Serve Youth with Disabilities Session 1 Disability Awareness: “The Basics” PACER Center Session 1 Disability Awareness: “The Basics”

© 2004 PACER Center Building Program Capacity to Serve Youth with Disabilities Session 1 Disability Awareness: “The Basics” : Slide 1 Agenda  Welcome & Introductions  Definition of Disability & Diverse Disabilities  History of Disability  Exploring Our Own Attitudes  Language & Disability Etiquette  Resources  Questions and Evaluations

© 2004 PACER Center Building Program Capacity to Serve Youth with Disabilities Session 1 Disability Awareness: “The Basics” : Slide 2 Definition of Disability (Under the ADA Law)  Anyone with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities: -walking -hearing -breathing -seeing -speaking -standing-thinking-working -sitting -learning -self-care

© 2004 PACER Center Building Program Capacity to Serve Youth with Disabilities Session 1 Disability Awareness: “The Basics” : Slide 3 Definition of Disability (Under the ADA Law) (Cont.)  He or she has a record of such impairment  He or she is regarded as having such an impairment  Note: Other individuals are protected in certain circumstances including 1) parents and 2) those who are subjects of retaliation for helping a person with a disability assert ADA protections

© 2004 PACER Center Building Program Capacity to Serve Youth with Disabilities Session 1 Disability Awareness: “The Basics” : Slide 4 Statistics (Lou Harris Poll-1998)  54 million Americans have a disability  29% of working age individuals with disabilities work full time  79% of working age individuals without disability work full time

© 2004 PACER Center Building Program Capacity to Serve Youth with Disabilities Session 1 Disability Awareness: “The Basics” : Slide 5 Juvenile Justice & Youth with Disabilities Statistics  Estimates of youth in the juvenile corrections with any type of disability range from 32% - 80%  Hidden Disabilities:  17% - 53% have a specific learning disability  19% - 78% have an emotional disturbance  19% - 46% have Attention Deficit Disorders (ADD)

© 2004 PACER Center Building Program Capacity to Serve Youth with Disabilities Session 1 Disability Awareness: “The Basics” : Slide 6 Juvenile Justice & Youth with Disabilities Statistics (Cont.)  In contrast, youth with easily identifiable disabilities are less represented in juvenile justice:  7% - 15% have mental retardation  1% - 6% have psychoses or autism  In the U.S. there are over 300,000 homeless youth each year (Health Policy Studies, 1995)

© 2004 PACER Center Building Program Capacity to Serve Youth with Disabilities Session 1 Disability Awareness: “The Basics” : Slide 7 Diverse Disabilities  Congenital or acquired disabilities  Visible or hidden disabilities  Sensory disabilities  Developmental disabilities  Progressive disabilities