Center for Disabilities Studies

CDS screens documentary on intellectual disabilities across Delaware The Center presented Intelligent Lives, a film seeking to challenge perceptions of intellectual disability, in each county. By following the everyday lives of three young adults with intellectual disabilities, it illustrated the opportunities and challenges present during and after the transition from high school to postsecondary education and the workforce.

Internship program helps students with disabilities earn jobs at Newark businesses This feature story highlights the internship and employment preparation opportunities available to students in CDS’s Career and Life Studies Certificate (CLSC), a two-year postsecondary program for young adults with intellectual disabilities. It focuses on three recent CLSC graduates, Catherine Lin, Mike Massello and Ian Snitch, all of whom were hired by the employers they interned with. The students and their supporters emphasize how the positions have helped them grow and become more confident.

CDS director to Delaware lawmakers: Medicaid coverage for adult dental care would improve health outcomes, lower costs CDS Director Beth Mineo told a state Senate committee considering expanding Medicaid dental coverage to adults that doing so would bring about healthier outcomes by making oral health care affordable to people with disabilities. The committee reported out the bill, which now awaits a Senate vote.

Guardianship alternative enables adults with disabilities to make life decisions Panelists at a CDS event illuminated Delaware’s supported decision-making agreement, a legal process that enables an adult with a disability to affirm his or her right to make decisions about medical care, finance and other significant matters and identify trusted advisors.

Making strides: panelists cite benefits of equine therapy Individuals with disabilities often can build core strength through hippotherapy, a treatment strategy for physical, occupational and speech therapy clients, said speakers at CDS’s Lunchtime Learning presentation on Thursday. An occupational therapist explained the process is tied to horses’ consistent, symmetrical gait, and the parents of a four-year-old client highlighted their daughter’s improved coordination, balance and self-confidence. A UD professor said few studies have focused on hippotherapy’s effects on individuals with developmental disabilities, but the existing data show benefits to sensory processing and social skills.