Center for Disabilities Studies

Disability rights advocates in multiple states are raising the alarm that, due to the challenges associated with remote learning, some school districts have slowed or completely stopped evaluating students for special education eligibility. Certain educational experts caution that remote IEP evaluations could exacerbate existing problems, such as misidentifying students from racial minorities, but say that halting evaluations completely is not a viable alternative.

The Division of Public Health announced it had received the second of two shipments of the just-approved Pfizer BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine Wednesday, filling the state’s pre-order of about 9,000 vaccines. The first Delawareans, health care workers at Bayhealth, were vaccinated Monday.

UD’s Psychological Services Training Center is offering a free round of four brief telehealth sessions with a student therapist, supervised by licensed clinicians, available to Delawareans by phone or Zoom. Devised and designed by UD grad students in the Clinical Science Program, the service is open to anyone, without need to demonstrate symptoms or have a previous diagnosis.

The rates of new Covid cases and Covid-related deaths are higher among people with intellectual and developmental disabilities who live in congregate settings like group homes, according to a recent study of California administrative data. The study found that individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities living in their own residence or with family experienced about the same rates of Covid infection and mortality as California’s overall population.

The new unemployment program for part-time and gig workers has seen hundreds of thousands of overpayments to beneficiaries, often due to states making administrative errors. However, states are now demanding the extra money back. Recipients – many of whom were unaware they were being overpaid – are having benefit checks reduced and fear the possibility of garnished wages or withheld tax refunds. Two bills in the House of Representatives would give states the power to waive overpayments.