News You Can Use
When we find useful information related to assistive technology or disability, we'll post it here.
February 26, 2013: HUD and HHS Provide Rental Subsidies for People with Disabilities
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced nearly $98 million in funding for 13 state housing agencies for rental assistance to extremely low-income persons with disabilities, many of whom are transitioning out of institutional settings or are at high risk of homelessness. The following states' housing agencies received rental subsidy funding: California, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington. HUD’s support of these state agencies is made possible through the Section 811 Project Rental Assistance Demonstration Program (PRA Demo) which enables persons with disabilities who earn less than 30 percent of median income to live in integrated mainstream settings. The state housing agencies are working closely with their state Medicaid and Health and Human Service counterparts to identify, refer, and conduct outreach to persons with disabilities who require long-term services and supports to live independently.
Link to source: http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/press/press_releases_media_advisories/2013/HUDNo.13-024.
February 12, 2013: Wireless RERC Wants to Hear from You on Emergency Communications and People with Disabilities
The Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for Wireless Technologies (Wireless RERC) is asking for individuals to take an online survey on emergency communications and people with disabilities. Emergency communications generally include two main components: 1) contacting emergency response services (911 services) for help, and 2) receiving public emergency alerts for events like severe weather and other natural events, amber alerts for missing children, and other emergencies. The Wireless RERC conducted this survey once before almost two years ago, and they are conducting it again because the technology is changing so rapidly and new government rules are being implemented. New to this version of the survey is the inclusion of a question for the respondent to identify if he/she is a caregiver. In this way, the RERC hopes to collect data on the caregiver experience as it relates to emergency communications technologies and behaviors, as well as the experiences of individuals with disabilities. The data will be of great interest to regulatory authorities and other professionals working to improve emergency response and disaster relief for people with disabilities. As an incentive for taking the survey, the Wireless RERC will be giving away two $100 Amazon gift certificates to two lucky respondents.
Link to source: http://www.wirelessrerc.org/content/newsroom/just-launched-2012-survey-emergency-communications-and-people-disabilities.
January 18, 2013: Post-Doctoral Fellowship Available in Rehabilitation Outcomes Measurement
The Boston University School of Public Health's Rehabilitation Outcomes Center has received funding from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) to offer a post-doctoral training fellowship program in rehabilitation outcomes measurement research. The dynamic program focuses on recent innovations in outcome measurement such as computer adaptive testing for patient reported outcomes, advances in performance-based outcome measures, and technological developments that have allowed the creation of sophisticated instrumented outcome measures. To apply, submit a packet to Mary Slavin, PT PhD (mslavin@bu.edu) that contains the following information: Educational background; professional & previous research experience; narrative statement of career goals, reasons for seeking admission to the fellowship program; rehabilitation outcomes measurement research interest areas; list of publications and a copy of one scientific writing sample; and 3 professional references.
Link to source: http://www.bu.edu/bostonroc/training/fellowship/.
