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Disabilities Rights Center Presents... on Public Access Television

Disabilities Rights Center Presents... is about disability rights and resources, with stories of struggles and successes from people with disabilities, information about the law, advocacy tips, legislative updates, and more.

Disabilities Rights Center presents... is available for public access stations to download through PegMedia.org. If you would like Disabilities Rights Center presents... aired on your local public access station, let us know! We can work together to make it happen.

Episodes:

April -May 2010: Voting and Civic Involvement: the Issues for People with Disabilities. This is a series about voting and getting involved in government. People with disabilities are less likely to vote than the general population; they are more likely to feel disempowered. We’d like to see that change. You CAN get involved and make a difference.

Streaming Video:

• Voting and Civic Involvement: the Issues for People with Disabilities
• Voting and Civic Involvement: Access for People with Physical Disabilities

October 2009 - March 2010: Special Education and Discipline. The Disabilities Rights Center announces a six part television series exploring special education and discipline in our public schools. Too often, the disciplinary practices used on children with special needs are ineffective, harmful, dangerous, and sometimes fatal.

In 2009, a shocking report from the National Disability Rights Network, DRC’s national organization, found numerous cases across the country where the use of restraint and seclusion on children with disabilities had resulted in injury or death. A GAO investigation and Congressional Hearings confirmed the severity of this problem.

The Disabilities Rights Center takes an in-depth look at school discipline issues: what was, what is, and what can be. We examine the use of restraint and seclusion as well as other troubling disciplinary practices, including the overuse of suspensions and expulsions for students with disabilities and the growing dangerous trend of involving the police and criminalizing school misbehavior, the so-called “schoolhouse to jailhouse pipeline”. We also talk with experts and show examples of positive approaches, such as Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), that lead to successful outcomes for students.

Streaming video:

• Special Education and Discipline, Part I, with DRC Attorney Rebecca Whitley in a discussion of the inappropriate use of discipline including restraint and seclusion in schools.
• Special Education and Discipline, Part II, a discussion about PBIS, with guest Howard Muscott, Director, NH Center for Effective Behavioral Interventions and Supports.
• Special Education and Discipline, Part III, with guests Howard Muscott and Maria Agorastou, PBIS Facilitator, UNH Institute on Disability.
• Special Education and Discipline, Part IV, with Ronald Lospennato, Esq., Director of the School to Prison Reform Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, is our guest in a discussion about his project, the misguided trend towards criminalizing school misbehavior, and the failure of the Zero Tolerance policy.
• Special Education and Discipline, Part V continues the discussion with Ronald Lospennato.
• Special Education and Discipline, Part VI. Malcolm Smith, Ph.D., Family Life and Family Policy Specialist at the UNH Cooperative Extension Programs, discusses bullying.
• Special Education and Discipline, Part VII. DRC Attorney Rebecca Whitley and host Cindy Robertson review past shows on discipline to wrap up the series, and discuss pending state and federal legislation to protect students from abusive restraint and seclusion in the classroom.

View Legal Briefs from the shows! 

Past Episodes:

September 09, Fair Housing, with guests James Fox, attorney, Disabilities Rights Center; and Chris Wellington, attorney, New Hampshire Legal Assistance.

July 09: Guardianship, with guests Judge David King, Administrative Judge for the New Hampshire Probate Courts, and Linda Mallon, Executive Director, Office of Public Guardian.

• Guardianship is available in streaming video

June 09: A Look Back at Laconia State School, with guests Gordon DuBois and Rheal Laforest.

May 09: How Budget Cuts Affect People with Disabilities. The New Hampshire legislature is debating the budget, and the decisions made have major effects on people with disabilities. Our guests are David Lynde, MSW, Co-Director of the Dartmouth Evidence-Based Practices Center, Department of Psychiatry, Dartmouth Medical School, and Cathy Spinney, parent of a young woman with severe disabilities. They discuss how budget cuts affect people who rely on mental health and developmental services. We also hear from Naomi Preble of Rochester on the difficulty of relying on public benefits.  

April 09: When Helpers Hurt: Abuse and Neglect in Programs and Services 

March 09: Accessible Parking

January 09: Assistive Technology

December 08: Legal services for people with disabilities or low incomes. Our guests are from New Hampshire Legal Assistance, Legal Advice and Referral Center, and the Disabilities Rights Center, discussing these three agencies and the legal services they provide.

November 08: Supported Employment. Learn more about supported employment services for people with developmental disabilities, and meet some hardworking employees.

• Supported Employment is available in streaming video

October 08: Voting: One Election Coming Up! Learn more about your right to vote and see the accessible voting system in use.

September 08: Special Education: Recent Changes to the Law. DRC Executive Director Richard Cohen and Bonnie Dunham from the Parent Information Center discuss recent changes to New Hampshire's statutes and rules.

The legal briefs provided at this web site are general information. They may or may not  reflect current legal developments. 
This information is not intended to constitute legal advice or substitute for obtaining legal advice from your own counsel.

August 08: Self Advocacy. Meet self advocate Roberta Gallant and learn more about self advocacy.

July 08: A Frank Talk about Community Mental Health. Our guests are Ken Braiterman and Kathy Chambers in a discussion of the issues in community mental health.

June 08: The Rap Sheet: Diversity and Disability. Learn more about the Rap Sheet (link at top of page) and our current issue on disability and cultural diversity.

May 08: Service Animals. The Guide Dog Users of New Hampshire helped us put on this episode. We'll talk about how the ADA protects people with service animals, meet a puppy raiser, and find out what service animals can do to assist people who are blind or have other disabilities.

April 08: A Conversation About Special Education. Join Executive Director Richard Cohen as he gets his hair cut at Hair Biz by David Holden, and hear what they have to say about special education.

March 08: Let's Do Lunch! Access and Accommodations in Restaurants. What does it take to make a restaurant accessible? What are restaurants required to do to meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act? Where can you find an accessible restaurant in Concord?

See what the Concord Insider has to say about Disabilities Rights Center Presents...

Want to help?

Concord TV and its programs rely on volunteers. There are cameras to be run, graphics and sound, even video editing! In order to help produce shows, Concord TV provides training to Concord residents and nonprofit organizations that work in Concord, such as the DRC. You can become trained and then help out with DRC’s show production, or help with other shows at Concord TV.

We’d also like to hear your ideas for the show. What issues are most important to you? What would be most helpful in a disability-rights related show?

Please call or email Julia Freeman-Woolpert, 1-800-834-1721 or juliaf@drcnh.org for more information and to get involved.

More information about Concord TV can be found here: http://www.yourconcordtv.org

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