Podcasts about american disabilities act

Representatives for people with disabilities are boycotting their invite to the Governor's Mansion for the annual American Disabilities Act celebration. A recent incident in downtown Toronto has highlighted the intensity of the ongoing racial hatred since the Israeli-Palestinian conflict last October.

Get some insight on how the American Disabilities Act was put into action by a little help from Joni. It's the anniversary today of the law passing back in 1990. What a blessing that ADA standards are everywhere now for people living with disabilities! -------- Thank you for listening! Your support of Joni and Friends helps make this show possible.   Joni and Friends envisions a world where every person with a disability finds hope, dignity, and their place in the body of Christ. Become part of the global movement today at www.joniandfriends.org.   Find more encouragement on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube.

July's episode features Bret Maceyak of PATH International chatting with the AHC team about miniature horses as service animals under the American Disabilities Act. Fascinating conversation about these little dynamos and all the ways they can be the perfect partners. Also, the AHC team touches base on three timely topics - release of new horse stamps from USPS (they are going fast!), two national days of commemoration for and about horses - July 15 and July 17... "National I love horses day" and "National meet a horse day", plus tips for horses and riders in the heat!HORSES IN THE MORNING Episode 3466 –Show Notes and Links:Your Hosts: Julie Broadway (President) and Emily Stearns (Health, Welfare, and Regulatory Affairs Liaison) of the American Horse CouncilGuest: Bret Maceyak of Path InternationalSponsor: Merck Animal HealthFollow Horse Radio Network on X (former Twitter)or follow Horses In The Morning on FacebookFollow the American Horses Council onFacebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter)

July's episode features Bret Maceyak of PATH International chatting with the AHC team about miniature horses as service animals under the American Disabilities Act. Fascinating conversation about these little dynamos and all the ways they can be the perfect partners. Also, the AHC team touches base on three timely topics - release of new horse stamps from USPS (they are going fast!), two national days of commemoration for and about horses - July 15 and July 17... "National I love horses day" and "National meet a horse day", plus tips for horses and riders in the heat!HORSES IN THE MORNING Episode 3466 –Show Notes and Links:Your Hosts: Julie Broadway (President) and Emily Stearns (Health, Welfare, and Regulatory Affairs Liaison) of the American Horse CouncilGuest: Bret Maceyak of Path InternationalSponsor: Merck Animal HealthFollow Horse Radio Network on X (former Twitter)or follow Horses In The Morning on FacebookFollow the American Horses Council onFacebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter)

Our Guest: Brianna Graham MSN, RN, NPD-BC, ONC Diversion Prevention Specialist This is a followup podcast with Brianna Graham. We talk a bit more about the intersection of the American Disabilities Act and Substance Use Disorder. We talk about when, if ever, it may be permissible to access the medical chart of an employee and Brianna shares her personal journey of weaning off multiple pain medications after many years of physical dependence. For more information on Drug Diversion mitigation and resources, visit: https://www.rxpert.solutions/ #drugdiversion #hospitalpharmacy #opioidcrisis #hospitalworker Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rxpertsolutions/ X: https://twitter.com/rxpertsolutions Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rxpertsolutions Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6UwSCi8kBvVVXOBzzBHFP0

"The healthcare system is really complicated, and there aren't any guidelines currently on how to care and manage TBIs. It takes multiple providers, therapists, and specialists to help pull the pieces of the puzzle together of your recovery."In today's episode, we had Kelly Tuttle, FNP-BC, MSN, a TBI survivor, nurse practitioner, and author, who shared her enlightening recovery journey and offered advice for others on a similar path. Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) can turn lives upside down, not just for survivors but also for their families. Recovery is a challenging, uncertain process, requiring immense resilience.Kelly's post-injury process included coping with cognitive fatigue, headaches, neck pain, and dizziness. A compelling aspect of her story is her transition from a cardiology nurse practitioner to specializing in neurology after her injury. This career pivot signifies her resilience and desire to empathize with and aid others with brain injuries.From a TBI survivor to an advocate and author, Kelly is a beacon of hope and invaluable guidance for those on a similar path of recovery.In this episode you'll hear about: (00:00) Intro (00:34) Kelly Tuttle and her story (02:57) Have you heard of Invisible Disabilities? (06:34) Bringing your closed ones to your medical appointments (10:15) Join us in our Free Concussion Workshop to learn how to recover from a concussion (10:46) Creating After The Crash: How to Keep Your Job, Stay in School, and Live Life After a Brain Injury (12:56) Managing your (TBI) and finding the right support (14:58) Nurse life: from cardiology to neurology  (17:04) Going back to work after your TBI. The Checkoff list. (21:08) Energy management, cognitive fatigue and the old/new car analogy (25:17) Helping your inner circles understand what your TBI means (28:35) The Medical Leave Act and the American Disabilities Act(29:47) Surprises along the recovery process (32:23) Kelly's suggestions for someone with a recent TBI (33:18) What is the Most Important Thing I Can Do to Cure My Concussion? (34:30) Nutrition and brain health (37:14) The inflammatory response (40:22) How TBI affected Kelly's vision and the solutions she found Find Kelly @www.kellytuttle.orgIG @brain_np_TikTok: @brainlovingnpCheck out our Digital Programs4d Built to Read Digital ProgramConcussion RecoveryBuilt to DriveFollow us at 4D Vision Gym on FB and IG @4dvisiongymvt for the latest news and updates. DM us if you have any Vision Therapy related questions - you may hear the answer in a future episode!If you enjoyed this show, please rate, review, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We really appreciate your support!Send us a screenshot of your review and receive 10% off any one of our 4D Vision Gym products or services. And if your friends or family are experiencing inexplicable challenges, refer them to this podcast and tell them, “It Could

Description: FMLA is one of our top requested topics from our 30 minute Thrive podcast subscribers. We are glad to have this opportunity to talk about the complexities of FMLA eligibility, outlining who qualifies, and exploring the spectrum of covered events. This episode will help provide some clarity on navigating leave requirements!  Resources: FMLA Toolkit  FMLA Made Simple - Training  HR and Employment Law Essentials - Training  FMLA: Tips for Tackling 5 Everyday Challenges - Training  MRA Membership  About MRA  Let's Connect: Guest Bio - Rob Lapota  Guest LinkedIn Profile - Rob Lapota  Host Bio - Sophie Boler  Host LinkedIn Profile - Sophie Boler  Transcript: Transcripts are computer generated -- not 100% accurate word-for-word. 00:00:00:00 - 00:00:21:03 Unknown Hello everybody and welcome to 30 minute Thrive, your go to podcast for anything and everything HR, powered by MRA, the Management Association. Looking to stay on top of the ever changing world of HR? MRA has got you covered. We'll be the first to tell you what's hot and what's not. I'm your host, Sophie Boler and we are so glad you're here. 00:00:21:05 - 00:00:46:09 Unknown Now it's time to thrive. Well, hello everybody, and welcome to this episode of 30 Minute THRIVE. FMLA is one of our top requested topics from our podcast subscribers, so no pressure on today's guest, but we're really glad to have this opportunity to talk about all of the complexities of FMLA eligibility, outlining who qualifies and exploring the spectrum of covered events. 00:00:46:11 - 00:01:12:21 Unknown So our goal really for today's podcast is to help provide some clarity to you on federal FMLA. So I'm joined by Rob Lapota HR director, part of MRA Learning and Development Team. Rob, you have over 30 years of HR experience. You've answered more than 15,000 member calls on the HR hotline, and you're recognized as one of the top knowledge experts on our topic for today. 00:01:12:21 - 00:01:33:09 Unknown And that's a federal FMLA scrub. I'm really excited to have you here today as the subject matter expert and thanks for joining us. Thank you for asking me to be here today. And welcome to everybody for our interesting talk. Yes, I like I like to tell people in our training program with FMLA made simple, get your notebook out because you're gonna be taking a lot of notes. 00:01:33:11 - 00:01:56:03 Unknown Yeah, absolutely. Get them out. Well, Rob, let's kind of start out with the big overarching question here, and that is what is FMLA. I know we have a lot of HR Professionals obviously, who listen to the podcast, who know what FMLA is, but some of our other listeners who may not be in that HR professional may not know exactly what FMLA is. 00:01:56:03 - 00:02:28:15 Unknown So can you kind of just give us an overarching picture? So we start out the first acronym, FMLA. First, let's talk about that Family Medical Leave Act. So that took on a federal basis, that was a law. Those passed back in 1993. And it impacts employers that have 50 or more employees anywhere in the United States. Here's a kind of like a short definition of here's what the law is all about 12 weeks of unpaid leave with no penalty to the employee. 00:02:28:17 - 00:03:01:09 Unknown Now, that sounds like a very simple one sentence definition of what is FMLA, but they're in wise the complexity, the no penalty to the employee. That's a challenging aspect of the law. And what qualifies as a reason for taking FMLA. That's the other big challenging portion. And then the overriding complexity of this law by the employee when I'm going to be off of work, I don't ask for FMLA. 00:03:01:11 - 00:03:19:15 Unknown So, for example, if you are a supervisor, I don't call in and say, Hey, Sophia, it's Rob. Last night, my daughter, she was knocked unconscious in a soccer match, but she's actually been admitted to Children's Hospital in Milwaukee. That's where I am right now. I'll give you a call a little bit later today and I'll give you an update on what's going on. 00:03:19:17 - 00:03:48:12 Unknown That said, I the employee is not mandatory under the law for me, the employee to say, and by the way, Sophia, why don't you give me some of the FMLA stuff? The way the federal law is written, it is the employer's responsibility in all circumstances to designate leave as FMLA qualifying. So therefore, because of the complexity, that's what makes it our number one call on our hotline. 00:03:48:18 - 00:04:14:22 Unknown Yeah, I was shocked. Over 20% of our calls are just on FMLA. I was just going to mention that this is one of our top calls on the HR hotline and still remains to be. Yes. And we've had some topics on the podcast on FMLA, just because it is one of our most highly requested topics. And like you said, there's so many different complexities within that, even though that one sentence you gave us seems so simple, it's not as simple as you may think for experts. 00:04:14:24 - 00:04:42:16 Unknown What factors and determine an employee's eligibility for FMLA, FMLA leave? And how does an employer ensure compliance with these criteria? So there's several criteria. And the first is I need to be working at a covered employer for FMLA. And a covered employer is one that has 50 or more employees on their payroll anywhere in the United States. And it also includes temporary employees from a temp service. 00:04:42:18 - 00:05:02:13 Unknown So if I have 25 employees that are on my payroll and I use 25 from a temp service, I actually have 50 employees for federal employee purposes. I'm covered by the law. So for an eligible employee, first of all, I have to be working for a covered employer. Then I have several other criteria that need to be met. 00:05:02:15 - 00:05:24:20 Unknown Number one, I need to be working for at least 12 months for that employer. Number two, I work at least 1250 hours in the 12 months prior to my need for leave. And third, I have to be working at a facility that has 50 or more employees within a 75 mile radius. Now, again, just like that, a little definition I can give you FMLA. 00:05:24:22 - 00:05:46:18 Unknown Well, that seems pretty straightforward, doesn't it? But there's a lot of twists and turns within those definitions. So, for example, the 12 months service on a federal level, it need not be consecutive. So I could be working, for example, as a college intern. As for an organization, let's say, in marketing and work for four summers in a row of three months each summer. 00:05:46:20 - 00:06:12:17 Unknown And we're recording this in December. So let's say that I'm graduating in December. I'm going to start with the employer January of 2024. Well, you actually cannot my three months of service going back four years because it's a seven year lookback period. Okay. So here's the strange thing. Effective January 2nd, 2024, since my official start date, I'll actually have 12 months of service for that employer. 00:06:12:19 - 00:06:38:19 Unknown The same thing goes when people leave organizations. Let's just say I worked at an employer from 2015 to 2020 and then I get rehired on January 2nd, 2024, by that same employer. Well, again, there could be up to a seven year break in service. That's well within that. So I will actually have 12 months of service on my first day of employment reemployment, I should say, with that employer. 00:06:38:21 - 00:07:04:09 Unknown Second of all, the 1250 hours that is paid time only, that does not include things like holiday pay, PTO, sick pay, self-funded short term disability payments. Those are not included. And that's it's just actual work hours. And then the third criteria, this is and again, another strange one. I work in a facility that has 50 or more employees within a 35 mile radius. 00:07:04:11 - 00:07:33:03 Unknown Well, let's just take it for plain value. Let's say that we have an organization that has three facilities. They're all within 75 miles of each other. And one employs 30, another one employees 20 and a third facility. Employees 20 there, or that's 70 employees. So if I work at any of those facilities, I'm working in a facility that has 50 employees within a 75 mile radius. 00:07:33:05 - 00:07:57:02 Unknown Now, that's also extended to include remote employees and all that's since COVID. You know, a lot of remote work going on. And still today, the little twist with that, I'm included in the headcount where I get my work instructions from. So here we are. We're in Waukesha, Wisconsin, recording our program. And this is our call, our corporate offices for me. 00:07:57:04 - 00:08:28:20 Unknown So let's say that I live in Iowa and I work remotely, but I report to my manager, who is here in the Waukesha, Wisconsin, location for the 50 employees within a 75 mile radius. I'm actually counted in the Waukesha, Wisconsin, head count for FMLA eligibility. Now, some employers don't have that. They might have facilities for example, in one state that are not within 75 miles of each other. 00:08:28:22 - 00:08:53:11 Unknown And we don't have 50 employees within that 75 mile radius. However, they still have 50 total employees. So they're covered employers under the law for now. What do you do? I'm a covered employer, but I literally I don't have any eligible employees because we don't work at a facility that has 50 employees within a 35 mile radius. What do we do? 00:08:53:13 - 00:09:14:08 Unknown Well, if I was your head of HR What i would recommend is that we treat all of our locations as though we have 50 employees within a 75 mile radius. This could also become a little bit of an employer relations issue. Let's say that one of those facilities has 125 employees, and the other ones are outside of the 75 mile radius. 00:09:14:09 - 00:09:42:14 Unknown Let's just say they have, you know, 40 employees each. Well, during employment meetings, I've had this happen before. Our plant that has 125 people that's going to be eligible employees, got 50 employees within a 75 mile radius, the location being C, we're not going to call you covered employers, eligible employees. Excuse me, because you don't work at a facility that has 50 employees within a 75 mile radius. 00:09:42:16 - 00:10:05:19 Unknown So too bad, so sad you lose. Well, for an employer relations standpoint, we need to go have your employee meetings. The employees are company B and C are going to immediately throw their hands up in the air to go. Why does everybody at location, age, how come they get FMLA and we don't get FMLA? Well, you got to understand, you don't work at a facility that's 50 employees with a 75 mile radius. 00:10:05:21 - 00:10:29:16 Unknown That's an employee relations disaster. So that's why I suggest mandatory. But I suggest you treat those locations as though they do have 50 employees within a 75 mile radius. Absolutely. And I love that you're giving those scenarios because that that helps helps a little more to, I don't know, understand. I'm sure a lot of people have these certain situations, laws to absorb. 00:10:29:18 - 00:10:54:19 Unknown So are there any common misconceptions? And with FMLA eligibility that you often encounter kind of sees or working with members in, how can these kind of be clarified? Then the biggest misconceptions for the employee eligibility portion it covers around those the areas of tribute to a seven year break in service. So the example I gave that I'm a college student working in marketing Pimp. 00:10:54:24 - 00:11:14:16 Unknown I work for you through 2020 Rehire Me. A lot of employers are not aware I have 12 months service effective on day one. And the other big misconception about eligibility, All of our members of MRA, they will work on what's called a temp to perm basis, or they'll have employees from a temporary service work for like 90 days. 00:11:14:16 - 00:11:41:11 Unknown And if they work out, they'll put them on their payroll. Well, that's a situation called Joint Employment. So for those temporary employees that we put on our payroll, effective on day one, the hours that they worked and the months of service that they worked actually do count towards their eligibility of 12 months of service and 1250 hours worked through like a walking book of knowledge, you know, like that's what they're on. 00:11:41:11 - 00:12:00:05 Unknown Tell me. Yeah. I've even had some people tell me I know a little bit too much about FMLA, I think, but that's why you're the perfect guest here. You can answer your question. So I have an advantage. I've been in here at Emory 25 years. Yes. As an instructor. We're not attorneys here, but I love the law. I read a lot of court. 00:12:00:06 - 00:12:19:11 Unknown I mean, I've read thousands and thousands of court cases. Keep up with employment blogs, Talk about FMLA. Jeff Nowak is one of the top people in the United States at his blog FMLA Insights. And yeah, I just I actually find it very fascinating. Well, that's right. And you probably get a lot of calls, too, on FMLA, where you are. 00:12:19:11 - 00:12:42:12 Unknown You want to kind of give those scenarios. And here's what I would do in that situation kind of thing. Correct. So next question here. In what situations might employees find themselves ineligible then for federal FMLA leave? And do you have any alternatives or options that may be available to them that you can suggest? So go back to the eligibility requirements. 00:12:42:12 - 00:13:00:04 Unknown I worked for you for 12 months and I have at least 1250 hours worked in the 12 months prior. And we already kind of explained that 50 employees within the 35 mile radius once we don't need to hit that one. That would be a point of ineligibility that I don't can, you know, work there. So let's focus on those first two. 00:13:00:06 - 00:13:26:24 Unknown So for the hours of work, let's say that I get what's the score? January 2nd, 2024, since it's right around the corner here. Let's say that it's my first day of work. Let's see. Then in March 2024, I'm diagnosed with cancer. They catch it early. It's not very advanced, but I do need to miss work or radiation treatments and then, if necessary, to recover from those radiation treatments. 00:13:27:01 - 00:13:50:22 Unknown Well, I still have to send me as the new employee who's only been there for three months now, I still need to get an eligibility notice from the employer. There's three mandatory notices that need to go out, so I need to get that eligibility notice. It states you're not eligible for FMLA, federal FMLA. Why You haven't been here 12 months as of the date of your need for lead. 00:13:50:22 - 00:14:15:19 Unknown This is on the eligibility notice. You've worked X months towards 12 months of eligibility, so the employer would write three months in their hours of work. If I am working part time, I could be working for you for over a year. But again, if I don't have that 1250 actual work hours, that could be our second issue, where I will not be eligible as the employee. 00:14:15:21 - 00:14:39:14 Unknown Now in our training, I always told employers, if you can't give FMLA, if it doesn't qualify, it's an issue that's not covered by FMLA. We need to be much more flexible as employers today with time off and adjusting schedules and what other policies to you have as an employer so that employee can have time off. Maybe you have a policy. 00:14:39:15 - 00:15:06:01 Unknown It's called a force substitution policy. You must use any accrued, unused PTO, whatever you're going to be missing work. Maybe that's what'll be implemented. Maybe there's a personal leave of absence that can be used now if it's for the employee's own medical issues. For example, the cancer that I gave you that's actually now going to fall under the Americans with Disabilities Act. 00:15:06:03 - 00:15:42:13 Unknown Now we have an employee who's suffering with cancer, which is considered a disability, and they're not eligible for FMLA. So we would actually need to provide unpaid leave as an accommodation under the American Disabilities Act. So I'm going to get a eligibility notice. You're not eligible for FMLA, but then I'm also going to receive a cover letter I should from the employer saying, okay, although you're not eligible for FMLA, you are covered under the American Disabilities Act and we will be providing you with unpaid leave as an accommodation under that law. 00:15:42:18 - 00:16:09:24 Unknown So it's very, very important that the employer state specifically what laws are applying during what time of their lives. Interesting. Yeah, well, that's great to know. And I know you've covered this a little bit in her past. Questions, uncertainty, examples of medical leaves. But do you have any other examples that are covered instances or events under FMLA? And are there specific nuance says for each type of leave. 00:16:10:01 - 00:16:13:21 Unknown So how much time do we have? 00:16:13:23 - 00:16:37:00 Unknown This is worth over a long problem. This is where we're getting into the nuts and bolts of the mechanics of FMLA that can get very, very complicated. We were very, very fast. So let's try to summarize this for our listeners and our viewers. So I like to refer to these as buckets of leave. So there's nine completely different buckets of leave. 00:16:37:02 - 00:16:59:23 Unknown All of them can have completely different operating orders. For example, when does that one come into impact? You know, when are we when do we apply to excuse me, I said that when do we apply that particular need for leave? How do we certify it? How long will that individual be off of work? And here's again, another big misunderstanding on employers. 00:17:00:00 - 00:17:22:15 Unknown And I hear this now. I've been doing this for 25 years. The law has been in place for over 30 years now. I will still have no, I'm not surprised. Managers and supervisors in our supervisor in the law, of course, are FMLA overview class and even HR People in our FMLA simple administration class for FMLA. So how long do you need to be off of work in order for FMLA to apply? 00:17:22:15 - 00:17:49:24 Unknown Her hands go up and they go, I know, I know, I know. You have to be out of work. Three consecutive workdays, and then when you're out for three consecutive workdays, that's when FMLA applies. The answer is, No, it doesn't. But I was like, No, nice try. No, no, it doesn't. In fact, all of the buckets of leave except for one can actually be taken in our concurrence. 00:17:50:01 - 00:18:17:11 Unknown wow. So let's talk about the one that you do need to have multiple days of absence, because this is a common one that happens in this particular book. It's called Continuing treatment. And part of this bucket of leave, i.e., the employee need to be out for four consecutive calendar days or I'm off of work taking care of the same family member for four consecutive calendar days. 00:18:17:13 - 00:18:36:21 Unknown Now, it's tricky about this bucket is that this is the only one where the employee can actually just call in and say, I'm sick and it could be FMLA. You know, the reason why we said could be FMLA once it meets these requirements for these particular buckets, well, then the employer response. Remember I said earlier, the employee doesn't ask. 00:18:36:21 - 00:19:02:15 Unknown The employer responds with all the mandatory notices, but all these absences need to be documented with a certification form. None of this is done verbally. It's all documented. So how we use that medical certification form. So, Sophia, it's Rob. It's Monday. Soviets. Rob, I'm sick. I'm not going to be in today. That's not FMLA Tuesday. Sophia, it's Rob. 00:19:02:15 - 00:19:27:07 Unknown I'm still sick. I won't be in today no matter familiar. Now, Wednesday. Sophie Last night, my wife took me to urgent care. I don't have COVID, but I've got some sort of a respiratory thing that's going around. I actually feel worse not going to be in today. We're not there yet. Again, the way the law defines this particular bucket, it says more than three consecutive calendar days of incapacity. 00:19:27:09 - 00:19:55:15 Unknown So literally what that means is I need to call in four days in a row. So now, Thursday. Hey, Sophie, it's Rob. I'm still not feeling good. I'm not going to be in today. Now use my manager. I notify our leave administrator. Could be HR Could be somebody else. Payroll, maybe. And that starts the familiar paperwork process. Okay, so once the employer's notified of my need for leave, which in this case would be Thursday. 00:19:55:17 - 00:20:20:06 Unknown Now, the employer has five business days from that date to give me the eligibility notice. Then rights, responsibilities notice a medical certification form goes along as well, and that needs to be returned within 15 calendar days. And then after that time period ends, there's a third mandatory notice called the designation notice. So this is really it's a paperwork here. 00:20:20:06 - 00:20:44:01 Unknown It really, really is. So we the employer, we act on that fourth day of absence Now for this particular bucket, in order to be covered by FMLA, the employee would have to go see a health care provider medical certification form and need to be returned within 15 calendar days. And on their certification form, it's documented. They were out for four consecutive calendar days or more. 00:20:44:03 - 00:21:07:21 Unknown They saw a doctor in person tell the visits are included in that and they got a prescription medication that's like 90% of the certain forms I've seen in the past. The other could be they saw a health care provider two times in person. When that's documented, that then would be qualified and can be marked as FMLA for that particular employee. 00:21:07:23 - 00:21:29:11 Unknown So the key there for consecutive days of absence calendar days. If I work Friday, I'm off Saturday and Sunday. Friday. So if it's Rob, I'm sick. I won't be in today. I don't work Saturday and Sunday. Monday. So if it's where I am sick, I won't be in today. Believe it or not, under the law, that's considered more than three consecutive days. 00:21:29:11 - 00:21:51:24 Unknown I mean, capacity that actually starts the FMLA paperwork process. Now, the way that the employee says I don't want FMLA. Yeah. Is they never return their medical certification form. Their employer still needs to go through all the paperwork, all those monitoring notices. But eventually you're going to get a designation notice at the end that says absences for these four days, not FMLA. 00:21:52:01 - 00:22:14:19 Unknown Why you didn't return a medical certification form. So that's that's just one bucket, the only one where you can call in sick. And these are short term illnesses and injuries. Now, there isn't a list that I can give you that does not exist, but this could be the area like colds, ear infections, pinkeye. COVID falls into this bronchitis. 00:22:14:21 - 00:22:40:08 Unknown You strange your back moving grandmas are more. Over the weekend you went skiing and you broke both of your arms and you can't work. And it's going to be about 6 to 8 weeks for your bones to heal. So these are short term illnesses and injuries. And a remember for either the employee or covered family member, which would include a spouse, children or parents and then stepparents as well. 00:22:40:10 - 00:23:08:08 Unknown So that's that's one particular bucket. Things like pregnancy covered by FMLA, even absences for prenatal visits or morning sickness, those are covered by FMLA. Anything to do with adoption or foster care placements, those are all covered by FMLA, any pre placement issues that need to happen, court medical evaluations, traveling to different countries, post adoption, post foster care placement, being with them. 00:23:08:10 - 00:23:32:03 Unknown That's covered by FMLA to stay. So let's talk now about the number one headache. And I don't mean to be a pun with that, the number one headache under FMLA is a bucket called chronic conditions. So short term illnesses and injuries, that's the continuing treatment. It's got to have at least three consecutive days. I mean, capacity, chronic conditions. 00:23:32:03 - 00:24:01:20 Unknown However, these are long term or permanent medical conditions. Okay. The employee or the covered family member are probably on some sort of a medication. And with our certification forms, it's very typical for these chronic conditions to be certified for up to a year. And what we need to look for on the certification form, it's actually the last question on the certification form, and it's the area called frequency and duration. 00:24:01:22 - 00:24:24:04 Unknown So the number one medical issue that we get in our hotline is migraine headaches. So as migraines, we send them to their health care provider, they bring back the medical certification form. We're going to go look back at that frequency and duration frequency. How many times a month is this issue going to happen? Duration? How long will any event last? 00:24:24:06 - 00:24:48:05 Unknown Well, the search form states 1 to 2 episodes per month, 1 to 2 days per episode. That means that that employee could be up to four days of FMLA per month, though. Here's why This is the most complicated bucket to deal with. And actually for managers and supervisors, the most frustrating bucket to deal with. When's that employee going to have the next migraine? 00:24:48:07 - 00:25:17:03 Unknown When is their child going to have their next seizure? You don't we don't know. And there's never a good day to be off of work. Yeah. Now, sadly, this is also the bucket where occasionally we may have an employee that will be a little bit abusive with us. For example, Fridays and Mondays is a pattern of absences days before and after paid holidays, even vacation time to make some sort of an extended period of time offering. 00:25:17:06 - 00:25:40:08 Unknown Now that does happen, but thankfully it's not a very large portion of our employees that are using FMLA, But it's going to be the most frustrating one that we have now. Please keep in mind that all these different areas that we're talking about do not require multiple days of absence. These can all be hourly, right? So I think right now it's about 10:30 a.m.. 00:25:40:10 - 00:25:59:08 Unknown I can give you a call or I can come over to you by your office and say, Hey, Sophie, I feel my IBS about to act up your irritable bowel syndrome. I need to get out here and get home. You know, I go home and if I work until 3:00, you can charge me 6 hours of FMLA. So I can charge half a million hourly increments. 00:25:59:10 - 00:26:25:21 Unknown So it's not missing holidays, chronic back parking. It could be parts of days, leaving work early, coming to work late because of that chronic condition. And again, this is why that particular area of leave, that's the most frustrating for employers. These are long term. So I've been in Emory 25 years and let's say that I have the migraines up to four days a month of FMLA. 00:26:25:23 - 00:26:48:22 Unknown Well, if I'm working 12 weeks of leave at my work schedule, that's five days per week, 12 weeks, that's 60 individual days. I work 8 hours a day. That's 480 hours of FMLA. Or if my health care provider certifies me as for four migraines a month for, you know, total days of migraines, well, four times 12 is 48 days. 00:26:48:24 - 00:27:11:12 Unknown I didn't really use up all of my FMLA that I'm eligible for. I still have 12 days left. Once I'm eligible for FMLA for the next 24 years, I could be missing 48 days for migraines, unscheduled partial days coming in late. And there's very little that you can do as an employer. That's why that's one of the most frustrating. 00:27:11:14 - 00:27:37:18 Unknown Now i always told managers and supervisors and HR People when we talk about this frustrating bucket that we take a little bit of pause here. Everyone struggles with this. They all know exactly what i'm talking about and we get upset with these employees and somehow we try to do something to make that person's life miserable. I'm leaving now of irritable bowel syndrome. 00:27:37:20 - 00:28:11:17 Unknown You look at me and you raise your eyebrows and half by suppose under the law, there's two legal things that can happen interference of my ability to take leave and retaliation for taking that leave. So a story that I had an actual event, a manager for a manufactured usual. It's the last week of the month. We do a lot to get everything out, got to get our orders shipped and we're try to get as much as possible. 00:28:11:17 - 00:28:41:22 Unknown So end of the month for a manufacturer, that's a big deal. So on the beginning Monday of the last week of the month, individual again suffered with migraines and this person typically was off at the end of the month because their migraines were stress induced. So on Monday, the manager has pre shift meetings always. So on this Monday morning meeting Cavs all the employees together and talks about the week and the jobs that they're working on right now. 00:28:41:22 - 00:29:01:09 Unknown Then at the very end of the meeting he goes now as you know this is the last week of the month we got a couple new customers. We got to make sure that we get this out the door to make these people happy. And then he looked directly at the individual with migraines right into their eyes and said, and I'm counting on everyone to be here this week. 00:29:01:11 - 00:29:26:19 Unknown Now, I do say kudos to the employee. Actually, congratulations. Employee they went right to their HR Department and they said the right thing. My manager just threatened me that i better not have a migraine this week. So i got that call on the hard line. And the member's question was, did her supervisor create any problems? Yeah. And the answer is, you bet they did. 00:29:26:19 - 00:29:51:03 Unknown They are now interfering with that person's right to take leave. I think I forgot to mention this before when I was kind of going on with another explanation that's really tell about people. The chronic bucket. You might be frustrated with your employees understand you might be here one day right now. Although my time here at MRA, I've actually had three major surgeries, two shoulder surgeries and a major back surgery. 00:29:51:05 - 00:30:15:16 Unknown So I was actually off of work and using FMLA, and none of that was held against me. The revenue lost my coworkers that need to substitute for my training aren't seats. They couldn't get booked because I was not available so that the lost revenue. None of that can be held against that employee. So again, that's that time off unpaid with no penalty to the employee. 00:30:15:16 - 00:30:37:04 Unknown That's why it's a very simple statement. But there's a lot to that implication of the workplace. So we saw the continuing treatment, the chronic conditions at school. We see a lot of her mileage when you use now the other buckets. So we have the employee who literally needs to see something medical. For example, a parent has stroke and end up in the hospital. 00:30:37:06 - 00:31:04:13 Unknown So inpatient hospitalizations, anything to do with nursing homes or hospice care, including home hospice care covered by FMLA? My mom has structures in the hospital that is way, way beyond I'm sick or opiate work today. It's very, very specific issues like dealing with end stage of life covered by FMLA. If the employee needs time off, not the bereavement part, but if I need time off to be with that family member. 00:31:04:15 - 00:31:31:13 Unknown Severe arthritis and getting treatment, for example, physical therapy. How can you dialysis reconstructive surgery after an accident or a cancer? So the reasons for leave are very, very specific medical reasons. Yeah. Now under the law, there's actually two additional military related leaves. One's got a really unusual name called military exigency leave, and the other one's called Care for Recovered Servicemember. 00:31:31:15 - 00:31:54:08 Unknown Now those are for family members of the employee of a covered employer that can take time off when that family member is either deployed on active duty or is injured or become sick because of their active duty deployment. Now, on our hotline in my training programs for the last several years, I have not had any examples of those. 00:31:54:10 - 00:32:11:02 Unknown So if you have an employee that comes in and says, Hey, my son's being deployed in the military, can I get some time off? Well then that said military exigency. You deal with that at that point. But that that's the summary for those two conditions. Basically that is the area of the coverage and a quick summary for our familiar leave. 00:32:11:04 - 00:32:35:14 Unknown All that was a lot. So I hope you all were writing the writing notes. TSA at the beginning, get your notepad out. I take a lot of notes like now would be a perfect time for a pop quiz or something. Right now, let's take a break and look at all your notes so far. But moving on here, what advice do you have for employers navigating intermittent FMLA leave requests and balancing business needs with employee rights? 00:32:35:16 - 00:32:52:23 Unknown So here again with our examples with that chronic condition is probably we're going to see that most often with the intermittent leaves, it can happen with the other areas of leave as well. Let's focus on those products. Yeah, once I'm certified by my health care provider, there's actually very little that an employer can do to manage those situations. 00:32:53:00 - 00:33:16:24 Unknown However, if we do have patterns of potential abuse, there are a few things that we can do as an employer to deal with those abuse issues, and it's a little bit too much for our little overview that we're doing today. But there's a couple things that we can do as employers other than just catching the person an outright fraud, fraudulent use of leave. 00:33:17:01 - 00:33:40:10 Unknown Yeah, it's a bunch of hurdles that we need to come to deal with that specific issues. Yeah, absolutely. Well, kind of wrapping up here, Rob, we've talked a lot a lot today about FMLA and just kind of the overarching picture. But can you end with any insights and best practices for employers to ensure smooth and fair practice regarding FMLA eligibility in covered events? 00:33:40:12 - 00:34:04:19 Unknown So, number one are HR People who are administering FMLA, you need to be trained on how to administer properly. Now that's what we here at emory. We have our FMLA made simple class where we deal with that issue for our managers and supervisors training as well. Not how to administer FMLA but understanding what do i need to listen for those buckets of leave that starts the FMLA process? 00:34:04:21 - 00:34:26:07 Unknown And then also, what does it mean that I have no penalty under the leave and also of the basic rights are under the law. So training and awareness are two big compliance tools that we need to use. Yes, absolutely. It also lets mention about training employees. I've had this brought up many, many times during my training programs on FMLA. 00:34:26:09 - 00:34:53:00 Unknown Well, Rob, this is a really complicated law, so can you come to our organization and just do like a one hour overview for our employees? Well, first of all, the law doesn't state any mandatory training for our employees. In fact, it assumes that any mandatory training for HR People are mandatory. The supervisors but unfortunately, it's not required. You're putting the posters up, responding to the requests when they come in properly. 00:34:53:00 - 00:35:15:08 Unknown That's the way that we deal with FMLA. We have to be very careful about training our employees because if we just did an explanation of what we just covered, literally, you're going to open a Pandora's box. Hey, do you know how to be off on FMLA? Here's how you do it. No, I'm not saying that with a cold shoulder or unsympathetic, but we don't want to encourage the issues. 00:35:15:10 - 00:35:35:19 Unknown We've had a lot of situations in the past where the entire shipping department all of a sudden, though, has chronic depression. because that word spreads, right? So we don't need to encourage that. But again, the majority of our cases that we deal with under FMLA, people legitimately do have medical issues of themselves or a covered family member, and they really do need that time on. 00:35:35:19 - 00:36:04:00 Unknown Yeah, that makes sense. I'm sure you've seen a lot and heard a lot of story. Well, Rob, I want to thank you for being on the podcast today and thank you for sharing your expertise on FMLA specifically, like I mentioned, this is a highly requested topic, so I appreciate you coming on the podcast today to cover that. And to our listeners, if you liked our chat and topic today, I would urge you to come and something new that you learned today or anything that you'd like to add on to this conversation. 00:36:04:00 - 00:36:27:15 Unknown We'd love to hear, hear from you. Don't forget to share out this episode. Consider joining MRA If you aren't a member already. We have all the resources you need in the show Notes below, including resources on our topic for today and training links. So check those out. And we've also included Rob's bio and LinkedIn profile. So if you'd like to connect with him, we've got the resources for you to do that. 00:36:27:17 - 00:36:50:12 Unknown Otherwise, thank you so much for tuning in and thanks again, Rob. Thanks for having me. Here's a lot of fun and we'll see you next week for this episode. Be sure to reference the show notes where you can sign them to connect. For more podcast updates, check out other Emery episodes on your favorite podcast platform. And as always, make sure to follow MRA 30 minute Thrive so you don't miss out. 00:36:50:13 - 00:36:55:05 Unknown Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next Wednesday to carry on the conversation.  

In Part One of Kamala Blue Screen of Death we discussed Michigan issues related to identity politics, Controlled Environments and the various factions of the left turning upon itself as Dana Darth Nessel attacks Rashida Tlaib for hurtful anti semitic remarks. O and Zee turned to Thanksgiving and hunting season, a response rooted in cultural courage that establishes independence from constraints of collectivism and online life. Finally they started a discussion of Kamala Harris' speech in London at the AI Summit, where she warns of a lack of diversity and equity in AI, citing the need for government intervention.In Part Two O relays that AI Safety has been in the works at UNESCO and the EU since 2018, almost in anticipation of developments that are sweeping the headlines today. The American Disabilities Act, with its emphasis on Internet access for all, not only pushed to collect data on populations, it also popularized the movement to get all communities connected to the World Wide Web. Safety is used as the excuse for centralized control of a technology that has a far reaching impact on how we gather information for ourselves, and perhaps more information is gathered on us as we spend our time on Big Tech platforms.The sources in this episode are located at our website, a link is provided in the description below.We have been manipulated. Severed Conscience is a prison of the mind.To access our documentary, join our community on https://severedconscience.com.Sources for this episode:https://www.studiohumanzee.com/2023/11/06/show-notes-kamalas-blue-screen-of-death-and-severed-conscience/Full video: https://rumble.com/v3u2yp1-oz-fest-morning-mission-kamalas-blue-screen-of-death-and-severed-conscience.html

Hosts Phil Kim and Sara Shanti introduce Health-e Law, a new podcast produced by Sheppard Mullin's Digital Health Team focusing on the exciting and sometimes explosive interaction between technology and law in the healthcare space. Join our hosts as they engage with industry innovators and thought leaders, exploring AI, virtual reality, and other emerging technologies poised to reshape healthcare as we know it. They'll also dissect recent regulatory and legislative efforts in the health and wellness arena while hopefully having a bit of fun along the way! If you're struggling to stay on top of the rapidly evolving landscape that is healthcare tech, these brief, bite-sized episodes, will keep you in the know.   About Sara Shanti A partner in the Corporate Practice Group in the Sheppard Mullin's Chicago office, Sara Shanti's practice sits at the forefront of health-technology by providing practical counsel on healthcare innovation and complex data privacy matters. Using her medical research background and HHS experience, Sara advises providers, payors, start-ups, technology companies, and their investors and stakeholders on digital and novel healthcare regulatory compliance matters, including artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML), augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), data assets and privacy, gamification, implantable and wearable devices, and telehealth. Sara has deep experience advising clients on data use and protection under Part 2, HIPAA, GINA, and state privacy laws, such as BIPA and CCPA, and multinational border transmissions. She also assists clients in implementing compliance programs, launching health innovations and investments, and responding to governmental investigations. Her experience extends to consumer and patient rights, including under the American Disabilities Act and Section 1557, medical staff relationships, and navigating the evolving regulatory landscapes for next-generation technology. She also has extensive experience navigating telehealth prescribing laws, including the Ryan Haight Act, and with entities offering services in sensitive healthcare areas, such as behavioral health, fertility, genetics, and substance abuse. At the cutting-edge of advising on “data as an asset” programming, red team technology reviews, and information blocking and interoperability under the 21st Century Cures Act, Sara's practice also includes mergers and acquisitions involving crucial, high-stakes, and sensitive data in areas of digital health platforms, medical and wellness devices, and web-based applications and treatment.   About Phil Kim A Partner in the Corporate and Securities Practice Group in Sheppard Mullin's Dallas office, Phil Kim advises various types of healthcare providers in connection with transactional and regulatory matters. He counsels healthcare systems, hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, physician groups (including non-profit health organizations, or NPHOs), home health providers, and other healthcare companies on the buy- and sell-side of mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and operational matters, which include regulatory, licensure, contractual, and administrative issues. Phil has a particular interest in digital health. He has assisted a number of multinational technology companies entering the digital health space with various service and collaboration agreements for their wearable technology. He also assists public medical device, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical companies, as well as the investment banks that serve as underwriters involved in the public securities offerings for such healthcare companies. Phil regularly advises clients on matters related to healthcare compliance, including liability exposure, the Stark law, anti-kickback statutes, and HIPAA/HITECH privacy issues. He also provides counsel on state and federal laws, business structuring formation, employment issues, and involving government agencies, including various state Medicaid agencies, the Texas Medical Board, and Medicare Administrative Contractors.   Contact Info: Sara Shanti Phil Kim Digital Health Attorneys | Sheppard Mullin   Thank you for listening! Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to the show to receive new episodes delivered straight to your podcast player every month. If you enjoyed this episode, please help us get the word out about this podcast. Rate and Review this show on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or Spotify. It helps other listeners find this show. This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not to be construed as legal advice specific to your circumstances. If you need help with any legal matter, be sure to consult with an attorney regarding your specific needs.  

“Motor scooters really can't make a major difference in the life of an older adult who might not otherwise be able to leave their home without one. This impacts their independence and as I found out, it actually impacts their care partners as well.” —Melissa Batchelor, PhD, RN, FNP, FGSA, FAAN Imagine not being able to leave your home and go out with your family and friends due to debilitating back pain. Walking just 15 feet becomes a challenge, and you rely on a cane or rolling walker for shorter distances. How do you cope with basic activities like shopping or going out for lunch? Get ready for a super informative episode of This Is Getting Old: Moving Towards An Age-Friendly World! I've got six essential things to share with you about buying a motor scooter for yourself or a loved one. Trust me, it took four generations of my family just to take my grandmother, Nonnie, out for a day of lunch and shopping! Tune in and get the inside scoop on age-friendly mobility options! Key points covered in this episode:   ✔️ Whizzing Along - A Look at Motor Scooters Discover the world of motor scooters – the ultimate assistive technology. These sleek, battery-operated vehicles are perfect for individuals who are capable of walking but may need a little extra help getting around. With their convenient seat and handlebar steering, motor scooters offer both comfort and control. Whether you're cruising on the pavement or hitting the road, these versatile scooters can take you anywhere you need to go. Equipped with essential features like speed control, a horn, and even storage options, motor scooters are designed with your convenience in mind. Safety is a priority too, as users must be able to turn their head to look behind them when backing up. However, it's important to note that, unlike wheelchairs, motor scooters are not guaranteed access to all buildings under the American Disabilities Act.   ✔️ Before You Buy: 6 Factors To Consider Before Purchasing a Motor Scooter #1. Where Do You Want To Go? My mom brought Nonnie to town for a doctor's appointment on this particular morning. When it came to choosing a restaurant for lunch, our top priority was finding one that was fully accessible. We decided on the Oceanic, located by the beach, because they had a spacious ramp leading to the entrance. Although the ramp had a tight turn, Nonnie managed to navigate it and transfer to her chair. Thankfully, the restaurant wasn't crowded, so there was enough room for her scooter to be parked right by our table. #2. How Agile Is The Scooter In Tight Spaces? Nonnie effortlessly navigates a ramp and makes a sharp turn to enter a restaurant. Before we left, we made sure to stop by the bathroom to ensure the scooter could easily fit inside. Nonnie smoothly transferred onto the scooter, entered the stall, and then drove out. As we were leaving, Davis was incredibly helpful by opening the door for her. Nonnie skillfully maneuvered back down the ramp without any difficulties. Her scooter handled the transition from the boardwalk to the pavement flawlessly. #3. How Much Does The Scooter And The Battery Weigh? Discovering the weight range of scooters was quite surprising - they can weigh anywhere from 46 to 400 pounds, excluding the battery. My grandmother's scooter, ith its 25-pound battery, weighed well over 50 to 60 pounds. It was quite a challenge to lift it from my mom's car to the pavement and back. Thankfully, Davis was there to help us with this heavy task. However, my mom and aunt wouldn't be able to handle the weight on their own, making it impossible for them to take my grandmother anywhere with the scooter. We definitely need lighter scooters. #4. How Will You Get It To Another Location – Does It Fit Into The Back Of Your Vehicle? Transporting a scooter can be quite a challenge! Especially when it comes to fitting it in the back of your vehicle. Trust me, I've been there, done that. And let me tell you, it's not a pretty sight. However, picking up and disassembling the scooter can make the process a bit of a fiasco. My mom's car was no exception - it required some strategic planning and a bit of a game of Tetris to get the scooter securely in the back. But with a little patience and some creative thinking, we were able to make it work. So if you find yourself in a similar situation, don't stress - it may take a little extra effort, but it's definitely doable. #5. How Easy It Is To Disassemble And Reassemble? While Davis handled the heavy lifting, I was in charge of assembly. I must admit, our second stop at the shopping center was a bit challenging. We asked three people for assistance, but they were as clueless about the scooter as we were. However, after some trial and error, we were able to reassemble it successfully. It's worth noting that even the chair itself was bulky and difficult to align and fit onto the pedestal. Removing the seat to transport it from the restaurant to the shopping center added another complication. #6. How Far Will It Go On One Battery Charge? Scooters can travel varying distances on a single charge, ranging from 10 to 35 miles. Nonnie's scooter had a full battery so we went shopping for lunch using her scooter, successfully navigating sidewalks, curbs, and most aisles in the department store. Nonnie was able to complete her shopping independently, demonstrating impressive focus and determination to accomplish her goals.   ✔️ Don't Keep Those Scooter Stories To Yourself!Don't be shy, share your scooter stories with us! We want to hear all about your wild rides and smooth cruises. Drop a comment and make us laugh or gasp in amazement.   ✔️ Do You Have A Brilliant Idea For Making Scooters Easier To Transport? Got any secret tips or tricks up your sleeve when it comes to navigating those pesky scooter paths? We want to know! Help us avoid those nasty potholes and tricky corners by leaving a comment below. ✔️ Attention Scooter Companies If you're a scooter manufacturer looking to improve your products, Nonnie and I are ready to put them to the test! Drop us a line and let's collaborate on creating the ultimate lightweight, easy-to-assemble scooter. ✔️ Calling All Mobility Scooter Gurus! If you're in the industry and striving to make life easier for scooter enthusiasts all over the world, we want to hear from you. Reach out on our website and let's start a conversation about scooter design and innovation. Drop a comment or message me directly with your thoughts and ideas. Who knows - you could be the one to revolutionize the scooter industry! If you have questions or comments or need help, please feel free to drop a one-minute audio or video clip and email it to me at melissabphd@gmail.com, and I will get back to you by recording an answer to your question. About Melissa Batchelor, PhD, RN, FNP, FGSA, FAAN:   I earned my Bachelor of Science in Nursing ('96) and Master of Science in Nursing ('00) as a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) from the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) School of Nursing (SON). I genuinely enjoy working with the complex medical needs of older adults. I worked full-time for five years as FNP in geriatric primary care across many long-term care settings (skilled nursing homes, assisted living, home, and office visits), then transitioned into academic nursing in 2005, joining the faculty at UNCW SON as a lecturer. I obtained my PhD in Nursing and a post-master's Certificate in Nursing Education from the Medical University of South Carolina College of Nursing ('11). I then joined the faculty at Duke University School of Nursing as an Assistant Professor. My family moved to northern Virginia in 2015 which led to me joining the George Washington University (GW) School of Nursing faculty in 2018 as a (tenured) Associate Professor. I am also the Director of the GW Center for Aging, Health, and Humanities. Please find out more about her work at https://melissabphd.com/.

The American Disabilities Act ensures that people with disabilities have access to public facilities in our country. But for our brothers and sisters with an intellectual disability – those on the autism spectrium, those with Down Syndrome, or a traumatic brain injury – when it comes to ensuring opportunities for meaningful employment, independent living, and a community of enriching relationships, that's unfortunately left to their families and caregivers.And, thankfully, nonprofits. On today's show, Buzz4Good creator Michael Hemphill features three nonprofits – Masterpiece Alliance, No Bounds, and Chris's Coffee & Custard – that serve and inspire adults with intellectual disabilities to thrive and achieve their full potential – socially, emotionally and academically. 

Liz Hyman President and the CEO of the XR Association (XRA), which is a non-profit, industry trade association representing 47 XR companies including major players like Meta, Google, Microsoft, HTC, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Unity, and HTC. XRA has been collaborating with XR Access from the beginning, and they collaborated on Chapter 3 of their an XR Developer's Guide Series focusing on Accessibility & Inclusive Design in Immersive Experiences. At the XR Access Symposium, Hyman moderated a breakout session focused on public policy. I had a chance to unpack the three major points from the group discussion that included educating policy makers about accessibility, brainstorming bluesky legislation to lift up accessibility tech, and identify gaps in public policy so that they can be addressed. A common theme that I heard at the XR Access Symposium again and again is that accessibility hardly ever is prioritized with emerging technology platforms. XR Access co-founder Shiri Azenkot told me "But it was always a retroactive thing. So that's a pattern that we've seen with technology a lot, many times -- every time there's a new technology." There are laws on the books like the American Disabilities Act and Section 508, but this doesn't always apply to XR technologies. "Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires federal agencies to ensure that their information and communication technology (ICT) is accessible to people with disabilities." Section 508 would only apply to XR experiences produced by the federal government. And Hyman told me, "I will say the thing is that I notice is [that XR] is an emerging technology. And I think even within a program like 508, there's an acknowledgment of the emerging nature of technology that should not be something that is a permanent barrier. We need to make steady progress." She is likely referencing some recent rulings about Section 508 to bring it more up to date since it was originally passed in 1998 and 2000. I was able to find a couple of relevant passages that support Hyman's interpretation on the Section 508 website which says, "The U.S. Access Board is responsible for developing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) accessibility standards to incorporate into regulations that govern Federal procurement practices. On January 18, 2017, the Access Board issued a final rule that updated accessibility requirements covered by Section 508, and refreshed guidelines for telecommunications equipment subject to Section 255 of the Communications Act. The final rule went into effect on January 18, 2018." I found a copy of the final rule from the Access Board ICT in the Federal Register from January 18th, 2017 and there is a mention of virtual reality that says, "The Board expects that an agency that decides to use a conforming alternate version of a Web page as opposed to making the main page accessible will typically do so when, as the W3C® explains, certain limited circumstances warrant or mandate their use. For example, W3C® has noted that a conforming alternate version may be necessary: (1) When a new emerging technology is used on a Web page, but the new technology cannot be designed in a way that allows assistive technologies to access all the information needed to present the content to the user (e.g., virtual reality or computer-simulated reality); (2) when it is not possible to modify some content on a Web page because the Web site owner is legally prohibited from modifying the Web content; or (3) to provide the best experience for users with certain types of disabilities by tailoring a Web page specifically to accommodate those disabilities." The bottom line is that the 2D web is a mature platform relative to paradigm shift into VR, 3D, and spatial computing, which means that the US government can more heavily lean upon established guidelines from organizations like the W3C that has produced a number of different Web Content Accessibility Guideline...

Ready to ace the CISSP exam and level up your cybersecurity knowledge? Together with my background as a former red teamer, we guide you through domain six - security assessments and testing, covering both military and corporate America perspectives. We'll discuss essential concepts such as vulnerability assessments, risk tolerance of companies, and the tools required to identify vulnerabilities.Join us as we explore the different types of testing, including manual and automated testing, and explain the importance of following security methodologies during a security assessment. You'll learn about penetration testing as a form of surgical strike and its role in gaining long-term access to an organization. Additionally, we'll reveal the importance of securing AWS accounts and API connections to prevent data breaches, and how pen tests can help validate security controls and incident response processes.Finally, discover the role of automated tools in meeting compliance requirements, like the American Disabilities Act. We'll also examine manual testing, code reviews, and the use of machine learning models and social engineering to manipulate individuals. With our valuable insights and practical examples, you'll be prepared to tackle the CISSP exam and enhance your cybersecurity skills. Don't miss out on this action-packed episode!Gain access to 30 FREE CISSP Exam Questions each and every month by going to FreeCISSPQuestions.com and sign-up to join the team for Free.

On this episode of the DOD45 Show ArtByTai and Adrienne have the pleasure of exchanging dialogue with the most fabulous rapper, activist and Denver dweller, Kalyn Heffernan of Wheelchair Sports Camp. You're gonna watch, you're gonna listen, you're gonna learn and you're gonna definitely enjoy! There's so much to cover when you're talking 'bout Wheelchair Sports Camp & they do their damndest to cover it all, with the recent “YESS i'm a MESS” 7 inch release on the Alternative Tentacles label, an announcement about upcoming music videos for the entire Alice in Wonderland album, Kalyn's continuous campaigning for a guest appearance as a character on South Park, and Tai discovers that she has collaborated with one of his all time favorite comedians & panel show performers, James Acaster on his upcoming album Party Gator Purgatory, which also features folks like Yoni Wolf, Open Mike Eagle and more. In this episode, they have the chance to engage in a poignant philosophical discussion about The American Disabilities Act & what is considered a disability & what are reasonable accommodations for those with disabilities & Kalyn also expresses her new take on rap improv inspired by discussions with the remarkable Jazz vocalist, Venus Cruz. It's a well-rounded discussion, where Tai ends up drawing a piece he'd never have drawn on his own accord, Mr. Dibbs calls in to question Kalyn about the first time the two of them played a show together & the shenanigans that resulted and Sage Francis drops in to Lurk Kalyn's Twitter feed. So feed the animals, spike the punch, coral the chickens & kick back to enjoy this episode with The DOD45 Show with Kalyn Heffernan of Wheelchair Sports Camp. Peace. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/artbytai/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/artbytai/support

On this Dimensions of Diversity episode, host Lloyd Freeman brings in Andrew Hope, a litigator at Buchanan Ingersoll and Rooney's office in Philadelphia. Hope has a wide variety of experience in litigation matters and focuses on consumer defense, especially with ADA cases which the episode centers on. Web accessibility for people with disabilities has been an ongoing issue that enhanced after the 2020 global pandemic. Lloyd and Andrew reflect on the fact that the ADA's Title III has little but no explanation regarding web accessibility standards and guidelines. Apart from this, Andrew highlights that Title III has no size limits and small businesses the law also applies to them. How should businesses approach this issue? What level of accessibility should websites have? Can assisted technology be compatible with web content? Lloyd and Hope go on into a deep conversation about the many issues of the American Disabilities Act on this technological era. Dimensions of Diversity is a podcast created by Buchanan Ingersoll and Rooney, highlighting diversity in the workplace. Hosted by Lloyd Freeman, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, the podcast features meaningful conversations with industry and community leaders working to advance D&I.

Diversity, equity and inclusion are the important parameters that the businesses are considering to follow, especially in the world post the pandemic. With diverse resources available across the globe, efforts are taken to employ diverse communities and shed off the biases of colour, gender, etc. Another important community that need attention are the disabled people with different challenges. Today, we talk about the challenges of inclusion of disabled people with deaf community in particular. About Meryl K Evans Meryl is a speaker and an accessibility consultant. She is one of 12 people on LinkedIn top voices for disability advocacy. Meryl is also an author of two books. Meryl was born partially deaf and has grown up learning how to speak by lip-reading. She doesn't know sign language. Her career started with the Federal Government when the American Disabilities Act made it possible for the relay service to be provided nationwide. In 2000, I started writing on the side and never planned to do my own business because I knew it would be harder to bring in clients when you have a disability. But in 2005, I decided to work for myself full-time and transitioned from writing to digital marketing. In 2018, I started making videos which were surprisingly taken very well and in 2019. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/tbcy/support

Pet Therapy, Part 2, Show NotesIn this episode of the Motor City Hypnotist Podcast, we are talking about animal therapy.And I'm also going to be giving listeners a FREE HYPNOSIS GUIDE!  Stay tuned!INTRODUCTIONFIND ME:My Website: https://motorcityhypnotist.com/podcastMy social media links: Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/motorcityhypnotist/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCjjLNcNvSYzfeX0uHqe3gATwitter: https://twitter.com/motorcityhypnoInstagram: motorcityhypnoFREE HYPNOSIS GUIDEhttps://detroithypnotist.convertri.com/podcast-free-hypnosis-guidePlease also subscribe to the show and leave a review.(Stay with me as later in the podcast, I'll be giving away a free gift to all listeners!)WINNER OF THE WEEK;  NFL player helps domestic violence survivors with petshttps://www.msn.com/en-us/health/health/nfl-player-helps-domestic-violence-survivors-with-pets-they-have-nowhere-to-go/ar-AA12G4WzTOPIC INTRODUCTIONWhat is Animal Therapy?Animal-assisted therapy is known to have many positive effects on patients of all ages.  Research shows that animal therapy can lower stress and anxiety levels, improve blood pressure, increase patient mobility, and provide an alternative focus from pain.HistoryBenefitspet therapy can decrease:•        stress levels•        BP•        pain•        fatigue•        anxiety•        fear•        isolation•        loneliness.Pet therapy has also been shown to improve patient satisfaction, energy levels, self-esteem, and mood, as well as decrease depression. Pet therapy can also be beneficial for family members and other visitors. Therapy Dogs vs. Service Dogs vs. Emotional Support AnimalsTHERAPY DOGSTherapy dogs are trained to provide social or therapeutic interaction with various populations in need of emotional, physical, or psychological support. Therapy dogs are not included under the American Disabilities Act. Petting and contact are what therapy dogs are all about.SERVICE DOGSService dogs are trained to perform specific behaviors to assist an individual owner with activities of daily living. These dogs have access to public places and transportation under the American Disabilities Act. Petting service dogs are discouraged while they are assisting their owners.EMOTIONAL SUPPORT DOGSEmotional Support Dogs provide affection and companionship for individuals with various mental or emotional conditions. An emotional support dog is not trained to perform specific behaviors to assist with a disability. Emotional Support Dogs are not included under the American Disabilities Act.Top 4 Therapy Animals1.        Dogs2.        Horses3.        Cats4.        RabbitsNEXT EPISODE: Animal Therapy, Part 2Change your thinking, change your life!Laugh hard, run fast, be kind.  David R. Wright MA, LPC, CHTThe Motor City HypnotistNEXT EPISODE: Change your thinking, change your life!Laugh hard, run fast, be kind.  David R. Wright MA, LPC, CHTThe Motor City Hypnotist

Animal Therapy, Part 1, Show NotesIn this episode of the Motor City Hypnotist Podcast, we are talking about weight management and specifically, hypnosis for weight management.  And I'm also going to be giving listeners a FREE HYPNOSIS GUIDE!  Stay tuned!INTRODUCTIONFIND ME:My Website: https://motorcityhypnotist.com/podcastMy social media links: Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/motorcityhypnotist/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCjjLNcNvSYzfeX0uHqe3gATwitter: https://twitter.com/motorcityhypnoInstagram: motorcityhypnoFREE HYPNOSIS GUIDEhttps://detroithypnotist.convertri.com/podcast-free-hypnosis-guidePlease also subscribe to the show and leave a review.(Stay with me as later in the podcast, I'll be giving away a free gift to all listeners!)WINNER OF THE WEEK;  NFL player helps domestic violence survivors with petshttps://www.msn.com/en-us/health/health/nfl-player-helps-domestic-violence-survivors-with-pets-they-have-nowhere-to-go/ar-AA12G4WzTOPIC INTRODUCTIONWhat is Animal Therapy?Animal-assisted therapy is known to have many positive effects on patients of all ages.  Research shows that animal therapy can lower stress and anxiety levels, improve blood pressure, increase patient mobility, and provide an alternative focus from pain.HistoryBenefitspet therapy can decrease:•        stress levels•        BP•        pain•        fatigue•        anxiety•        fear•        isolation•        loneliness.Pet therapy has also been shown to improve patient satisfaction, energy levels, self-esteem, and mood, as well as decrease depression. Pet therapy can also be beneficial for family members and other visitors. Therapy Dogs vs. Service Dogs vs. Emotional Support AnimalsTHERAPY DOGSTherapy dogs are trained to provide social or therapeutic interaction with various populations in need of emotional, physical, or psychological support. Therapy dogs are not included under the American Disabilities Act. Petting and contact are what therapy dogs are all about.SERVICE DOGSService dogs are trained to perform specific behaviors to assist an individual owner with activities of daily living. These dogs have access to public places and transportation under the American Disabilities Act. Petting service dogs are discouraged while they are assisting their owners.EMOTIONAL SUPPORT DOGSEmotional Support Dogs provide affection and companionship for individuals with various mental or emotional conditions. An emotional support dog is not trained to perform specific behaviors to assist with a disability. Emotional Support Dogs are not included under the American Disabilities Act.Top 4 Therapy Animals1.        Dogs2.        Horses3.        Cats4.        RabbitsNEXT EPISODE: Animal Therapy, Part 2Change your thinking, change your life!Laugh hard, run fast, be kind.  David R. Wright MA, LPC, CHTThe Motor City Hypnotist

Town Square with Ernie Manouse airs at 3 p.m. CT. Tune in on 88.7FM, listen online or subscribe to the podcast. Join the discussion at 888-486-9677, questions@townsquaretalk.org or @townsquaretalk. Is it ok to use the term 'disabled'? A disabled former public affairs specialist for the National Council on Disability thinks so. There's the belief that the word is necessary in that it connects members of the community through a common history — a lineage of those who fought, protested, and persisted. But when it comes to using the term 'special needs', there's a different view. One law, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, which was signed 32 years ago on July 26, 1990, was put in place to insure that those with a disability are afforded the same rights and opportunities as everyone else. In this episode, we are talking about the rights of those who live with a disability, and what changes society needs to adopt to make a more inclusive world. Guests: Carson Tueller (Paralyzed from the chest down) Motivational speaker, coach, and activist Lawrence Carter-Long (Born with cerebral palsy) Former Public Affairs Specialist for the National Council on Disability Director, Discourse & Development at DisArt, and Founder of #SayTheWord Vivian Shudde CEO, The Brookwood Community Eileen Edmonds Associate Director of Education, Theatre Under The Stars Kevin Kern COO, The Center For Pursuit Town Square with Ernie Manouse is a gathering space for the community to come together and discuss the day's most important and pressing issues. We also offer a free podcast here, on iTunes, and other apps.

By: Janet Roche & Carolyn Robbins Hosted By: Janet Roche Edited by: Andrew Parrella Guest: Judy Heumann Judy Heumann is here! Judy Heumann is here!  Inclusive Designers Podcast is very excited to share our inspiring interview with THE Judy Heumann… celebrated civil rights activist, advocate, and rolling warrior.  She has been called “the mother of … Disability Rights & Design – Insights from Judy Heumann (Season 3, Episode 3) Read More »

Katie is a an Army veteran , military spouse and client services specialist with the NEADS program in Massachusetts. Veterans who have a disability to include hearing can apply to get a service dog free of charge as long as they qualify.  NEADS is a national organizations that understands that a loss of hearing or mobility makes such an impact on your life.  You do not need a referral from your doctor or the VA to apply.https://www.khanna@neads.orghttps://www.neads.orgSupport the show (https://www.podfan.com/sisters-in-service)

Problem awareness is the root of a problem's solution. So it is with Badger by Satellite Displays. Badger is the the world's first closed caption smart badge that converts speech-to-text in real-time with a translation capability in more than 50 languages. When Mike Williston's hearing impaired father was hospitalized medical professionals wearing masks restricted his ability to lip read and therefore he was unable to understand what was being communicated. This inspired the search for a solution. Mike Williston and Peter Sprague diligently worked together until Badger by Satellite Displays was born. The use and application of the real time transcription extends well beyond persons with limited hearing or total hearing loss. The translation capability can serve to ensure adequate communication between health care professionals, hospital patients and/or long term care residents who may have limited or no English capability. Furthermore, many professionals serving these populations originate from non English speaking countries. This oftentimes creates situations where each party is not fully understanding the other, especially problematic when it comes to a person's health and well-being. This scratches the surface of the situations where Badger by Satellite Displays can be the much needed solution to improve communication. Listen in to hear the variety of ways that Badger by Satellite Displays can help you, your friends and family. If you'd like to contribute to support this innovative technology please visit: https://www.startengine.com/satellite-displays

Problem awareness is the root of a problem's solution. So it is with Badger by Satellite Displays. Badger is the the world's first closed caption smart badge that converts speech-to-text in real-time with a translation capability in more than 50 languages. When Mike Williston's hearing impaired father was hospitalized medical professionals wearing masks restricted his ability to lip read and therefore he was unable to understand what was being communicated. This inspired the search for a solution. Mike Williston and Peter Sprague diligently worked together until Badger by Satellite Displays was born. The use and application of the real time transcription extends well beyond persons with limited hearing or total hearing loss. The translation capability can serve to ensure adequate communication between health care professionals, hospital patients and/or long term care residents who may have limited or no English capability. Furthermore, many professionals serving these populations originate from non English speaking countries. This oftentimes creates situations where each party is not fully understanding the other, especially problematic when it comes to a person's health and well-being. This scratches the surface of the situations where Badger by Satellite Displays can be the much needed solution to improve communication. Listen in to hear the variety of ways that Badger by Satellite Displays can help you, your friends and family. If you'd like to contribute to support this innovative technology please visit: https://www.startengine.com/satellite-displays

In this episode, we chat with Susana Lorenzo-Giguere, Esq. about hepatitis B and discrimination. We talk about how she advocated for students experiencing discrimination due to their hepatitis B status by using the American Disabilities Act. If you are experiencing discrimination due to your hepatitis B status and want to share your story or ask for assistance please email us at discrimination@hepb.org or visit www.surveymonkey.com/r/hepbdiscriminationSupport the show (http://weblink.donorperfect.com/givingheppy)

The term Long COVID, also known as Long-Haul COVID, has been recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for post-COVID conditions and symptoms affecting patients for multiple weeks after their initial infections. Patients experience a string of strange symptoms like brain fog, rashes and weight loss. Newly released guidance from the Biden Administration now categorizes "long COVID" as a physical or mental impairment, entitling qualified individuals with the illness to discrimination protections under the American Disabilities Act.   In a quest to find answers, many patients have turned to social media to figure out what is happening to their bodies. In this episode, three women discuss their symptoms, their discovery that it's COVID-related, and how vitamin C infusions, food elimination and other alternative practices are bringing hope to their otherwise hopeless journey. For more information on integrative medicine to treat long COVID, check out Marcus Institute of Integrative Health. Read more from our experts on Long COVID and learn about Jefferson's involvement in a CDC study on the condition. Plus, hear more from one of the women featured in the episode, Alexandra Hackett.    Follow Jefferson Health @TJUHospital on Twitter, @JeffersonHealth on Instagram and @JeffersonHospital on Facebook.

Disability rights advocate Darlene McGraw has been confronted by the police and public officials in Saratoga Springs for chalking her complaints about the City's slow progress in complying with the American Disabilities Act. ADAPT Capital Region held a chalk-in at local government offices to show their support for McGraw, who spoke with Mark Dunlea of Hudson Mohawk Radio Network.

UC Berkeley professor GEORGINA KEEGE talks about growing up with blindness and her work as an author, and professor of Creative Writing and Disability Studies. She discusses some of her challenges, misperceptions people have about blindness, the use of technology to aid the blind and the opportunity to become a college professor as a result of the American Disabilities Act. Georgina also talks about her annoyance with Helen Keller and her book Blind Rage.

Omar Sultan Haque, MD, PhD, talks with Lorenzo Norris, MD, about the need for medical schools to become responsive to physicians, medical students, and residents with mental disabilities. Dr. Haque is a physician, social scientist, and philosopher who is affiliated with the department of global health and social medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston. He disclosed founding Dignity Brain Health, a clinic that seeks to provide clinical care for patients struggling with major depressive disorder. Dr. Haque also serves as medical director of Dignity Brain Health. Dr. Norris is associate dean of student affairs and administration at George Washington University, Washington. He has no disclosures. Take-home points Dr. Haque and colleagues recently published a perspective piece in the New England Journal of Medicine about the “double stigma” against mental disabilities, which the authors define as “psychiatric, psychological, learning, and developmental disorders that impair functioning,” including common diagnoses, such as attention deficit disorder and major depressive disorder. Physicians and physicians-in-training, such as students and residents, face major challenges in disclosing mental disabilities, from fear of discrimination during the admissions process to stigma throughout training and licensure. Medical leave is often the only suggested solution to an exacerbation of a disability, and this response is likely to instill fear in trainees, because taking leave will require future disclosure and worsen the double stigma. Reasonable accommodations could improve functioning and allow trainees to remain enrolled and on their desired academic path. Dr. Haque recommends that medical schools and training programs have trained disability service providers (DSP) with specialized understanding of medical education and curricula who do not have conflicts of interest – as sometimes happens when they participate in other roles, such as serving as deans or professors within a medical school. A continued challenge to disability disclosures are questions on medical licensing applications and renewals about past or current diagnoses or treatment for mental disabilities. Dr. Haque reminds listeners that, according to the American Disabilities Act, these questions about past and current diagnoses are illegal if the answers to those questions do not affect physicians’ current functioning. Summary   Dr. Haque’s article offers several recommendations for medical schools, training programs, and licensing boards aimed at addressing the burden of the double stigma against mental disabilities within the culture of medical training and practice. Medical schools should clearly communicate that applicants with disabilities are welcome as part of a larger commitment to diversity, and individuals with mental disabilities should be admitted and allowed to complete training. Universities should hire medical school–specific disability service providers who understand medical education and are committed to parity for individuals with physical and mental disabilities. Policies related to mental disabilities should be clearly publicized so that students and trainees know what to expect if they disclose a disability, and should create reasonable accommodations for those with mental disabilities instead of promoting medical leave as the only option. Faculty members and administrators could publicly describe their own protected time for therapy and highlight the professional successes of people who were able to disclose their condition and get reasonable accommodations. The Federation of State Medical Boards should enforce the ADA-based legal standard that questions about mental disabilities should be asked and answered only if they address current functional impairments that affect a physician’s ability to practice medicine safely. References Haque OS et al. N Engl J Med. 2021 Mar 11;384:888-9. Wimsatt LA et al. Am J Prevent Med. 2015 Nov. 49(5):703-14. *  *  * Show notes by Jacqueline Posada, MD, associate producer of the Psychcast; assistant clinical professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at George Washington University, Washington; and staff physician at George Washington Medical Faculty Associates, also in Washington. Dr. Posada has no conflicts of interest. For more MDedge Podcasts, go to mdedge.com/podcasts Email the show: podcasts@mdedge.com

Interruption to your typical broadcasting for this emergency announcement. On this episode Gabriele talks about how you are being discriminated against right now left and right. Here are some fun things in this episode: Find out what is the exact law that deals with Emergency Use Authorization. See how you can go through an encounter in a private business when there is discrimination. And see that there are laws that protect you under the American Disabilities Act. So listen here and see that if you’re struggling with the mask, PCR tests and va((!nes, do know that they are illegal. Get the 3 Secrets to Heal Eczema Here To leave a voice message to Gabriele with a question or a topic you would like her to cover in a future episode, do it here. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/gabriele56/message

It's been over 20 years since Oregon men's golf coach Casey Martin was at the heart of one of golf's biggest controversies. Martin wanted to play golf at the highest levels and needed a golf cart to do so because of a disability. The Professional Golf Association had other ideas and challenged Martin in a case that eventually reached the Supreme Court. The biggest names in professional golf were against him. But all Martin wanted was a shot to compete, and he would've gladly traded a cart for a healthy leg and to just be a normal golfer. It's been a long time since his media exposure for challenging the PGA Tour and bringing the American Disabilities Act into the sports world. Instead of a sports pioneer, most Duck fans identify Martin as the leader of their men's golf program, a program that won a national championship on the course he grew up on, the Eugene Country Club, in 2016. Martin has been through it all and seen a lot, but he would have preferred to just be one of the guys, carrying his bag and hiking around the golf course. But sometimes, life just doesn't work out that way. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

“Trauma-Informed Design: Transforming Correctional Design for Justice” What is the role of Trauma-Informed Design in reforming correctional facilities? With 7.3-million Americans in some level of corrections (prisons, jails, probation or parole), it is clear we are setting up those who are incarcerated to fail. The glaring truth can be seen in recidivism rates of 76.6 … Trauma Informed Design: Transforming Correctional Design for Justice (Season 2, Episode 3) Read More »

By: Janet Roche & Carolyn Robbins Edited by: Andrew Parrella Guest: Valerie Fletcher What is the state of disability in America today, and what does this mean to Inclusive Designers… especially in this time of Covid? IDP sits down with Valerie Fletcher, Executive Director of the Institute for Human Centered Design (IHCD) in Boston, MA. … Designing for: The Changing Reality of Disability in America Read More »

Do you like religion? Or perhaps being spiritual is more your cup of tea. Well, if you do you are definitely alone. Enjoy the podcast.   Show Notes: The device used regarding the induced simulation of religious or spiritual experiences was a helmet worn by subjects. The wearers often reported a sense of non-physical presences. Elevator commentary: Turning an elevator into an express elevator does work on some elevators, but may not work on all. You can hold the close door button and the floor you want to go to for the duration of your ride and you will bypass other selected floors between. The door close button itself is typically useless for elevators installed after 1990 and the doors are set to close on a timer in accordance with the American Disabilities Act. Firefighters and other safety personal have keys to operate elevators, and this gives them more control over where the elevator can go and whether the door opens and/or closes at a floor.

Speakers: Lisa McKeown, Total Rewards Practice Leader at Nonprofit HR Eric Salyers, Senior HR Business Partner/Benefits at Nonprofit HR   Bonus Resources: Presentation Slides & One-Pager   Sweeping changes resulting from COVID-19 are imminent and will have short-and long-term impacts on all aspects of the global economy and workforce! Stay up-to-date on developments that will inform your organization's decision-making about your employees.  Topic covered in this episode:  -“Families First Coronavirus Response Act“ -HIPAA & Coronavirus Messages to Staff about Cases in Your Workforce -Factoring the American Disabilities Act into all-things COVID-19 -Workers Compensation and Unemployment -Managing Leave and PTO -Using Telemedicine During Crisis Seasons -Pending Legislation & Regulations and, other topics

In honor of the 30th anniversary of the American Disabilities Act (ADA), we break down five things you need to know about this historic legislation. On Tuesday, we'll be back with our thoughts and shared experiences from people directly affected by this law.It took decades of thousands of people working locally to pass the ADA Defining "disability" under the ADA is very fact-intensiveThe ADA helped bring about massive changesBut we have a long way to go.There are many ways you can work toward disability justice. Thank you for being a part of our community! We couldn't do what we do without you. To become a tangible supporter of the show, please visit our Patreon page, purchase a copy of our book, I Think You're Wrong (But I'm Listening), or share the word about our work in your own circles. Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for daily news briefs, GIF news threads, and our real time reactions to breaking news. To purchase Pantsuit Politics merchandise, check out our TeePublic store and our branded tumblers available in partnership with Stealth Steel Designs.Please visit our website for full show notes and episode resources. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Here is some resource to further assist you if you are a business owner, teacher, patient advocate, or someone with a hearing loss.  Teresa Barnes, RN Hearing Awareness Business Expert is available for consultation, training, and keynoting. https://hearcommunication.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/hearteresabarnesrn/https://www.facebook.com/hearcommunication/https://www.instagram.com/teresabarnesrn/https://www.amazon.com/Sound-Advice-Tune-into-Listening/dp/1982209577https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ9TLLKAu7ZxP8lt21f0KswThe National Deaf Association:  https://www.nad.org/The Hearing Loss Association of America: https://www.hearingloss.org/ADA Effective Communication:  https://www.ada.gov/effective-comm.htm  

Uber Lyft Drivers & Gig workers weekly news: This week we talk about Uber's next attempt to acquire another delivery service, Autonomous Vehicles, Uber PR stunts, Rhode Island Public Transportation teams up with Uber, Uber charging non-white areas more money on rides, Lyft settles lawsuit with American Disabilities Act for $40k, and we discuss some moments in previous podcasts! Rideshare Rodeo is presented by UberLyftDrivers.com. Denver drivers, Superior Auto Image is offering $75 off any windshield (June 2020), check out the website for all their services and deals at SuperiorAutoImage.com.Rideshare Rodeo Podcast is presented by UberLyftDrivers.com

This is the second of three roundtables on the future of engineering presented by the ACEC Research Institute. www.acecresearchinstitute.org The world today is full of extraordinary volatility, yet the engineering industry has risen to the challenge. Uniquely positioned at the forefront of designing buildings for work and home – engineers are solving for the new normal and exploring what is needed for commercial, high-rise, healthcare, and mixed-use buildings of the future. How do we design them? How do we rehab or retrofit them? What is really needed for the future when designing work and living spaces in this new paradigm. Join this exciting panel discussion that explores the future of the buildings we live and work in.Panelists:• Dino DeFeo, Managing Partner, AKF• Peter DiMaggio, Co-CEO, Thornton Tomasetti• Arathi Gowda, Associate Director, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill• Kate Wittels, Partner, HR&A Advisors• Moderator: Joseph Bates, ACEC Research Institute Transcript:Daphne Bryant:Welcome to our second roundtable in this series, The Future of Engineering. A big thank you to our donors who have made this session possible. We have a great group of thought leaders here today that are going to share their insights and expertise with us on the future of buildings, where we live and work now without further ado. It's my pleasure to introduce two of my colleagues at the ACEC Research Institute, Joe Bates, who will serve as our moderator for today's session and Kevin McMahon, who will be monitoring the chat box and fielding your questions during the session, Joe, it's all yours.Joe Bates:Thank you very much, Daphne, and thank you all for joining us today. First, I'd like to introduce you all to each of our panelists. We have Dino DeFeo, who is managing partner at AKF. Dino is a respected and admired leader whose market knowledge and passionate commitment to clients have formed the foundation of a 25 year career. He understands the importance of working as an integral part of a design collective with the express goal of realizing the direct client's vision. We also have with us, Peter DiMaggio, co-CEO of Thornton Tomasetti. Peter is responsible for defining, articulating and driving the firm's strategic vision. In addition to leading the development and execution of the overall business plan, he directs key strategic initiatives, such as identifying new markets and merger and acquisition opportunities, as well as instituting mentorship and professional development programs. I'd also like to welcome Arathi Gowda, who is Associate Director of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Arathi is a team leader for the company's Chicago's performance design group charged with researching new technologies and recommending integrated environmental design solutions that are substantiated with computer simulation for SOM project teams worldwide.Joe Bates:And finally, I'd like to welcome Kate Wittels, who is a Partner at HR&A Advisors. Kate specializes on the future of work and how to best shape places, train people and deliver infrastructure to make today's cities ready for tomorrow's opportunities. She creates strategic plans, public private partnerships, policies, and programs to guide governments, developers, and businesses on growing tech and innovation ecosystems in cities around the world. Thank you all very much for joining us today. I'm going to jump right into our questions. It's obviously no surprise that we're living through this pandemic and it's completely changed the way that we live and work. I think we have all within a blink of an eye, had to create new ways of working and communicating and, and some of the participants and viewers who were with us during the pregame show might have heard us talking about some of those challenges we live with. So my first question, I'd like Pete, to start out with Pete, are we going to see a fundamental shift in where we work in the future?Peter DiMaggio:I do. I think we're going to see a fundamental shift. What I think is less clear is what that shift actually looks like. Let me give you my example on this right before Kobe, we have about 1500 people and the large majority of them were working in the office. COVID hits. We send as many people as we can almost close to 1500 to work remotely. And early on, it really looked like as we were learning from this, that we were going to have this situation where more and more people want to work remotely. That was an early indicator. What we're seeing now actually is a lot of people want to be back in the office, whether it's for that social interaction, their ability to be more effective. And I think in the last two or three weeks, and this is how uncertain this future is, what we're getting from our employees is they want flexibility, which is a really interesting challenge.Peter DiMaggio:They don't want to be full time at home and they don't want to be full time in the office. And if I had to make a guess, I would think that that is going to be something that stays with us where people want that ability to do some time at home and some time in the office. And it's a really big challenge, right? It's a challenge to get people really effective in the office. It's also a challenge to get them really effective at home, but just think of what this means from an IT point of view, right? How many different computer systems do you have? Do you have monitors? Do you need the right working environment, both at home and in the office? The second challenge that comes from that is again, early on, it's really interesting to see how things progress over the last month.Peter DiMaggio:Early on, I think the immediate reaction was we're probably going to need less for real estate for our entire office structure because clearly people want to be at home. Now, all of a sudden we're saying, but if they want to be partially at home and partially in the office, you still need less real estate or do you just need different real estate? So the simple answer to your question is, yes, I think you'll see a fundamental shift, a much more complex question to ask is what do we think this is going to look like? And if you really want to challenge the group, I think it's going to look very different in suburban areas than it may look in urban areas due to the challenge of public transportation. So are people able to do both of these and still use public transportation to get to their office?Joe Bates:Kate Pete mentioned public transit. What do you think is going to happen with public transit and you're in New York city. So how's that going to affect people that are working and living in New York city?Kate Wittels:Yeah. I mean, it's a big, it's a big unknown about transit, but I think as Pete was starting talking about the mood changes so quickly, if you ask people a month ago, six weeks ago, you get on the subway? No. But if you asked me last week or yesterday and you're starting to hear stories and be like, I want, I'm taking the subway. It's clean, it's the cleanest it's ever been. And so I think to what Pete was saying is that there's going to be this half in half out experience and we're going to figure out how we best travel to the places. And it's really about, what's the role of the physical office in how we work and that's really what we need to figure out. And that will change how offices are laid out, but it used to be that we had to produce everything in the office.Kate Wittels:And now we're realizing that somethings that we can produce it's more effective to produce it, the knowledge economy stuff in our home, and maybe having recurring meetings in our homes, but the culture, brand, desire for you know, interaction. And I think as an amenity to employees for retention and attraction, the office will play a role in that sense. And so I think it's, it's really thinking through what the role of the office is going to play for businesses. And then what does that mean for neighborhoods? And then what does that mean for the need for transit? Cause maybe the demand will be actually less or only half of us are going in half at a time.Joe Bates:It feels almost like we've let the genie out of the bottle here with having people working from home that in the past, there was a lot of pushback from many companies that were saying, Hey, we don't want you working from home. And now everyone was forced to do it. And somehow they're making it work. So I don't know, Arathi, do you, what do you think about that? You know, have we just let the genie out of the bottle, not going to be able to put it back in?Arathi Gowda:I think so in a lot of ways, and I don't think it's necessarily about trust even though maybe sometimes that was an issue. I think it was about collaboration and so engineering, architecture, planning, we're very collaborative disciplines. And so there was always this idea that you had to have the groupthink in the office. And I think obviously now as Kate was mentioning some of the things that are a little less efficient remotely, but people are seeing that actually we can be very collaborative in our home environment. And I think this is actually very positive because we've been talking about that for a long time. There's an emissions reduction, there's a positive, personal benefit. There's a lot of good things that are happening or silver linings as a result of this. But we almost needed to have the push. And I think that does speak a little bit to what Peter was saying about, there's a little bit of a multiplicity of futures, but let's face it. We're a complex society and we'll, we'll keep going the way we were going if it's working and this has forced us to maybe shift faster. And I think in a good way as we're all seeing there's some benefits. I don't think we're going to go Back to the way we were.Joe Bates:Dino, any thoughts on this?Dino DeFeo:I think everybody has some good points. You know, you start thinking about what is the role of the office and in our environments. And you know, it has a huge impact on the culture of your firm, your interactions in the office, how you work with one another, your collaboration, but nowadays with the tools you have online and the collaboration that you can do online, it will change the way we work. And you will start seeing some more decentralized offices in headquarters might not be the size they used to be anymore, but you still might need the office space for more of a a collaboration area or a conference center, you'll see more hoteling, all the things that we've been talking about for years, this has really accelerated that.Dino DeFeo:And I think it's going to continue to accelerate and things are going to be like this until there is a vaccine. I mean, a lot of people won't be comfortable coming back to the office until that's the case. So until then, you know, we're still going to be experimenting with the conditions that we're in and seeing how things work and what doesn't work.Joe Bates:So Dino, I have one thought on that sort of a follow-up question for you, maybe dive a little bit more deeply into this issue of there's this near term, of course, but and then let's, let's assume we're going to have a vaccine and, and everybody is able to return to some level of normalcy, but what's the long-term implication on how buildings commercial buildings will look in the future. This pandemic will, I think be fresh in everyone's memory for a generation at least to come. And so what kind of design considerations will we need to make in terms of health and safety, you know, cleaning the offices, elevators, things of that nature?Dino DeFeo:Well, I mean, you know, we're an MEP firm, so, you know, I could just stick to some of the things that we've been dealing with in, with our clients on the MEP side, you're starting to look at buildings that are going to be much more robust in engineering infrastructure. We've spent a lot of time looking at the energy efficiency of buildings and we're going to start spending more time looking at the wellbeing of the occupants of the building. And there's going to be a push and pull there. There's still the energy codes we're going to have to comply with, but a lot of things that we'll have to do to make people feel comfortable with coming back post pandemic and let's keep in mind, this is not the only pandemic we've been through.Dino DeFeo:This is the worst by far, but we've had SARS and a number of others. And every couple of years, it seems like there's something else that we're talking about. So the infrastructures of these buildings will have to be much more robust, much more flexible, you know, greater ventilation rates, greater air changes, higher humidity because we're finding that, you know, humidification is great for the wellbeing of the person, regardless of during pandemic or not. So all of these things impact the energy efficiency of a building. So we will try and we will need to figure out how do we balance the wellbeing of the people within the building, and yet still comply with the energy efficiency mandates that are being required of us. So that's kind of where we're going to, we're going to have to be whether it's UV lights that we're adding into systems, greater filtration, decentralized systems, you know, there's going to be a number of challenges on you in the engineering world in order to make people feel more comfortable with how buildings are performing and how they're protecting the people within the building.Joe Bates:Arathi, what about the elevators? We were talking about that before we went live here, are we going to have, you know, elevators that are 10 times the size as they are now? Or are we, how are we going to move thousands of people up and down? You know, these high rise buildings?Arathi Gowda:Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, there might be some things even to Dino's point, there, there are things in the market that are already stacking elevators and others that increased capacity. But I think, you know, we haven't been able to always sell those on projects. So I think what's going to happen is these things that were harder sells before are going to become better or easier sells now. So this nexus of energy and wellness, particularly to elevators, you know, I think it's, it's touchless, it's called button sensoring, it's stacked elevators. I think there's also maybe a reality of a public health response. So by nature, these are more confined spaces. And what would be more like Asia, you know, look to our Asian friends and say, they're very used to masks. It's not an issue for them to wear masks or wear gloves.Arathi Gowda:Because some of those things can't be solved strictly with social distancing, but I do think it's a very important time. And even in the environmental movement, it's always been planet first and not people. And there's been a real problem with messaging with that, that mentality, because of course we know the eight ball is energy efficiency, carbon reduction, but until we connect that to stories that people can relate to, then it's very hard to change hearts and minds. And I think that this piece of wellness it's very relatable, people can understand. So I think there are going to be some very important conversations in the engineering community about how we can do the things we've been even talking about humidity for years and advanced filtration. And we're building on that with code policy and rating systems. These are not always things that our clients opt into. So I think there's a lot of opportunity for us to be asked to do those things more consistently have the cost of it dropped so that it can become more ubiquitous in the market, which is essentially what we want.Kate Wittels:I think what's interesting about this right now is this is an opportunity for building owners to become really creative and force them to really differentiate themselves and try the new systems that they we've been talking about and pushing for them. Because now buildings aren't just competing with other commercial buildings in their own sub market. They're competing with other sub markets. They're competing with residential products, they're competing with retail products. People are working out of restaurants now. And so I think this is a real interesting opportunity for what the building will actually offer in the long run to make companies want to continue to pay rent and to make employees want to come back in. I mean, you can offer up that you're going to have better air in your office, then you are in your home for example, or sound quality or other things. That's, that's where the building would have the opportunity to really keep, keep their asset as it is.Peter DiMaggio:I think that's such an important point. I, you know, as Kate was talking, it struck a nerve. If you think back to September 11th to 9/11 when, when that event occurred the first response was we're never going to build high rise buildings again, right? People aren't going to. And so of course that's not what happened, right? So it took a while. And then people started talking about how do we address this issue? And then people got creative and then people started to figure out how to build security. And, and one of the questions I just saw in the chat - what happens to existing buildings that aren't ready? You know, this was a really good example. People upgraded those buildings, they invested in them, and then they use that to try to draw tenants back in. And the big difference I see now is we're only a few months into this and already you have some of the smartest people on the planet talking about how do we solve this issue and get back to work.Peter DiMaggio:And to me, that's one of the biggest differences. It took us a long time after 9/11 to say, we're going to go back into a high rise building. How do we address this now? We're saying, and, and again, look, the first month of COVID people were staying in the office is that nobody's ever going to go back when, and I though the speed at which the design community has started to attack this problem to me is a really positive thing. And so I think, you know, to the point of how much is it going to cost and what are people going to do if groups like everybody on the phone, right? Even people listening in are already starting to try to solve this. I'm really excited to see where this ends up because we're not stuck on the problem. We're already talking about the solutions.Dino DeFeo:This is going to be a balance. I mean, there's going to be so many different solutions that are kind of come out of this to your point. I mean, there are a number of different ways to tackle this and whether it's you know, office space, that's spread out a little bit more, you're going to have social distancing within the office. You're going to need that office space to, in order to keep people. I mean, we used to talk about densification. We did a tremendous amount of studies about how many people we can put on a floor. You're not going to have that anymore. That's not really going to want to be what people want to do. So office space is going to be a necessity a long time. It's not going away. So it's a matter of, I guess the question came in. What do you do with the older building stock? We're going to have to figure out how to convert those buildings. So people feel comfortable again, just like after 9/11, just like after Sandy, you know, things are going to be different, but things will be, you know, we'll still need those that office space.Joe Bates:I want to come back to that issue and question in just a few minutes, but first Kevin, do we have any questions from the audience on the topic of the buildings that we live in our buildings that we're working in?Kevin McMahon:Yeah, we do. Joe. We have a couple of really good ones. The first one is about what we've been discussing. And the question is how much of the effectiveness working remotely is due to the fact that we know our colleagues. when we got put into the situation there, the audience members asking, what strategies would the panel recommend for bringing new team members into the group, collaborative culture effectively while they're working remotely?Dino DeFeo:I could start with that because we actually hired people pre pandemic and they started post pandemic. So it was a matter of introducing them to the people who they were going to be working with via something similar in zoom or via teams. And it's a daily and sometimes multiple times a day collaboration with them. And it's a challenge to make sure that the culture of the firm you're imparting that on new people. And we're going through something now where we're bringing EIT and interns in. So we're also working with our interns and it's again, multiple touches a day and making sure that they're, they're getting the education that, that, you know, we promise them and that they need as they go back to school. And also for the EITs that we're starting to culture and then starting to introduce the culture of our firm to them from the beginning. So you have to work with them daily, you have to make sure that they have someone who is their partner, that they can reach out to with any questions, but you have to make sure that there's a connection back to the firm consistently.Kate Wittels:I think, you know, we've talked about mentorship and collaboration and kind of those types of things are just going to have to happen even more so. And I think that's great, right? We, not, every firm really prioritizes mentorship and now it's going to happen and it's going to happen across offices. I think you'll actually get to know more people than you would of just the people that were within your team or on your, on your floor now. And so that's an exciting opportunity.Peter DiMaggio:And I think that that point that Kate has made is even more powerful if you are a very diverse spread out organization. So we have 50 offices. And so it's clearly more difficult for us when we onboard somebody now in that local office for all the challenges that come. But one of the things we've been really successful with is building a culture between offices. We've gotten very good at this kind of a call and getting to know people in the old days, what would happen is you'd be in your local office and everything would be on a voice, a conference call. And I don't know how everybody else feels, but I like it this environment so much more than the non facial conference call. And we, I think we build culture and get to know each other. So this Zoom call has been a clearly a challenge, but I think going forward, it's something we're going to use. We're talking about, you know, trying to keep the carbon footprint down, having a lot more meetings in this environment and being able to bring more people into those meetings rather than flying them from 50 places. So I think there's an opportunity to really take advantage of it.Joe Bates:Kevin do we have any other questions on the buildings that we work in before we move on to the buildings where we live?Kevin McMahon:Yeah. This is an interesting question, Joe. It's about the cost of, of the existing buildings in many cities that require retrofitting. And a lot of these retrofits may become too expensive and cost prohibitive. What will happen to these buildings?Joe Bates:Arathi? Do you have any thoughts on that one to start us out with?Arathi Gowda:I think we were talking about it or touching on it a little bit or, but I think obviously there's a lot of fun costs and we know the real estate market is, I mean, this is a, and one of the biggest financial engines and hard to move slow to move and change, but that makes, I think all of us believe that no, we are not going to abandon these, which is a good thing from a carbon sink perspective. And I think the technology is all there. And many people touched on that already in the panel, but there are a multitude of retrofits that are already starting to happen. I think at som we have a getting back to work plan. I'm sure Kate, you know, Peter has similar words, you know, we're looking at different things. How do we space out?Arathi Gowda:How do we have shifts? How do we have advanced filtration? How do we have flush out? How do we have twice daily cleaning? And you know, again, those aren't cost prohibitive measures for people to undertake. It's not talking about a whole a to upgrade or change. It's about how much extra outside air can we bring into this space. So and when we can in a certain space how do we socially distance more you know, and think about those other, other issues. So I think people are being very flexible, which is quite interesting as we get back into this space. And again, thinking, not build new, but how do we, how do we work with what we have, which is, is really important.Dino DeFeo:Yeah, the solutions are not a one size fits all. You're going to have, you know, air handler, retrofitsSpeaker 6:And upgrades that are going to be relatively inexpensive and some that are going to be very expensive to do. But, you know, let's be honest. The building stock is very expensive. Leases are very expensive. And if in order to attract people and charge the leases that you're charging, you're going to have to ensure that the occupants of the building are safe. So it's going to be probably something that is going to be demanded of landlords in order to make their building stock of value. So I think there's going to be ways to afford it. And as technology gets more affordable, it's going to be easier and easier to do.Kate Wittels:I also think there's going to be a lot of adaptive reuse. I mean, we're going to see, we were seeing a mix of uses that before this people wanting to live closer to where they work, people wanting to have more options. And so for some buildings that can be adapted really just because, and they can't be easily upgraded. They're going to turn into residential or they're going to turn into some other function. And that's just how we're going to continue on to live.Joe Bates:So what I'm hearing is we're gonna be doing a lot of retrofitting and not, not whole scale demolition of city blocks and making new buildings. It's just too expensive. I'd like to now turn to the next topic that we're going to discuss, which is the buildings in which we live, obviously we've started working from home, but what kind of w what kind of considerations are we going to have when it, when it comes to where people are living, making those buildings more healthy, especially multi-dwelling buildings RFP, do you have some thoughts on that one?Arathi Gowda:I think this is again, it's a, always listening for the glass is half full, but I think this is again, another opportunity in a market that's been really tough. So, I mean, when we look at the history, the historic trends of energy efficiency residential is the lowest in this country and globally even in multifamily housing. And why has the lowest energy efficiency? Well, it follows the cost. It's the lowest cost per square foot. And I think of course, right now everyone's rethinking. I mean, I personally am rethinking, why did I get that parking space when I do own a car, because I'm a greenie, why didn't I get the balcony instead? But it was resale value, right? And so those of us in cities are thinking about options like that. But I think people, again are thinking more about space gardens, other features that had people historically in the suburbs.Arathi Gowda:But I think it will again, drive up what the cost per square foot is that people are willing to invest. And what they're willing to invest in, which I think is very positive because they've gotten to this is the biggest investment of most Americans' lives. And it's very, very commodified in a way that's not good for health and it's not good for carbon either. So again, looking at this health and energy carbon nexus I think there's a lot that people are rethinking now. And I don't think that it's going to mean you know, an exited to the suburbs. It might be, people are looking at different kinds of cities where they can afford a little bit more space. It might be, again, it's not the parking spot anymore. It's something else. Or maybe it is the car because now I can move around. But I think people are thinking about it in a much more nuanced way than historically just bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger space, which was the, usually the driver.Joe Bates:Yeah. It seems like there's been this sort of initial knee jerk reaction of we're going to get outta here or we're moving out to the country. In, in my neighborhood, I live on a mountain and the Blue Ridge West of DC and four brand new houses have gone up in the last four months. So highly unusual. What, what do the rest of you think about that? You know, is this just sort of an initial reaction that people are going to leave the cities? Or are we, are we going to adapt and how?Peter DiMaggio:I'll jump in on that? I think one of the most interesting things about the cities and this may be, even appear off topic, but I don't think it is, is, is how much of the cultural institutions people come back to whether it's sporting events or Broadway or restaurants or bars or whatever you can think of. In a lot of ways that has been something that has drawn lots of people into the city, right? And so if that comes back and it comes back powerfully, I think you're gonna see a lot of people stay. And then that, to my original point, if people really want to spend some time in the office, they are also going to need to be, and those offices are in an urban environment. They can't really move so far to the country, which is why I think originally when we started talking about everybody's gonna move to the country, that was a knee jerk reaction to, I can work from home.Peter DiMaggio:If I can work from home, I don't need to be near my office. And I think people are rethinking that because they don't want to be so isolated. So I, I think it's a combination of, do you want to spend some time in your office, which I think the answer will be yes, for most people. And can we get these cultural institutions that have really, in my opinion, made our cities what they are, if we can get them up and running safely, I think you're going to see that, that draw to be in a city again, to that nine 11 quote, I think 10 years from now, we're still going to want to be in our urban environments for the same reason we want to be there now. So I think it will come back around what it looks like and how fast we get there. I'm not sure.Dino DeFeo:Yeah. To a, to Joe, your point about the homes being built. I've already heard a couple of stories in my area of bidding Wars for homes, which is, you know, unusual in the suburb of New York lately. I mean, we used to have that years ago, but not for quite some time. So we're starting to see that, but I, you know, I, I do, I do agree with Peter. I think you're going to start seeing people want to come back and just the, how long will that take? I mean, if we go through another pandemic, would you rather quarantine in a 500 square foot apartment without the balcony? Or would you rather quarantine in a 2,500 square foot house with a backyard? And maybe if you have a spouse who works two offices built into the house as well it's going to be a, it's going to be a little bit of a balancing act. And I think if, if you can work from the office part time, like we were talking about earlier, you might choose to move a little further away from the city, knowing that you're not doing that long commute every day. If you're doing it a couple of days a week or three days a week, you might be willing to sit on the train for longer than to, than to be close to work.Kate Wittels:I think this is a call for cities to work with their regional partners. There's been a long time of a us versus them, right? You want to keep the residents or the office workers on your side of the border and retain the taxes. And I think this is really now about a regional approach to to how we're going to be living. So it's not New York city. It's the New York city MSA and living in the Hudson Valley and working, you know, coming into New York city twice a week, instead of five times a week, it's all going to seem like we're all part of the same same community. And we need to work together more.Joe Bates:Kevin what, what questions do we have on this?Kevin McMahon:We have a great question that ties right into this discussion. Does the panel see more use in high rises of residential and commercial cohabitating becoming part of the same building, you know, leveraging the efficiency of elevators and heating and air conditioning systems addressing some of the panels that commentKate Wittels:For, for a long time, I always was saying that office was going to become an amenity of residential and every tall office tower was going to have two floors of coworking in some sense. And you, you would subsidize that off some sort of check from your employer to work out of that for a couple of days a week, or what have you. And I think that office offering is going to be more and more offered in the residential products, especially the high rise, dense residential product. You don't have to get a bigger apartment, but you have a floor go to when you want to get away from your children.Joe Bates:Kate, I want to follow up with you on that one. Again, I'm, I'm sort of talking from the perspective of the DC area out in the suburbs. We have a lot of mixed use planning going on where, you know, it's required now to have retail in the bottom and apartments, condos up top. And, and the idea is that it will reduce traffic, et cetera. And it's not, you know, we're just seeing people who are, you know, they're still moving to the suburbs, but then they're working in DC and still have to commute. And there's just a lot more traffic going cross-ways every which way. You know, what are your thoughts on that?Kate Wittels:I think DC I mean, it's congestion, do you see as that people need to be getting out of their cars more and having more public transit options than just what the Metro is providing. Right? I think there's a example that people want to go places. We have to figure out how to get them more there, more efficiently without the congestion of single person vehicle travel.Joe Bates:And that's going to be a challenge, especially in the near term, at least because the CDC is saying, hey, drive, drive a solo now.Kate Wittels:Yeah, I think what's be interesting is bus. I think the advent of bus rapid transit and where, how we're going to be using buses differently is going to be really, really interesting.Joe Bates:Yeah. I saw a photo of a bus where they're, you know, they tape off various seats and the untaped seats you can sit in. So there's this weird, you know, social distancing thing going on. What do the rest of you all think on this question that Kevin proposed?Peter DiMaggio:I think for what it's worth from my side, I think you, you touched on one, that's absolutely critical caked in, and then you mentioned that, which is the public transportation system. And for many, many years, we said, it's going to work well, if there's a great public transportation, as far out as that goes, that's how far people will move. Right? So if the train line goes out 50 miles, people will be 50 miles out, 70 miles. And I think it's going to be really interesting to see how people respond to public transportation. The exact opposite is what's happening in our offices right now. We have 50 of them. So we have all these different kinds. The places where people drive to work are filling up very fast because they don't have to deal with that, that danger or the potential exposure. So it's an odd mix of the places where we don't have public transportation or working very well to get back in the office. I don't think that's sustainable. I think ultimately we'll figure out a way to safely transit and then, then we'll get back to where we were. But however long that takes and that's a tough challenge to, to keep the public transportation to some ways, for instance safe. That's why I think we're seeing in New York, which are very slow movement to come back to the offices.Speaker 6:Well, that is the issue. I mean, for, for our firm, I mean, we we've, I like all of us, we've probably sent out surveys to our staff to figure out what are some of the key drivers. And, and one of the ones that keeps coming up is public transportation. So that's why we're moving very slowly with bringing people back to New York, but our other offices are coming back much more quickly because they are suburban suburban offices for the most part they commute via or bus, or it's a little bit easier. A lot of people are in their own car. But Boston, New York, Philadelphia, where they're taking more mass transit again, it's coming back much more slowly. So we'll have to figure out how to do that safely. And and ms. Strategy is going to have to be a part of that equation.Speaker 6:And remember that's out of our control as office leadership, right? As, as from leadership, we know we can, we can really have pretty good control what's going on in our offices and we can work with our building management to even have pretty good control of what's going on. If we're a tenant, once you get outside of that and people control their own home environment very well. It's that piece right in the middle of that you know, Kate, you mentioned something that struck a nerve partner and you, you mentioned that on a regional level, I think we're going to have to really partner with, with the mass transit systems and the public transportation systems to, to solve this problem collectively. And I think we said it earlier, the subways have never been cleaner. I forget who mentioned it. Yeah. But you know, that's because there's not much use right now, you know, once we started having more people on the subway, so it'll be clean less frequently, there'll be more cars that are out in service at any given time.New Speaker:And it's going to be, again, something we're going to have to help manage, because it is a key driver to getting us to where we need to go. Yeah. I mean, there is some collectivism in here as to how we behave as a society that I think, again, it's out of our control a little bit, but I mean, not, not so much, I think individually we add up. And that's why I did say, like, if we look at our Asian friends in the beginning of this, the first question, I think how they behave in a very organized and very dense places you know, Hong Kong after SARS, they completely changed their mentality and they're in a completely different situation now. And again, it wasn't just the engineering community that responded is the public health, but it was also just the general public in terms of not having an emergency aversion to math, you know, using their elbows for buttons, if they didn't have gloves, you know, just, I think they're a little behavior modifications, as we said, that we'll all get used to.Speaker 5:But they do have that, you know, they've had a long mentality needed to have you know, live work half rezzy, half office towers. And you know, that wasn't necessarily a commentary like, Oh, I may about mixed use and I'll go to thing. There was a commentary about speculation in the real estate market. Like let's make sure the column spacing, the engineering can convert because we're building these cities so quickly. So I think there is something in that too. That's really it's very optimistic and it's about, you know, if we build it, people will come. And that we shouldn't, we should kind of borrow from that mentality to how do we engineer buildings that can be very flexible, you know? Kay. You had that great example too about you know, Rezi flexibility with office floors. But again, like how do we, how do we design ultimately very flexible spaces that can last a long time?Speaker 6:Certainly with RCI. Yeah, I was. I'm wondering if you have any specific examples you can share with us that you're aware of. You mentioned, you know, the SARS outbreak and what types of engineering changes were made, or is there anything that you, you know of that you can share with us?Arathi Gowda:Well, there were changes to their their wind code essentially. So they have one of the most aggressive code standards and people are following it around the world in terms of not just wins and the public realm that would blow people over, but also about contaminant control. So these are things that it's like being a good neighbor because one of the contamination points was in the vent stack of two adjacent rez buildings. So it was a plumbing stack. There was a re entry point. And so they were wondering like, it's not just a tooth, but it's also, if there's something in that vent stack going wrong, that you can contaminate amongst floors. But you know, again, it's even Peter, you had mentioned that it's, it's not just our disciplines, but there were many other responses from the public health departments, how people change their behavior. And certainly we have a very big contribution and particularly in dense environments, because there are a lot of engineering control points that could facilitate better health managementPeter DiMaggio:Joe, to your point. I think there have been so many unbelievable advancements in fluid mechanics, which might be a strange question, but our ability to model how particulates move around and environment, and it came from the fire industry was doing work and the blast resistant design community was doing work like this ability to model really high end modeling of how people interact and how fluids interact with people really does exist today in a way that it didn't exist five years ago. So we have the capability, the question is, do we want to use it and adapt it and really go in that in that way, because I think we could really solve this problem on a technical level where at least address it in a way we couldn't previously.Dino DeFeo:Well, actually to that point, we are doing that already. A number of higher education institutions have reached out to talk to us about the way they use their classrooms and the placements of students with the air distribution and the air flow across those, the students in there, the people using a room so that they understand that there's a, there's a, an airflow. That's not hitting every single student. You're trying to space them out so that the separate airflows hitting separate groups of students. So you're not contaminating everybody in one shot. So you're already starting to look at the computational airflow in a, you know, in an auditorium or a classroom to see the impacts of having 10 students, 20 students, a hundred students, depending on the size of the room. So it's something that people are looking at and it's a, it's guiding their, the way they're bringing the kids back to school.Joe Bates:Kevin, what other questions do we have on this subject?Kevin McMahon:You have a question that I think impacts every business out there. It's how does the panel see the balance between densification or efficiency and hygiene? Will we be moving? We went from officers to cubes and we moved them back to offices out as the panel, see that sort of dynamic playing out?Kate Wittels:Well for a firm that's never had a private office. I don't see us going to private offices. So we will probably not be densifying as much anymore. And especially with a little bit of hoteling and a little bit of work from home and part time, work, home, and an office. I think it's very easy to densify and still maintain your office space or even a little bit less office space.Peter DiMaggio:I'll take the easy part of that question. I don't think you will see more private offices again, you know, a month and a half ago where we had older buildings, which had that we were able to get people back and then we realized, but why did they go back? Because the whole purpose of being in that office environment are at these point is to collaborate. And so I think that's the one easy one I can give you is my opinion. That's not the solution to have more people in private offices so that they can social distinction, you know, keep their air, their own environment clean. They may as well work from home at that point. So I don't know that you'll have none of them, but I don't think that's what you'll see. You're going to see people really trying to figure out how to keep their conference room safe, because that's why we go to the office.Kate Wittels:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's a great point. It's about why are we going to the office? What are we doing at the office? Not do we need just another place to work. And it's a space spaces. They're going to be designed around those functions of collaboration and cultivating brand and selling to our clients and making employees happy and willing to, to work and stay at the company.Arathi Gowda:I mean, it's just you know, working at SOM we just went through a office renovation, which was quite interesting. So all of our major offices in North America are having a new office right as this was hitting, we were like, we have these beautiful spaces that we enjoy. We were all excited to go back. But I think, you know, Kate hit on this a little bit in some earlier points that you know, we all took as a value, almost less desk space and more collaborative and conferencing space. And also recognizing that it is also for us to not just be locked into our desk, only working like this, but we do a lot of you know, conferencing, more soft spaces, more areas to eat and then have more informal conversation. So, you know, Peter, your point is to how do you keep those spaces clean beyond like a, to a twice a day protocol. It's easy to do that at your desk. You know, you're just, you are wiping that, but I think it might turn into almost like a gym where you carry your towel everywhere and you wipe it down.Arathi Gowda:It just becomes a different office etiquette in these collaborative spaces. And we've seen that as obviously a design trend. It's a, nobody wants to see, or just always be an identified area, but everyone wants to be on the soft couch or, you know, in the sling chair in the conference room, like group thinking. So that's why people are going in and the cappuccino maker, which is far superior to anything we have at home.Joe Bates:Well that, that that's sort of goes to another question of those, those other shared spaces that we haven't really talked about, the kitchen, the bathroom, I was reading an article about how you can with the sort of power flushes. Now you aerosol you know, not to get too into it, but there's a health issue in the restrooms now. How do you all see addressing those communal space health issues?Arathi Gowda:We've started talking about that vacuum flushing, which has long been the con of the noise and it's annoying, but the aerosol is much less. We were talking about that on a recent airport. So it significantly reduces the amount of water reducing the aerosol, but for a long time, everyone was like, eh, sounds terrible, which it does, you know, but if you're in an airport and you're already used to hearing that on the plane but I think you've heard conversations. I think there's also, and again, an interesting social nexus with these conversations about gender fluidity and how do we plan? Because again, we often do our plumbing, this based on code counts. And we don't think about having more counts, you know, both for you know, for people to feel safe with gender fluidity, for mothers rooms and other things. So I think it's going to change the way we engineer and plan for these spaces to try to be not just code, but above that, you know, think about people first.Arathi Gowda:And how do you have, you know, an extra thing or two, and so people could be faced out, like you go into the bathroom, you don't have to be right next to someone because you just had the code minimum, you could go every other. So these are some of the things we're thinking about. And it's interesting. Cause even standards like the wells certification, or they've been asking about things like this, and now this is kinda coming up a little bit more like, how do you, how do you have more counts of these essential places to clean?Dino DeFeo:Yeah. I mean, you touched on it. Code was always the code minimum. And you know, when you're designing a building, you're looking at what is, what do I need to do to meet code? I think we're, we're going, we're getting to a place where we're going far beyond what code requires and what is appropriate now.Kevin McMahon:So we have a question that's specifically, I think it's from a designer, and the question is, can the panel discuss educational facilities and the challenge of social distancing among children with large classroom settings? What is the solution to that?Dino DeFeo:Well, you can social distance into classroom. I don't know if you're going to social distance in the quad and the bar and every place else the kids go. But as far as what a lot of the higher ed is looking at right now is, is limiting the class sizes. So if you had typically that you use a small classroom for a class size, you're using your medium sized classroom class size, and the medium went to a large and a large became a virtual class. So you're, you're using larger rooms for the, then the number of students that you had. My daughter is actually just entering college now and they just actually today emailed their list of what they're doing. And it's a masks are going to be required everywhere in common spaces when you can social distance. And they're looking at flushing out their HPAC systems much more often. So when you're running a school building, you're you're using, instead of ending the day at four o'clock or five o'clock and shutting the systems down, you're running it for an extra hour, with extra ventilation air to flush the building out. So there's going to be a number of techniques that they're going to be doing to in order to make sure that they can keep the spaces clean. It's just, it will be a challenge because kids don't always follow the rules as much as they probably should.Peter DiMaggio:I think one of the challenges will be the short term issue and then the longterm issue. And I think Dino just did a great job of talking about using very reasonable methods in the short term. The other one that we're seeing is, and as I mentioned with the offices, colleges are splitting classes. So if you have two classes a week, one time you're in the, in the class at one time, you're the remote person. So I think the next two semesters we'll see a lot of that. And the real question will be, let's say we get our hands around this virus, right? Let's say we get a vaccine. Do people go back to the way we did things previously and start packing people into classrooms? Or do we say, this is the first of many of these potential pandemics that we may have and are they all airborne and are the same solutions they are?Peter DiMaggio:So, you know, my, one of my partners wants to talk about the fact that we're in the fog right now, and we know some of our challenges, but the really big challenge for the designers is know you're designing a building right now and do you design it as if this isn't going to be here and we're going to solve it. And in the near term, you use social distancing and hand washing and masks. What do you say these kinds of pandemics may be coming again? And let's build something into this facility. And that's a really big challenge for the designers right now.Arathi Gowda:Yeah. I mean, I would, I would just add to this and I think people can tell already in the audience that I'm the engineer for a better social, social fabric, like keep making these points. But you know, this even gets back to classroom size or what we advocate for. Cause we get pushed. I think as engineers all the time to be code minimums, it's a lot of invisible things and there might be things that are very visible, like features that people want to pay for. And so there is a space in this too. There's a, a broader conversation about pedagogy and classroom size. But this moment is saying, you know, actually protect children, protect that institutional learning and have less children in a classroom that even though we're in the fog, maybe we can, we can be advocates for that after we get out of the fog.Joe Bates:Kevin, one last question. And then I'm going to ask everyone for some closing thoughts on this.Kevin McMahon:Okay. This, this question ties into the code discussion and the American Disabilities Act drove a lot of projects for all of us over the years. Does the panel see the government and different government agencies creating many more code modifications with this pandemic in all different facets of a project, you know, such as simple things like increasing the distance between bathroom facilities in the inside, the bathrooms, et cetera?Peter DiMaggio:I'll take a quick shot at that. I hope we don't do that. Dino alluded to it started out with, and I think Kate did also, my preference would be we go more towards a performance based design. We've thought it for seismic. We have a lot of structural engineers. So we like when the code specifies what kind of performance the building would need to have. And I think if we do see code changes, I'd love them to be performance based changes. And then you would have the engineering and the architectural societies really figure out the best way to solve that rather than mandating specific things. I personally would like to see that flexibility.Arathi Gowda:Yeah, I would agree. And it's, you know, going back to that was a perfect way to describe it, Peter, the fog, but we saw a similar thing with 9/11 and fire codes. And I think again, because we, we are seeing that the science is changing on what works best or not. And I also think what works best for this particular disease might not be the same as what works for flu or, or other things that we're still going to be concerned about. A performance based method would be really important versus being very reactionary to this specific instance of health concern.Joe Bates:So I'm going to ask the final question for each of you and Kate. I'm going to let you start us out on this one, give you a second to get your thoughts for repaired here. But so we thought we talked about a lot of things today. The, we talked about the buildings we work in, we live in public transit, educational settings. What are, what are buildings going to look like 10 years from now that we haven't included today? What are the, you know, I want you to put your crystal ball out there and tell us what's going to be standard in 10 years. That, that isn't today.Dino DeFeo:I think you're going to see buildings that to be much more flexible. You're gonna, I'm sorry. It was not directed towards me, but you know, I think it's going to have to be much more flexible. We've spent a lot of time. I think I started by saying, looking at energy efficiency and not so much the wellness of the people using the building. We're going to have to focus on the wellness part of the building and make sure that the occupants are, are safe and are taken care of. And it become a respite for them and not so much a place that is ready to go to, but a place they want to go to.Kate Wittels:I think well, I mean, it's hard to have a crystal ball. I think we're gonna, you know, adapt to new technologies and how we do it that are going to become commonplace. I mean, I think we we've changed so quickly from home, from working in the office, to working at home that I think we can change our behavior to do anything. So if we put our minds together and try to make our society better for women, whether it's climate or equity, I think we can force ourselves to have better behaviors in that sense. And so maybe it's more not about what, how the buildings will look differently, but maybe we'll have different people in the buildings and we'll be using them in a different way for betterment of our society. I hopeJoe Bates:Peter, what do you think?Peter DiMaggio:I always have two words. Do you know, stole the first, which was flexibility? The second one I'll throw in is, is comfort. People are going to expect more from their buildings because they're comfortable in their home and they know they could be there. So the two things about coming to the office are first. What is your reason for being there? And I have a reason now I expect to have a view or, you know, I can open my window and get fresh air. So I think that was already coming. But I think the pressure on the design community is going to be huge to be comfortable in the office.Joe Bates:Arathi, I'm going to give you the last word here today. What's going to be different 10 years,Arathi Gowda:No pressure with all of these superstars. But I do think that to Kate's point, you know, the future, there's going to be a multiplicity. We don't know, but I mean, when do you know that we have an aging population? So health is going to continue to be top of mind. And Joe, you said it, well, that it's going to be, this is not something that we're going to forget tomorrow is going to be a generation of us being very mindful. But we also have the climate eight ball. So I think that there is in 10 years, I hope that both of these things have more of a symbiotic relationship as compared to what they've been in the past, where we've been exclusively efficiency and exclusively health. And that's been, I think, really damaging to the engineering of our buildings that it's like, it was never both when, when it was always one or so I'm, I'm pretty hopeful that we're looking at these solutions that are really quite clever and bring the costs down.Arathi Gowda:They become more ubiquitous. And they look at that nexus of efficiency in health. And I think there's a lot of things that are really quite exciting now, too. It's like all dirty. And everyone's talking about this filtration humidity, like very aggressively, and we've been circling the drain on that for a long time. And I think we're getting very serious right now. You know, Peter, even to your point about comfort, it's like, well, you know, we, we had because of code because of liability, but now we're getting serious in our forums about, okay, come on. Like what's, what's going to be the best thing. And I think that's the part where it's, it's really fun and geeky, and it's fun to hang out with engineers on those topics. So I'm very hopeful that people will come. What are the good conclusions?Joe Bates:Yeah. All right. Well, thank you to all our panelists day after he's going to have a final goodbye here for us, but earthy Peter, Kate Dino, and Kevin. Thanks for fielding those questions for us as well. Daphne back to you.Daphne Bryant:Thanks, Joe. And thank you for joining us today. Thank you to our panelists and our donors for making this session possible. Lots of great information and giving us something to think about. We have a short evaluation that we will send you this afternoon. So please share your experience with us and be sure to join us on July 16th for our next session funding and the new normal, have a great afternoon and stay well. 

Are Dogs Right or Left Pawed? Comedian Jo Anne Worley reveals new research that answers the age-old question, "Can dogs have a preferred paw just like humans are left or right handed." Listen Now Your Pet's Bucket List Lauren Watt created a bucket list for her terminally ill dog. She posted it on Yahoo and never expected the response. It went viral. Simon and Schuster asked her to write a book about her dog 160lb Mastiff, Gizelle. She has advice on preparing a bucket list for your pet when the time comes? Listen Now Day Care Uses Shock Collar Without Owner's Permission A Chicago man says he was concerned to find an electric shock, anti-bark collar around his dog's neck when he picked her up from pet daycare. The owner says there was big box on the side of the collar and that box was almost directly on her throat. The owner of the Posh Pet Day Spa stated "it was put on the dog by accident because he and his daughter both use the collars on their own dogs." Apparently the daycare center also sells the collars. Listen Now Pit Bull Service Dog Helps Fainter It's not often that you see the much maligned Pit Bull as a service dog. In fact, while the breed is banned in Denver, the American Disabilities Act makes Rachel McClennan's Pit Bull, Sally, exempt from the ban. Rachel has a neurological disability that makes her faint. Generally, these kinds of service animals can smell chemical changes in a person’s body that indicates a seizure or loss of consciousness may occur, giving the patient time to prepare. Listen Now Scammer Asks For Ransom To Return Lost Pets Can you even imagine losing your pet then getting a ransom note? Detectives in Hot Springs Arkansas are tracking a person who has tried to collect ransom payments from three pet owners who lost their animals. The scam's first victim was a woman who trains horses. Her cat, Orange, disappeared from the racetrack in the middle of February. After five weeks of waiting for a response to all of her lost and found ads and posters, she received a text message from a man claiming to have their cat. Animal Radio News Director Lori Brooks has the story and tips to avoid being scammed. Listen Now Read more about this week's show.

My guest this week is Emily Cerda, a Board-Certified Nutrition Specialist with a LDN in the State of Maryland. Emily has an MS in Nutrition and Integrative Health from Maryland University of Integrative Health where she supports students in graduate-level Physiology and Pathophysiology when she is not busy with her private practice. Her passion for food and nutrition stems from her son's diagnosis with multiple severe food allergies and her determination to see him thrive in the face of this challenge. Emily is passionate about the need for individualized nutrition and dreams of mobilizing an army of practitioners to cater to the integrative needs of this community. In this episode, Emily and I discuss concepts and strategies to help parents navigate food allergies and food sensitivities while sharing ways they can directly impact children's behavior and development. Emily provides direction on testing and diagnosis, anaphylactic responses and provides invaluable tips on how parents can advocate for their children and empower them to make safe independent decisions with their food allergies as they transition into their teenage years and beyond. To learn more about Emily Cerda click here.   Episode Highlights Food Reactions and Behavior Connection  Food allergy = an immediate response in health or behavior  This immediate shift can be seen in a behavioral response, anaphylactic response, or even a histamine-based response visible via a runny nose, clearing of throat, or hives on the skin Food intolerance or food sensitivity Can/may show up days later after ingesting something the body is sensitive or intolerant to   Testing and Diagnosis Start with a board-certified allergist  That allergist will then usually do a skin prick or blood test The gold-standard is to do an oral food challenge in office with the practitioner present in case a negative reaction occurs Results are not always precise - they take time, elimination testing and lots of patience   Anaphylactic Response  Allergic reaction that constricts your airways from a swollen tongue or throat Other symptoms include: weak and rapid pulse, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, low blood pressure, skin reactions (hives, itching, flushed and/or pale skin) These reactions can be immediately life-threatening Immediate use of an epinephrine auto-injector is vital, as well as, a visit to the emergency room to ensure safety and possible preparation for a second reaction called - biphasic anaphylaxis   Supporting Your Child's Independence with Allergies  As your children age, advocacy and awareness must occur as they venture into independence in handling their food allergies outside of their safe places Transitions from elementary to middle school or middle school to high school when labels and bullying can arise can cause children to stray from communicating their allergy needs not wanting to stand out as “different” Modeling good awareness and inclusiveness on part from the adults is crucial Advocating for your child within school setting  Section 504 plans- part of the American Disabilities Act provides an avenue for students who may have a diagnosed medical condition that requires accommodations but does not rise to the level of qualifying them as a special education student IEP process - for those who qualify as a student with a disability for the purpose of their schooling    Raising and Feeding Children with Food Allergies  Simplify first Instead of looking to replace go-to meals or packaged snacks that do not have an allergy-free alternative, look to what whole foods you can start with to create easy, simple meals for the entire family Batch cooking more than what you will eat in one day so that there are some hearty leftovers for snacks or later meals Pre-cut fruits and vegetables always on hand  Double checking your ingredients always - even in organic processed foods and foods you have consistently purchased (companies change up ingredients with zero warning!) Empowering your children in the process and teaching them what to look out for so they are equipped for safety   Integrative Approach  Looking from an integrative approach allows parents to use essentials to help them tackle their children's food allergies Re-framing, empowerment, stress control, resilience building and the teaching of basic kitchen skills and cross-contamination rules The integrative approach will always look to resolve underlying inflammation and will always stay on top of gut health    Where to learn more about Emily Cerda... Thrive Inside Nutrition Thrive Inside Nutrition on Facebook Instagram: @thriveinside Connect with Dr. Nicole Beurkens on... Instagram Facebook Drbeurkens.com   Need help with improving your child's behavior naturally?  My book Life Will Get Better is available for purchase, click here to learn more.  Looking for more? Check out my Blog and the Better Behavior Naturally Parent Program - a resource guide for parents who want to be more effective with improving their child's behavior.  Interested in becoming a patient? Contact us here.

В очередном выпуске AppsCast мы пригласили сразу двух гостей из Додо Пиццы - Михаила Рубанова, iOS разработчика делающего доступные интерфейсы приложения для слабовидящих людей и Армена Хатаяна, который занимается тестированием доступности применяя свой опыт незрячего. Мы обсудили зачем и кому нужна доступность, на сколько сильно эта тема развита в разных странах и приложениях, как подойти правильно к реализации с технической и пользовательской сторон, какие частые ошибки бывают в реализации и как применять практики заботы о людях с ограничениями у себя в компании. Не забывайте подписываться на подкаст, ставить лайки, делать репосты и, конечно же, заходить в чат в Telegram t.me/AppsCastChatter для обсуждения выпусков. Материалы выпуска: American Disabilities Act - https://adata.org/learn-about-ada Web Content Accessibility Guidelines - https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/ Группа людей с ограничениями в фейсбуке - https://www.facebook.com/groups/dostupnaya.sreda/ Лекция «Accessibility on iOS» на WWDC 2014 - https://developer.apple.com/wwdc14/210 Applevis and article with code examples - https://applevis.com/guides/tips-taking-full-advantage-voiceover-your-app

Today, I am talking to Gwenn Aspen of Anequim, which offers remote assistant, Rent Manager call center, and Rent Manager software consulting services. Also, Gwenn and her husband, Jeremy, own the Wistar Group, a property management company. You’ll Learn... [04:40] How helping a friend, helped property management companies hire employees. [05:20] Currently, 150 employees in Mexico work remotely for property management companies in the United States and Canada. [06:25] Connections and Relationships: Life is all about taking care of and looking out for those you know and love. [06:50] Internal References and Cultural Differences: Holding each other accountable results in low turnover/high retention. [08:20] Managers Managing Remotely: If you manage someone who works remotely, get to know them as a human being. [10:51] Webcam: Teams founded on trust and transparency should be seen and heard. [14:50] For better or worse, Anequim and Wistar Group are unique and original company names that could be patented to prevent being sued. [16:45] Finding a Good Fit: Anequim helps potential clients identify things that they don’t like to do and give them to someone who does. [20:51] Time vs. Energy: Avoid burnout by identifying what fills or drains your energy. [22:20] Onboarding Training: Includes four ways to not die in property management. [26:12] Vetting Team Members: Extensive process of selecting candidates for clients. [29:47] Working in Mexico: No background checks possible or databases available. [34:09] Progress, not Perfection: Help property managers move forward and feel confident in making a commitment. [38:21] Anequim Structure: Assistants, solution agents, and others handle 1,200 units. [42:36] Every business needs systems: Planning, process, documentation, and communication. Tweetables Power of the Webcam with Virtual Teams: Just be there, and be seen. Time and Attention: A manager’s most important resources; use them wisely. Word to the Wise: Keep your clothes on when training employees. Our job is to make sure people are happy with their candidates. Resources Anequim Gwenn Aspen on Facebook Gwenn Aspen’s Email Wistar Group DGS 76: Outsourcing Rules for Small, Medium and Large Companies with Todd Breen of VirtuallyinCredible First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently Zoom Myers–Briggs Type Indicator Fair Housing Act Americans with Disabilities Act Culture Index Traction by Gino Wickman SweetProcess Process Street Basecamp Help Scout Intercom Management Time: Who's Got the Monkey? DoorGrowClub Facebook Group DoorGrowLive DoorGrow on YouTube DoorGrow Website Score Quiz Transcript Jason: Welcome, DoorGrow hackers to the DoorGrow Show. If you are a property management entrepreneur that wants to add doors, make a difference, increase revenue, help others, impact lives, and you are interested in growing your business and life, and you are open to doing things a bit differently, then you are a DoorGrow hacker. DoorGrow hackers love the opportunities, daily variety, unique challenges, and freedom that property management brings. Many in real estate think you're crazy for doing it, you think they’re crazy for not because you realize that property management is the ultimate high-trust gateway to real estate deals, relationships, and residual income. At DoorGrow, we are on a mission to transform property management businesses and their owners. We want to transform the industry, eliminate the BS, build awareness, change perception, expand the market, and help the best property management entrepreneurs win. I’m your host, property management growth expert, Jason Hull, the founder and CEO of DoorGrow. Now, let’s get into the show. Today's guest, I'm hanging out with the fabulous Gwenn Aspen of Anequim. Gwenn, welcome to the show. Gwenn: Oh my gosh, thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here. Jason: I'm excited to have you. It's really fun hanging out with you in the green room and you were showing me your nerd glasses. Gwenn: That I carry around with me everywhere I go because there's always a need. They’re literally nerd glasses, you guys. They're from Hobby Lobby, I got them for an event I had to go to because we were revenge of the nerds and I bring them everywhere because that's how nerdy I really am. But we can have fun too, we can be fun nerds. Right, Jason? Jason: Yes. Maybe. It's probably possible. A lot of people think I wear all these weird, different glasses especially the orange ones. People notice I wear this orange glasses and they always come up to me and they think I'm trying to be so cool. Their like, "Why are you wearing this glasses? Are you trying to be Bono?" Which is funny because Bono wears them to block blue light, right? He's not wearing them just to be cool but he is cool. Way cooler than me. Then I go into this diatribe of why I wear them and how they block blue light and how it helps set my biorhythm patterns, helps me get good sleep, and then they’re just sorry they asked. Gwenn: Well, that's what’s in your nerd shows Jason. Jason: And then they realized they are nerd glasses, so they realize I'm a nerd. Gwenn: Yes, because they bring out your inner nerd when you wear them and people ask about them. Jason: Yeah. So, I got some less orange ones. This are my nerd glasses. This make me look a little bit smarter. Gwenn: I think they look good. I like them a lot. Jason: They're a little yellow to them but I don't have the tape. I have to get the tape and maybe add the tape at some point just to look more nerdy. Alright Gwenn, let's get into this. Give us a little bit background, so you run this company doing remote assistance from Mexico and you said they're not virtual assistance because they're not robots, right? Gwenn: Right. No. They're not. Jason: You manage Rent Manager, the property management back office. You manage Rent Manager's call center, so you have a call center for Rent Manager people. Gwenn: We do. Jason: Then you also have Wistar Group which is a property management company in Omaha, Nebraska. Gwenn: Yes. That's all true. My husband and I started Wistar Group back in 2006 so we've been doing this for a long time. In 2008, a friend of his called him from Mexico because he lived in Mexico before I knew him for five years doing something totally different, transportation and logistics. The friend called and she said, "You think the economy is bad in the United States? Well, you should come down to Mexico. Things are really bad down here and I lost my job. Is there any way I could work for you in some capacity from home?" Because it wasn't only about the economy, but it was pretty dangerous at that time and my husband is the most loyal person you'll ever meet, for better or worse. That's right when VoIP phones came out so we sent one down to her, we figured how to make it work and she started answering the calls for Wistar Group—at that time, it was called Certified Property Management. She's taking the calls and it works awesome. We love it. She loves it. It's great. Then we just started, as we grew, hiring all her friends for all the other jobs that we had. We just operated like that because it works for us for many years and then in 2016, our friends from Boutique Property Management in Denver, we were hanging out with them and they're like, "Hey, this Mexico thing is working out great for you guys. Can you hook us up with people from Mexico?" I was like, "Sure." Then I got them some employees from Mexico and they loved it. My husband and I were like, "Maybe we can help more property managers with this," and so it grown like wildfire since then and now we have almost 150 employees in Mexico working for property management companies across the U.S. and Canada. It's just a win-win for everyone and it's just so exciting and I love my job so much. Jason: Okay, great. This sounds very similar to [inaudible 00:05: 37] who we had in the show except they do the thing in the Philippines. It sounds like a very similar sort of etymology or story behind how you got into this and it really was filling your own need and starting by helping a friend and it grew into helping all these different property managers. That's the interesting thing I've heard from those that have Mexican staff is that they hire one and all of a sudden, all their family and friends start becoming team members too. Gwenn: Yeah. Jason: That must be a culturally different thing, I think with Mexico versus the Philippines. I think they are both very family-oriented, but I think there's something about Mexico that they're like, "Hey, hire my brother." Or, "Hire this family member," and they're connecting people. Gwenn: Oh my gosh. Yeah, the connections that they have, don't we all love that? Isn't that what life is all about? Is connections and taking care of the people that you love, that you know. It's just yet another thing to love about all the people I know in Mexico, is just how much they care for one another and have each other's back and then also hold each other accountable. That's the other things are that we grow a lot through internal references from one employee to another. If someone has a problem and they were the one who referred them, man. They hear it from the other employee. I mean there are that many cultural differences, but that's been a fun one. It really ends up keeping the turnover really low because they are happy, our employees work from home, and they love it, that's a huge advantage. They have this great connection with each other and we have Christmas parties. We're going to have a summer picnic with everybody. It's added a lot of richness to my life, just getting to know the employees as well. Jason: I was going to bring that up. A while back, I read a book called First, Break All the Rules. I believed it's pulled up by the Gallup Organizations that does the pulling. They did a whole bunch of surveying companies trying to figure out what makes a really good team and what creates retention with the team. One of the number one indicators of retention whether somebody was going to stay in the company was whether they have a friend in the business or somebody they are connected to personally on the team. So, that makes a lot of sense. It increases retention, significantly. Gwenn: I would say that's our job. If we’re going to hire someone remotely, if we’re the managers of this person, it's imperative that you get to know them as a human being to get that retention and to get that buy-in and to get them on your same mission going in the same direction. I feel like I know you much better right now just because we are in a Zoom Conference and that doing what with cam... Jason: Now, we're totally homies because we are in Zoom. Gwenn: Yeah, now we’re homies and we have the nerd glasses together, I mean. Those little things add to the relationship so if you make a point, I only communicate with people from Mexico using webcam because we have this amazing connection then and we feel like we know each other better. If you use a webcam, I swear it makes all the difference and getting buy-in from a remote employee. Jason: I absolutely agree. I've done a lot of remote hiring in the past and there's a huge difference, but it got to a point where eventually, I have a policy in our company called the Webcam Policy and everyone is required to have a webcam to be on the team and to communicate and show up and turn on the camera when we do meetings because it ended up being, at one point I remember showing up having team meetings and there's 5-10 people without their webcams on and there's just me putting on the show. Gwenn: I love that. I don't have an official policy, but not that you said it, I'm adding it. But I also have another employee from a totally different industry, he did a lot in banking and he was told to never have his webcam on. It was such a cultural dissonance when he came on the team because we were like, "Put your camera on. I can't see you. I don't know what you're doing. I need to see you." It was hard for him. It's good if you're somebody who requires webcams and state it at the beginning because some people, it takes them a while to get used to it. Jason: Yeah. It is a part of my onboarding process that they have to review the webcam policy and read it. Do you want me to tell you some of it here? Gwenn: Yeah. I think it's so important because whether you do remote employees from Mexico, whether you have someone in the Midwest, you know a lot of people hire people from rural Nebraska to work for their company because it's a lot less expensive. Jason: Alright. I'm going to share an internal secret here. Gwenn: Understanding the power of a webcam is crucial for the relationship working in my opinion. Jason: Alright. Here's our webcam policy for those listening. We are a team founded on the values of trust and transparency. It is important in a virtual team to be able to see one another on our virtual meetings since we often can't meet directly in person. As a team, we don't care about your hair, makeup, clothes, etc.during internal meetings. Just be there. Not having a webcam during internal meetings can feel like talking with someone behind a reflective window. It causes humans to try to assume and guess too much because they lack nonverbal cues we have evolved to rely on. Why address this? And then in bullets: to promote an environment of trust and transparency, to improve the efficiency of company communications and shorten meetings by effectively communicating with the full spectrum of verbal facial expressions and nonverbal cues, to reduce multitasking, right? Because they [...], they're like, "Oh yeah. I'm listening." Gwenn: Right. Totally. Jason: To reduce the anxiety of those speaking on camera, and then having the expectation. It is expected that all team members will join OpenPotion, that's our corporation, virtual meetings on video in order to fully engage in team and one-on-one meetings, this promotes collaboration on multiple levels and it allows each individual to feel heard as they see and receive nonverbal cues from their peers. This also increases productivity and reduces anxiety as ideas are better understood when they're coupled with facial expressions, gestures, and other forms of nonverbal communication. When meeting with clients, we appreciate you doing your best to make yourself and your background presentable, but that is not required. We just want you fully present and visible. Then I have a quote and it says, "The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn't said," Peter Drucker. Gwenn: Oh, I love it. I love it although I would push back on the not caring what you look like because I've had people show up, not very often, but I had a guy and he looked like he'd just been to the club, and just rolled out of bed, and I was like, "Man." Also, you have to know your audience. We have a screenshot and keystroke that we record of everyone that's working for us while they're working not when they're not. We had one guy who was at a webcam conference and he had his hat sideways and my assistant was like, "Is that okay?" If you live in California that might be okay, but if you're with an older team in Omaha and you have your cap on sideways, it just might not work. I was like, "No. They're in California. It's totally fine." She was like, "Oh, okay." You have got to know your audience, better know your audience. Jason: I think it all boils down to what the entrepreneur wants though too. Before the call, I'd ask you what your Myers-Briggs Type was and you're an ENTJ, so you've got that J in the end. Gwenn: So, I’m Judgy? That means I'm judgy, right? Jason: Yeah. You're judgy which means you're a planner. You want things done a certain way. This details matter to you. I'm a P so I'm all over the place. I'm a bit more open-minded and I love taking you Js and cracking you open a little bit to expose you to some things you weren't exposed to before. Gwenn: I need people like you in my life too because I can't be too in the box. It's so nice to have that fresh [...]. Jason: J from the box for sure. Ps have no box and Js look at us like we're crazy. Some of the Ps that are perceiving, that's what the P stands for, they will take in things from all different sources, all different ideas, and to most Js, that's being so open-minded, their brain is falling out. It's how Js kind of view us sometimes but we need each other. All these other different types. I definitely need Js on my team to run my email, handle my calendar, do all the planning stuff that is not fun for me. You do this virtual team thing, how does somebody start with you if they come to you and they're like, "Hey, Anequim." First, where did that name came from? What does this name mean? Gwenn: I'm going to give you the real answer. We used to be a certified property management and then [...] wanted to sue us because they were like, "We have a certified property manager distinction," or whatever. Jason: Designation. Gwenn: Designation. We were like, “Well, we wanted to rebrand anyway,” because we started from nothing and took any piece of garbage that had a roof on it and then as time went on we became more sophisticated, and wanted to take out nicer properties, but in the local market, we were the low end. We already were going to rebrand, but we didn't want to get sued or threatened of a lawsuit again, so we were like, "We have to have something that's totally unique." Well, it's very hard you guys. It's so hard to find something completely unique. My husband's a pilot for fun and so he loves this airplane called Anequim and it means mako shark in Portuguese, anyway that was like a word we could use that was unique. We got Anequim and then Wistar Group. Wistar is my middle name and they were unique enough that my best friend who is a patent attorney approved them. For better or worse we're Anequim and Wistar Group. Jason: There you go. Alright. Portuguese mako shark. Gwenn: It's also an airplane. Jason: Which has nothing to do with Mexico whatsoever. They don't even speak Spanish. Gwenn: But I'm not going to get sued for it, so you know. Jason: No, it's perfect. It's a unique and original name which is helpful in branding, right? Okay, cool. Now, how does somebody get started with you guys. Somebody comes to you and say, "Hey, I’ve got a problem." How do you know that you can help them? Because I'm sure there are clients that you don't take on and there are clients that aren’t a good fit. Gwenn: There are. In fact, there were two clients yesterday that called me and I was like, "You know what? I think you guys just need to wait for a minute." And that is my thing. We don't sell. We try to make a relationship because if I sell you and then it doesn't work for you, then it creates a lot of heartache and drama for me because I want the person in Mexico to be happy and I want the person in the United States to be happy. What happened yesterday was, this one guy was buying another company, and they already had two employees there, but he hadn't really worked with them yet. I was like, "Hmm." He was going to be managing 400 properties. I felt like his people count was good enough for 400 properties, so I said, "Just take on these two new people. Measure processes and procedures together, make sure it works, and then when you get a handle on them then call me." He was like, "Okay. That's a better idea. That's what I'm going to do." If you call me and it's not going to work for you, I might tell you to do a few things first. Then the other guy called me and I thought again that his head count was already too high. I thought you could make more efficiencies in his software because a lot of people only use 5% of the software that they have purchased. If you have five really expensive employees and 400 units, I kind of think you should work on being more efficient first with your software and then call me. Jason: Yeah, right. Gwenn: Unless, you’re going to transition things—but these were obviously, longer conversations, I'm giving you the shortened versions—so if someone calls me and they're like, "No. I need somebody. I'm working my butt off and I need some relief." Then we'll talk about a job description first because I need to find the right person for this role. I need to know what kind of tasks you want. For instance, if you want someone to be doing a lot of cold calling then that's going to be a different person than someone's who's going to be helping you associate the right invoices with the right property and the right owner, right? We have to make sure we have a good job description. Also, your training is going to be better, it’s going to be a smoother onboarding process if you are really clear about what your needs are. Now, a lot of people will call me and they are just overwhelmed and they'll just be like, "I need a personal assistant." A lot of the times I push back on the personal assistant and I say, "Why do you need a personal assistant?" And they'll be like, "I just hate taking the phone calls. " I say, "Okay. Well, let's find someone to take your phone calls." Really, if you want a personal assistant because you are overwhelmed, think about the things that you hate doing that don't bring you joy, that don't fill you up, and let's give those to someone who's a better fit for those roles, that loves doing those things. Usually, it starts with a conversation about what the pain point is and what people really need, who they already have in their team, and what software they are using. We come up with a plan that would actually help them get what they want. That's kind of my goal. It maybe me, it may not be me, but my goal because I come from the property management world is just to prevent burnout from whoever's calling me. Whatever that looks like. Jason: Yeah, so you're helping them a little bit “KonMari” their time, right? Gwenn: Yes. Jason: And you we're talking about that before. Gwenn: Oh my gosh. Well, I love that. Maybe I should use that, but you have so many things that you have to do. Some people are coaches and that's really important to them, their property managers, and their families. Your time and attention are two of your most important resources and everyone on your team needs you to be using those wisely if you’re the one steering the boat. Jason: Yeah. I'm a big fan or proponent of energy management over time management... Gwenn: Yes. Jason: ...and really identifying what energies you as an entrepreneur versus what drains you because we really afford doing the things that energizes us, we have an endless amount of energy. Like our life and our businesses fills us but if we are doing things that drain us, burnout sets in and it's inevitable, it becomes really difficult. I think it's really important for people to pay attention to their time and what really is giving them momentum. I tell property managers all the time, “Anything that's been sitting on your to-do list for more than a few weeks, you're probably not the person that should be doing it. Let's be honest.” Gwenn: Right. Absolutely. There are people like, you and I we are just talking about how our personalities are different. Find someone who you like working with. Who you enjoy spending time with because it isn't actually an employee essentially just living far away that compliments you and can do the things that you struggle doing. Our role is to help people do that and we also train them on the first day so I have very high anxiety. I take care of things that make me anxious. I always go over the four ways people can die in property management on the first day, carbon monoxide poisoning, natural gas explosion, fire, and a technician being mistaken as an intruder and getting shot, and the importance of asking permission to enter. Those are four things we go over, which is really funny because when we turn over the training to the client, my assistant will always be like, "So, what did you learn in training?" And they're like, "How not to die in property management." The clients are like, "What?" I mean, I told them that we were going to talk about that with the agents but people forget and they're caught off guard. Jason: Four ways to die. Gwenn: Four ways to die, but those are really, really important and it really does happen. And our industry, there's been a number of deaths that we're all aware of, and so it's really important whether you're going to hire someone remotely or not to really discuss what bad things can happen, and how to make sure they don't happen in on-boarding training. The other thing we cover is Fair Housing and American Disabilities Act. That really should be trained every year if that's not on people's schedules for training. Domestically, I don't do this with the remotes, but domestically at our property management company, the other one is sexual harassment prevention training. We have a 70-year-old sales guy and then we have a 21-year-old front office lady. When you have multi-generational employees especially what they think is appropriate is totally different. It's important to discuss that because people aren't trying to be jerks, and they're not trying to be bad people, and they're not trying to offend anyone, it's just that what was totally appropriate in 1950 to talk about in the workplace is different. Also, on the 21-year-old side. I mean, 21-year-old sometimes think everyone's their best friend and they’re hanging out at the bar and it's not true. Having that conversation at the beginning of a relationship with any employee is important. Jason: Okay. Fair Housing and Disabilities Act, sexual harassment training, and four ways to die in property management. Gwenn: Yeah. If you're going to be using webcam, here's another thing. I did have a client who thought that it's totally appropriate to train his new employee without any clothes on, so a word to the wise, keep your clothes on if you are going to be training somebody. People, sometimes just don't know, they just don't know. I'm sure it was hot, it was summer, maybe went out to the pool and came back. It was really not okay. It's another thing to keep in mind. Jason: Policies improve overtime. You know there's something interesting if my webcam policies say, "Don't be naked." It doesn't say that yet. We haven't had that come up yet, but if it does happen, we'll definitely have that in. Gwenn: Yeah. Jason: Yeah. Gwenn: I mean, I had no idea that's going to be an issue but... Jason: Right. You never know until it happens. I think that's how all of the property management contracts evolved over time. Like, "Oh, this one's a weird new situation. Let's avoid that in the future and write that into our contract." Gwenn: Right. Jason: Okay. Somebody comes to you, you start them with some of these things, how are you vetting these Mexican employees, these team members? What are some of the things you go through to ensure that you're getting a good match, you're finding somebody who's really a good fit for a position? Help those that are listening feel safer using Anequim to find them a team member. Gwenn: Sure. The first thing is that they have to fill out an application and upload a video of themselves speaking in English about their hobbies. You find out a lot about people when they think it's appropriate in a video to say about their hobbies and how good their English level is. It also demonstrates that they have some technological ability because they have to upload a video. Jason: Right. Gwenn: We get rid of a lot of applicants right there. If they make it through those two steps, then we have them take a personality test. We use the Culture Index, and the Culture Index indicates whether people have detail orientation or not. Generally speaking, unless I'm hiring for marketing position or outside sales or something, we are going to need detail orientation. We look for that. There are few personality types that we just don't hire at all and we also have a logic-emotional continuum. Anyone who's really low on logic also not pass to the next level. After that if the make it there then they do an initial interview and it's a pretty tough interview. Ensures they have the qualifications and the seriousness that we are looking for. Generally, the pool of candidates that we are looking for have worked previously for a large corporation. So, in the towns where we primarily source our candidates, they work for Nissan or GE or Hewlett-Packard or TATA Consulting, and there's some really big names where they've already one through a lot of the training that you wouldn't need to train a brand new person on. But they've already been through it so they know how to talk on the phone, they know how to deal with conflict in a professional manner, and they know how to write an email. We do benefit from all that corporate training many of our folks have already been through. Jason: Okay. Gwenn: If they make it through the interview then we are going to start calling their references and just make sure those show up well. After that, our clients, if they've made it through all the interviews, we’ve decided this person is worth this amount of money. We have a paying scale based on education level, work experience and we know what kind of job they would fit into then we match them with our clients we have who are looking. The clients get to look at three different candidates, and see if this is a cultural fit for them and if this is someone that's going to work on their team, and that they're going to feel comfortable with on a day to day basis. We always do the interviews in threes. Hopefully, we do our job well enough on the first three know exactly who we want, but if you want to do another round, our job is to make sure people are happy with their candidates. The one negative about working in Mexico—and this is going to be with a lot of the country that you would source from—background checks, it's not the same, there's no government database and even if there was it probably won't be accurate in the way that you and I would expect, so there's no background check policy or way to even do that if you wanted to. We rely a lot on internal references and those networks or people want to give us their best friend and then they internally hold them accountable as well. Jason: Yeah. Gwenn: We haven't had any issues with it, but I would suggest with anyone working remotely, you manage your privileges and your software. Rent Manager allows me to obscure social security numbers, credit card numbers, and we have a policy that nobody working from home has access to those, and you have to be in the office if you are going to be taking credit cards or looking at social security numbers. If you have good tight privileges, you don't really have much to worry about by hiring someone remote, and it's just a good policy anyway. Jason: Yeah. Alright. That is kind of the match making process. Gwen: Mmm-hmm. Jason: Then once they pick a candidate, what's the transition like this on the onboarding sort of process and how far does Anequim gets involved? Because I know some property managers are not probably used to having a virtual team member, they are probably going to make some mistakes, they might just say, "Hey, this virtual stuff doesn't work. I don't get it." How do you ensure that the transition is going to be healthy? Gwenn: First of all, we try to get a good plan on before we even get to that place. We have documents on ideal first two weeks of training and talk to them about what that process looks like, talk to them about technology, what kind of phones do you use. We recommend that you listen to calls if you're going to have someone who's the face of your company, and you're not going to be able to overhear them when you walk in the office. Here's a form on monitoring calls and here's the portal so you can see their screenshot and their keystrokes. We try to do all of that before the commitment takes place. Talk about what that looks like, so that when the commitment like, "Yes. I want to move forward," happens they've seen in their minds, "I kind of have an idea what this looks like." We don't want for either the client or the agent to get to a place where it's the first day and they just look at each other in webcam and go, "Okay, what do I do now?" We try to avoid that situation as much as possible, which is why we’re not trying to hard sell anyone. We want someone to be committed to the process and feel somewhat confident. Obviously, you're going to be a little bit nervous if you've never done this before, but that's why we are here to hold your hand, and give you that documentation and talk you through it so that you feel more confident before it actually happens. But then, on the handover meeting you're going to get all of them setup on their computers. You're going to get them to know everybody on your office, taking the laptop around and you're going to say, "Tell us something that people don't know about you." Or, "What are you grateful for today?" You know, a little icebreaker and then you'll get into the tasks. The great thing about working with Mexico is that they're on your time zone. Do you have to be perfect? Do you have to have the perfect documentation? No. Because like any other employee that you hire, you can just say, "Okay. I'm going to show you how to do this." They know it should be written down but it's not, "But you're going to help me write it down because I never had time to do this before. Here's the software where were writing it down. Here's how you're going to get a screenshot using Snagit. I'm going to video record myself going through this process and then make it a pretty process for me and then when it's done and it's all pretty, then you're going to do it." That's possible. Some people are further along in their processes and procedures than others, but by no means you have to have things perfect to move forward to the remote assistance. Jason: Yeah. The Myers-Briggs people with Js a lot of times get really caught up to being perfect before they move forward. They're like, " I have to have every process documented before I could grow my business." Gwenn: No, that's not the real world. I would say progress not perfection, right? I mean, you have to move forward. I'm reading this great book called the Billionaire Coach or the Trillionaire Coach, I think is what’s it called. It's really good. It's on my audible right now. But the guy is like, "Okay. Once you have things down, you have to go, and you have to go fast." I think that sometimes the people who are really into perfection lose sight of go, go fast, so it's always that balancing act. If you're not good at processes and procedures then hire someone to help you do that and just show them on in a video and say, " Okay, for the next three hours you're going to write this down. Okay? Then I'll check in on you in three hours and see how you're doing." Jason: Yeah. Gwenn: That's totally okay. Jason: I like that. Progress over perfection, so what I teach clients is, "Done is better than perfect." It's very similar. Gwenn: It is. Jason: Done is better than perfect. Get it done, you can always redo it later. You can make it better the second time around but having something is better than not having it. The other thing that I'll throw out there, sometimes is that perfect businesses are out of business. So, don't try to make everything so perfect before you move forward. It's the businesses that fail, that make mistakes, that rapidly prototype, that try stuff out and see what doesn't work, they're the ones that move forward faster. Gwenn: And when you have that hard day where things really did fall apart then just go back to the values. Like, "Okay, it fell apart, but I'm suring it up as a value, as a person with values. So, what does that look like?" If you have your values strong and you’re connected to them then when you mess up, if you just go back to that, you'll be fine. Jason: Right. Gwenn: That's how I look at it at least. Jason: That's the foundation. Gwenn: Yeah. Jason: A really strong why and set of values for the business. That's what creates culture in a company. Well, cool. What are some of the questions that property managers ask you that I haven't asked yet? Some of the frequently asked questions, concerns, considerations. Gwenn: The main thing is the role. People are just like, "Okay, everyone's doing VA and I know I should be doing it because I'm just supposed to be more profitable than I am right now, but where the heck do I get started?" Usually, when people ask that, I just tell them because we've been doing this since 2008, how our company is organized because I do feel like we do remote labor as high of a level as you could. You might structure it slightly differently but just to give people an idea because the thing is in people's minds and eyes, they remember virtual assistance. They think, "I need my processes to be perfect. This is someone who can only do route activities, can't think outside the box." All of that is not true. These people from Mexico, can be, if we hire for it, highly educated. We even have some professors on the team. We have some attorneys on the team. Highly-educated people who most certainly are capable of thinking outside the box. Guadalajara, where we source a lot of the people, it's the tech capital of Mexico. When I go to the Christmas Party in Guadalajara, people are speaking Spanish, English, French, Portuguese. It's like an international gathering, like any European city that you'll be at or anything like that. Here's how we're structured. We have 1200 units that we manage. We have three customer service people residing in Mexico who take all the front line calls. We actually call them Solutions Agent instead of Customer Service Agents because they're job is to provide solutions. They don't just read from a script, but they can also talk to tenants about their statement and what it means, what's this maintenance service issue, maintenance charge is for, and help people break a lease, give them information about breaking a lease, changing roommates, tell them if they could have a puppy or not. Actually solve problems that give solutions. They also take all the maintenances services issue and troubleshoot. The great thing is that you don't have a PhoneTree when you call into our office. You just get a person which is a really good customer service. Most property management that I call have a PhoneTree and then you still can't get a hold of everybody. Thinking about what the experiences of an owner calling your main line, and what that feels like, maybe important in many of the markets that people are in. Once someone takes their phone call, any elevated issues will go to the assistant property manager. Let's just take a simple thing, it's not even elevated but like a service issue. We’ll go from customer service agent, we'll take everything from the service issue then it goes to what we call the virgin list, the assistant property manager review that—and we have three of those, by the way, one for each property manager has an assistant who's a true assistant—and they look at all the service issues that come in and decide whether our internal maintenance team can handle it or if it needs to go into a vendor. If it needs to go to a vendor then they're in charge of putting a budget on it, and based on the contract, whatever the owner wants, and then signing it to a vendor and then following up on that. If it goes to our internal team, then another woman in Mexico who's the Maintenance Dispatcher decide whose list it goes on out of the 15 maintenance people that we have. Her job is to manage those guys' schedules and make sure they're busy. Make sure they have work and make sure that they're going to a place that makes sense. Then other people that we have is accounting. We have two people in accounting and collections. They don’t just do accounting but they're also are like, "Why is this maintenance guy going to store three times in a day?" He's like actually analyzing the invoices and saying, "This price doesn't make any sense." We have two people there. We have Applications Underwriter who does the applications in Mexico as well and a marketing person in Mexico. I feel like I'm forgetting somebody. I think that's it. Jason: Anything on the sales BDM side? Gwenn: No. My market, we get a lot of business just coming in the door so we don't have a BDM. We have some sales people that are on a commission basis but we don't have an official BDM role. We actually decided not to get one this year which is weird because sales always pay for itself, but when we look at the numbers in our market, it didn't make sense to get someone at that price point. Instead we’re buying a company in another market and growing that way, but that deal's not totally done yet. Jason: Right. Gwenn: Those are the people that we have in Mexico. Internally, we have a front office lady, a leasing agent, operations manager, a maintenance manager, and right now, we only have two property managers. And then my husband runs the company and puts his finger in everything. That's pretty lean for 1200 units, it's pretty a lean shop. Jason: Yeah, that's really lean. Then you have a pretty decent process documentation, I would imagine as well. Gwenn: We use SweetProcess, where we house our processes and procedures and we’re kind of obsessed with it. We use EOS so we’re using the traction book. We've been doing that for 2 ½ years now and love it. That's how we stay organized and set our goals and priorities and make sure that we don't get lost in the day to day task and know where we’re going on a daily basis. Jason: Yeah. I think every business, eventually, as they evolve, they need a planning system which you had mentioned EOS. Every business also needs a process system, some system for documenting process and leveraging these processes. We use Process Tree internally, which works out really well. Gwenn: And I like Process Tree, but it's more expensive than SweetProcess. It depends on what your needs are, but I would recommend looking at both and determining what's better for your organization. But yeah, I like both those systems a lot. Jason: Every business needs some sort of communication system in the business as well. As a team, we use Basecamp as our communication platform to communicate internally, and then you need a client supporting communication system. A lot of people are using Help Scout or Intercom, or one of these knowledge based support systems. There's probably other systems. I'm forgetting off the top of my head, but business really need all these different systems in place. Once you have these systems in place, it facilitates and enables your team to really do well and communicate and understand where the company is headed and get in alignment with your vision and your goals. It's a big deal. Gwenn: Yes. There's a lot to take on, but again, people don't have to be perfect. Jason: Yeah. Gwenn: Because when you say that it's like, "Oh my god, that's so overwhelming." But it doesn't have to. Jason: One thing at a time. Yeah. Gwenn: One thing at a time, Yeah. Jason: Cool. Cool. Gwenn: That's why I like EOS though because it takes that overwhelming. The, "Oh my god we have 10 million things we have to do this year," and it forces you to say, "Okay. How much energy do we really have and what are the priorities out of my list of million things that I'm going to do in these three months?" It actually helps you get more of that done than you would if you just look at the long list. Jason: Yeah. It has an etymology that's very similar to a lot of business planning systems and most every business planning system has annual objectives, quarterly objectives, monthly, and these things break down and the idea is, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." Gwenn: Right. Jason: It’s like these elephants, you break them down in a 90 day, 30 days, and then even weekly commitments as a team. But a lot of business don't have any sort of planning system in place, so they're hitting zero objectives because they really don't really have any, and there's no clarity around it. They’re just winging it and the entrepreneur's, they're crazy. Entrepreneurs come into the room and says changes every week, "Hey, guys. I got this great idea." And they lob a grenade in the middle of the room, pull the pin and lob this grenade and walk out. They're excited and pumped out and the team are like, "What are we going to do with this thing?" Having those systems in place can be really helpful especially if you have virtual team members because then it makes a lot of difference for everybody to be on the same page. Gwenn: People, historically, have thought like, "Oh, were going to do all these planning and then we'll tell them later what we planned." But I recommend having the virtual team members in on all of those meetings. Jason: Yeah. Gwenn: Here's one tip that has really helped us. We have the three customer service agents. Every morning at 10 o'clock they meet with the Operations Manager and just say, "Oh, this person is out of the office today. They have a dentist appointment at 2:00 PM and it's whoever's birthday. Our swing thought for the day is people can hear you smile. In the call monitoring, I've noticed that there's not been so much smiling on there, so let's keep that in mind for today. Today's contest for online reviews, we’re still giving $50 certificates to anyone who gets an online review." Whatever you have going on and just touching base for 10 minutes a day makes all the difference for someone whose remote. When you have your weekly EOS meeting, include them and what you're talking about. If they feel included in the process and in your mission, people don't leave. We've had the same employees at Wistar Group for six, eight, I think, is it nine years. I think we have two employees who've been with us for nine years. Jason: Yeah. Gwenn: That's the key to getting the virtual or the remote members totally immersed in your culture. Jason: Yeah. They need to be a part of it, ironically, right? Gwenn: Absolutely. Jason: Yeah. I'm a big proponent of making sure that your team members are involved in outcomes instead of being micromanaged. Give them outcomes and let them innovate and you'll be surprised with what they can come up with. It might not be the way you would do it, it might be better. A lot of times, as entrepreneurs, we think we have it all figured out. We need to tell our team members, "Here are the steps. Do this exactly this way." When it comes to goal setting, goals are outcomes. Assign an outcome to somebody, let them own it, and I think you'll be surprised at the results they can create. Getting your team all involved in it, some of those meetings have been really eye opening for me because I had my set of ideas. I thought this is how the whole world looks and then I went around and asked my team members, "Here's this outcome. What ideas you guys have that can do it?" My graphic designer has a totally different idea than I would have. My head of fulfillment has totally different ideas than I would have. They bring this perspective and all these ideas were really good. I'm like, "Yes. We should do that, maybe not that, that one's great." I think you don't want to be the emperor with no clothes running a company. That's how you do that, is by allowing your team members to have a voice and be involved in the process. Gwenn: I love that. Actually, we teach a version of that on the first day of training. Its form this article that you can get on the internet called Who's Got the Monkey. Jason: Okay. Gwen: It's the number one reprinted article from the Harvard Business Review of all time. I only came across it out of massive failure years ago. Where I took my team members out to lunch and I thought they would tell me how much they love their job and they were like, "No! We don't love it. You guys never listen to us." I was like, "What?" They're like, "Yeah. We don't even bring up ideas to you anymore because you are never going to listen to them anyway." I was like, "Oh my god. This is terrible." I found the article on the internet and we came and have a change management process. We asked our team members to own their ideas. The first steps are people come to meeting and say, "Hey, not all ideas are good ideas, but here's my idea." That allows people to save face and be vulnerable and say what they're afraid to say in the meeting. Then they have to bring everything to the meeting—the subsequent meetings—to move the idea forward... Jason: Yeah. Gwenn: ...so that the decision maker can just say yay or nay. Sometimes, there's a little homework on the decision maker’s part, but we try to make it as minimal as possible. I take it from sale, in sales people are always eternally optimistic and they think everything's going to close. My way of determining if it's going to actually close or not is, "Is your name on the prospect’s calendar for another meeting? If it's not, then your deal is dead." Just black and white. Jason: Yeah. Gwenn: If it's not there, you can revive it, but you better get a meeting out there. Same thing with ideas, "If your name in this meeting is not on anyone else's calendar, your idea’s dead." Just know that because when people feel badly about their job, when they get vulnerable, they say it and their manager is like, "Oh, that's a great idea," and then they wait three months and nothing happens to it, that really hurts morale. Giving them the honest, "Hey, it’s not moving forward if there's not a meeting" Jason: Yeah. Gwenn: And having them own that helps give them agency over their idea. Jason: Yeah, I love it. Cool. Let's wrap this up, Gwenn. I think this has been really helpful. I think we talked about some really cool ideas. I think, hopefully, some listeners are a little bit more open to having some team members that are not sitting in their physical office. How can people get in touch with you if they are interested in learning more? Gwenn: Well, I'm on Facebook. If you want to send me a message at Gwenn W. Aspen, I'd love to meet you there. Additionally, we have a website anequim.net and you can fill out a form, we'll get right back to you there, or you can email me at gaspen@anequim.net. But we love to help people, and like I said, if you just want to bounce ideas off whether this is a good idea or not, we can talk about your specific situation. Jason: Awesome. Gwenn, thank you so much for coming into this show. Gwenn: Thank you, Jason. It's been so fun. I really appreciate you having me. Jason: Alright. We'll let you go now. Alright. Bye, Gwenn. Gwenn: Bye. Jason: So, there you have it. Check them out at anequim.net. For those that are listening for the first time or checking us out, we really appreciate you subscribing. If you’re listening on YouTube or watching on YouTube or listening on iTunes, we would appreciate—if you are on iTunes—you give us your feedback. We would love to hear your real and raw feedback. Again, give us a review on there. It will be really helpful especially if you liked the show. We would love that, that gets us excited. Then make sure you get inside our community which is doorgrowclub.com. This is a Facebook group where you get to hang out with other property management entrepreneurs, all the Door Grow Hackers, connect with us, and see future episodes. We livestream these episodes into that group so you won't miss a beat. Check us out there at doorgrowclub.com. If you are interested in growing your business then reach out to us doorgrow.com. We would love to help you and see if we can help you grow your business. Until next time everybody, to our mutual growth.

The Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) for Dutchess Country serves students from the 13 school districts in the County at its Salt Point Turnpike Campus with career and technical education, adult education, and special-needs education. It also provides an Alternative High School in an industrial park off the Dutchess Turnpike. But all of that is scheduled to be improved or changed after the December 11, 2018, vote in which 84% of Dutchess voters supported a $36.8 million capital improvement plan, the first in 50 years. In this RadioRotary program, BOCES District Superintendent Dr. Richard Hooley describes the current programs and plans for the future. Among other projects, BOCES will consolidate all its K-12 programs on one campus, improve campus security, address compliance with the American Disabilities Act, and enhance the existing facilities. Listen to the program to find out about everything available from adult nursing education to welding training. Learn more: Dutchess Country BOCES: https://dcboces.org/ New York State’s BOCES Programs: https://www.boces.org/ Career, Technical, and Adult Education: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/index.html CATEGORIES Dutchess County Education Literacy Vocational --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/radiorotary/support

This week's episode of The Geeks Geezers and Googlization will keep you speechless. Our guest Dr. Rich Pimentel shares his remarkable story from being pronounced dead at birth and "retarded" as a child to leading a movement that led to the passing of the American Disabilities Act. His life story, Music Within, was brought to the big screen in 2007. His most memorable quote is "government can bring back veterans, but employers are the only ones who can bring them home." Thank you Rich Pimentel.This show is broadcast live on Wednesday's at 1PM ET on W4CY Radio – (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (http://www.talk4radio.com/) on the Talk 4 Media Network (http://www.talk4media.com/).

Full Transcript Below Show Summary: In partnership with State Services for the Blind of Minnesota we are proud to present, PACER Center - Champions for Children with Disabilities: Self-Advocacy, Self-Awareness and the ADA - A Visit with PACER Center’s Transition Coordinator Deborah Leuchovius   Deborah sits down with Jeff Thompson of Blind Abilities in the fifth of a series of podcasts in partnership with PACER Center and State Services for the Blind. Be sure to check out all of the PACER series of podcasts.   Deborah talks about preparing youth for the responsibilities of adulthood and the protections of the ADA. How self-advocacy and self-awareness can help one self determine and understand their accommodation needs.   Join Deborah and Jeff in this informative podcast covering the history of the ADA, examples and the impact of the ADA and where you can learn more about the ADA and it’s importance during the transition years.   From the web: PACER Center enhances the quality of life and expands opportunities for children, youth, and young adults with all disabilities and their families, so each person can reach his or her highest potential. PACER operates on the principles of parents helping parents, supporting families, promoting a safe environment for all children, and working in collaboration with others. With assistance to individual families, workshops, materials for parents and professionals, and leadership in securing a free and appropriate public education for all children, PACER's work affects and encourages families in Minnesota and across the nation.   Contacts: You can find out more about PACER Center on the web at www.pacer.org You can reach pACER Center by phone at 952-838-9000   You can find out more about State Services for the Blind on the web at www.MN.Gov/Deed/SSB And by calling 651-539-2300 Live Learn Work and Play   Thank you for listening! You can follow us on Twitter @BlindAbilities On the web at www.BlindAbilities.com Send us an email Get the Free Blind Abilities Appon the App Store.   Full Transcript: Self-Advocacy, Self-Awareness and the ADA - A Visit with PACER Center’s Transition Coordinator Deborah Leuchovius Jeff Thompson: State Services for the Blind in Minnesota presents PACER Center, Champions for Children with Disabilities.   Deborah L: The purpose of the ADA is: (1) to end discrimination based on disability and (2) to promote integration or inclusion of people with disabilities into society.   Jeff Thompson: On this episode, we'll be covering the American Disabilities Act and how it relates to transition-age students.   Deborah L: There are no ADA police. It's up to us to bring lack of accessibility or discrimination to the attention of the people that may not realize that they are being discriminatory.   Jeff Thompson: With us today is Deborah Leuchovius, she's a transition coordinator at PACER's National Parent Center on Transition and Employment.   Deborah L: The Americans with Disabilities Act is that it is not an entitlement program. It is a civil rights law.   Jeff Thompson: The importance of self-advocacy and self-awareness.   Deborah L: If there's things that parents can do to prepare their youth for the responsibilities of adulthood and the protections of the ADA, it's to know what their accommodation needs are and be able to express them.   Jeff Thompson: And you can find out more about the PACER National Parents Center on the web at pacer.org/transition.   Deborah L: PACER's National Parent Center on Transition and Employment, just called 9528389000.   Jeff Thompson: Welcome to Blind Abilities. I'm Jeff Thompson and I'm at the PACER Center in Bloomington, Minnesota. And I'm talking to transition coordinator, Deborah Leuchovius. How are you doing?   Deborah L: Just fine, Jeff. Thanks.   Jeff Thompson: Deborah. What is your role here at PACER Center?   Deborah L: I'm a transition coordinator. I work primarily on two projects, but we all do a number of things. All my projects are related to transition that is working with families around issues important to youth in transitioning from their school years into young adulthood, independent living, post-secondary education and employment. I work on PACER's National Parent Center on Transition and Employment and also on Minnesota's Disability Employment Initiative, DEI project.   Jeff Thompson: So the Americans Disabilities Act. Can you explain the importance of that with regards to the transition and transition students?   Deborah L: Sure. The Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990 and most of its provisions took effect in 1992. ADA impacts the lives of youth with disabilities and even younger youth and in many areas of our daily life we may not be aware of and we may take for granted anything that happens outside of the school setting. Anytime that you're out in the community. Again, I look pre-ADA, Mall of America is one of the most accessible places that I have been to. It really changed the way that shopping looks. If you go to the Mall of America there, it's full of people with disabilities in a way that it wasn't before the law was passed. So anytime you're out in the community, you'll see the impact of the ADA. Anytime that you want to join a camp that is not specifically for youth with disabilities. Anytime that you participate in recreation, that is not specifically for youth with disabilities.   Deborah L: If you want to investigate employment programs outside the scope of State Services for the Blind or vocational rehabilitation. And you walk into a workforce center serving individuals in inclusive settings as opposed to segregated settings is happening all across America for people with disabilities because of the Americans with Disabilities Act.   Jeff Thompson: Especially in those transition years.   Deborah L: The transition years are exactly that, moving into adulthood, so it's important for young adults to learn about the protections of the Americans with Disabilities Act. As they leave the school system and the entitlement and services of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, IDEA that they have received in high school because things change pretty differently as they leave that K12 system.   Jeff Thompson: Deborah, can you explain I-D-E-A, IDEA to the listeners.   Deborah L: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is responsible for the provision of special education services to students with disabilities. From now, it's preschool through graduation. But for some students with disabilities that may be after their senior year, they may go onto an 18 to 21-year-old transition program. But at that point they leave the special education service system and go on to the adult world, at which point the provisions of the ADA will have a tremendous effect on what they do.   Jeff Thompson: The word inclusive seems like the new thing right now.   Deborah L: Oh, I don't think it's a new thing at all. Inclusive is the ... Purposes of the ADA is: (1) to end discrimination based on disability and (2) to promote integration or inclusion of people with disabilities into society.   Jeff Thompson: I mean, businesses are out there using that word. It seems like the new word that's more prevalent today, like you'll see it in pamphlet, you'll see it on commercials. You'll see it on social media inclusion.   Deborah L: Yes. I think that ... And that inclusion, it is meant in a really broad sense, not just to include people with disabilities but to include people from diverse cultures and a variety of backgrounds. But it's important to say that initially diversity efforts of Corporate America primarily focused on integrating employees of more diverse backgrounds. And diversity efforts are also include integrating the work place with people with disabilities as well.   Jeff Thompson: While I was in college we had a diversity department, and they didn't include people with disabilities. `It was kind of separated. We fought to kind of be included in that, and I believe now today it is.   Deborah L: Well, I think there've been a lot of efforts along the way that we ... Well I can say that there are some things that we'd like to see change, and sometimes we've seen setbacks, we have seen a lot of progress since the Americans with Disabilities Act was implemented. It does not mean that we've completed the task of being completely accessible or completely inclusive, but we're coming along way and we're still making progress.   Jeff Thompson: Great. I lost my eyesight 21 years ago and ADA was just a word. It didn't mean anything. And then I started realizing reasonable accommodations, curb cuts, a few other things that, you know door widenings and accessibility steps, ramps and all that stuff. But what happens when someone is out there, and they run into a wall?   Deborah L: Well, if you are encountering inaccessibility, either in the community or in an employment setting or in a post-secondary setting, there are ways to file a complaint. But the most important first step is for you to bring your complaint to the attention of the business owner or the employer or the school and let it be known that you're not happy with the accommodation or the lack of accommodation. So that you can work out a solution and ideally that's where you would be able to find the solution. There are provisions in place for filing complaints and I think especially small business owners, that would be one backlash against the ADA is the concern about having to lose space in their stores for display. Or something if they were to have to widen the aisles or make things more accessible. But you can work that out or you can file a complaint and the complaint process, I think it would best be described by the folks at the Great Lakes ADA Center. Because depending on whether you're making a complaint about an employment situation or a post-secondary school or out in the community, the complaint process differs.   Deborah L: And again that number is 18009494232, but especially in the employment settings and in post-secondary settings, they should have internal people identified ADA coordinators or human resource coordinators that you would go to with your complaint. And that would be where you would start. The business owner is the person that you would first approach in a community setting.   Jeff Thompson: You mentioned this earlier when we were talking, you said there are no ADA police.   Deborah L: Yes, there are no ADA police. It's up to us to bring lack of accessibility or discrimination to the attention of the people that may not realize that they are being discriminatory. Explain how that process works. Most accommodations they say in employment settings costs nothing, and the same is true oftentimes in post-secondary settings. It's not an expense one can you modify a procedure or the way that things typically have been done, which is sometimes hard for faculty members or academics to get their head around changing the way the things is typically have done. But it's not something that is an expense. So you become responsible for education yourself, about the Americans with Disabilities Act and about how to accommodate people with disabilities.   Jeff Thompson: Now, just I think it was a couple of days ago, I read an article that in Minnesota it might be a first that's someone filed something using the ADA against a hospital that their website wasn't in compliance with the ADA. And they said it was the first one in Minnesota, but lately there's been a lot of frivolous suits going around the nation. And they've to some administration trying to take some action against it. Has that impacted corporations, companies, how they view the ADA?   Deborah L: I suppose it is. I see a lot of the reaction in the small business community where it's less easy to make an accommodation where small expenses are a bigger portion of the budget. And sort of in that title three world, title three of the ADA has to do with public accommodations, but web accessibility is huge because of course web accessibility changes at an astonishing rate these days. In fact, that's another area where although the US Department of Justice has made clear that corporations are responsible for making their websites accessible. They are again, in a recent letter indicated that they're willing to grant a certain amount of latitude in how they do that rather than trying to come up with specific standards which could be outdated in a number of years as technology changes.   Jeff Thompson: It's hard to keep up with everything, isn't it? And how do parents and even the transition-age student get educated on the ADA?   Deborah L: Well, we hope some of this is taking place in the schools, especially with regard to training transition-age students about self-advocacy. PACER has a lot of information on its website that was developed through projects that were funded several years ago, when the ADA was first being implemented. And so we have a number of information articles available to parents that they can educate themselves. We also incorporated into the trainings that we provide. I will tell you that when parents come to parent workshops here at PACER for younger youth, there will not be the emphasis on the Americans with Disabilities Act that it is until you get to the transition years will start to spend some years on the importance of learning about that. Great place to learn about the Americans with Disabilities Act are Centers for Independent Living, and also there's in our area the Great Lakes ADA Center, which you can get to through its website and also by calling with individual questions at 18009494, ADA. That's 4232.   Jeff Thompson: That's great. What is probably the single most important thing that someone should take from learning about the ADA as they're transitioning to college and to the workplace?   Deborah L: Well, I think the single most important thing is the need for self-advocacy. In the special education system, schools are charged with identifying students with disabilities and going out. They actually have the term, "Child Find," where they will find individuals with disabilities and identify them, then assess their needs and then they're responsible for meeting those needs in an educational system. The huge difference with the Americans with Disabilities Act is that it is not an entitlement program. It is a civil rights law, so you are protected from discrimination. But you have to know what your rights are because there is no one out there finding you and identifying your needs and then is automatically responsible for meeting those needs. You are responsible for advocating for yourself in order to get your needs met. So that also means one huge thing for young adults and for parents preparing their youth for adulthood is that they really need to cultivate self-awareness and self-advocacy skills on the part of their youth so that they can compete in this world where the rules change [inaudible 00:12:48] services.   Jeff Thompson: With the ADA being implemented and here we are coming up on 30 years. What is one of the most threatened areas of the ADA? Surprise question. I'm sorry. I mean, sometimes it seems like the ADA is being challenged a little bit or it's not being implemented, or it's not even being addressed, or people aren't aware of it. Do you find any challenges with it?   Deborah L: Well, there are always challenges with implementation. A movement that was very exciting for disability rights advocates that was based on the ADA was the Olmstead decision being applied to employment setting. So the Olmstead decision was a Supreme Court decision based on the ADA. It said that services provided by government should be provided in the most integrated setting possible. And at first that was mostly applied to residential settings, serving individuals with disabilities in community settings as opposed to segregated residential settings. But a couple of years ago there was a direction from the US Department of Justice under the Obama administration, which indicated that that was equally applied to employment settings. Not just the way that it had been interpreted in terms of providing housing for individuals with disabilities and community services for individuals with disabilities. But there's been some step back from that under the current Department of Justice and the current administration. So they've taken back that letter. I'm not sure if that's exactly how I would phrase it, but they have indicated that they're less willing to interpret the Olmstead in terms of employment settings.   Jeff Thompson: And that's probably the biggest thing that depending on who's in charge, the interpretation gets changed from one administration to the other.   Deborah L: Yeah, very much so. So that is a cause for concern and some disappointments among us advocates. And I have to say that I approached the Americans with Disabilities Act from an advocate's position. I am not a lawyer and I am not interpreting the law in a legal way, so I don't want to give your listeners the impression that I'm speaking from that space. But despite those disappointments, I would rather focus on the ways that the ADA has been implied. It's become and, in many ways, a way of life for us now, especially thinking just very obviously about how it affects the young people with disabilities. With vision impairments is things like Metro Mobility came into effect or into law across the nation as required by the Americans with Disability Acts. Likewise, protections about bringing your guide dog or service animals into places of public accommodation is also a protection that is provided under the Americans with Disabilities Act.   Deborah L: So there are many, many ways that it's changed the face. Now granted you will find people that will tell you, you still can't bring your dog in, but by and large it's much more accepted, normal way of doing things in our society.   Jeff Thompson: I remember when the ADA was implemented and when I lost my eyesight, two words popped out that was kind of like, no matter where I saw it, it was like, "Reasonable accommodation." Who determines the reasonable part of that?   Deborah L: Well, it's a joint effort. So it will always be determined by the setting that you're in and between the person with the disability and what accommodation they are requesting that they need in order to perform some job function or some academic assignment. So between the person with a disability and who knows what they need in order to be successful and then making that request to whoever they are working for or working with. So that is the employer and/or the School Faculty Disability Services office at a post-secondary situation. It's always an individual decision based on individual circumstances.   Jeff Thompson: It kind of a collaborative effort though, and that's where self-advocacy probably comes into play when you're in that situation.   Deborah L: Not only self-advocacy. I really want to stress self-awareness is that if there's things that parents can do to prepare their youth for the responsibilities of adulthood and the protections of the ADA, it's to know what their accommodation needs are. So that and be able to express them. So, (1) is self-awareness, (2) is self-advocacy. You have to ... Sometimes things are done for young people without them even asking. And one example that I had from when my son was very little, and he used to wheelchair, when we switched from a manual chair to a power chair, I realized that I had automatically just been steering my son towards the curb cuts without him realizing that there was such a thing as a curb cut. He just thought you drove off the edge of the sidewalk into the street because that was how he experienced it.   Deborah L: So there's some many things that we do for our young people that we don't even realize we're doing that. They don't realize they're doing, so building that consciousness of the kinds of accommodations that we make on a daily basis that are what is needed to be successful is an important part of growing up with a disability in our society.   Jeff Thompson: So, transitioning from high school to college is one thing, but also transitioning into being your own advocate and creating your own self-determination, breaking away from the parents. I don't want to say grip, but their involvement you've got to start making decisions yourself too.   Deborah L: Yes. I have been asked one of the things that, what can parents do to prepare their children for adult responsibilities? And that is to gradually wean them off of your own taking responsibility for them and of course it's age appropriate. And of course there may be differences for young people with disabilities and for young people without disabilities, but that's a good measure. What I do for my kid without a disability, what I am doing for my son or daughter with a disability, and try, and promote independence. At here at PACER by independence, we don't mean totally letting go. We know that parents are going to be involved in the lives of their children well into adulthood, as is the case in other families. But it's really important that you begin to give your children the opportunity to make decisions for themselves and also to fail and learn from their failure along the way. That's really important part of building resiliency and growing up and also learning what makes them successful.   Deborah L: Again, relating back to the Americans with Disabilities Act and knowing what kinds of supports do you need in order to be successful in different settings, academic, employment, community.   Jeff Thompson: Deborah, can you talk about Project Launch?   Deborah L: Sure. Project Launch is a PACER Project that works primarily with families of youth that are older, making the transition into employment, into post-secondary education. The majority of our advocates here at PACER work with transition-age students who are still in school but are planning the transition to out of school. Project Launch works with that age group where they have either just made the transition into adulthood or are into their 20s as they are managing the transition to employment and independent living in post-secondary education settings.   Jeff Thompson: Right. So how can a parent or a transition-age student find out more about the ADA and what you do here at PACER Center?   Deborah L: Well, I would encourage people to go to our website for the National Parent Center on Transition and Employment and the website is www.pacer.org/transition and we have a number of resources there. Particularly if you go to our learning center under our employment section or if you go into our learning center under laws, it will give you information on the Americans with Disabilities Act. If you have specific issues that you would like to discuss with families, you can either get connected to PACER's Project Launch or to one of the advocates that work with our National Parents Center on Transition and Employment. And just called 9528389000, our general number and ask to speak to someone about adult services or adult transition. You can specifically ask for Project Launch. You can specifically ask for the National Parent Center on Transition, but pretty much once you give the age of student that you're working with and letting them know whether they're still in school or out of school, you'll be able to talk to an advocate about any individual issues that you might have.   Jeff Thompson: Deborah, what advice would you have for a parent or a student as they're approaching transition?   Deborah L: Well, other than what I have said earlier about self-awareness and self-advocacy, I would encourage them to learn as much as possible about their rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act. I would encourage them to investigate Centers for Independent Living and what training opportunities and there are that exists through those organizations. Once the ADA was passed and in its early implementation days, PACER rarely has trainings that focus specifically on the Americans with Disabilities Act. Instead we kind of roll the content about the protections of the ADA and the importance of knowing the protections of the ADA into our regular transition trainings or into our trainings about particular topics. So I suspect that the Centers for Independent Living have more direct training for learning about the Americans with Disabilities Act other than just self-study.   Jeff Thompson: That seems like a nice way to do it because it's encompassing. It covers everything. And as for training here, you have the Simon Technology Center. You have a lot of different projects, departments here that someone could find on the website as well.   Deborah L: Absolutely.   Jeff Thompson: We've been talking to Deborah Leuchovius, a transition coordinator at PACER Center in Bloomington, Minnesota. Deborah, I want to thank you from State Services for the Blind for coming on to Blind Abilities and sharing with us about the American Disabilities Act and how it relates to transition-age students. And I want to thank you and PACER Center for all that you do for parents of children with disabilities.   Deborah L: You're very welcome Jeff.   Jeff Thompson: Be sure to check out PACER Center champions for Children with Disabilities on the web at www.pacer.org, checkout State Services for the Blind in Minnesota at wwwmn.gov/d/ssb. Live, Learn, work, and play. And a big thank you goes out the [inaudible 00:22:52], for his beautiful music and you can find [inaudible 00:22:54] on Twitter at [inaudible 00:22:56]. And from PACER Center, State Services for the Blind and Blind Abilities thanks for listening. We hope you enjoyed it. And until next time, bye, bye.   [Music]  [Transition noise] When we share -What we see -Through each other's eyes...   [Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence]   ...We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities.     Jeff Thompson: For more podcasts with a blindness perspective, check us out on the web at www.BlindAbilities.com, on Twitter @BlindAbilities. Download our app from the App Store, Blind Abilities. That's two words. Or send us an email at info@blindabilities.com. Thanks for listening.

Depression costs the US economy 45-50 billion dollars annually. It is one of the top 3 problems in the workplace. 250 million workdays are lost each year due to depression. The costs of all products go up as depression increases in the workplace.

This week on "Let Your Voice Be Heard! Radio," Selena Hill, Stanley Fritz, and Ilyssa Fuchs reacted to Hillary Clinton’s new book, “What Happened,” and discussed whether she's blaming others for her defeat in the 2016 election. Later, the team broke down Sen. Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare for All” bill and questioned whether or not single-payer healthcare is really feasible. Lastly, during “The Quickie,” Ilyssa explained a bi-partisan congressional bill that seeks to gut the American Disabilities Act.

Dysfluent speech is true for 3 million Americans, mostly children. Such individuals can learn how to speech fluently, but requires a slow speech pattern to match one's speed on hearing.

Are Dogs Right or Left Pawed? Comedian Jo Anne Worley reveals new research that answers the age-old question, "Can dogs have a preferred paw just like humans are left or right handed." Your Pet's Bucket List Lauren Watt created a bucket list for her terminally ill dog. She posted it on Yahoo and never expected the response. It went viral. Simon and Schuster asked her to write a book about her dog 160lb Mastiff, Gizelle. She has advice on preparing a bucket list for your pet when the time comes? Day Care Uses Shock Collar Without Owner's Permission A Chicago man says he was concerned to find an electric shock, anti-bark collar around his dog's neck when he picked her up from pet daycare. The owner says there was big box on the side of the collar and that box was almost directly on her throat. The owner of the Posh Pet Day Spa stated "it was put on the dog by accident because he and his daughter both use the collars on their own dogs." Apparently the daycare center also sells the collars. Pit Bull Service Dog Helps Fainter It's not often that you see the much maligned Pit Bull as a service dog. In fact, while the breed is banned in Denver, the American Disabilities Act makes Rachel McClennan's Pit Bull, Sally, exempt from the ban. Rachel has a neurological disability that makes her faint. Generally, these kinds of service animals can smell chemical changes in a person’s body that indicates a seizure or loss of consciousness may occur, giving the patient time to prepare. Scammer Asks For Ransom To Return Lost Pets Can you even imagine losing your pet then getting a ransom note? Detectives in Hot Springs Arkansas are tracking a person who has tried to collect ransom payments from three pet owners who lost their animals. The scam's first victim was a woman who trains horses. Her cat, Orange, disappeared from the racetrack in the middle of February. After five weeks of waiting for a response to all of her lost and found ads and posters, she received a text message from a man claiming to have their cat. Animal Radio News Director Lori Brooks has the story and tips to avoid being scammed. Read more about this week's show.

In honor of the upcoming films Amazing Spider-Man 2 and X-men: Days of Future Past, we (foolishly) decide to once again test the waters of Spider-man and His Amazing Friends. We were promised a crossover with X-men.  And, as you can imagine, this promise was only partially delivered. However, we do manage to push through the heartbreak to discuss the type of pants Juggernaut may or may not wear, Aunt May's stress levels while unknowingly hosting the X-Men and whether or not a quickie can cause blindness (we're divided on the answer).   To the great delight and surprise of Sean, Tim and Giancarlo (Andrea remained unimpressed), we managed to nab a visit from Professor Charles Xavier for our "Conversations with Stars" segment. Amid some hard-hitting, Pulitzer-worthy questions, Prof X reveals the real story behind his paralysis, dishes on mutant control of Hollywood and discusses window treatments with Andrea. And Giancarlo manages to invent hand wheelchairs, a creation that even the folks behind the American Disabilities Act would scoff at!   You can listen via iTunes, Stitcher or, if you're feeling saucy, stream the podcast right from this very page (oooh technology!). And, if you're still reading, feel free to email or follow us on Twitter @SMDGpodcast. We'll gladly follow you back!  And our social media etiquette is fit for royalty. Or something.         Finally, feel free to head over to our website, where you can induce brain trauma by watching this episode of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends!

Andy, CEO of Special Needs at Sea, talks about how cruise lines have to be in compliance with the American Disabilities Act. Rene Klusek and her husband Rich, recently celebrated their 1 years anniversary aboard the Emerald Princess back on July 5. She chats with us about her trip.