Podcasts about disability resource center

A leader in the disability community has said that the End of Life Options Act puts disabled people at greater risk of being coerced into seeking assisted suicide. Riley Spreadbury, with the Disability Resource Center in Joliet, testified against assisted suicide before the State Senate committee, and shares her perspective with Spotlight in this episode.… Continue Reading

Rural citizens can't take for granted "meals on wheels". Funding levels are low and volunteers tough to find in rural Wisconsin. So says Ronda James, the nutrition program director at the Aging and Disability Resource Center in Central Wisconsin. They serve Langlade, Lincoln, Marathon, and Wood counties with the Meals on Wheels program. Just last year, their small team and 350+ volunteers delivered 145,000 meals to more than 1,300 residents. Unfortunately, James says their costs have gone up about 30 percent as the demand for the program also grows. Weather is changing says Stu Muck, ag meteorologist. Pam Jahnke and Stu also discuss how consumers can find out exactly where their milk originated with a simple code on the container.Ashley Huhn from the Steffes Group says they're as busy as they'll ever be in a calendar year, right now! He highlights an equipment auction happening today in the Lake Geneva area. Paid for by the Steffes Group. Over 200 delegates at the WI Farm Bureau Federations 105th annual business meeting tackled more than 30 agenda items according to Jason Mungniani, executive director of government relations for WFBF. Brad Olson from Polk County was re-elected president with Joe Braegger of Independence re-elected vice president. Coffee prices are catching attention this morning after blowing past highs not seen since the Carter Administration. That's the word from John Heinberg, market analyst with Total Farm Marketing in West Bend. He also previews areas to watch in this afternoon's World Ag Supply report (WASDE) from USDA.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sitting down for a hot meal with loved ones is a luxury that most of us have every day. But for Wisconsin's rural seniors who may be homebound, isolated, and unable to prepare their own food… the story is different. Ronda James is the nutrition program director at the Aging and Disability Resource Center in Central Wisconsin. They serve Langlade, Lincoln, Marathon, and Wood counties with the Meals on Wheels program. Just last year, their small team and 350+ volunteers delivered 145,000 meals to more than 1,300 residents. Unfortunately, James says their costs have gone up about 30 percent as the demand for the program also grows. She says Wisconsin's older population (60+) has skyrocketed in the past decade. Nearly a third of that entire population is rural. James says the Meals on Wheels program would not exist without volunteers. Delivery routes sometimes creep up to 60 miles in total. That's 30 miles from a "city center" such as Merrill, Antigo, or Wisconsin Rapids. Marathon County is the largest geographic county in Wisconsin, so it's hard to reach the farthest corners of the county with volunteers because it takes 80-100 miles in a day, James says. We also hear from volunteer Tony Omernik who says the work is worth it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We talk Medicare with Paula Clark and Terra Kilkeary-Santiago from the Kenosha County Aging and Disability Resource Center.

The Medicare conversation should be easy. It isn't. There are multiple decisions to be made and these decisions are not only for the first time you qualify for Medicare at the age of sixty-five. The decisions you make that first year could potentially lock you into a plan that you could embrace or regret for the rest of your life. There may also be annual decisions you may need to continue to make, as well. Our guest, Tina Johnson, an Elder Benefit Specialist & State Health Insurance Counselor from the Aging and Disability Resource Center in La Crosse County Wisconsin walks us through the Part A, Part B, Part C and Part D elements of Medicare.  We'll discuss original Medicare and Advantage programs, along with a visit about Medicare Supplement policies and more. Stay tune. Your health depends on it.

It's a patient's perspective on healthcare from Ashli Molinero on this episode of the Perspectives on Healthcare podcast with Rob Oliver. Ashli is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She brings a unique perspective in that she has a lifelong disability and she also works for a major healthcare network to ensure that people with disabilities receive quality care. This interview comes from the Guinness world record setting patient interview marathon. The good news is that the purple issue with Mary Ann Stanchik's WebCam seems to have been resolved in this interview with Ashli. What are your thoughts on the patient's perspectives that we have heard so far? Share your thoughts through the contact form on the Perspectives on Healthcare website or shoot Rob a DM through social media. Here are 3 things that stood out as Ashli Molinero gave us a patient's perspective on healthcare: UPMC has a Disability Resource Center which works to ensure that patients with disabilities have the necessary accommodations within UPMC facilities. This includes ADA compliance, communication tools, and general accessibility. By utilizing a team approach, the Disability Resource Center is able to work with a variety of departments across the healthcare system to meet the needs of patients with disabilities. Quality healthcare is patient centered. It emphasizes effective communication, collaboration between patients and providers, and accessibility to facilities and resources. It is founded on understanding individual patient needs and tailoring care to those needs. Rob Oliver is “Your Keynote Speaker”, addressing quality healthcare, resilience and excellence in adversity. To book Rob Oliver as a speaker at your next event visit: http://www.yourkeynotespeaker.com Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite platform: http://www.perspectivesonhealthcare.com/subscribe Follow Rob Oliver and Perspectives on Healthcare on social media: Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/yourkeynoter LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/company/yourkeynoter LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/imroboliver Disclaimer: All opinions expressed by guests on the Perspectives on Healthcare Podcast are solely the opinion of the guest. They are not to be misconstrued as medical diagnoses or medical advice. Please consult with a licensed medical professional before attempting any of the treatments suggested.

It's a patient's perspective on healthcare from Ashli Molinero on this episode of the Perspectives on Healthcare podcast with Rob Oliver. Ashli is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She brings a unique perspective in that she has a lifelong disability and she also works for a major healthcare network to ensure that people with disabilities receive quality care. This interview comes from the Guinness world record setting patient interview marathon. The good news is that the purple issue with Mary Ann Stanchik's WebCam seems to have been resolved in this interview with Ashli. What are your thoughts on the patient's perspectives that we have heard so far? Share your thoughts through the contact form on the Perspectives on Healthcare website or shoot Rob a DM through social media. Here are 3 things that stood out as Ashli Molinero gave us a patient's perspective on healthcare: UPMC has a Disability Resource Center which works to ensure that patients with disabilities have the necessary accommodations within UPMC facilities. This includes ADA compliance, communication tools, and general accessibility. By utilizing a team approach, the Disability Resource Center is able to work with a variety of departments across the healthcare system to meet the needs of patients with disabilities. Quality healthcare is patient centered. It emphasizes effective communication, collaboration between patients and providers, and accessibility to facilities and resources. It is founded on understanding individual patient needs and tailoring care to those needs. Rob Oliver is “Your Keynote Speaker”, addressing quality healthcare, resilience and excellence in adversity. To book Rob Oliver as a speaker at your next event visit: http://www.yourkeynotespeaker.com Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite platform: http://www.perspectivesonhealthcare.com/subscribe Follow Rob Oliver and Perspectives on Healthcare on social media: Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/yourkeynoter LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/company/yourkeynoter LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/imroboliver Disclaimer: All opinions expressed by guests on the Perspectives on Healthcare Podcast are solely the opinion of the guest. They are not to be misconstrued as medical diagnoses or medical advice. Please consult with a licensed medical professional before attempting any of the treatments suggested.

Traci Edmondson Dementia Care Specialist Outagamie and Calumet Counties Aging and Disability Resource Center 320 S. Walnut St Appleton, WI 54911 920-832-5178 920-832-2115 (fax) traci.edmondson@outagamie.org 10 Early Signs and Symptoms of Alzheimer's and Dementia https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/10_signs --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/appleton-engaged/message

Special Series Focus: DRP's From Guidance to Growth: The Impact of Mentorship in Disability Services  Hashtags: #MentoringMonth #ThankYourMentorDay Description This episode explores the critical role of mentorship and sponsorship in building the next generation of disability resource professionals (DRPs). The participants discuss their experiences as mentors and mentees, emphasizing the importance of community, support, and collaboration within the field. They highlight the value of peer mentoring and the power of investing in others. The conversation also touches on the emotional commitment and enduring connections that come with mentorship. Committed to growth and sustainability in the profession, the participants discuss the need for succession planning. They emphasize the need for communication, guidance, and empowerment in mentoring relationships. The impact of mentoring on individuals and the profession is highlighted, as well as the importance of leaving a legacy and paying it forward. The conversation addresses the challenges of fostering the next generation of DRPs and concludes with the importance self-care, including maintaining boundaries and work-life balance.  Host Lisa Meeks: The host of the podcast and mentee to all of the guests. Guests  Jane Jarrow : The President of Disability Access Information and Support, Jane brings over two decades of private consulting experience and a rich history as the first executive director of AHEAD. With a background in speech and hearing, she's been a pivotal figure in the growth of disability services. Jane Thierfeld Brown : With over 44 years in disability services, Jane's work at the University of Connecticut School of Law and her focus on college students with autism have made her a renowned expert. As a director of College Autism Spectrum, she continues to influence the field. Paul Grossman: Serving as the Executive Counsel of AHEAD, Paul's journey from a college dropout due to dyslexia to a leading civil rights attorney for the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights is nothing short of inspiring. His contributions to post-secondary disability law are foundational. Michelle Rigler: As the Executive Director of the Disability Resource Center at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Michelle has mentored several up and coming DRP leaders. Michelle's creation of the Mosaic program stands as a testament to her dedication to individuals with autism and her work with NavigateU further extends her impact on the field. Jan Serrantino: Retired from the University of California, Irvine, Jan's career transitioned from advocating for children in foster care to teaching and leading in disability services. She now assists students with accommodations for high-stakes exams and consults with medical schools. Transcript Keywords: Disability Resource Professional, Disability, DRP, Accommodation, Mentorship, Sponsorship, Authenticity, Succession Planning, AHEAD. Produced by: Lisa Meeks and Jacob Feeman Audio editor: Jacob Feeman Digital Media: Lisa Meeks    

Wendy Hutterer is back in the studio with Craig and Ashley, with United Way! They chat about the upcoming programs, events, and news at the Aging and Disability Resource Center and how you can help!

A few months ago, I was in Ithaca for a family event and met Doug Kim, who shared that he works for Microsoft as a principal design manager in their inclusive design team. Once he told me that his team develops technology in a way that supports neurodiversity and mental health, I knew I had to get Doug on Focus Forward. For anyone who doesn't know about inclusive design, let me give you a little primer. Microsoft is a leader in the field and much of what I am sharing I learned from their Inclusive Design Toolkit, (which you'll hear more about later!) Inclusive design is a methodology that enables and draws on the full range of human diversity. Most importantly, this means including and learning from people with a range of perspectives. This explanation, which I just said, is the current, widely accepted definition, which was written by the inclusive design team at Microsoft. The concept of inclusive design was originally used for developing digital products but can, and should be used when designing anything that many people will use. It's more than just making a product accessible, it's about discovering and learning the variety of ways people might use a product from the people who will use it. Another thing I learned from the toolkit that helped me understand inclusive design more deeply is that “An important distinction between accessibility and inclusive design is that accessibility is an attribute, while inclusive design is a method. While practicing inclusive design should make a product more accessible, it's not a process for meeting all accessibility standards. Ideally, accessibility and inclusive design work together to make experiences that are not only compliant with standards but truly usable and open to all.” Something else you'll hear my guests talk about is the collaborative and iterative nature of inclusive design. It involves continuous learning and adaptation based on user feedback. It's a dynamic process aimed at creating products that truly meet the diverse needs of users. This aspect of inclusive design really resonated with me as an Executive Function coach and I hope it resonates with you, too! Microsoft's ResourcesMicrosoft Inclusive DesignOriginal ToolkitToolkit for CognitionInclusive AIFurther Reading:Mismatch: How Inclusion Shapes Design by Kat HolmesInclusive Design Toolkit and resources from University of Cambridge, UKInclusively - Support for employers and employeesHistory of Inclusive Design - Institute for Human Centered DesignInclusive Design LinkedIn Learning Course with Christina MallonContact Us!Reach out to us at podcast@beyondbooksmart.comIG/FB/TikTok @beyondbooksmartcoachingTranscriptHannah Choi 00:04Hi everyone and welcome to Focus Forward, an executive function Podcast where we explore the challenges and celebrate the wins you'll experience as you change your life through working on improving your executive function skills. I'm your host, Hannah Choi. Oh my goodness, it has been a month since we last dropped an episode. With Thanksgiving and the ADHD conference and all the other stuff that just goes on at work. We decided to skip one this past month. And before I get to this episode's topic, I wanted to share a little mini report on our experience attending the ADHD conference, which was held in Baltimore from November 29 to December 2, and I'm recording this a few days after returning home and I am still filled with excitement. It was so great. Sean Potts and Justice Abbott from our marketing team and Wendy Craven, who is one of our outreach specialists joined me at the conference. And it was truly an incredible experience for us all. We met some brilliant and interesting people who stopped by our booth in the exhibit hall and shared their stories with us. And we worked really hard to make our booth a fun place to stop by people lined up to spin our colorful prize wheel and learn about ADHD symptoms and some tools that you can use to manage the challenges that come along with those symptoms. And our ADHD Beyond BookSmart squishy brains in our teal blue company color were a major hit. And our you're not lazy bracelets and stickers resonated with many people. We also had a secret notes project where people could anonymously share their thoughts about their ADHD, and a community art wall that everyone could contribute to. We are all so grateful we were able to attend. And next year's conference is in Anaheim in southern Southern Cal in sunny Southern California. And it is absolutely an event worth attending. So start saving those pennies. Okay, so let's get into today's episode. Back in June, I was in Ithaca for a family event. And I met Doug Kim, who is a friend of my husband's cousin, Doug shared that he works for Microsoft as a principal design manager. And part of his job includes collaborating with the inclusive design team at Microsoft, and working on developing a guide for Inclusive Design for neurodiversity. And as soon as I heard those words come out of his mouth, I knew I had to get Doug on Focus Forward. And of course, because he's wonderful, he wholeheartedly said yes, and then came through with an even better offer, and brought two of his colleagues who are the leaders of inclusive design at Microsoft, Christina Mallon and Margaret Price. And for anyone who doesn't know about inclusive design, let me give you a little primer. Microsoft is a leader in the field and much of what I'm sharing I learned from their inclusive design Toolkit, which you're going to hear more about later. And inclusive design is a methodology that enables and draws on the full range of human diversity. Most importantly, this means including and learning from people with a range of perspectives. This explanation that I just said is the current widely accepted definition. And it was written by the inclusive design team at Microsoft. The concept of inclusive design was originally used for developing digital products, but can and should be used when designing anything that will be used by many people. It's more than just making a product accessible. It's about discovering and learning the variety of ways people might use a product from the people who will actually use it. An additional thing that I learned from the toolkit, and that helped me understand inclusive design more deeply is that an important distinction between accessibility and inclusive design is that accessibility is an attribute. Well, inclusive design is a method. While practicing inclusive designs should make a product more accessible. It's not a process for meeting all accessibility standards. Ideally, accessibility and inclusive design work together to make experiences that are not only compliant with standards, but truly usable, and open to all. And something else you'll hear my guests talk about is the collaborative and iterative nature of inclusive design. It involves continuous learning, and adaptation based on user feedback. It's a dynamic process, and it's aimed at creating products that truly meet the diverse needs of users. And this aspect of inclusive design really resonates with me as an executive function coach. As coaches we also collaborate with our clients to carefully and thoughtfully over time. Figure out the best way of using a tool to create a larger system that works to support the EF challenges the client experiences Okay, enough of me talking about this, let's get on to the show. Oh, and by the way, you get to hear Exhausted Hannah today, I tried to record Focus Forward episodes in the mornings when my attention and my brain are at their best. But due to some scheduling limitations, a couple of my guests are on the West Coast. I recorded this conversation after a long day of work. And apparently speaking coherently, in complete sentences was not my strong point at that time that day, so please have patience with me. As you wait for me to get my thoughts out of my head. Oh, boy. Okay,Christina Mallon 05:38here we go.Hannah Choi 05:41All right. Well, hello, Microsoft people. Thank you so much for joining me on Focus Forward. Would you go around the room and introduce yourselves? Doug, do you want to start since you're the one that kind of connected us all?Doug Kim 06:01Sure, yeah. Well, my name is Doug Kim, and I'm a design manager at Microsoft. Part of my charter is to help support inclusive design. And a strong collaborator with Margaret. And Christina, were also on the podcast today. And we've been talking and working quite a bit over the, over the past couple of years on developing our developing our inclusive design toolkit, and especially developing better practices for designing for neurodiversity.Hannah Choi 06:34And Christina,Christina Mallon 06:37so I am Christina Mallon, I lead inclusive design at Microsoft, I joined about two years ago. I have dual paralysis and ADHD. So really excited to bring my lived experience into the conversation today. Hannah Choi 06:53Yeah, thank you. And Margaret. And last but not least, Margaret Price 06:57Hi, my name is Margaret. I joined Microsoft in 2014, as one of the founders of the inclusive design practice. I'm a strategist, I have ADHD, and I'm on the spectrum. And so this is a topic that is near and dear to me.Hannah Choi 07:13So can you just tell me the story about how you, you know, got to where you are today, and, and you know, how this inclusive design became what it is, and just kind of how you got here.Margaret Price 07:28Back in 2014, the number of product groups at Microsoft were asking some pretty big, bold questions like, What is the future of interaction design? And what's missing from various design thinking methods today? And how can we think about embracing the full range of human diversity as we think about product making, from how we frame problems to how we solve them. And so a small team of people got together and created this practice called inclusive design at Microsoft, which is grounded in three principles of recognizing where there's exclusion today. Learning from diversity, and scaling, for figuring out how you can think about disability through the lens of permanent temporary and situational abilities. And recognizing that there's so much opportunity to learn from somebody who may be experiencing a permanent disability or anyone who's experienced a large range of exclusion. You might think about exclusion through the lens of disability, but also through the lens of socioeconomic status, gender identity and a number of other dimensions. And how do you bring people into the process who've been excluded. And what that means in product making is, of course, having diverse teams of people and championing that, but also thinking about how you recruit folks to come into the process as CO designers to actually bring equity into the process because, of course, what we make as a byproduct of how we make and so we started as a very small and scrappy team of people and ended up building education and capability for all of Microsoft and scaling that we wanted free, accessible resources for the world. So we actually ended up creating curricula that's now in over 60 universities around the world. And a number of companies have been inspired by the work that we've done to create their own inclusive design departments. And we've worked hard to, you know, create a number of experts there are incredible brilliant people all around Microsoft, who are experts in the space now who apply the inclusive design method into their own product groups. And so it's been, it's been a journey of trial and error and learning and testing from a number of diverse communities in Microsoft and outside of Microsoft. And it's certainly a subject that is near and dear to my heart and Doug's and Christina's.Hannah Choi 10:17That's great. Yeah, I love I love how that conversations are being had with people who, who truly know, the experience from because it's a lived experience, there's not, you know, there's not really sort of assumptions being made. Can you tell me a little bit about how you work with your co-creators and how you make that whole process? happen? And it sounds like it's pretty fantastic and successful.Christina Mallon 10:52Yeah, I mean, I'm happy to cover that. And Doug, let me know if you want to add on. So we believe and as Margaret just mentioned, it is integral that there is equity within product making. So our goal that Microsoft is to ensure that we are creating with people from marginalized communities, at the beginning of ideation, all the way to releasing for, you know, general release, and how we work with them is through either ERGs within our company, that has individuals from marginalized communities as a part of that erg and an erg as an employee resource group, or we work with teams or individuals with different lived experiences from being a part of a marginalized community outside and we pay them to ensure that they can provide feedback at multiple times within the product development process. And feel free to really join in as I know, we've been working hand in hand on this specifically in Azure.Doug Kim 12:04Yeah, you know, we're always looking for ways that we can collaborate with people who have experience and always always looking for ways to improve that and always ways to like, help, you know, the people on the inside, who are creating these products really, really, like, learn to empathize with what people are experiencing with their products, which is not easy. And it's, it's, it's not an easy process. And like, there were a lot of mistakes, I think, there were made, like, in the early days, people were just sort of building awareness about disability and accessibility, you know, people would try to just like, whatever, try to use a screen reader or something and say, oh, okay, I got it, right? Well, you know, you don't, right, because if you have the luxury of turning off the screen reader after 15 minutes, then you have no idea what it's like to not be able to do that. And so this is a lesson that we try to like, you know, drill into all the folks that we work with, in terms of like bringing them along on this process. You know, there's this, this is kind of like widely adopted phrase principle, you know, nothing for us without us. And so we really try to stick to that principle, like, involve people very deeply in the design process, who represent the audiences we're trying to expand our capabilities to include, and Sen. And we just really feel like you cannot practice inclusive design. Without that step. You know, you can't make assumptions because, you know, I guarantee if you're making assumptions without that input, they're going to be wrong. Yeah.Christina Mallon 13:40Yeah. And then Microsoft, we only consider products that are inclusive are ones that are co designed with communities. Because, you know, we believe that it is key to product success,Hannah Choi 13:54Right. So is, which would you say that, that like, how, how much does the idea of inclusive design come up in across to Microsoft as a whole? Like, is it it, would you say it's a conversation and and a viewpoint that the entire company has or is it is it more specific to certain products?Christina Mallon 14:26 Yeah, I mean, our mission is to create you know, tools, so that every single customer and enterprise customer and person on this earth can use it to reach their dreams and the company is bought into inclusive design. There are, you know, certain parts of the company where I feel like it was a design is used more. I definitely you know, if you have champions like Margaret, and Doug and they are specific In organizations, we see a lot of inclusive design. There are others where there isn't a strong champ of inclusive design, that less inclusive design happens.Hannah Choi 15:12And I suppose that's found, I mean, it's huge company.Christina Mallon 15:14So over 200,000 people, yeah.Doug Kim 15:19You know, it doesn't matter you can, you can be in a company of 200,000, or a company have like three things, you're trying to change behavior, it's always interesting what you have to, like, think about, right and plan for and strategize. So I think our situation is different. Obviously, we're at one of the biggest companies in the world. But like, you could be at a company of six and face like a similar set of challenges, and convincing people to work this way, developing expertise, you know, that's what the toolkit is about, just because we want to be able to like, like, empower the whole ecosystem, and give folks like yourself, like a set of tools that kind of like, normalizes the idea of inclusivity, it doesn't make it like an oddball thing that you only do, or think about, you know, once in a while, when you have the times likeHannah Choi 16:12that one person or something. Christina Mallon 16:14First original toolkit, over 2 million people have downloaded and used, we just launched the inclusive design for cognition, which we like to call Inclusive Design for Brain Stuff. And that launched it and we've seen a massive amount of users using it. But really, the Inclusive Design original toolkit is what led the way.Hannah Choi 16:38Yeah, I really love that. Something that I am, one of the goals of this podcast is to increase conversations about, you know, like, neurodivergent brains and how, and how, like, Let's break the stigma. And so I really love that you guys addressed that. saw that as a as a separate, not a separate, I don't want to say separate but like sight as its as its own area that needed attention. And that, and that needed that recognition and guidance for people who might not know what, you know, what people are experiencing. So I really love that that is that that is out? Are you seeing more and more people?Christina Mallon 17:28Now we're definitely a huge demand, Margaret, and Doug, get some original work around cognition. And as I took in the new role about, you know, two years ago, and change, we said, Okay, this work is so amazing. How do we get this in a more formalized toolkit? Because there is such a demand, I'm constantly getting LinkedIn messages, emails and say, Hey, how are you designing for people who have trouble focusing or making decisions or communicating? And that's why I reached out to both Doug and Margaret, when I joined to say, hey, can we build upon this work, and they really were, let's do it and signed up. And I really appreciate the partnership, because, you know, we're seeing a lot of usage of the toolkit, and also seeing it reflected and used by product makers at Microsoft and externally.Hannah Choi 18:25And I really love how the way that you created, it makes it I felt like, as I read it as a I don't, you know, I don't create products, but I do create, I do help my clients create, you know, systems that work well for them. And I really loved how it, I felt like it really encourages the reader from whatever viewpoint they're coming from, to consider what they need, and, and to consider how to ask for what they need. And here are some possible ideas and it just the way that you presented it is just really accessible. And it's kind of fun. And, you know, like the graphics are really fun. And I know that's just kind of like little stuff, but as a consumer, it made a difference for me when I was engaging with it. So anyone listening who hasn't checked out the Inclusive Design toolkits from Microsoft, I really highly recommend checking them out a lot of really good stuff in thereDoug Kim 19:35Inclusive dot Microsoft dot design, that's the website that they're on. Thank you, we promote and that's where like the original toolkit is there's a bunch of videos and guidance PDFs of what the new stuff on there and you know examples of how you know we've we've built these into products is these concepts.Hannah Choi 19:58So when you were creating them, how do you do come up with and kind of incorporate the five types of, of cognitive demands? Which for me are executive function skills, learning focus, decision making recall and communication. So I was just wondering like, how did you decide on those? Well,Doug Kim 20:23were you talking to Margaret? Oh, it's okay. Go ahead. No, you start.Margaret Price 20:29So it started with a pretty comprehensive, lit review. So looking at a lot of existing information from different fields of study, from psychology to cognitive science, to think about help us think about how do we frame this space? This is a really complex space. So how should we think about it? So we started with a lit review, then conducted hundreds of interviews with folks all around the world over a span of maybe two and a half years and 2015 2016. A lot of folks in academia to really deeply understand how can we think about perception, I can think about sensing and thinking, what are all of the different ways we could frame this? What are all the possibilities, and then we apply the inclusive design method to it, we brought in a lot of CO creators, we mapped a number of ways we could think about it, we started mapping the various dimensions. And actually, there's many, many, many more than our initial few. We prioritize these few based on the business opportunity for Microsoft, the opportunity for the world to have stronger impact on the need that we saw from people. And so all of this is grounded in evidence based research. And was prioritized based on where we saw the largest need in our communities.Doug Kim 21:59Yeah, and so like, I work on Azure, which is our, you know, enterprise oriented cloud services offering. And we did a lot of studies for how Azure works, or does not work for neurodivergent users. And so a lot of the things that we pulled out of those studies kind of found its way into the guidance that there's there in the toolkit, like decision making in Azure is, is kind of a huge deal like and you have to retain a lot of information to be able to effectively make effective decisions you have like dozens or hundreds of options to choose from to get a particular result that you're looking for. And so we wanted to kind of like abstract out some of these to the like, the cognitive types of functions that are at play here, and how we do or do not support them. So I think a lot of the some of the impetus to choose these came from, you know, the research that Margaret was referencing, but also kind of the experience of our users who are saying, like, this is where if I make the wrong move, I could be in big trouble. You know, you could write $1,000, as opposed to nothing. Yeah. So you hear that? And you go, Oh, okay, I get it. That's a tough call. Yeah.Hannah Choi 23:27Yeah. And if you can't confidently make those decisions, then you're going to be more stressed, which is going to impact your ability to use your executive function skills. Well, which is going to set you up for making more mistakes. So yeah, and that just shows you how important it is to consider these things for people who do not have a, you know, you know, that like don't have ADHD or don't, you know, have mental health struggles or whatever, you know, is impacting someone's someone at work, it's so important to consider that. And I love how you think about that scalability. I have how, you know, like, this thing, yes, it addresses a need here that everybody can actually use it and benefit from it.Doug Kim 24:19So I'm curious like for you, okay, so you're an executive functioning coach, very fascinating to learn how this kind of affects your work. Like one of the issues that came up for us was just consequences. Right? Am I aware when I'm going through a given experience, what the consequences of my decisions are? And if not, how do I move forward? So is that something that comes up for you like what, what are your clients telling you about consequences and the stuff that they need to be able to, like understand and move forward make decisions? You know, when the consequences are ambiguous? Hannah Choi 24:55Yeah, it's huge. And so much so much that comes out is confidence, the confidence to make any decision that they're making? And many of the people that I've worked with, have have spent their life feeling like they've been doing it wrong all along. And, and so to come to a space where question like, you know, like, I'm asking them questions like, what does work for you? What doesn't work for you? What have been the consequences of your actions in the past? And, you know, and and what do you kind of envision for yourself in the future? It's? Yeah, not really sure where I'm going with this. You're really, really, really, so much of what I do just real, I can really relate to the work that you guys have done in addressing. Yeah, the potential consequences that other people have to have in their life and the business decisions that they're making or whatever. Doug Kim 25:58Yeah, yeah, I think it goes back to sort of like, basically understand, like, what the, one of the one of the key concepts in the toolkit is trying to try to understand what the cognitive load is, like, how much demand are you putting on the on the user? And why and where does it come into your experience? Right? And so these are, the aspects of the dimension is how much you're asking them to remember how much you are you expecting them to project in terms of the the consequences of their decisions, I want you you're expecting them to be able to act on their own versus in collaboration with their teammates, or co workers. And I think these are normally things that we don't really discuss in depth, we're just sort of like build products, assuming that a person is acting alone, acting independently, and has all the tools that they need to be able to say, make an informed decision. And so, I mean, that's not totally true. I'm being a little bit. I'm exaggerating a little bit, just to make the point. But I think that one of the points of the toolkit is to say, don't make assumptions here, options about what your customer does or doesn't know or what they're expecting, as they're moving through an experience. Build it in a way so you understand what you're asking of your customers, you and understand the level of demand that you're placing on them to do anything, because every experience does that. Right. There's something that it's going to ask of you, right to say, like, if you jump into a car, like there's a presumption that you understand how to operate it, because you've passed the test, at some point, we're seeing all that stuff, the minute you turn on the ignition, right, there's an assumption that you know that when you press the brake, that the car is going to stop. So every, every experience does that to a certain extent. But not all product traders measure that, and weigh that and say, what actually, where are we assuming before somebody even, you know, starts the car? Margaret Price 28:10Well, I love what you're saying. And to build on it, I think it's a really great set of points that leads to the recognition. You know, there's a lot I mentioned, at the beginning of the call, I have ADHD, and I'm on the spectrum, and there's a lot of self-blame that can happen. What's wrong with me? Why can I use those sorts of thoughts? And I think that's where, you know, the worlds colliding and unlikely between what we do and a lot of what you do, which is, you know, as Doug mentioned, asking, what are the cognitive demands? And where are the mismatches between what's needed from the person and what the product is providing? And recognizing that it's not your fault. It's this product's fault. Yeah, this is not built in a way that's going to serve you. Well. And this is not about you. This is about the product not being built. Good enough.Hannah Choi 29:03Yes. Yes. And that yeah, that's, that's many conversations that I have with my clients is being like, there's nothing wrong with you. This is how your brain works. And this and unfortunately, it is not the system, the world that we are in is not, you know, necessarily designed for that.Doug Kim 29:25Well, I think that's especially true with like, well, I don't know, I don't want to get into kind of a waiting thing. But like, you see, that was neurodivergent. Conditions like so commonly, like I think societally, like in this is true, I think, pretty much across the globe, we're like conditioned to say, put the onus on the person with that condition to adapt. Yep. It's an experience that wasn't built for them. And, you know, that's sort of like one of the key premises of the toolkit and this extension of the toolkit. deals with cognition, which is that no, like, that's, it's not you, it's us. It's not, it's not you, like, if it doesn't work for you, then that's a problem with a product, right? It's a problem with the environment or the world that were created, never expecting you to participate in. Like, if it doesn't work for you, then we need to adapt it, we need to come up with systems that normalize you to an extent that allows you to function as effectively or better than anybody else who's using a product. And, like, puts the onus on us as periodic creators, to, to adapt to you as opposed to the other way around. And the fact that our systems up until, you know, very recently, and like without this sort of understanding of how things work could work potentially a lot better for our interviewers. And folks. It's, it's, you know, it just hasn't been built that way. And, you know, I think our mission, like the three of us together, and now you and everybody else who's like involved in this inclusive design process, is is to upend that expectation, and say, it's the onus on people who are creating products. You know, I mean, you create a product, this podcast is a product, right. And it could be applied to anything that anybody, you know, makes,Christina Mallon 31:25I think, people are starting to see this, you see the World Health Organization, how they define disability as a mismatch between a person and a design. And I think that is really key because, again, as a disabled person, I'm told, okay, you need to figure out how to do this or fix this solution. Yeah, and it's really taxing. And this is something that's common in marginalized communities.Hannah Choi 31:54Yes. Yes. Yeah, I was just doing some research on, on advocating for yourself at work. And, and many of the articles that I read, said, unfortunately, it is on you, it will, in most situations, it will be on you to educate your employer, on what how to, you know, meet your needs. And so, it's, and that's, that's with any marginalized community, marginalized community, right. It's it, unfortunately, at this point, it is, it is on that group to educate everyone else. This inclusive design, the fact that Microsoft is embracing this so much shows us that that, like, that's a good role model. Do you think that within I mean, I guess you guys can only speak for the departments with it to work. But would you say that within it, or in your experience? Like, Christina, if you need something? Do you feel like you're, it is easy for you to advocate for yourself? Do you feel like that inclusive design concept spreads to the advocacy part? And for Costco? Yes,Christina Mallon 33:14I'm definitely empowered to implement inclusive design, and that the entire company has a pretty good understanding the importance of it. But the current state of the economy, with our focus on AI, there's definitely more begging that needs to get done for resources around it. And I think, you know, that's why people in positions of power really need to advocate for this. And that's why when I started, Doug, and Margaret, could empathize with me. And were able to provide, you know, their resources to help create the inclusive design for cognition toolkit.Hannah Choi 33:58And, and Doug and Margaret would like, where did where did your strength in, in, in your knowledge come from? Was that just from your experiencing your experience of creating this inclusive design? Or is that something that you have naturally already felt before you got into that?Doug Kim 34:19Everything I know comes from Margaret.Hannah Choi 34:24Margaret, you're amazing.Margaret Price 34:28You're all amazing. Yeah,Christina Mallon 34:30we're all amazingMargaret Price 34:32 lots of listening and learning. And I as a generalist strategist, I like to learn there's so many brilliant leaders in this space outside of Microsoft, who pioneered inclusive design long before Microsoft got in the business. And so a lot of listening and learning to brilliant folks. And we can, you know, give you links For show notes too. Yeah,Hannah Choi 34:58Thank you, I was just gonna say thatMargaret Price 35:01A lot of listening, a lot of learning a lot of synthesizing just a ton of information. And wanting to communicate it in ways, as you mentioned earlier that are simple for anybody to understand. And connecting dots that might seem not connectable, I have a background in research as well. And so I love listening and learning and connecting dots that might seem like they can't connect. And I think, you know, to your question earlier about advocating for ourselves in the workplace, I think, for me, a lot of it came from not as much inclusive design as the work on myself. And I think you do a lot of this with folks that you coach, probably, but really becoming, you know, keenly self aware about my needs, and how to communicate them and boundaries and how to communicate them. And recognizing that communicating well. And communicating in a way that's going to serve me is the absolute best thing that I can do, rather than ignoring or suppressing what I need.Hannah Choi 36:07Yeah, and so much of advice, like going back to the idea of how you have to, you know, it is on you as a person to advocate for yourself, and you might end up having to educate your employer. But a big part of that self advocacy is, you know, like, knowing yourself, and knowing what your boundaries are and right, like you said, like learning how to, how to ask for that. And yeah, that is, it's a lot of what I do. Yeah. And it's so funny, because I just, just over the past year, went through the whole ADHD diagnosis and answered all these life questions that I've had about myself for a very long time. And, and, you know, working at beyond booksmart, it was, it was like, not a thing, and not a big deal. It was, you know, it wasn't like I had to decide whether I was going to disclose and, and, you know, there were already so many systems built into, you know, built into how we do things at beyond booksmart. Because, because we are in the business of supporting people with executive function challenges. So I feel very lucky that I work at a company where I am just automatically supported, and that there are lots of people within the company who, you know, also, like, have shared needs or similar needs, or even different needs. And so a lot of our training materials are presented in many different formats. And, you know, there's, there's many different ways to interact and many different choices that you can make whatever works the best for you. And I know, that's not how it is that many places. And so I, I really hope that these kinds of conversations continue to happen that companies like Microsoft, and other I mean, you guys almost have like a, an I don't know, if you feel this way, but as a very large company, like you have a really big opportunity to, you know, to be a voice for this. I, you know, I like I kind of feel that way, there's a podcast host of like, well, I don't really have a lot of power, but I have a little bit of power, and I'm going to try to use it. So do you. Do you feel that? Do you feel like that responsibility? Christina Mallon 38:18Yeah, I mean, I took my job six months pregnant with my first child, which is kind of crazy. But I knew the power that Microsoft has to empower people like be to be able to achieve their dreams. And I already knew that the foundation has been set by people like Doug and Margaret. So it would come into a very inclusive company.Doug Kim 38:48Well, I would say that, you know, something that, like kind of struck me as you were talking when I was was like the, the idea that you have power, and I think everybody has power. And a lot of us have this tendency to like even regardless of what position we're in, to kind of under estimate what that what that power is. And so I think if you're in this, you care about this space, which if you made it this far into this episode, you obviously do. You can exercise your power on one on one, right, you can help shape conversation and you can help normalize things. If you're more of like from representing the ally ship side of things, you can learn more, you can reduce the burden on your colleagues or whoever it is to have to advocate for themselves. You can absorb information like our toolkit, but any of the other like, you know, amazing resources that are that there are out there to help, you know, again, create this expectation. ation of inclusion as a as a regular and standard practice. So there we're constantly stretching ourselves to be more inclusive and to include more audiences that haven't been included to this point. So it could be a one person company, it could be two people working together to see, you know, examine how they operate, could be a soccer club could be whatever a classroom. I don't think that work ever ends. But it's like, I think we found that it's joyful work, you know, it's inspiring work. Learn more about human human capability, and what you can do to enable and empower that. So, you know, it's also fun.Hannah Choi 40:48What creative work, problem solving, and something that you said in the beginning, just connected me back to what you were just saying. And you said, I think Margaret, it might have been you, you said, you asked people a lot of questions, the CO creators that you worked with. And then Doug, you said, you made a lot of mistakes in the beginning, I can't remember exactly who said what, but but I think that's part of that power is not being afraid to ask the questions, and not being afraid to make the mistakes. And, and that is so scary for people, especially when you're asking questions about something that you don't really know a lot about. Doug Kim 41:29So yeah, you know, sort of, you're bringing into mind this, or like, you know, that era that Margaret was referring to earlier, back 2014, 2015. You know, I just started, like, getting used to interviewing people with disabilities. And I was interviewing this woman who has a low vision person who used like, an extreme amount of magnification, and a third party tool to be able to magnify her, um, screens to something like 400 person, and I was watching her work and just kind of like, making little comments. And at one point, the, the screen magnification tool she was using just crashed and quit. And, you know, I was looking at her and I said, and I just kind of chalk. Well, I said, oh, shoot, like, it's a crash. Let's, let's reboot that out. And she just looks at me, she goes, Why are you laughing? And I said, Oh, well, it's just the like, a little glitchy thing. And she just said, you know, it's not a glitch. When this happens. It is so hard for me to get this back. And my livelihood, because she was an independent business person, right, who worked on her own. She said, You know, my livelihood could be drastically affected. Like every time this happens, and you know, Margaret's done a lot of research, too with customers who have said a lot of the same things around things like, you know, improperly coated, or created notifications and interruptions. There's a lot of science around that, too. But at the time, I was like, oh, boy, I just got a big lesson. Yeah. And understanding, you know, how to empathize with what people are experiencing. Yeah, so I view that as kind of, like, you know, a mistake on my part, in terms of how I reacted to what she was experiencing at the time. But something that has, like, continued to, like, help me understand how to move forward, and how to understand how to work with folks with disabilities, or with anybody really, anybody? Yeah, developing more like tools for empathy and understanding and how to keep you know, going deeper into this work. So those are, those are really helpful. Actually, I still pretty much think that, you know, like, if she remembers that at all, it's quite some time. Now, she probably didn't think much of me. But yeah, she's been enormously helpful. Just that one episode, to you know, whatever progress I've made my journey along this path.Hannah Choi 44:05Yeah, and going back to that power, I mean, that shows like the power of, of experiences for people, we, you know, we never know the impact that we might have on somebody. And so you guys probably don't even see the the impact that your work has, has had on, on everybody.Christina Mallon 44:25We get some nice notes here and there. But I think having people with disabilities within the company is super important. Because you're able to do these really quick empathy sessions and you can actually see oh man, this really does affect when the small design changes made. When we look at power and power dynamics, most people that are making decisions sit in an area where they have lots of power, they are white, they are male, they're educated. They speak English, upper middle class live in, you know, the states or the UK. And it is so important to have diversity within the company so they can influence these power makers or become one of the power people. And Microsoft does a good job of that, and really looking at hiring and trying to increase the exposure to people with disabilities. But you know, here's the thing, everyone's gonna make a mistake, I make mistakes about disability, and I'm disabled myself. So it's always a learning experience. And if people treat it as a learning experience, and don't get scared to even interact with someone that disability, life will be better. Yes,Hannah Choi 45:42I worked for a few years in the, in the students in the, like Disability Resource Center at a community college. And, and I just loved it, that diversity of employees within that, within that office, and then the students that came in, it was, it was I made a ton of mistakes, I made a ton of mistakes. And I learned so much. And it was, it was just such an amazing experience. So grateful for it. Yeah, I we're actually, I'm right in the middle of preparing for a webinar, we do these community education webinars, and we have one coming up a week from today. And it's about, it's about how to manage like perceived failure. And, and we're talking a lot about how, like, exactly that what you said, Doug, like that, that felt like a mistake, but you are still learning from it years later. And how how when you can change your viewpoint from seeing it as a mistake, and something to trip you up and stop you and switch it to see us something as that we can learn from and grow from. And you can separate a little bit separate, like your ego from it and and then become more, you know, just more aware and more understanding.Doug Kim 47:10Well, you know, yeah, and I think that, like, if you're coming from a position of ally ship, again, that you should expect to encounter a road where you have setbacks and you take on risks, you know, in, in your journey to like, you know, help serve that community or even understand more about that community, you you're part of the goal, I think of ally ship is to alleviate risk from other people and put it on yourself. And some of that risk is, you know, involved in in making mistakes. I mean, if I look at whatever the embarrassment that I felt in that moment that I was talking about, it's not much compared to what the person that I was trying to understand from past experience every day, every time that you know, magnifier crashes. And so like, if a second if I can take one second to have an embarrassing moment, and help, you know, ultimately create a better system for her, then that's really not much of a risk. But it is, it is, like a lot of people like think about, like a potential misstep like that as a huge risk. In some ways it is. It's embarrassing. It's not fun. But it's what you're doing is you're you're you're taking some like emotional discomfort, you know, or the possibility of emotional discomfort, you know, off somebody else's plate and putting it onto yours. That's a very that's, that's an expected and also a that's an outcome. You know, you should you should expect to have.Hannah Choi 48:54My favorite quote, ever is by Susan David, who's a psychologist, and she said, discomfort is the price of admission to a meaningful life. And I just love that so much.Margaret Price 49:08Oh, that's beautiful. I love Susan David.Hannah Choi 49:10I know I love her. She's so great.Margaret Price 51:21Delightful. Well, thank you so much for having us on. Because yeah, speaking of executive executive functioning skills, flexibility is part of that and my, and my rigid schedule, I am gonna have to hop. But really, it was such a delight. Meeting you, Hannah, and speaking with you, and of course, talking with two people that I just adore, Christina and Doug. So thank you for having us on and for discussing this important topic.Hannah Choi 51:52And that's our show for today. Thanks so much for taking time out of your day to listen and learn about inclusive design and for having some patience with me. You can find links to lots of inclusive design resources in the show notes, and please share this episode with your family or your friends who might help it find it useful. If you have questions or topic suggestions, you can reach out to me at podcast at beyond booksmart.com and please subscribe to focus forward on Apple podcast Spotify or wherever else you get your podcasts. If you listen on Apple or Spotify, you can give us a boost by giving us a five star rating. Sign up for our newsletter at beyond booksmart.com/podcast. We'll let you know when new episodes drop, and we'll share information related to the topic. Our very patient editor and producer is Sean Potts. Our thoughtful and creative content marketer is justice Abbott extra special thanks to Doug who brought Christina and Margaret onto the show with me and a million thank yous to the people at beyond booksmart who helped make our attendance at the ADHD conference possible. Thanks for listening

Today, Craig and Ashley are joined by Wendy Hutterer from the Aging and Disability Resource Center! Listen as she chats about November, Caregiver Recognition Month!

Our first guest this week is WV Delegate Sean Hornbuckle (D-Cabell). The House Minority Leader shares his party's concerns regarding the shortage of child protective services workers in the Mountain State and what he believes needs done to fix the ongoing issue. He also touches on employment issues impacting West Virginians.In Segment 2, U.S. Congressmen Alex Mooney joins us to discuss the whirlwind effort in Washington of trying to find a new Speaker of the House. When we spoke with Mooney, Tom Emmer (R-IN) was still the nominee. By that same evening he had dropped from the race. By Wednesday afternoon, the new nominee Mike Johnson (R-LA) secured enough votes and was sworn into the position.For our third segment, we turn back to child welfare in the Mountain State with Kelly Allen who works for the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy. Allen talks about the statistics of West Virginia having the highest rate of foster children in the nation, meaning for every 1,000 West Virginia kids, 13 are in foster care. She also shares more about what needs to be done to help children and their families before they reach a point of crisis.In our last segment, we sit down with Kim Newsome of the West Virginia Aging and Disability Resource Center to discuss the importance of Medicare's open enrollment period, which is happening now. The center offers free resources to help Medicare recipients navigate through the process and find the Medicare plan that is best for them.

John Chambers, Public Affairs Manager for the American Sportfishing Association, asks listeners to encourage their Congressmen and Senators to support the Youth Coastal Fishing Program Act. (asafishing.org/support-youth-fishing-programs/) Audiologist Laura Vinopal urges hunters and shooters to protect their hearing and explains the many dangers of hearing loss. (profhearingcare.com) Abby Heckman, dementia care specialist with the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Mauston, Wisconsin, invites senior citizens to attend Men's Shed meetings each month at the Outdoors Forever clubhouse. (co.juneau.wi.gov, facebook.com/outdoorsforeverclub/) In the Madison Outdoors Report, presented by Pappas Trading Post, pro angler Duffy Kopf reports cooler weather should help boost fishing on the Madison chain (pappastradingpost.com)

September 27, 2023 - Aging and Disability Resource Center

September 27, 2023 - Aging and Disability Resource Center

Stacey and Kanani are joined by Murph Murphy, the Director of Queer Student Services, and Ron Mansolilli, the Director of the Veterans Resource Center, to talk about the many resource centers and services available to students at Portland State. Students are supported by the University's 12 resource centers – from the Cultural Resource Centers, to the Disability Resource Center, to the Resource Center for Students with Children, and more. Aimed at building community within and between groups, these centers serve as a space for students to relax in a safe space, talk to each other, host events, do advocacy work, and much more.

One in four Americans currently falls into the categories of either aging or disabled, according to U.S. population statistics. Matt Santelli, Education and Outreach Specialist for the Aging and Disability Resource Center in Pierce County, Washington, explains that providing support services to such residents can be challenging, but also critically important. www.piercecountywa.gov/1986/Aging-and-Disability-Resources --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/elevate-health/message

Whether it's the first day at daycare or preschool, the beginning of kindergarten, or the transition to middle or high school, sending our kids off into the world at any age is a scary thing. But for college, it can can be downright terrifying. According to both the experts and the people in my life, it's the biggest leap of faith of all - especially these days with the high rates of depression and anxiety among college kids (both of which have doubled since 2014!) Luckily, there are people like Dr. Marcia Morris out there to support both our kids and ourselves. Marcia is a psychiatrist at the University of Florida and she provides mental health support both on campus and virtually for students at the university. Marcia and I sat down to talk about the best ways that parents can help their kids succeed in school, how medication may play a role in that success, and how kids can find joy in both their academic and social lives.Here are some resources related to the topic of college students' mental health.988 LifelineLearn More about Dr. Marcia MorrisMarcia's websiteThe Campus Cure: A Parent's Guide to Mental Health and Wellness for College StudentsPsychology Today BlogCollege Mental Health ResourcesHealthy Minds StudyHow Colleges Today Are Supporting Student Mental HealthStudent mental health is in crisis. Campuses are rethinking their approachBefore Heading to College, Make a Mental Health ChecklistTaking a Mental Health Leave from CollegeGap YearsTaking a Gap Year Before Grad SchoolTaking a Gap Year Before CollegeLearn More About Gap Years Contact us!Reach out to us at podcast@beyondbooksmart.comIG/FB/TikTok @beyondbooksmartcoachingTranscriptHannah Choi 0:04 Hi everyone, and welcome to Focus Forward, an executive function Podcast where we explore the challenges, and celebrate the wins, you'll experience as you change your life by working on improving your executive function skills. I'm your host, Hannah Choi. Happy New Year, everyone. We made it through another year. And I have to say I am super excited about what's to come in 2023. I'm so glad you're here with me. And I hope you continue to find this podcast useful, and relatable and easy to listen to. We're always open to new topic ideas. So if you've got anything you'd like me to explore, please reach out. Sending our kids off into the world at any age is a scary thing. Their first day at daycare or preschool, when they start kindergarten, or transition to middle or high school. Both of my kids will be starting at new schools next year, high school for my daughter and middle school for my son. So you might want to check in on me and see how I'm doing later this fall. But I think the scariest is probably going to be when they head off to college. From what I hear from friends and family is that it's the biggest leap of faith that you'll take as a parent. And especially these days when we hear that the rates of depression and anxiety among college kids have doubled since 2014. And we have way too much access to news which can really make it seem like bad stuff is happening all the time, even though it's not. But luckily there are people like Dr. Marsha Morris out there. Marsha is a psychiatrist at the University of Florida. And she provides mental health support both on campus and virtually for students at the University. She's also written a book, which she'll talk about and she writes a blog as well. Marsha and I sat down to talk about the best ways that parents can help their kids succeed in school, how medication may play a role in that success, and how kids can find joy in both their academic and social lives. Before I dive into this important conversation, I want to share a critical resource that everyone needs to know about the 988 suicide and crisis lifeline. This completely free service offers 24/7 Call, text and chat access to trained crisis counselors who can help people experiencing suicidal substance use and or mental health crisis or any other kind of emotional distress. People can also dial 988 If they are worried about a loved one who may need crisis support. Do not hesitate to reach out for help if you are struggling, or you suspect a loved one might be okay. Thank you for listening and now on to the show. Hi, Marcia. Thanks so much for joining me for today's episode.Marcia Morris, MD 3:06 I'm so glad to be here today, Hannah.Hannah Choi 3:09 Great I'm really looking forward to this conversation about supporting college kids. My kids are are not yet ready for school or college. My daughter's my eldest is in eighth grade. But I know it's gonna happen in a blink of an eye. So could you introduce yourself to our listeners? Marcia Morris, MD 3:26 Sure. My name is Dr. Marcia Morris. And I've worked as a college psychiatrist at the University of Florida for nearly 30 years. I became a college psychiatrist right after I finished my training. And I chose to work with university students because it's such an exciting age where so many changes are going on and people are finding out their path in life. So, but one thing that I've noticed over the years is it's kids are facing more challenges and having more mental health issues. And as a result of that, I'll mention a book I wrote for parents of college students called The Campus Cure: A Parent's Guide to Mental Health and Wellness for College Students. It really takes a team you need providers, parents, professors to all help students be successful in school. And I write a blog for Psychology Today called College Wellness: Promoting Happiness and Health and the College Years. Again, for parents who can be great facilitators and helping college students have a joyful college experience.Hannah Choi 4:39 Before I had my kids, I worked in the Office for Students with Disabilities at a community college in Santa Barbara, California, back when I lived where it was warm year round, and, and and a lot of the work that we did was helping parents figure out how to best support their kids. And so I'm really excited to dive into that today with you. So good. Thanks. Thank you for joining me. So what are some, I mean, let's dive right in. What are some, what's some advice that you can give to parents who have kids that are heading off to college?Marcia Morris, MD 5:16 Well, I have a an expression that is, uses four Ts. It's tell, teach, talk and take action. And the tell part is really letting your kids know that you love them, you're there for them, you support them, they can call you any time. And it's really important to say that because kids say, Oh, I go into college, I should be totally on my own, but you're a good sounding board for them. So tell them you're available, you should teach them about some of the challenges that they could face, whether it's related to availability of substances, like alcohol, and kind of setting limits for themselves, but also teach them about mental health issues. Because unfortunately, rates of depression and anxiety are going up in college. And so you, if your child is experiencing this, you want them to get help as soon as possible. So talking openly about mental health is really important teaching them about that. Talk regularly. When you go, your child goes to college, or it could be like talking on the phone doing a video chat. I know there's a lot of texting going on. But there is value to having that either phone contact or face to face contact at least once a week, if not more the first year just to see how they're doing because it's a very...the first year is a pretty vulnerable time. And take action if you think something really bad is going on. And that could be visiting your child at the school if they just sound really bad. Well, that might be the last step. The first step might be saying, Hey, I'd like to speak with your RA and check in with them and maybe talk to both of you because I I'm concerned about you. But But things can, things can be really stressful and kids can get in a vulnerable place. And sometimes kids even stopped going to class. So it's if that's happening, if something seems like your child is very depressed, it's it's time for a visit to the school. So that's the take...you hope you that that doesn't happen. Or it might be a visit that weekend to check in. It may not be that dramatic, it might be Hey, you know, you sound like you're having a tough time. I'd love to just visit over the weekend and check in. I like that. Yeah, calling every day even if you're think someone's in a bad spot. Yeah,Hannah Choi 7:49 I like the story that you shared in your book about I think the girl was called Sarah. And just her experience, how her mom kind of went through that process that you just explained. And, and I and I really I liked, I liked hearing that story, because I felt like, I felt like she supported. She She helped her daughter both figure out how to solve it by herself and gave her some actual nice support for her as well. SoMarcia Morris, MD 8:20 right and you don't want you know, you might need to come and visit but you don't want to be there all the time. But it it it just there might be some moments in the college experience where students need more help. And hopefully, when that's happening, your student is already speaking with a therapist or a psychiatrist. And it's worthwhile encouraging your student to sign a HIPPA release of information form so that you can the you your child and the psychiatrist or the therapist can talk together and problem solving. Find out what's going to help your student get through their the crisis they might be experiencing.Hannah Choi 9:04 And do you do you ever find in your experience where the student doesn't want the parent involved but still needs that support?Unknown Speaker 9:16 Sometimes if someone's having a severe problem, they don't want the parents involved at the beginning. But I would say in almost all instances if things if they're not feeling better, they're more depressed, they're having trouble functioning. Most of the time they'll allow a family member or a friend and might not be the parent but they they will allow someone someone that that but so they might say oh I can handle this on my own I'm fine. And a year later they're still struggling. And they say yeah, let's call my... dad and get him involved. So but it's you can't force it on someone and legally the only way you can call a parent with about a student's consent is if there is an immediate risk of danger to self or others. And maybe twice in 30 years, I've done that it's such a rare event. And it has to be really important to talk with other people and get even legal counsel and make sure you're not overstepping the bounds of the law, because you really want to protect people's confidentiality. But most most students at some point, recognize you they can't go at it alone. If their depression is really bad, they need to involve someone else for support.Hannah Choi 10:33 Yeah. And so that, that makes me think that the importance of maintaining a good relationship with your child when they're away at school, and so how do you what do you suggest for parents for ensuring that happen? Unknown Speaker 10:49 Well, I have another acronym. It's love. Hannah Choi 10:54 Oh, I love it. Marcia Morris, MD 10:55 So the L is laugh and enjoy. And the point of that is, you have to have a good just have a fun relationship with your child, it's not always going to be fun, you're, you're not their best friend, you're still their parent, but But you have to have that enjoyment together, because they're not going to listen to you otherwise, right? You know, a show, there might be a show you watch together, if when they're home, take a walk together, it can't be all about, you need to do this. Hannah Choi 11:22 Yeah, you need to connect with them. Unknown Speaker 11:24 We right we have to have that initial kind of bond, this the bond makes sure there's that loving bond first before you can do anything other, otherwise, your kids aren't gonna want to listen to you. But anyways, the other thing that I think it's really important for parents to is, O, part of love observe. We can get very wrapped up in our kids, and we think they're the greatest thing on earth. And sometimes we don't see when they're having an issue or they're struggling with something, we want to think everything's good. And there are some parents who are negative and just find fault. But try to find that that happy medium of just seeing your kid seeing - Are they making friends at school? Are they Is it the end of freshman year, and they're still very lonely, and they haven't made a friend and that that's a time where you might make some try to get them connected with a counseling center or encourage them to join clubs. But are they making the development are they developing academically and socially? But see, see how you think they're doing and then then also, but validate where they're really are shining and progressing. And let's say they got a C in a class and they they took a similar class next semester, and they worked hard and got a tutor and got an A, like, say, Wow, that's so you know, I saw you do that, that's, I saw you put the effort in, that's really great. And also validate when they're, they're having a tough time. And, like, I think when I went to college, it was easier than what my kids, I just in general, less stressful than when my kids went to college. So sometimes parents have a tendency said, Oh, it wasn't that bad when I went to college, but some things are just harder. Now. It's more competitive, it's harder to get into grad school. So validate that there might be struggles, but also, the last part of love is encourage, even if they're struggling and there, you still encourage them problem solve. I use that word a lot. But problem solved. If you're really stuck, say, Listen, I want to sit down with you and look at we'll go on the website of school and let's think about what resources you can do to you know, make this work. And so that it's really important to you don't want to be totally you don't want to say goodbye or going to college. But most don't. Most parents are pretty involved now. Yeah, but but it's it's important. You don't want to be overly involved either.Hannah Choi 14:00 Right? You have to find a good balance. Marcia Morris, MD 14:02 Yeah, right. But but you do. I think kids need a lot of encouragement toHannah Choi 14:08 Yeah, I mostly work with college age students, for my executive function coaching clients. And this is all sounding very familiar to me experiencing like challenges freshman year, and then heading into sophomore year with a little bit more support, you know, from a coach or from like, mom had to step in and help a little bit and now and then they then they really start to do well with a little extra support.Marcia Morris, MD 14:37 So right and I like you know and I your company does great coaching I know that and and sometimes there's something called Success Coaching on campus. It's not at every school but though they will they those coaches will take a look at students holistically and see how they're doing socially, academically and often they can access the grades. And sometimes students, if they're doing badly might not want to admit it. So they'll just sit with a student be very supportive and direct them, they might direct them to a different major, some kids start, it's actually I read something, at least 30% of students switch majors, at least one time, I've heard a range of statistics, but it's very common to switch majors. So they might have helped them switch majors, they might suggest a different club to join. So that guidance is so helpful.Hannah Choi 15:38 Yeah, right, helpful. I know, I always encourage my clients take advantage of your academic advisor. Or if you qualify for services at the Disability Resource Center, go and get to know them, even if you don't go regularly just know what they offer. And, and so is that is that something that you recommend to your students as well? Marcia Morris, MD 15:59 Absolutely, absolutely. For all the patients in our clinic, we generally encourage them to sign up for the Disability Resource Center for whether they have anxiety, depression, or ADHD. Because they you never know when they're going to need the resources. Sometimes they they register, we have to write a letter and they submit it and they register. And they may not even use it, but then there might be a point where they need it. And the accommodations could include time and a half for testing or testing in a quiet room. And then to get additional accommodations. It's more of a kind of a discussion with the Disability Resource Center about whether they can hand and work late. And and so there's Yeah, it's a process and that has benefited many students that I've worked with over the years. Yeah, very appreciative of the disability resource centers on campus.Hannah Choi 16:57 Yeah, that was that's always my one of my first questions for anyone who might qualify for services there. Have you checked in with them? Have you gotten to know them. And I saw that a lot when I worked in, in, in the office that I worked at is sometimes some semesters kids needed it, you know, for everything and other semesters they didn't. But just having itMarcia Morris, MD 17:20 Right, and with mental health issues, with some mental health issues, there could be an exacerbation of symptoms, ADHD, tends to be pretty steady. And you know, what kind of some of the issues are with depression, something might happen in someone's life, and they might have a more severe episode and need more accommodations at that moment. Get registered, and then going back in and, you know, adding accommodations can be very helpful. One thing I was going to suggest also is students should register at the very beginning of the year. We had talked before about how with COVID. It's sometimes it's there's students have been more overwhelmed, at least on our campus, they're accessing the disability resource center. Yeah. But so you want to get ahead of the line as much as possible. Because if you wait till the middle or end of the semester, it can be hard to get an appointment to discuss options. Yeah. And also counseling services. Hannah Choi 18:25 Yeah, yeah. And if you, the student, are feeling overloaded or stressed, because it's midterms, you adding an additional appointment of getting to know the place is just an additional thing to do. If you've already connected with them during the time where you're not stressed out schools just beginning, then it's, it's gonna be a little easier for you won't feel like such a hurdle.Marcia Morris, MD 18:48 That's absolutely true. Yeah. Hannah Choi 18:51 So speaking of depression and anxiety, do you are you and COVID are you seeing a difference? Pre and Post COVID?Marcia Morris, MD 19:00 Well, yes, absolutely. And but what's been interesting and unfortunate is the trend has been upwards even before COVID. But in 2020, there's a national survey called the Healthy Mind study that's been tracking rates of depression and anxiety on college campuses. And so, in 2021, the study found that 41% of students screened positive for depression. And that's what's actually high number and 34% for anxiety. It uses a screening test. And again, the students who might take the survey perhaps they might have more issues anyways, but yeah, nonetheless, the trend has been upward. And the rate that is that rate for depression is double what it was in 2014, and the rate of anxiety is up by 50%. So that's a huge, huge increase. And we actually, I worked with a research group and we did a study that showed the rate of depression combined with anxiety, like having both. We use Healthy Minds data, by the way, but it has doubled since 2013. So, so and so we see more students experiencing the symptoms. It's not just happening in college, though we've there's been an increase of depression and anxiety and high school, but it is. So the COVID certainly made things harder. And I know it's a sign of the times there are stressful things going on in the Yeah, yeah, the economy. And COVID was just hard for everyone. But there's hope people can feel better. They can do therapy, they can, if needed, take medication, they can exercise, it's not going to cure depression, but it certainly helps really. I was gonna say one other thing, though, related to the depression and anxiety. I think the biggest problem of COVID was the social isolation where kids were, for safety reasons. And we didn't know how to handle COVID like students, high school and college students were often isolated. And that in that instance, their social skills fell behind. They were lonely loneliness can increase anxiety and depression. And what's interesting is now they're back. They're in class, they're interacting. But they're having some more anxiety about the interactions. It feels different. And I think it's the same for people outside of college.Hannah Choi 21:47 Oh, absolutelyMarcia Morris, MD 21:48 We're all adjusting. So but so, I'm a big supporter of therapy, individual, group therapy. And I think I want to encourage students to take advantage of those resources, whether it's on campus or off campus to deal with any, like strong feelings of depression and anxiety. And that would be like the first line of treatment before going to medication. Yeah.Hannah Choi 22:15 Yeah. And and every campus out there is going to have some kind of support center for students. And it can be hard to take that first step of making the phone call or going and walking in the door, but or maybe it's virtual, maybe it can be held virtually now. Do you guys do virtual, which can make it easier?Marcia Morris, MD 22:39 Yes. During the, during the first year of the COVID pandemic, I was doing 100% virtual psychiatry, working from home. Yeah, I'm back in the office. But what is very interesting to me, is that a lot of students like the virtual, you're good at technology, if they don't want to drive across to the apartment and deal with parking. Yeah, they might be. I sometimes work with medical students, they're on rotations. They can go into an office and do their session and then go back to work. In my opinion that telehealth has been a silver lining of the pandemic where we've we've improved those resources.Hannah Choi 23:25 So if a student or if a parent feels like their child, or a student feels like they want to take advantage of therapy on campus, who would be their first person to go to?Marcia Morris, MD 23:39 They should call the counseling center on campus directly. And then they would generally they either might speak with someone on the phone or see someone. And what's happened on a lot of campuses, the therapy is tended to be more short term. It does vary from campus to campus, so some will do long term therapy. So this, the student needs to maybe go on the website, see what the services are, and decide what what they need. So it might be doing some short term therapy on campus in transitioning off campus or doing a telehealth kind of therapy or psychiatry. I like one of the things I like about my job on campus in particular is I get to see students from freshman year and is through. Yeah, it was psychiatry, it's hard to do short term treatment because they might be on medicine for a while, right. So so we really they really do need, you know, consistent follow up. But I do think also some students would benefit from long term therapy and I would like to see campuses make that more available to students. I know the resources are limited and they're being stretched, but I think it's so important for young adults to get therapy early on to prevent problems getting more serious. So I'd like to see more access to both therapy and psychiatry on campus. And if not on campus, and even through through community mental health centers with affordable resources, I think, nationally, we need to really get young adult mental health improved.Hannah Choi 25:23 Absolutely, I completely agree. Marcia Morris, MD 25:26 But, but parents can get involved in trying to figure out what where the resources are. And because it's, if you're depressed, it's hard to kind of work through situations. And the other thing I wanted to mention is a lot of campuses have a case manager, who might be may or may not be a social worker, but they can cut, they can help the student connect with resources. Sometimes the case manager is in the counseling center. Sometimes it's might be in the Dean of Students Office. But there's each campus runs a different site, it's very, very as you work varies tremendously. But if you need to find a helper to connect you, that's the key to and the parent can be critical in that process.Hannah Choi 26:15 And so you mentioned medication, how does? How do how do medications come into play here, and how can parents support their child if they either are on medication already, or might need to look, go down that path.Marcia Morris, MD 26:30 One way they can support the students is if they're coming to school on medicine, to try to facilitate them having continuous treatment, because one of the worst things that can happen, especially with antidepressants is stopping the medicine. Right? If someone wants to come off of a medicine, they need to taper slowly and work with a provider. So continuity of care is extremely important when they're coming to college. The other issue is the sometimes parents have doubts about the need for medicine, or they worry about side effects. And with antidepressants, by the way, there is a blackbox warning, talking about increased risk of suicidal behavior. Teenagers up until 25. The study showed that the concerning time is really under 18. But nonetheless, occasionally, when a young adult starts any antidepressant they can have kind of new suicidal thinking. So the important thing is, let's say a parent is said I don't want says to the child, I really feel uncomfortable with you starting any antidepressant, it's worthwhile to ask the child to say, you know, let's all meet with the psychiatrist so I can learn about how these medicines work. And know like we have an on-call system. So if the students having a problem, they can reach us, we're not just going to hand them a medicine and say there you go! We don't do that. But what we do do is that we do have follow up visits with the student and more at the beginning to see how are you feeling on this medicine? Are you having side effects? Is this the right dose, and I increase medicine very slowly, because you do not want to cause side effects in college students affecting concentration or energy level. So So parents, if they're having worries about the medicine, or even if they feel the student is not doing well, on the medicine can say, I want you to let the psychiatrist know that you need you need to call your psychiatrist or I'd love to meet with you and this psychiatrist because I'm observing things that concern me. But again, don't stop the medicine.Hannah Choi 28:50 That's really, that's the takeaway. And then that reminds me of like, I had a client who one thing that we were working on was making sure that he had reminders and a system to help him remember to get his refill, so that that wouldn't happen. And so that can be something that has to be learned to by the student.Marcia Morris, MD 29:14 And and you're bringing up, right. And also in the past, the parents might have picked up. The student has to, and there's an issue coming up now and hopefully it's getting better, but there's an Adderall. Sure. Yeah,Hannah Choi 29:28 I read about that. Yeah. Marcia Morris, MD 29:30 So what we're doing now with students is we're saying make sure you fill the prescription right on time. And then sometimes we end up calling around to pharmacies to see where they haven't. I hope that's gonna get better soon. And what we usually are able to find it's at somewhere, but that can be a challenge. And so let's say a student goes to the pharmacy and they don't have the Adderall they need to call the psychiatrist and sometimes there's a psychiatric nurse practitioner and my thought, like, if you need to call the clinic and say, I'm facing this challenge do I've called a few pharmacies, they don't have it, can you tell me where to go? Or what to do?Hannah Choi 30:15 Yeah. And so that's something that comes up a lot for college students is learning how to ask for help take advantage of resources. And it's and it's okay to ask for help. And there are people out there that really want to support you. So that's a good example of you might have to do that.Marcia Morris, MD 30:34 Yeah, right. And, and even for my patients, sometimes, though, they might be having a side effect. But they might wait to tell me until the next appointment, I said, you can feel free to call and we've structured our clinics. So nurses will take the preliminary call and then let let us know if there's something serious going on. So you know, we tried, we try to, you know, have a team of resources, we even train our support staff to kind of figure out where to triage different calls. That's good. And yeah, we have a really, I'm really happy with the team I work with there. It's it's a very caring team. And that's also Yeah, important to make sure your student is working with a group of people or one person who seems to, you know, care.Hannah Choi 31:20 Yeah. And then that goes back again to getting in early and meeting with the people in that office and getting to know that team and having them get to know you and your child and making sure that you that they are familiar with your case. And it can just really help in times of crisis, I imagine definitely.Marcia Morris, MD 31:42 I will add one more last thing about medicine, for antidepressants, which actually treat both depression and anxiety. The question often is asked, How long will my child be on this medicine, it's pretty hard to predict. But I can say that I've had students who, let's say, have pretty bad anxiety and depression. And they do a good course of what we call cognitive behavioral therapy, which is the gold standard treatment for depression and anxiety. And sometimes after a good course of therapy and making life changes, like finding the right major, finding the right friend group, they find they can taper off of the medicine, but with the help of a psychiatrist, and I've seen that happen. The important thing is, though, generally, if someone's on an antidepressant, they they stay on it for approximately nine months to a year, because that's the timeframe it takes to have a full recovery, particularly from depression. Okay, so, so but but it doesn't have to mean forever. It really doesn't. Because I know, and I'm sorry about that. Hannah Choi 31:42 Yeah, I was gonna say that I'm sure that's comforting to parents who are concerned about their child being on medication, that it's not a forever thing. Marcia Morris, MD 32:37 And the only time it might, it's might be forever as if someone has a more severe mental health problem, like severe bipolar disorder. Sometimes that requires lifelong medicine. And that's about 1% of the population, but, but when people do well, you can keep them on lower doses, and they'll have fewer side effects and utilize therapy along with it, though, you can do it the way in that people can function and not feel overmedicated.Hannah Choi 33:40 Yeah, that's good. Yeah, find like, again, finding that balance, and making sure that the choices that the life choices that they're making, in addition to medication are also being supportive, which reminds me you just said something about a friend group. And it reminds me of a client of mine once who had a friend group that that was, was not a healthy friend group for her. And, and so and so she changed her friend group and now and you know, and then ended up having a much better experience. And that makes me think about the social experience of kids in college. And how important that is,Marcia Morris, MD 34:20 It is equally important to the academic experience is all about your social development, deciding which friends you want to hang out deciding which romantic partners you want to be with, and learn and learning how to deal deal with people in difficult situations. And having fun, I mean, college should be fun, too. It shouldn't be a total grind. It is hard. I mean I I studied pretty hard in college, but I also had some fun. And so it's important for students to find the activities they enjoy. It might be intramural sports, it might be going to to church or temple or a mosque, it, it might be. I'm trying to think of the interesting groups, I think there was an acrobatics group one time. You know, like,Hannah Choi 35:13 There's something for everyone,Marcia Morris, MD 35:15 Some of the clubs, but but it you have to find something, it's important to have fun. And that's, that's, it's just part of life, we should all have fun. But maybe do your studying during the weekend, have fun on the weekends, don't have fun, every won't be able to you know, pass your classes. School should be fun. I think the academic part there should be joy in the academics too. And it's it's important to find what you really like. And so if you're, you know, kind of pre med and you're think that's what I should do, but you say, I really liked this. It's a long, four years undergrad and four years of medical school and four years of residency to like,Hannah Choi 36:00 yeah, that's a long time. It's really,Marcia Morris, MD 36:03 But it's really important to find things you enjoy. And I think parents worry of my kid majors in English or history, they're not going to get a job. But in reality, kids get jobs doing social media for companies after graduation when they're majoring in English. It's so interesting, all the different things they do post graduation, but I think it's important to find a major you enjoy it, but still go to a Career Resource Center started. Yeah, as a sophomore beginning of junior year and start planning. Okay, I love this major. But here's I'm also going to think about a job after school. Or maybe it might be graduate school.Hannah Choi 36:43 Yeah, I was just thinking, Gosh, I don't think I went to the Career Center once when I should have done that. I'm very happy with my, my career, how it all worked out.Marcia Morris, MD 36:53 Imagine, you know, with the experience I have working with students with my kids, I said you need to go found me a little too much sometimes, but it kind of helped to you. In terms of your that you have this resource on your campus? Use it take advantage of it.Hannah Choi 37:11 Yeah, yep. I, whenever I start working with a college student, I always say to them, okay, yes, you're in, you're in college for academics. But let's make it so that your academics are, you know, as not easy as possible. But let's figure out ways systems, let's build systems, so that you have more time for your socializing, because you're right. I mean, yes, college is about academics, but it really is also about finding about who you are as a person, and learning social skills and learning the kind of people that you'd like to be around and the kind of people you need to avoid, and learning how to ask for help and become part of a group and how to function in a group. And you can't learn all that if you just do the academic. And so you need to leave time for the, that social aspect. Marcia Morris, MD 37:46 And studies actually, so show that a sense of social belonging on campus is correlated with better grades. So parents who were worried about that say, yeah, they might actually say have time to restore themselves and have some fun. They might do better academically.Hannah Choi 38:24 Yes, yes. Yep. And that's why it's so and also how you said, the adding joy to your academics, and finding something that works for you. Yes, you're gonna have to take classes that that are in your major, that that don't work for you. But if you can build systems, and figure out the tools and the strategies that you need to use to make it more bearable to get through those classes, take advantage of your resources can just make it everything so much more enjoyable. Yeah, great. Well, thank you so much. Is there anything else that you'd like to add that we didn't cover today?Marcia Morris, MD 39:01 Yes, one one last thing. When your child is applying to colleges, again, take a close look and see what kind of what kind of coping skills they have where they thrive. Because some kid I have, I have one child who went to a small private college I have another tiles we went to a large state school because their needs were different. And they both they thrived in the those settings they were the right settings for them. So that's important as you're in that you can you know often work with the guidance counselor at school it's now popular and a high hire people to help with the whole application process. But if you do hire someone, find someone who's not just looking at all the best school your kid will get. Yeah, really look at your child and see where they're going to thrive. And um, the the last so I'm talking about kind of getting into school and I just also want to talk About the exit from school that yeah, that can be tricky time too. And sometimes the challenge is some kinds of classes for certain majors like engineering can get super hard at the very end, there might be a design project where you have to develop this whole system. And so that's a time to check in with your child to and see how they're doing. Because for some kids that last year can be pretty stressful, stressful, and there can be some tough classes to get into. And the other stress is for kids who haven't figured out what they want, right? Might want to go to medical school, but haven't fulfilled the requirements, help your child calm down and say, Listen, you can do a gap year you can apply to med school or another graduate school, you don't have to go go straight to grad school. So kind of paying attention to the transition into college. And the transition out is really, those are kind of tricky times where kids might need more support.Hannah Choi 41:00 And also helping helping kids realize that you don't have to follow the sort of traditional path that, that you feel like everyone else is following and because not everyone is following it and not and that's not the right path for everyone. And yeah, and taking the time to figure out what what would be best for me and what would be best for my happiness. And I have a friend who he did two years of college, and then he took a few years off, and now he's back as a student in his later 20s. And he's loving it so much more. He's having a completely different experience than he did when he was in his late teens and early 20s. And he's so glad that he didn't follow that sort of traditional path of you know, finishing the four years. And so it's, it's, and I've heard that from multiple people.Marcia Morris, MD 41:51 Yeah, yeah. And also you have for parents take good care of yourself. Because one thing I've observed with young people, they're not going to open up to you, if they think you're stressed out, or you're going to take some deep breaths, reassure your kids, everything's gonna be okay, reassure yourself, everything's gonna be okay. But it's really important to stay calm, because your kid cares about you a lot, too, and they don't want to stress you out, but just can handle things, and you guys will work things out together.Hannah Choi 42:22 Yeah, remember, I really liked how you address that in the book about how sometimes in your book, how sometimes kids will hold off on sharing something with their parents, because they they don't want to, you know, add out a burden to them or disappoint them or anything. And, and, yeah, and so that goes back to what we were talking before about maintaining that relationship with your child and the trust and keeping that rapport. It's so important.Marcia Morris, MD 42:52 You know, and who have been through grad school and you're in grad school, and that it's interesting, because the relationships continue. It's changes a lot as kids get into their late 20s. But that parent child relationship is really important. Yeah, we got to maintain the positive relationship.Hannah Choi 43:11 Yeah, it's what I've talked about with with a number of our other guests on the podcast is how, like, different strategies to you know, keep that relationship and how just just being with your child validating, like you said earlier, and just letting them know that you're there if if they need you, and that it's okay to share. And yeah, it's, it's, it's, I keep hearing that from everyone that I'm talking to. So it's something that's worth putting effort into and trying so. Well, thank you so much. It's just been a great conversation full of really good ideas. And I feel like there's a lot of like actionable advice in there for people. So yeah. And where can where can you mentioned a little bit in the beginning, but where can our listeners find you?Marcia Morris, MD 44:01 Well, I have a website, and my name is spelled Marcia M-a-r-c-i-a, but MarciaMorrismd.com. And my book, the campus cure is available on Amazon and other websites. But it's easiest to get it through Amazon. And I'm also if you Google college wellness Psychology Today, you can see my blog, I'm having a new blog coming out and it probably this weekend called "Dear College Student, You Deserve to Be Happy. You know, I want college students to be able to find joy in their experience, even though times are challenging right now.Hannah Choi 44:46 That's wonderful. Yeah. Life is life is more fun with joy in it. Yes. All right. Well, thank you, Marcia.Marcia Morris, MD 44:53 Right. It's great talking with you, Hannah.Hannah Choi 44:56 Yes, you too. And That's our show for today. Be sure to check out the show notes for links to Marcia's resources, plus some more that I found to share with you. Thank you for taking time out of your day to listen, I hope you found my conversation with Marcia helpful. I know I will be listening again when it's time for my daughter to go off to college. We hope to help as many people as we can with the important conversations we have on focus forward. So please share our podcast with your colleagues, your friends and your family. You can subscribe to focus forward on Apple and Google podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. If you listen on Apple podcasts or Spotify, you can give us a boost by giving us a five star rating. Sign up for our newsletter at beyond booksmart.com/podcast and we'll let you know when new episodes drop and we'll share information related to the topic. Thanks for listeningTranscribed by https://otter.ai

Today's  episode of the Making After School Cool podcast centers on the positive influence a role model can have on youth.  According to Dr. Marilyn Price-Mitchell by the time children become adolescents, they should be able to separate the positive and negative behaviors of the people they admire. This episode features my conversation with Juliet Stipeche, a true role model for countless people in the Houston Area.  Guest In 2010, Juliet Stipeche wished to serve her community and support public education and was elected to the Houston Independent School District (HISD) Board of Education as the Trustee of District 8. During her tenure, she served as Chairperson of HISD's Audit Committee for three years, pushed for administrative and educational reform, and was elected by her peers to serve as the Board President. In 2013, Juliet joined Rice University as the Associate Director for the Richard Tapia Center for Excellence and Equity. In  2016, Mayor Sylvester Turner selected Ms. Stipeche to serve as the Director of Education for the Mayor's Office of Education (MOE), a new position and office within the mayor's administration. She developed a new office focused on educational equity and opportunity for all ages in Houston by promoting city-wide collaboration, communication, and coordination. Juliet worked on education and workforce issues from cradle to career and developed city-wide programs from Hire Houston Youth to Be Well, Be Connected. She currently serves as Director of Human Services, leading the Gulf Coast Workforce Solutions, and the Houston-Galveston Area Agency on Aging, and Aging and Disability Resource Center programs. Juliet has a long and distinguish history of developing creative programs and collaborations to support educational and workforce efforts for her community.   Resources Juliet Stipeche juliet.stipeche@wrksolutions.net Mike Wilson mwilson@hcde-texas.org  

Amanda Kraus, PhD serves as Assistant Vice President for Campus Life and Executive Director for Disability Resources at the University of Arizona. The University of Arizona's Disability Resource Center is one of the largest in the nation, and considered an international model of progressive service delivery, uniquely positioned to approach campus access systemically. She is also Associate Professor of Practice in Higher Education where she teaches courses on student services and disability. Dr. Kraus is Immediate Past President for the Association of Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) and travels around the country and abroad to give talks on ableism and universal design.Universal design for learning is a framework which is often applied in educational settings to provide guidelines and accommodate individuals with different learning needs. The term universal design is also often used in architecture to ensure for inclusive design within infrastructure to accommodate all individuals. Both universal design for learning and infrastructure are important and necessary elements for higher education institutions as they incorporate elements of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). The ADA, along with universal design principles can provide an accommodating and inclusive environment for all students at an institution. CITI Program's A 21st Century Approach to ADA Compliance: Equity and Access webinar is available to meet institutional needs.Learn more about CITI Program: https://about.citiprogram.org/ 

Episode #47: To honor Mental Health Awareness Month, we turn our attention to bipolar disorder, a serious mental health condition that causes extreme mood swings. If not treated and managed, bipolar disorder can be dangerous and cause great disruption in a person's life. Most mental health disorders have peak onset during young adulthood. So, while beginning college and meeting the new stressors that accompany this transition, many young adults will experience the first onset of problems or an exacerbation of pre-existing symptoms. Students diagnosed with bipolar disorder are 70% more likely to drop out of college than students with no psychiatric diagnosis. Many of these students are going undiagnosed and are not getting the treatment and the support services they need to succeed in college. However, students with bipolar disorder can implement effective treatments, practice management strategies, and seek support in order make progress in their college education. For this conversation, we're joined by Allyson Makuch, who recently navigated bipolar disorder throughout her college and graduate school years. We're also joined by a University of California, Santa Cruz Director of Psychiatry, Dr. David Lo, to inform us about bipolar disorder and ways to manage it while in college. Broadcast 10/2/22 & 10/10/22 Special thanks  to Jeanne Baldzikowski for audio production, Jennifer Young for underwriting outreach, Lisa Herendeen for advance research and Leslie Nielsen for “In Your Voice” Coordination. And thanks to acoustic guitarist Adrian Legg for composing, performing, and donating the use of our theme music. LISTEN ANYTIME or subscribe to get new or past episodes delivered to your listening device: Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Spotify / Stitcher  / TuneIn JOIN EMAIL LIST Want to know our interesting topic each month? Simply  SIGN UP for our email list! FOLLOW US Facebook  @stateofmindksqd Instagram @state_of_mind.radio SUGGEST A TOPIC If you or someone you know has topic ideas for future shows or a story of mental health recovery to share, please email debra.stateofmind@ksqd.org SHARE YOUR STORY In Your Voice are short segments on the show where a listener gets to share their experience of the topic we are discussing. You can call us at 831- 824-4324 and leave a 1-3 minute message about: a mental health experience you've had, something that has contributed to your mental health recovery journey, or share a resource that has helped you. Alternatively, you can make a 1-3 minute audio recording right on your phone and email that file to debra.stateofmind@ksqd.org. Your voice may just become part of one of our future shows! SUPPORT OR UNDERWRITE If you like what you're hearing here on KSQD, also affectionately called K– Squid, you can become a “Philanthropod on the Squid Squad” by becoming a supporting member  and help keep KSQD surfing the air waves! Consider underwriting your business or agency and showing our listeners your support for State of Mind. RESOURCES * Indicates Santa Cruz Local Books & Articles An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison. This is a trailblazing autobiography of a psychiatrist who also lives with Bipolar 1. Hearing about her recovery journey helped me feel less alone when I first got my diagnosis. Mind Fixers: Psychiatry's Troubled Search for the Biology of Mental Illness by Anne Harrington. If you are interested in the history of science and psychiatry, this book provides insightful historical context for modern day psychiatric interventions for bipolar disorder  and other mental illnesses. A Diagnosis of Mental Illness Need Not End a College Career – Short article by Marjorie Baldwin / NAMI.com / March 19, 2018. Back to school with bipolar? How college can unleash mania – Excellent article describing triggers, ways to manage the illness, identifies risk factors to watch out for and offers links to additional resources.  By Michele Hoos / Health.com / September 21, 2010. Managing My Life With Bipolar Disorder – WebMD short online article with 7 prevention practices to help manage symptoms of Bipolar Disorder. Medically Reviewed by Neha Pathak, MD on February 01, 2022. Web Resources The Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance – Focusing solely on depression and bipolar disorders and offering peer-based, wellness-oriented support and empowering services and resources online 24/7, in local support groups, in audio and video casts, or in printed materials distributed by DBSA and their chapters. This is where our guest Allyson attends her support groups. WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plan) – a self-designed prevention and wellness tool that you can use to get well and stay well. Many versions of this and templates to fill out can also be found by searching online for WRAP Plan templates. Julie A. Fast (@juliefast) on Instagram for tips and reminders on your recovery journey with Bipolar. Julie is a woman with Bipolar 1 who is an advocate and author supporting people with bipolar disorder  and their loved ones. *NAMI Santa Cruz County – Free classes & support groups, crisis information and locally oriented resources and support and advocacy on the countywide level. NAMI National – Website with extensive information and research on mental health and advocacy at the nation level. NAMI California – Training, education and mental health advocacy information. How Do you Treat Bipolar Disorder – Practical information from Mental Health America website about the primary ways to treat and manage bipolar disorder. Resources Specifically for the University of California, Santa Cruz Community *Counseling and Psychological Services at University of California, Santa Cruz – Also known as “CAPS,” offers culturally appropriate mental health services to currently enrolled UCSC students only, as well as consultation to faculty, staff, and families. *Disability Resource Center at University of California, Santa Cruz – Works to assist the UCSC campus with equal educational access for students with disabilities. Supports retention and graduation of students with disabilities, promotes a non-discriminatory campus environment and encourages student development and independence *Slug Support Program at University of California, Santa Cruz – The UCSC Slug Support Program was created to promote early intervention with students of concern to prevent culminating problems from escalating into a crisis.  The goal of the Slug Support Program is to identify students navigating difficult or challenging situations and assist them in resolving their concerns. *Mental Health Resources for Students at the University of California, Santa Cruz – A comprehensive list of on-campus and off-campus mental health resources specific for college students. Resources for the Cabrillo College Community *Accessibility Support Center – Provides services, accommodations, and academic support for students with disabilities (including mental health diagnoses) and learning differences at Cabrillo College. ASC assists the college to meet the requirements ensuring that all programs, services, and activities are accessible to and usable by students with disabilities. Contact Guests *Shuyun David Lo, MD – Can be contacted through Counseling & Psychological Services at University of California, Santa Cruz *Allyson Makuch – You can hear more of her music at her website here: Echoes and Artifacts * Indicates Santa Cruz Local

The Western Connecticut Area Agency on Aging, Inc. (WCAAA) is a private, non-profit corporation. Through designation as an Area Agency on Aging, the WCAAA is a funding source for services designed to maintain seniors in the community. Funding is derived from federal, state and local sources with clients contributing toward the cost of many supportive services. Federal and non-federal funding finances services such as congregate and home delivered meals, legal, chore, health, adult day care/respite, transportation, veterans outreach, senior centers, benefits outreach and health screenings for seniors in the 41 town western CT area. Our home based senior assessments frequently act as a gateway to our programs and services. The Agency administers the statewide Alzheimer Respite Care Program, as well as the following programs with federal funding: National Family Caregiver Support, Money Follows the Person, Live Well, Congregate Housing Service, a Veteran's Program, the Medicare focused CHOICES and SMP (Medicare Fraud) programs and through a contract with the local housing Authorities, the Resident Service Coordination Project. As a State of Connecticut contractor, we administer the Connecticut Home Care Program for Elders, for Waterbury. The WCAAA is a resource for information and referral to services for older adults and through research, serves as an advocate for older adults in the 41 towns. As a member of the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging, the WCAAA is part of a national referral network focused on assisting seniors and caregivers. The WCAAA and Independence Northwest, in partnership, function as the designated Aging and Disability Resource Center for the Western Area (see below). The WCAAA serves the following 41 towns in Western Connecticut Western Connecticut Area Agency on Aging, Inc. Address: 84 Progress Lane, 2nd Floor, Waterbury, Connecticut 06705 Email: info@wcaaa.org Phone: 203-757-5449 or 800-994-9422 Fax: 203-757-4081

September 14, 2022 - Agining and Disability Resource Center

September 14, 2022 - Agining and Disability Resource Center

Beyond 120 is a program housed at the University of Florida. Our guest on this episode, Brittany Grubbs-Hodges is a part of this program designed to help college students look beyond the minimum of 120 units of college credits required to graduate. Brittany helps students look at their possible career choices and helps them learn more than they ever thought they could discover about what really goes into whatever they are looking to do with their lives.   Brittany is clearly a teacher at heart. As you will learn, even an immune disability does not stop her.   You will learn how Brittany is advancing her own life goals as she moves toward securing a PHD and how she wishes to continue to help students expand their horizons. Brittany is by any definition unstoppable. I am sure you will enjoy what she has to say and that you will be inspired by her.   About the Guest: Brittany Grubbs-Hodges works at the University of Florida as part of the Beyond120 program. She assists undergraduate students by connecting them to internships and other experiential learning activities. Brittany also works as an adjunct professor in the UF College of Journalism and is graduating with her PhD in December of this year. In her spare time, Brittany enjoys spending time with family and friends, and she is looking forward to adopting her new puppy in the next few weeks!       About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app.   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.     Transcription Notes Michael Hingson  00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i  capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson  01:20 Hi, and welcome back once again to unstoppable mindset. Glad to have you with us wherever you may be. And however you're listening to us. Brittany Grubbs Hodges as our guest this week. We have lots of fun things to talk about. We've been spending the last few minutes kind of reacquainting ourselves after chatting and also talking about all the things we could talk about. She is getting a PhD in higher education. She has a master's degree in journalism. But she wouldn't even let me talk about fake news. I don't know What's all that about. But anyway. But we we can talk about everything. And as people on this podcast know, I'm an equal opportunity political abuser, so it doesn't matter. And so there's real news too. And I haven't seen much of that lately, because it's all fake news, as everybody tells us right away. Brittany, welcome to unstoppable mindset.   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  02:12 Thank you so much, Michael, thank you for having me today.   Michael Hingson  02:15 And now that we've picked on fake news, we can get to more real stuff. You just got back, you said from DC. How was it up there?   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  02:21 It was great. Yeah, I just got back I took about 20 students. I'm a professor at UF. And I think about 20 undergraduate students to DC mainly to just expose them to the world of work. You know, they like to say the real world but the students are in the world or, but I just want them to get an idea of the world of work. Specifically, I work for a department it's called Beyond 120. At the University of Florida, it's our experiential learning program. So we encouraged them to get outside of the classroom through things like internships through mentorship through excursions or study abroad. So this was one of our career excursions, we took them to various places around DC, USA Today, the Capitol building all kinds of places, and hopefully, you know, some of those opportunities will really come to fruition. I know a couple of my students have interviews already. So I'm excited to see what comes from that. And   Michael Hingson  03:15 how did they come up with the name beyond 120?   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  03:18 So that's a great question. So 120 is the number of academic credits needed to graduate with a baccalaureate degree. So it's kind of a metaphorical and that we're not asking you to take more credits. We're just asking you to go beyond what's required by really exploring outside of the classroom.   Michael Hingson  03:35 Yeah, that is so much fun and important. I remember being in college years ago, getting a master's degree in physics, and there was no real discussion of either extracurricular activities, although there were a number of things available and so on. But there weren't programs like a beyond 120, I did end up getting very involved on campus at the campus radio station, and I got involved in being in a consumer group of blind people, the National Federation of the Blind, in my senior year, and then continued with it ever since. But it makes a lot of sense to get people to really explore additional sorts of things. And if you will, as you said, look at a little bit of the real world, doesn't it?   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  04:17 Yeah, absolutely. And especially in the world of COVID, everything has really changed. You know, you have hybrid workforce, you know, offices now, and that people only come in on Tuesdays or you know, every other day, some some folks we were working with, they have teams so Team A will come in one day, and then Team B will come in the next day. So it's really certainly changed since we last took our excursion. So we've, we've taken four excursions this semester, but prior to that, we our last excursion was February of 2020. So it's been a full two years and a lot of students have had their experiences canceled. A lot of their internships went virtual, a lot of study abroad experiences were canceled. So we're really trying to kind of make up for that and try and get some Students access and exposure to some of the jobs and some of the just the industries out there.   Michael Hingson  05:05 Not trying to be political or anything, but what was it like COVID wise up in DC was masking encouraged or, you know, what are the kinds of things did you see?   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  05:15 Yeah, so it really depends on the individual place. So we went to Georgetown University to get our students who are interested in graduate school wanted to get them some exposure to what law school was like in graduate school, and they have a mandate, not only for the vaccine, but also for the booster, and of course masks as well. And then some folks, which, of course, private companies, it's up to them, it's up their discretion. But I did have to have the students bring their COVID cards, because for some of the entities, they were not allowed in without it. So it certainly was not a University of Florida regulation. But it was up to the individual and to T that was hosting us. And they all had very different regulations, depending on, you know, how many people were visiting with social distancing versus masking versus vaccinations, all that fun stuff?   Michael Hingson  06:05 Did you go to Congress or the White House or any of those at all?   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  06:09 So we went to the Capitol building, which was a blast, we went to our local Congresswoman, and she took us around, I believe were with her for about two hours. She took us around and showed us a few of the different offices in different areas of the Capitol building, we weren't able to go in because Congress was in session. We weren't able to go in and actually see in the main room there. But we did see some of the areas on the outskirts of those rooms, who was your congressperson? Cat Kammok   Michael Hingson  06:42 haven't met her. I spent a fair amount of time in DC over the years dealing with Congress, I went with the National Federation of blind a number of times, to invade Congress and talk all about the issues regarding blind people, and so on. And I've been there some other times as well. So I've met a number of people that don't think I've met her.   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  07:02 So she is our local representative. But we also met with Congressman, Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz, she's also a US alumni. So we made sure to meet with a variety of folks throughout the trip on both sides of the aisle.   Michael Hingson  07:18 And I and I have met her and she has sponsored legislation. So she's a cool lady as well.   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  07:24 Yes, it's always great to meet us alums that can share their stories with students and really mentor some of the students   Michael Hingson  07:30 makes perfect sense and go into Washington is an experience that I would encourage anyone to do. But of course, there's so much history there. It makes perfect sense to do.   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  07:42 Yes, absolutely. And I wanted the students to get some in history, as well as we gave them some free time, one of the days to go and explore all the museums nearby some of the Smithsonian's that are now open. So they were able to see most of those and really get some time exploring to see their history.   Michael Hingson  07:58 Have you been there before?   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  08:00 I have, we did a excursion there in 2019. That was actually our pilot excursion. So beyond 120 was not created until 2018. So myself and one of my co workers are one of the first hired in, in the department. And we kind of met and said, Okay, what is it that we want to do what's going to help students out and so we did an excursion to DC with eight students in 2019, just to see if this would work if it's a good concept at all. And it did, it worked well. So we were able to go to DC and 2019. And then in London in February of 2020. And funny story there. We were at the economist, the Thursday, before the play shut down, they shut down on a Friday. So we were there the day before they shut down. So we've just barely got out of the UK. And thankfully, no one tested positive it was we just made it by the skin of our teeth.   Michael Hingson  08:57 I escaped from New York in March of 2020. On the day they shut down the city, I knew that it was coming because they were talking about it. And I had had a flight later in the day. I decided I better get out of here. And so I was able to and I put it that way escape, before it was all shut down. And I understand why and it made perfect sense to do but it's just so unfortunate that all this is going on and we got to deal with it though it is part of life now.   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  09:28 Absolutely.   Michael Hingson  09:29 Well tell me a little bit about you, where you you came from and how you got into the University of Florida and ended up in the programs that you did.   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  09:39 Yes, absolutely. So when it comes to my story, I had a very non traditional journey. And so I'd love to go over with you later on in this podcast. Some of the folks that really influenced me, but I had a non traditional journey I actually had an immune deficiency. Whenever I you know, well it is a genetic thing. but I'll say it really made a huge impact on my career and my college trajectory. Because I eventually going into adulthood, I had to have plasma infusions twice a week. So I spent my first two years local, and my second two years, about two hours away at the University of Central Florida. But every weekend, I had to come back and get a plasma infusion twice a week. And it definitely altered my career trajectory. And it altered the opportunities that were available. But I will say while I was there, my first semester at UCF, which was the first semester of my junior year, I said, you know, I've kind of missed out on the first two years, but I need to make up for that, how can I do that. And there was an office of experiential learning to UCF. And I was able to find an internship really saw the power of internships ended up working, it was at a hospital system called Orlando health. And I worked there for about two and a half years, before switching over to the education side. And I initially switched to a K through 12. So I taught grades six through 12 at a private school, but found that that wasn't really my my niche, I love teaching. But that particular age group wasn't really my niche. So I switched to higher education, worked in admissions for about five years, working with students in that college transition. But then when the opportunity came to join beyond 120, I remembered my days as an intern and thought this is going to be perfect for me, I'm so excited to be able to kind of pay it forward to have future students connected with internships and job opportunities, because my internship was so influential for me. So that's kind of how I got into higher education.   Michael Hingson  11:48 I was teaching lower grades different or how did you find them different than teaching upper grades and getting into juniors and seniors in high school and I asked that, in part because my wife was a teacher for many years and loved teaching younger grades more than older grades, because she felt she had a little bit more of an opportunity to help shape the way behave. They behave later, because by the time they were in high school, they were a lot more fixed in less interested in and exploring a lot of things that maybe they should have.   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  12:20 Mm hmm. Well, I guess for me, I mean, I was raised on a on a ranch, and I had a very strict upbringing. And so whenever I went to, to teach, a lot of my students did not have that strict upbringing. And I would hear them say things like, he's touching me, he's looking at me weird. He's breathing on me. He's, and it was just, it drove me absolutely crazy. Sounds terrible. But, um, but no, I just, I was definitely wanting to be able to see, I'm not even quite sure the best way to say it, but be able to see the difference that I was making. And that, you know, with a student that I was able to admit, at least with admissions with a student, I was able to admit into college, I can see that transition. And a lot of times those students would come back to me and say, Hey, this is what I've done while I'm here and moving towards beyond 120. I can see, for example, one of the students that I've been working with, for several semesters, we were able to get her an interview at NASA last week, and she said, Oh, my gosh, all of my efforts that I've done, have paid off, she's taken my classes she did the excursion, she's doing the internship. And now the full time job and so to to know that I've had a part in that is incredibly rewarding. And I'm just humbled and honored by the fact that I can be a part of students journeys, and really, truly have an impact and where they go in life. And I'm so thankful and grateful for that.   Michael Hingson  13:47 So it sounds like what I'm hearing you say is that you're helping to teach people that and students that life is an adventure, which is something that conceptually is probably a little bit easier for them to think about and assimilate in later grades, because how do you tell a kindergartener that life's an adventure?   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  14:08 Well, and even sometimes students who let's just say a student has a degree in philosophy, the student will come to me and say, What do I What can I do with a degree in philosophy? And my answer is anything you want to do with a degree in philosophy? Let's see. What do you love doing? What are you passionate about? What do you enjoy, you know, and just trying to figure out and really dig deeper into what that student may or may not realize they even want to do and kind of expose them to all these different opportunities out there to see what resonates. So yeah, I love thing. Life is an adventure. Let's explore that together and see, you know, what's going to be the best fit for you. And even if they   Michael Hingson  14:47 start on a career, or they decide to go down one road, you never know when you might have to change and being flexible, being a little bit more broader and thinking really can help people We deal with things that come along and may change their pathways over time.   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  15:04 Absolutely. And that's one of the biggest lessons that we teach students is that career paths are not linear. You know, they might be for some students who have a degree in accounting, they might want to be an accountant. And you know, that's that's a linear thing. But for a lot of our students, their journeys aren't linear. And I know my journey in particular was not linear. But But yeah, we're super excited to be able to impact those students. And you know, even my non traditional students love that love that love that we have a program called the University of Florida online program, which is fully 100% online degrees. And a lot of my non traditional students are still enrolled in my classes and take the excursions and do the internships. So, you know, that's oftentimes even more rewarding. I know I had a student about a year ago, who had an immune deficiency, just like I did, and she, because of her condition, she was homebound and she could not leave to participate in some of our activities. And so I said, You know what, let's, let's see what you can participate in. And we were able to organize a few virtual internships for her. So it's certainly very rewarding and love seeing the impact on students.   Michael Hingson  16:12 So in your case, what happened in terms of the immune situation, you were taking transfusions, I gather that has been able to be stopped?   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  16:23 Yes. Oh, we're so thankful. So thankful, um, I took plasma infusions for about five years. And thankfully, my body reacted to the infusions and was able to develop immunity on its own. So very thankful to my immunologist for all of his hard work. And it certainly took a while for us to figure out, you know, the dosage and whatnot, there were times that I had six needles in me at one time trying to infuse all of this plasma, because it was done subcutaneously instead of intravenously. So there was there were several obstacles. And I certainly got discouraged at some points. And that's why I want to help to make those impacts on students because I see them often getting discouraged, not necessarily because of a physical condition like mine, but because, you know, they might have financial obstacles, they might have had students who, because of COVID, became homeless, you know, so trying to say, okay, what can we do to make your situation better?   Michael Hingson  17:21 So in your case, though, as you, as you pointed out, you got discouraged, and so on. How did you move past that? How did you pump yourself up, if you will, to keep going?   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  17:31 Well, I think my family had a big part in that. My mother, she was with me through every single infusion. And I think she could see how challenging it was at 20 years old to have to come home every single weekend for two years straight, to have to do infusions. And so she truly encouraged me, but also the the power of prayer, me personally, I'm a very strong believer in Christ. And that was, that was my thing. And I know, not everyone has a particular face or a person to lean on. But for me, that was instrumental in my journey,   Michael Hingson  18:05 but there is merit to leaning on something, whoever you are, as, as long as it's a positive thing, and you can use it to help yourself move forward, right. And   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  18:15 I want to be that that person that helps motivate my students in whatever capacity I want to be that that person that is their biggest cheerleader, you know, to try and get students wherever it is that they're looking to go.   Michael Hingson  18:27 So you were able to get beyond that. Do you need to do anything still to kind of monitor your immune system to make sure it doesn't repeat? Or are we beyond that now?   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  18:36 Well, I actually had an appointment with my immunologist a couple of weeks ago, my husband and I are hoping to start a family soon. And I said, well, will this impact my child and my immunologist said probably not. But you know what, let's just monitor it. We'll take it day by day, and kind of go from there. So as of now I'm doing good. Very thankful. But yeah, doing doing okay, so far.   Michael Hingson  18:59 Well, jumping forward a little bit. Also, I understand that you're about to get a new addition, you're adopting a puppy. I am I'm very excited to tell us about the puppy.   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  19:10 So so this is a mix between a Rhodesian Ridgeback and a lab. We basically got this dog from our my parents set groomers and so we're excited about getting this dog but I mentioned that I grew up on a on a ranch and we had cows and horses and turkeys and you know, all of the the animals and so this will be my first time since my parents sold our farm. About seven years ago. This will be my first time getting a dog and other dogs so I'm very excited about it.   Michael Hingson  19:42 Wow, Rhodesian Ridgeback and lab so it will probably be a fairly good sized puppy dog by the time it's full grown.   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  19:50 Oh, yes, absolutely. But if you can take care of a horse, you can take care of anything.   Michael Hingson  19:53 Well, yeah, I wasn't so concerned about that. It'll be a big dog. And are we going to allow it on the bed? probably a good idea.   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  20:04 Probably not it, but we'll see, well, we'll cross that bridge. And when we come to it will probably be another four to six weeks before the puppies weaned. But But yeah, I've done that discussion. My husband and I,   Michael Hingson  20:15 my wife always wants to let our dogs on the bed. Right now the only dog we have is Alamo who is my guide dog, a black lab, and I will not let him get on the bed because I know if that happens once it's all over. Yeah. Once it happens one time, he's going to stay on the bed. And it's kind of one of those things that you you do have to monitor. On the other hand, she had a dog that was a breeder for Guide Dogs for the Blind that became her service dog. She's in a wheelchair, she's used to chair her whole life. And this dog who is very intelligent, picked up providing services for her like fetching things, which she had originally not been trained to do. But Karen always would encourage her to be on the bed. And as I love to tell people, Fantasia always took her half out of the middle of the bed. So I can think that it would be tough with a dog that will most likely be even larger than a lab.   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  21:13 Yes, yes. But fingers crossed, she'll have a good personality and we're excited.   Michael Hingson  21:20 Yeah, that's the thing. Well, you'll have some control over that, unless it's just a very strange dog. Dogs oftentimes do take on some of the personality of of their people, as long as the people are working really hard to make the home a good one and establish a good relationship. So my money is on you to be able to deal with that.   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  21:41 Thank you. I'm, I'm going to try my hardest. You'll have   Michael Hingson  21:44 to keep us posted. We'll do. So you, you were able to deal with the immune deficiency and you're able to then graduate. So did you go to UCS for for the rest of your undergraduate career or what?   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  22:00 Yeah, so I went to a community college called SSC je in Jacksonville, Florida for my first two years, went to UCF for my last two years, and I continued on doing plasma infusions until I was probably about a year post graduation. And I had them I mean, because they have to be refrigerated. Most plasmas have to be refrigerated, they delivered it to my work, I had a refrigerator there, and they just kind of made some accommodations for me. But yeah, I went all the way through graduation, with those plasma infusions and continued on into the workforce. And ironically enough, I worked at a hospital for my internship and part of my first job, so it didn't weird anyone out whenever I was getting plasma delivered to me.   Michael Hingson  22:51 How did that work when you were getting infusions, at work, and so on? Did Did someone actually do the infusions? Or was it something you could do?   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  23:00 Yeah, actually, every single infusion that I ever had passed, the first three weeks were all me. And it because it's done subcutaneously, you end up getting, I don't know the best way to say it, I guess it's like little fat pockets. Where your stomach is, or your legs are, wherever it is that you're getting your infusions, because you're putting essentially liquid right underneath the skin. And so it would kind of be bloated, I guess, wherever that earring is. And so I would just have to wear loose fitting clothing. And I had, because the infusions took anywhere from one to two hours to do and so whenever I graduated, and there were times when I had to have an extra infusion, so I do that at work. And I would just kind of take my little carrying case with me and people would see tubes kind of going inside my clothes. And I would just say, Oh, I'm having a plasma infusion. No one really felt comfortable asking, like more details. I did have a friend of mine who I worked with who who knew what was going on. And so if there was any emergency, she was able to call someone but thankfully that never happened. Everything was okay. And you know, I was I was comfortable. Eventually just kind of living a couple hours away from home and not going back on weekends after I graduated from college and just kind of doing that myself. But I do have a funny story. We kind of got tired of having the infusions done in the stomach, it began to hurt really, really bad once you do it over and over. And so one of the sites that you can do a plasma infusion is in the back of your arm and like the fatty part of your arm. And so my dad had to do those because I couldn't reach you could reach Yeah, you couldn't reach correctly. So so my dad had do those. And I mentioned I grew up on a on a ranch and my dad is used to giving our cows like you know the vaccinations, right so or their annual shots or whatever it is. And of course the cowhide is extremely thick and so he would jam that Have needle into the cows. And so then it wouldn't came time for me. You pretty much do the same motion. And I remember screaming so hard. You don't need to do it that hard, because he would jam that thing in cowhide. I was like tad. No. And so I never let him do that again. I learned my lesson.   Michael Hingson  25:19 My fourth guide dog Lynnae was a yellow lab and contracted glomerular nephritis, which is a kidney disease, it actually was a morphing of limes disease. But what happened is that the kidney would let out the good stuff, in addition to the waist, so it wasn't really doing the filter that it was supposed to do. But one of the things that we needed to do with her was to give her subcutaneous fluids every other day, and had to put a liter of lactated ringers, saline solution in her just to really keep her very hydrated. So very familiar with the process. And we did that usually on her back right up near her shoulder. So there was always this big bump. She didn't mind, mostly for her it was at least she got attention. And it worked out really well.   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  26:12 Well, I'm glad that it helps at least for a little while. Yeah, did for   Michael Hingson  26:15 a while. And eventually she? Well, she lived three more years after the diagnosis. She guided for three years and then live for three more years with us. So we we had her company for quite a while, which was really good. Yeah. So you went off and you graduated, and then you started doing the things that you're doing now. So what exactly do you do you do now? And how are your studies going and all that?   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  26:38 Well, I, I've been told that you are not supposed to do your PhD topic on your work, but I completely disregarded that role. So doing my dissertation on what I'm doing at work, because it is a little challenging to kind of juggle everything. So I'm just kind of had to pray that it all worked out. And thankfully it has but what I'm doing now I created a course it's called Industry Insights. And this is a variable 123 credit class. And I basically connect with various UF alumni in different industries. And we co teach a class together. And at the end of that class, the students while some of the students those that want to an internship or a full time position, they will let our alumni co instructor know and potentially interview for a full time position or internship, as of I believe, screen 21 Spring 2021, which is when we piloted the class, there was a student who got a full time position in Dubai. enlistees fall of 2021, there are two new different students who received positions, spring of 2022, there were three students. So so far, it's been pretty consistent, say the top two to four students each semester are getting internships or jobs. But honestly, in some cases, this has done the opposite. And that students think, oh, I want to work in marketing, or I want to go to law school or whatever the case may be. And after they take this class, they say, Oh, my goodness, I don't want anything to do with law school, or I don't want anything to do with this. Which in my case, I think it's just as valuable for people to kind of cross things off the list. And to say, this is what I want to do, because I can say, in my own experience, my internship helped me solidify what I wanted to do. But I also had a second internship. And I won't say where, because it was not a great experience. But I had a second internship that was very closely related to my major, I thought I wanted to work in news broadcasting. And so I did an internship at a station. And it was the worst experience, it was absolutely terrible. And it helped me solidify that this is not what I want to do. And so I tell students, you know, you don't want to get to law school, spend 200 grand getting into debt and getting your law degree to justify it out. You really don't want to be a lawyer or practice any type of law. So in my experience, I think it's just as valuable for students to just be exposed to the industry, and be able to cross something off the list as to be exposed to it and realize that this is what they want to do. So whether it's yes or no, I think it's pretty valuable.   Michael Hingson  29:18 The station you worked at was that TV or radio? It was television, television. So yeah, I'll bet it was awfully political. And there are a lot of challenges. And in doing that,   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  29:29 well hey, this is it wasn't something that I was willing to do at the time that there's there you have to work your way up in, in news and in broadcasting, you start off, you know, as an editor reporter or whatnot, and you have the graveyard shift. And there's just other politics that kind of go into it. And it was just some things that I just wasn't willing to do. And I you know, I really love the corporate side of it, being able to market our hospital services. It's a it's a place that I was working at, and I was like, this is really it. This is what I want to do. And to be honest, I would have been Been there for, oh my goodness, I don't even know how many years if it weren't for the fact that Medicaid reimbursement hit, and my entire department was eliminated. And so it kind of forced me into education. But I found out that I really love teaching. And it ended up being just as great of a fit. And   Michael Hingson  30:17 I was just about to ask what got you from all of that into education. On the other hand, your marketing background, certainly would have a positive effect on you, and education and teaching and so on, because you learned how to communicate with people.   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  30:34 I did, I did. And I'll say, when you're initially growing a department, it's crucial to have some of those marketing materials, things like your flyers, your website that and I've had some web design skills, so I was able to design our website. So there were a lot of those skills that I learned throughout my time and communications, that really helps me build beyond 120, along with my other co workers.   Michael Hingson  30:59 So in dealing originally in marketing, and then going on into education, and even some dealing in news and so on, off the off the wall sub question, did anything ever come up in terms of making sure that the information that you produced or the things that you were doing, or now, even with 120, or classes at University of Florida, anything ever come up with making sure that that sort of stuff is accessible for people with disabilities?   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  31:26 So, yeah, yes, and no. So I was, at least for my first five years, I worked in the office of admissions, like I mentioned, undergraduate admissions, so I was actually the disability coordinator for the Office of Admissions. And I had anywhere between probably three to 500 students every year, who would apply for disability consideration. And so I worked really closely with the Disability Resource Center at UF, I worked really closely with them to make sure that our students received the disability accommodation that they requested. And so that I mean, you know, of course, we talked about my own disability. And so that really gave me a sense of empathy. And I wanted to make sure that the students were getting what they needed. So So then moving into beyond 120, that was already at the forethought of forethought of what I was doing and saying I want to make this accessible for everyone. So COVID, kind of, in a way forced us to be accessible. However, we already kind of weren't accessible in some senses. So it really, if anything, it just made us be even more conscious about that. And so, for example, we have a class I teach a class called strategic self marketing, I developed the class myself based on some of my own experiences, and some of the things that that students are facing right now things like, you know, the Great Recession and Generation Z needs, and you just some of the things that students are facing. And so I said, How are we going to make this accessible to everyone? Because like I mentioned, I had a student who, you know, had an immune deficiency could not leave. And you know, there are students who are non traditional, perhaps they're a single parent trying to take classes, perhaps they're, they're working a full time job trying to take care of, of their own parents, right. So how do we make this accessible, so we had what's called hybrid classes, so students have the option of either coming in person to learn because I know students tend to who have like ADHD have a tendency to do better based on research in person classes. So we had in person section and at the same time, we would live stream that class. So for those who were at home and couldn't leave, or you know, we're experiencing some type of hardship and whatever case that might be, both sections at the same time could learn and we could all interact with one another and learn from one another. So we didn't necessarily have hybrid classes before zoom, we had a synchronous online classes for our UF Online folks. And then we had traditional sections for our residential folks. But through COVID, it kind of gave us the technology needed to have these hybrid classes. And that's something that I still continue to this day, and I have plans to continue until I leave the University of Florida. So So yes, and no, we did meet with some students who needed accommodations, any specific accommodations? And so we met with them individually and said, what are some things that we can do to make this more accessible for you? So as a department, we kind of worked with all populations myself, as the internship coordinator, I worked with all populations and you know, so so it's, it's been an interesting journey, trying to create a more accessible options. Is there more that we could do? Absolutely. And my goal is to eventually have someone that we can hire or to work with more non traditional populations. And that's kind of been in the works. But But yeah, ultimately just trying to make sure that we're listening to you to everyone and trying to be as accessible as possible.   Michael Hingson  35:10 Access gets to be quite a challenge. Whether it's a hybrid class and virtual class or totally online, for example, professors may create a lot of graphs and images, or professors may write on a board or do something that is visual, not verbalizing it. And the result is that anyone who's in the class who happens to be blind or low vision, won't get that information. And that's one of the access areas, I think, especially in colleges, but not just colleges, where there is a lot of challenge, and sometimes the requirement for a lot of advocacy because the information isn't made available. And it isn't something that technology in and of itself is gonna fix. It's an attitudinal choice that one has to make.   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  36:00 Right? I agree with that 100%. And I will say it does get easier with technology. So So for example, I will make sure that closed captioning is on all of the videos that I record. So if anybody, you know needs closed captioning services, we have those available now at no charge. And then we have also transcripts that come along with our zoom recordings. So if a student needs a transcript, to be able to use with one of the services that Disability Resource Center offers, to be able to read those transcripts out to the students, we have those as well. So there certainly have been improvements, but it's up to the individual faculty on whether or not to utilize them. So I agree, it's certainly an attitude thing, as well, trying to make sure everybody's on board. I mean, I can't speak to anybody else. But I'm hoping that my classes are accessible as possible.   Michael Hingson  36:52 Well, here's another, here's another example. So you create a video, or let's say you, you create some sort of video where there's music, or there are a lot of images that are put on the video, what kind of audio description do you create, in order to make sure that a person who can see the images in the video part of it is able to access it and and that's the kind of thing that I'm talking about that we're a lot less a well, I'm able to run word, but we're a lot less likely to include those things, even though they may be just as important to be able to do or you create a document or you scan a document and create a PDF of it. The problem is that's a graphic. And so it is totally unavailable to a person who uses a screen reader to verbalize or to to be able to interpret the document, unless the optical character recognition process is doable. And again, it is a result of becomes inaccessible. And those are the kinds of things that we haven't done a lot with yet. And it's not something that you can easily automate. It is a process that somebody has to put time into one of my favorite things that I that I love to complain about, I love to complain about it, but that I complain about is television advertising, how many ads today just have music, or just have sound but no verbalizations So that unless you can see it, you have no clue what's going on. And the reality is, what you what you do by not having words is leave out not only people who are blind or who can't see it, but you're missing the opportunity to market to all those people who get up during commercials and go do something else, like get a snack or a beer or whatever. Because all they hear is music, and they don't hear anything that helps the commercial continue to keep their focus on the product.   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  38:52 Right. Great. No, that makes total sense. I mean, I try and think you know, based on the materials that I teach, whether it be closed captioning service for those who are who are hearing impaired, or whatever the case may be, you kind of try and think of those things. But you're right. There's some things that I've never even thought about that I hope I would be empathetic to if a student needed those. Those that assistance, but yeah, it's it is certainly there's a lot of barriers there.   Michael Hingson  39:21 Well, here's the other part of it. It isn't just the student who may come in and need it. You archive classes.   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  39:28 The student, yes, the students do you have access to previous classes? Right, but you have to be enrolled in the class in order to the material. Yeah,   Michael Hingson  39:37 but if that's the case, then without having that information accessible in the archive classes, they're just as unavailable as anything because they weren't made accessible from the outset. So it is a it's a process. I know it's not inexpensive. But if we truly are dealing with accessibility, that is kind of one of the things that we need to explore and maybe the day We'll come when there are better ways to automate a lot of that it's not here yet. I don't know whether you checked out excessive be the company that I work for and help. But it is begun the process of, in part, at least creating an automated process to make websites accessible by analyzing the content of the websites with an artificial, intelligent widget. And it can do a lot to make websites more accessible. But it won't be able to do everything. It's it's amazing what it can do. Because you can oftentimes using the widget, analyze an image and get a description of it. Like on my website, if you go to Michael henson.com, there is a picture of me hugging my guide dog Roselle, the dog who was with me in the World Trade Center, when the image was first encountered by excessive B, before we did anything with it. It analyzed the image and embedded a description that said, Man and black suit hugging yellow Labrador retriever, which is incredible in of itself. But the reality is it doesn't do what we really wanted it to do was to say, which is to say, Michael Hinkson, hugging Roselle. So we embedded code and excessive B, we'll leave it alone. But already we're seeing the the machine process, do a lot to analyze images. And over time, it will get better. But we can't automate videos and put in video or audio descriptions yet and things like that. And maybe the time will come to do it. But in the short term, it means that that people have to make the effort to do that. Right and should make the effort to do that. Absolutely. It's a process. And you know, we're not there. And a lot of people don't think about you mentioned that COVID was something that helped bring a lot of this to the forefront. And it did but not always in a positive way. Like the Kaiser Health Foundation did a survey in 2020 of COVID-19 websites for registering to get when it started vaccines, but before then to get tests and get tested. And out of the 94 websites that the Foundation research 10 had made some effort to include accessibility and the reality is most hadn't, which is unfortunate. It is a process and I only bring it all up. It's it's interesting to discuss it. But hopefully it will help people think about more accessibility kinds of things in the future as we go forward.   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  42:30 Absolutely, absolutely. I was hoping. I mean, there's little things that I've learned over the years things like you know, when it comes to folks who need certain services, I don't remember exactly which which disability this was. But there was one particular condition where folks, it was hard for them to read color, it was easier if it was 100%, black and white versus on a grayscale. So So, so yeah, I made sure okay, this is in black instead of in a gray or blue or whatever. Because at University of Florida, our colors or colors are orange and blue. And so a lot of the stuff that I was making was in orange and blue. However, somebody was like, you know, it's actually really hard for me to be able to see this I'm visually impaired and having you know, I again, I don't remember what condition it was. But it was easier for her to to read in black and white. And I was like, Sure, absolutely. Let's do this. So hopefully, I mean, it's the more that we learn and more we're exposed to different things, the more accessible hopefully that we can make the material.   Michael Hingson  43:31 And when we're talking about vision impairments, the reality is what you just described is a lot easier to do today than it used to be because so much is stored electronically, you can quickly go in and change the colors and reprint or whatever. And even the student might be able to do that. But the fact is that you can do it. And that really helps a great deal. Yeah,   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  43:51 I'm absolutely I'm hoping that as as time goes on, of course, I'll be exposed to different things and be able to make those accommodations for my students, but hoping that, you know, everyone around the country will be able to recognize some of the things that we can do as a population to be able to make things more accessible.   Michael Hingson  44:09 Yeah, we need to become a lot more inclusive than we tend to be today. And we're working on it. Diversity doesn't tend to include disabilities, but you can't very well leave us out of inclusion. Otherwise you're not inclusive rights. It's it's a it's a challenge. But you know, we're working on it collectively as a society and I am sure that we will eventually get there. But it is an effort and it's always about awareness to get people to think about it. Well, so you have had a lot of experiences and they're doing a lot of fun things. So what are you going to do in your future? What are your future goals?   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  44:48 So, my goal is to keep on building beyond 120 and hopefully to scale. We have had in like I said beyond 120 was just launched in 2018, we had two years where we were just completely cut off in certain areas. But at least in excursions, we've had about 250 students participate in excursions, but our college serves 11,000 students. So I want to be able to scale that up. We want to give more scholarships to students in various populations. I know one of my students, I won't say her name, but she is absolutely precious. She's a single mom, her child is about two or three, I believe now, she started off in her freshman year in one of my classes, we were able to get her a scholarship to participate in an internship and that scholarship went to babysitting costs, you know, because a lot of times those non traditional populations have different challenges than our traditional 1822 population. So I would love to provide more scholarships to students of any population. And we would love to, to really help students get to where they need to go. So I mean, we're actually our excursion is entirely donor funded. And so we're just reaching out to various UF alumni and saying, Hey, come give back. And whatever capacity you can, whether that's money, whether it's time, investing in a student simply through giving them a mentorship consultation, so I would love to be able to reach a larger population within our college and make an impact. And I ultimately, I can only impact this the folks that are here at the University of Florida, however, I would love to share what we've done with other universities, and and really encourage other universities to, to support students in those non traditional ways through experiential learning. I presented at a Duke University online pedagogy conference last Wednesday, and was able to share that with a few people. So any impact that we can make on any other schools, I would certainly love to be able to see that happen.   Michael Hingson  46:57 That is exciting. It'd be great if you could do something with all 11,000 students at University of Florida what?   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  47:05 Well, 11,000 students times $2,000 per scholarship is a lot of money. We have a long way to go.   Michael Hingson  47:13 Yeah, well, that's okay. It's, it's something that's still doable. I've seen colleges receive a whole lot larger donations, but it is a process. So once you get your PhD, what will you do? Are you to continue to work at University of Florida? Well, you have the opportunity to do that, or what Yes,   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  47:31 I mean, my, well, I'll say this, my husband is in the Air Force. He is a surgical resident right now at UF and which is why I'm able to stay here, and it will be here for the next six years. And then kind of depending on where he goes, I will be following him and the University of Florida is expect expressed interest in keeping me here in more of a remote position if the if the situation calls for it. So potentially just kind of traveling to help facilitate some of these opportunities. But I would really love to scale the program up and be able to share with other universities, the impact of this program. And of course, to continue impacting students would be my ultimate goal in the future,   Michael Hingson  48:16 interesting idea to figure out a way to expand it to other universities, and whether you do it through the University of Florida, or there's a way to start a company to do beyond 120. Worldwide right beyond beyond when 20 Inc.   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  48:32 Yes, exactly. I will say, though, that I will do I have marketing and communication skills, I do not have as much business skill. So I would need somebody to help me with that. I   Michael Hingson  48:42 bet you could find someone at UF to help with that.   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  48:46 Yes. Well, I'm excited. I'm excited. Well, we'll see what happens. But But no, it's a great start. We're excited to see now that COVID We've gotten a bit of a handle on it, I certainly have a long way to go with that. But certainly happy to see now that things have kind of calmed down a little bit what opportunities are going to be open for us in the future. I'll say I'm presenting at the National Association of Colleges and Employers next month to share our model with other schools. So hopefully that will go well and we'll be able to to impact other universities there.   Michael Hingson  49:21 That's exciting too. You'll be able to do that. And of course, that's the kind of teaching but you're going to continue to teach.   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  49:27 Oh, absolutely. That's the bread and butter of our program. We have the coolest classes of course I have to brag on Brent Industry Insights because that's my class that I created but we have other really cool courses we have a course called The Art of adulting you know, kind of teach students what does it mean to be an adult you know, and just have that interesting? open discussion. We have a Global Pathways course we have a professional pathways just expose students to various industries and particularly the skills correlation to say you know, If you're going to be a lawyer, great, but what are the skills that go into being a lawyer? What do you need things like problem solving, critical thinking, communications, teamwork, all of those skills that go into any profession. And we laugh, we provide students in the internship course what's called the SDS assessment. And it will basically ask you a bunch of questions and then tell you based on your skills, some of the top career choices that align with those particular skills, and it cracks the students up a lot of time, I know it cracked me up, because one of my top job matches was a tattoo artist, and I'm going what on earth? I cannot draw for anything in the world. But but we just kind of had to dig deeper and say, you know, what are the skills that I have, that perhaps a tattoo artists would have, or a marketing manager would have or whatever. So, you know, really teaching the students the value of having some of those transferable skills that you can have in any any job.   Michael Hingson  51:03 You mentioned earlier about people who had an influence on your life, I gather, you have some people that that really have made a great impact on you would love to hear about that?   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  51:13 Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So well, Isaac, I don't know if if she'll ever hear this, but she was the internship coordinator who, you know, I walked into her office, and I had a rainbow colored resume, it literally had every color in the rainbow on it. And she looked at me and said, Brittany, what on earth is this, you do not need a rainbow colored resume. And so we kind of work together over the course of this semester. And she was the one that that got me the job at Orlando health that got me that internship that launched the rest of my career. And so I want to be the hula Isaac for for all of my students, so she was definitely an influence. My immunologist was a huge influence. He's the one that worked with me in the midst of having an immune deficiency. And I'll say, I didn't mention this earlier, but I've had four very significant surgeries, three of which were open heart surgeries. So you know, he's, he's been there in the midst of all of that, and just my family to you know, as, as my husband, and I talk about starting our own family saying, you know, what type of influence do I want to be on my kids, just as I am on my students, so that that's kind of my goal is to really make a positive impact on others through their various capacities.   Michael Hingson  52:35 Well, and you're certainly working toward it by any standard. And that's, that's as good as it gets, you know, you're making every effort that you can. So in 10 years, you're going to be doing the same thing.   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  52:48 Hopefully, I'll have more of a leadership role. And we'll be able to have grown, I mean, hey, let's say we get 1,000,010 million 100 million dollar donation for the program, hopefully, we'll be able to hire lots of me, and not literally, but lots of people in my role, and be able to scale up and influence 1000s of more students. And ultimately, I would love to travel and be able to share with other colleges, some of the things that we've learned and see how we can help impact those students as well. I mean, you see, me even even going along the employer side, you see a lot of employers saying, Oh, we're going to pay our interns $8 an hour, or we're going to pay our interns nine or $10 an hour. And the reality is Amazon and, you know, Starbucks, and a lot of other employees, they're saying, hey, we'll pay you $15 an hour. And so students don't feel as much of a need to do internships anymore, because they can go work at a part time position for a lot more money. And so we're encouraging employers listen, you want to make sure that you are offering our students a competitive rates, because we want to make sure the students are getting access to internships and for especially for our students who have significant financial barriers, this is something that we strongly encourage employers listen, you need to meet that growing rate, because we want students to have access to whatever it is that you're teaching them, because they're so so so valuable. And I know, the federal folks up in DC are just starting to pay interns. So encouraging employers, encouraging students and really making those those connections. So yeah, so eventually kind of be doing the same thing. I hope it's at a broader scale, though.   Michael Hingson  54:33 Well, hope you can hopefully you can work with companies to get them to fund the internships and pay appropriate wages and so on. And, you know, maybe it would be to their interest because some of those people then will join those companies and move forward but as far as having lots of you doing it, you know, we're not cloning people and that's a good thing. So it's you, but it is really exciting what you're doing I mean, if people want to learn more about it or reach out to you, how can they do that?   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  55:05 So I find that the easiest way and I tell this to my students as well, the easiest way is just to Google UFL beyond 120. And, and that'll bring you to our websites. And it's actually held through the Academic Advising Center. So when students go to get their advising services, a lot of times they'll Fordham to us. If they're saying, Hey, I'm not quite sure what classes to take based on my career interest, or hey, I want to participate in internship, I don't know where to go. So we're held within the Academic Advising Center. So if you see academic advising, you're in the right place. So hear us beyond 120. And then I can certainly send my my email to you as well. It's Brittnay Grubbs@ufl.edu. And so happy to chat with anybody who's interested and you know, replicating the program for their own college or, or maybe donating some time to helping the students we certainly appreciate that.   Michael Hingson  56:01 So do the email one more time and spell it if you would? Absolutely. It's   56:05 B r i t t a y G r u b b s@ufl.edu, UFL for University of Florida. edu for education.   Michael Hingson  56:15 There you go. So people who are interested, maybe you'll hear from some other schools and colleges and universities, or companies that might be willing to contribute to the program. We're certainly willing to advocate so anything we can do to help them hopefully this will raise awareness and that some people will reach out to you and I would love to hear what you what you encounter as you're going forward.   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  56:38 I would love that. I would love that it went regardless of what anyone has to know today, whether it's money time or anything else that people are interested in. We are certainly appreciative of anything that people have to offer.   56:50 Well, Brittany, thanks very much for being here. With unstoppable mindset this hour has gone by in a hurry hasn't absolutely having me which is why this is always fun. As always, any of you listening, I'd love to hear what you think. Please reach out to us you can reach me Michaelhi  m i c h a e l h i  at accessibe  A C C E S S I B E.com. I'd love to hear your thoughts. You can also go to our podcast page, which is www dot Michael hingson.com m i  c h a e l  h i n g s o n.com/podcast. Wherever you go, wherever you're listening to this podcast, please give us a five star rating. We really appreciate that a lot. I do want to hear your comments. If you know of other people and Britney you as well. If you know of other people who ought to be guests on unstoppable mindset, please let us know we're always open to hearing about more people. And I appreciate those of you who even over the last week have emailed us about that or reached out. Anytime people want to talk to us about guests or just thoughts about the podcast. We want to hear them and we will respond. So again, Brittany, thanks very much for being here.   Brittany Grubbs Hodges  58:06 Thank you, Michael. Really appreciate it.   Michael Hingson  58:08 And we look forward to all of you joining us next time on unstoppable mindset.  You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com. accessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (September 2, 2022) – Comprised of more than four hundred professional staff and faculty across more than two dozen units, the University of Kentucky Office for Student Success is committed to engaging students from the time of early college outreach to graduation and beyond. With programs ranging from the Center for Academic Resources and Enrichment Service (CARES), the Center for Support and Intervention, Campus Recreation, the Disability Resource Center, the Stuckert Career Center, Violence Intervention and Prevention, the Office of LGBTQ* Resources, University Admissions and beyond, the Office for Student Success facilitates a broad range of programs and resources designed to assist with student development and well-being in some of the most critical areas of the university experience. Dr. Kirsten Turner is UK's Vice President for Student Success and chief student affairs officer. A leader with a long tenure at the University of Kentucky, she transitioned to her current position after serving in multiple associate provost roles and as an architect of the institution's strategies to improve retention and graduation rates. On this episode of ‘Behind the Blue', Turner talks about the overall goals for the Office for Student Success, the challenges in scaling services to match ever-growing enrollment numbers, new services like Integrated Success Coaches that assist students in all areas of wellness and more. "Behind the Blue" is available on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher and Spotify. Become a subscriber to receive new episodes of “Behind the Blue” each week. UK's latest medical breakthroughs, research, artists and writers will be featured, along with the most important news impacting the university. For questions or comments about this or any other episode of "Behind the Blue," email BehindTheBlue@uky.edu or tweet your question with #BehindTheBlue. Transcripts for this or other episodes of Behind the Blue can be downloaded from the show's blog page. sTo discover what's wildly possible at the University of Kentucky, click here.

July 13, 2022 - Aging and Disability Resource Center

July 13, 2022 - Aging and Disability Resource Center

May 23, 2022 - Aging and Disability Resource Center

May 23, 2022 - Aging and Disability Resource Center

Kim Lett and Debe Fults talk about their work in providing programs and opportunities for independent living.  The disAbility Resource Center works with people of all ages,   cildrc.org

February 23, 2022 - Manitowoc County Aging And Disability Resource Center

Resiliency is important to healthy aging, and older adults with higher resiliency have an improved quality of life and better mental health despite the adversities they face. In this episode, author and educator Ted Bowman, who specialists in grief, loss, and “honest hope,” talks to host Lisa Wells of the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Eau Claire County about fostering resiliency. Resiliency, Bowman says, is not only about rebounding from setbacks, but about springing forward and adapting to changed circumstances. He encourages older people to examine their experiences to find examples of how they overcame setbacks earlier in life, and tap into some of the same skills. Bowman also discusses the dual process of grief and joy, the importance of building a team when faced with setbacks, and how to build a shelf full of resiliency tools.

How we approach dementia can have a major impact on how individuals live after they experience a diagnosis. As one of 6 million Americans with dementia, Russell Martoccio is determined to live life to the fullest. In 2016, he was diagnosed with Korsakoff syndrome, a dementia caused by excessive alcohol consumption. Since then, he has begun to write a monthly column about his experiences. In this episode, Russell talks with host Lisa Wells of the Aging & Disability Resource Center of Eau Claire County about the mental and physical impact of his diagnosis, how it has affected his daily life, how support groups and his faith have helped him, and the necessity of accepting change as a part of life.

Loneliness and social isolation can be a major concern for older adults, putting them at higher risk for Alzheimer's disease and other serious problems. In fact, one-quarter of adults 65 and older are classified as socially isolated. Life changes such as retirement and the death of a love done as well as factors like the COVID-19 pandemic can trigger loneliness. In this episode, author and retired chaplain Moria Kneer speaks with host Lisa Wells of the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Eau Claire County about the difference between being alone and being lonely, the importance of identifying our underlying feelings, and strategies for reducing isolation as we grow older.

December 8, 2021- Aging and Disability Resource Center

Guest: Dr. Tom Dow, Mindful Diagnostics & Therapeutics The statistics are troubling: Alzheimer's disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, and it cannot be prevent, slowed, or cured. One in nine people 65 and older have Alzheimer's, and the share increases with age. However, medical science is advancing, and Eau Claire's Dr. Tom Dow is exploring ways to identify the risks of Alzheimer's disease early and to mitigate those risks. In this episode, Dr. Dow talks with host Lisa Wells of the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Eau Claire County about Alzheimer's disease, the factors that impact it, and an exciting vaccine study happening right here in Eau Claire.

Guest: Deputy Melissa Sommers, Eau Claire County Sheriff's Department Every year, millions of American seniors fall victims to financial scams, from telemarketing frauds to fake sweepstakes to home repair swindles. Criminals may gain seniors' trust over the telephone or Internet and play on their victims' fears and emotions. In this episode, Eau Claire County Sheriff's Deputy Melissa Sommers talks with host Lisa Wells of the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Eau Claire County about the variety of scams that target seniors and how older folks, their families, and their caregivers can avoid being financial exploited.

September 8, 2021 - Manitowoc County Aging and Disability Resource Center

Guest: Cathy Reitz, director, Stand in the Light Memory Choir. Music and singing are good for all of us, especially for people living with dementia: Research has shown that music can evoke memories and emotions even in people with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. Musician and educator Cathy Reitz is starting her sixth year directing the https://www.facebook.com/SITLchoir/ (Stand in the Light Memory Choir in Eau Claire). In this episode, she talks with host Lisa Wells of the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Eau Claire County about the many – and sometimes unexpected – benefits music provides for the mind, body, and soul.

Guests: Anne Sadowska, occupational therapist, and Laura Hurd, speech-language pathologist Alzheimer's and related dementia can't be cured or reverse, but interventions like occupational and speech therapy may help people maintain their physical and mental abilities – and their independence. Host Lisa Wells of the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Eau Claire County chats with two Chippewa Valley professionals – Anne Sadowska, an occupational therapist, and Laura Hurd, a speech-language pathologist – about the sometimes surprising ways their fields can help those living with dementia lead meaningful lives.

July 8, 2021 - Jessica Knippel and Angie Pietroske of The Aging and Disability Resource Center

Healthy eating is important at any age, but it becomes even more important as we get older. Registered dietician Pam VanKampen chats with host Lisa Wells of the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Eau Claire County about how our diet can keep our bodies and brains healthy, improve our moods, and boost our energy levels. VanKampen explains how we should find foods that nourish our bodies instead of vilifying “bad” foods.

When we're children, we move our bodies through play. As we get older, the rigors of life – and the impacts of aging – often get in the way. Mary Pica-Anderson, executive director of the L.E. Phillips Senior Center in Eau Claire, talks with host Lisa Wells of the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Eau Claire County about the positive impact of maintaining physical activity on our bodies and minds. Explore the benefits of getting physically active – which can involve everything from gardening to organized classes – and how to sustain those benefits as we age.

May 12, 2021 - Aging and Disability Resource Center

At some time in our lives, we will all be caregivers or will receive care from others. Dr. Larry Studt talks with host Lisa Wells of the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Eau Claire County about his own caregiving journey. Larry's wife, Rachel, experienced a rare form of young onset dementia, Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, which unexpectedly thrust him into a caregiving role. Larry talks about the challenges this created, the emotions and guilt that come with caregiving, the importance of accepting help, the need for self-care, and the search for hope.

March 10, 2021 - Aging and Disability Resource Center

The Buzz: “The transition from high school to college life is difficult enough for any number of students without considering a disability” (edsmart.org). Bryan Stromer describes Cerebral Palsy as a part of his identity: “If someone has already written me off because of the way I walk, it gives me the opportunity to prove them wrong and exceed their expectations, while also hopefully redefining how they think about disability” (forbes.com). The Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973…many college campuses began to rethink their facilities…powered accessible doors, wheelchair ramps and elevators in all multi floor buildings” (collegechoice.net). We'll ask five experts about the future of higher education for students of all abilities: Patricia Parrish and Delaina Parrish, Fearless Independence; Ali Parrish, Physical Therapist; Gerry Altamirano, Disability Resource Center, Univ. of Florida; Jarrod Rowles, Numotion. Join us for Tech At College: Opening Doors for Unique-Ability Students.

The Buzz: “The transition from high school to college life is difficult enough for any number of students without considering a disability” (edsmart.org). Bryan Stromer describes Cerebral Palsy as a part of his identity: “If someone has already written me off because of the way I walk, it gives me the opportunity to prove them wrong and exceed their expectations, while also hopefully redefining how they think about disability” (forbes.com). The Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973…many college campuses began to rethink their facilities…powered accessible doors, wheelchair ramps and elevators in all multi floor buildings” (collegechoice.net). We'll ask five experts about the future of higher education for students of all abilities: Patricia Parrish and Delaina Parrish, Fearless Independence; Ali Parrish, Physical Therapist; Gerry Altamirano, Disability Resource Center, Univ. of Florida; Jarrod Rowles, Numotion. Join us for Tech At College: Opening Doors for Unique-Ability Students.