My Care Ohio

My Care Ohio is a managed healthcare program that will combine Medicaid/Medicare services for those who are eligible.  If you are presently on Medicaid and Medicare (dual eligible) and not on a QMB or SLMB you may be eligible. If you have a constant spend down amount you may also be eligible. The program is presently only for Trumbull, Mahoning, and Columbiana county residents. It hopes to correlate services and be more efficient than present day entities.  Each enrollee will have a “Care Team” to counsel and assist you in making decisions about your healthcare. The “Care Team” will be made up of yourself, doctor(s), case manager, and any family member or advocate that you wish. This takes the control out of the hands of others and puts it in your hands. You only have to choose between the two providers, Care Source and United Healthcare in this area. One on one counseling is available to help you pick a plan through Area Agency on Aging (60 and older) 330-505-2300330-505-2300, and Western Reserve Independent Living Center (under 60 with a disability) 330-372-3325330-372-3325.  We understand how these changes can be very confusing. If you have any questions or need assistance choosing a plan, please call our office and let us know. There is also a toll free hotline number 1-800-324-86801-800-324-8680 FREE and a website you can visit at www.ohiomh.com.

HARPERS FERRY, WV (Jan. 31, 2014)?Diabetes alert dogs (DADs) are often in
the news for warning their people about dangerous glycemic lows and high.
But until now, there has been no national testing standard to assure these
dogs are properly trained and reliable as service animals.

The world-renowned experts at the Penn Vet Working Dog Center and canine
professionals affiliated with the Diabetes Alert Dog Alliance worked
together to develop rigorous standards to assure that these medical alert
dogs, vitally essential to their diabetic handlers, are capable of both
warning of a fluctuation in blood glucose levels as well as behaving
properly in public as all-access service dogs.

The DAD Alliance’s goal is to assure consumers that a dog they may pay top
dollar for (as much as $20,000) can perform to a minimum level of
competency. Standardized, double-blind scent testing, which is also part of
the testing procedure, will expose fraudulent breeders and trainers whose
canines cannot measure up to these minimum performance standards.

To pass the certification test, a dog-and-handler team must demonstrate both
the dog’s ability to alert on the handler’s glycemic low or high as well as
behave obediently in all public situations. The public portion of the test
includes entering and exiting a car, resting quietly under a restaurant
table, navigating escalators and elevators easily, boarding public transit,
and ignoring distractions that range from food to toddlers. A separate scent
discrimination test requires the dog to successfully indicate the presence
of glycemic odor in a double-blind test, where neither the test observer nor
the handler knows beforehand which of four samples contains the odor. The
entire test is videotaped then reviewed by a committee of experienced
trainers affiliated with the DAD Alliance.

“It’s important to note that third-party review is the only way to be sure
there is not a bias in the results,” says DAD Alliance Executive Director
Debby Kay. “Taking the word of the trainer or breeder is like letting the
fox guard the hen house.”
Award-winning dog trainer Kay’s experience in teaching dogs to find scents
that range from bedbugs to explosives has proved the importance of
double-blind scent discrimination testing.

The trainers and breeders who adhere to the DAD Alliance’s code of ethics
hope to combat a rise in service dog fraud, including poor training, bad
breeding, and misrepresenting pet dogs as service animals. The DAD
Alliance’s goal is to give shop owners and others the assurance that a
certified DAD Alliance dog has met the highest standards of reliability and
correct behavior.

The DAD Alliance is a non-profit organization whose 501(c)3 status is
currently under review.

Testimony of Rebecca Cokley, NCD Executive Director, for the Senate Judiciary Committee on Law Enforcement Responses to People with Disabilities

Thank you for the opportunity to provide brief written testimony on the important topic of the hearing held April 29, 2014, “Law Enforcement Responses to Disabled Americans: Promising Approaches for Protecting Public Safety.†We commend the Subcommittee for shining a light on this topic by hosting a hearing and soliciting information from stakeholders, and we offer ourselves to the Committee as an ongoing resource as you examine this topic and consider appropriate legislative responses.

The National Council on Disability (NCD) is an independent federal agency that provides advice to the Administration, Congress, and other diverse stakeholders, and thoughtful, timely analysis and recommendations to inform policy development, revision, and enforcement. As a federal voice for 56 million Americans with disabilities, including those with psychiatric and intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/DD), NCD is committed to advancing policy solutions that create a more inclusive country in which all Americans have equal opportunities to contribute to society.

NCD has written extensively over its 36-year history on the intersections of disability and the criminal justice system; dependency courts; crime victimization; child welfare, mental health systems; and education systems. In 2011, NCD hosted a regional policy forum in Portland, Oregon, during which we hosted panel discussions with leaders from state departments of corrections, mental health courts, and police departments on topics including law enforcement models and mental health courts; transitions back to the community following incarceration for people with psychiatric disabilities; and forging police/community advocacy relationships that assist in deescalating crisis moments and preventing tragedies. And in the wake of many of the recent mass shootings, NCD has offered advice to Congress, the Vice President, and the President as each has engaged related topics. We are grateful for the opportunity to bring the information we've learned and the advice we've offered to bear in our testimony today.

Read the full testimony here:
http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/Testimony/04292014

VIBRATING GLOVE TEACHES BRAILLE:

I am a firm believer that the very day in which we stop learning, that is more often than not the day that we die. Learning Braille is definitely not easy at all, especially for someone who has not yet lost his or her sight, and for those who have lost their eyesight and want to pick up Braille, it can be quite challenging, too. There are concepts in the past that might help ease the passage of learning, but none of those seem to be able to hold a candle to this vibrating glove that will be able to let one pick up Braille thanks to the wonders of passive haptic learning.

Researchers over at the Georgia Institute of Technology have managed to come up with a glove that will allow users to learn how to read and write Braille, even when they are focusing on unrelated activities. How does it work? This wearable computer will rely on miniature vibrating motors that have been sewn into the knuckles, and it was discovered that motor skills in participants were being developed without requiring them to focus on the movement of their hands.

It is said that only 10% of the 40 million blind persons worldwide learn Braille, with the main barrier being schools neglecting this aspect of learning. Thad Starner, College of Computing Professor at Georgia Tech and technical lead/manager on Google’s Project Glass, said, “The process is based on passive haptic learning (PHL). We’ve learned that people can acquire motor skills through vibrations without devoting active attention to their hands.”



www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/12/jacob-artson-teen-autism-typing..