Here at MediSked we have a monthly "Current Events Roundtable" meeting - and you're not allowed to show up without recent news to share. 

Inevitably, every month someone references an article or broadcast on California's institutions - and the push for the state to close them. 

On April 7th, a new report on uninvestigated/unpunished crimes against people in California's state hospitals for people with developmental disablities was released. And it wasn't good. In fact, it was incredibly disturbing. 

I won't go into detail - but I will say that the report is titled "13 Deaths Blamed on Abuse and Neglect at California State-Run Homes." (which you can read by clicking on the link.) 

Read More

Yesterday, I was in Washington DC for the ANCOR Ignite! conference.

MediSked is an ANCOR Gold Sponsor and we were an exhibitor too, so Mike and I spent most of our time staffing our table and sharing the MediSked story. We did manage to sneak away (one at a time) to catch some of the speakers and presentations, though - and I couldn't be more grateful for that. 

I chose to attend the "Person-Centered Services: A Meaningful Life Full of Possibilities" talk, presented by 21-year old Dakota Johns. 

Dakota really put the motivation in motivational speaking. He was a charismatic, inspiring, and incredibly fun(ny) presenter.

He’s a hardworking college student majoring in Communications and minoring in Video Production – and he also owns two businesses (Dakota’s Amazing Animals Pet Sitting & Dakota Speaks.) An aspiring sports broadcaster, an accomplished athlete, an actor who has starred in commercials, and an advocate for those with developmental disabilities – Dakota also has Down Syndrome.

Read More

Dear Boss (Wo)Man, ,

I wanted to tell you about an article I just read. You see, the federal government just made a $15 million dollar commitment to create more job training programs for individuals with developmental disabilities and this is obviously very exciting news!

$15 million dollars is a fairly substantial amount of money and the cause could not be more deserving of such funds. I’m super excited  – there’s just one problem. Once we have people taking advantage of these federally funded training programs, they are going to be looking for somewhere to work. Just like all of the skilled people with disabilities who are looking for work now. 

And, if you won’t give them a chance... who will?

Read More

Read More