Youth

You are an important person in our society. You may have a job or are looking for a job, thinking about getting more training for a career or going to college. It is an exciting time and you have lots of choices. Remember you are capable and smart and you have what it takes to work and be independent. Independence doesn't mean you do everything yourself. It means you make the choices and are in charge of your life. In order to live boldly you need to be informed. Look for as much information as you can about what you want or need and you'll be able to make informed choices and be happy with them.

If you can't find what you are looking for, please feel free to call the office at 1-800-295-5232.

988 Mental Health, Substance Use or Suicide Crisis Help Line

Advocacy and Leadership

Advocacy

To advocate means to plead in favor of something. It could be personal, for someone else, for an organization or an issue. Sometimes it is political.

Advocacy has played a huge role in leveling the playing field in some areas for people with disabilities. Some changes that have occurred due to advocacy include curb cuts, ramps, Braille signage and TV captioning. In addition, people with disabilities are employed in greater numbers than ever before and increasingly hold leadership positions in government and the private sector - all due to advocacy.

Personal advocacy is when you are talking to your boss or teacher about an accommodation you need so you can do your work or learn more efficiently. It can be talking to the principal about changes you think need to happen at school to make it safer, more fun or better for you and your friends.

If you need help learning about advocacy or needing an advocate, contact your nearest Center for Independent Living. Advocacy is one of their required services and they are good at it.

Practicing leadership can be done by being appointed to a state government board to help make decisions that affect people with disabilities. The Statewide Independent Living Council of Kansas (SILCK) makes such decisions. If you are interested in learning more you can check out the SILCK website. If you are interested in being considered for appointment you can apply using this Application.

If you are interested in political advocacy, the Big Tent Coalition is a statewide group for people with disabilities and agencies who advocate in the Kansas Legislature for the same rights, privileges, responsibilities and choices as people without disabilities. Contact Ami Hyten at the Topeka Independent Living Resource Center at 785-233-4572 find out when the meetings are and how to participate.

Leadership

When you speak up or ask questions, you show you have self-confidence and a willingness to talk about what is needed or right or wrong. These are leadership qualities and people will see you as a leader whether you feel like you are or not. Many times they will look to you as leader and leadership training may be helpful.

The Kansas Youth Empowerment Academy provides support and resources for youth with disabilities in the state of Kansas. They host the annual Kansas Youth Leadership Forum (KYLF) for youth to learn about advocacy and leadership skills. Check out this free opportunity to meet other young people with the same beginning leadership skills and have fun together learning more about leadership.

Quick Links

Clothing / Fashion

Clothing/Fashion

If you're looking for clothing with style and you use a wheelchair, there are a few websites for you:

WheelieChix-Chic (women)
Ag Apparel (women)
LegaWear (men and women)

If you are interested in checking out fashion trends and designers, try the style page on the Beautyability website's information about fashionable clothing, fashion shows and people with disabilities modeling and acting.

Another way to access fashionable clothing for people with disabilities is to ask someone when you see them wearing something that would interest you about where they purchased their outfit. Many people love to talk abut fashion and are willing to share their resources!

Driving / Transportation

Driving/Transportation

Having one’s own transportation and being able to drive allows people to have more independence and more access to daily living tasks, community activities and employment. Just look around and you can see that having a car and driving is important to many people's daily lives. Some communities do not have public transportation. So one of the milestones in many people's lives may be learning to drive. With accommodations, many people with disabilities are able to drive.

Driver rehabilitation specialists teach people with disabilities to drive. To find a Driver Rehabilitation Specialists near you, to go the Association for Driver Rehabilitation Specialists (ADED) website. If you are a client of Vocational Rehabilitation, you can ask that it be part of your plan to learn to drive. If this is included in your plan, they can help pay for learning how to drive. Also K-Loan provides funding options for assistive technology

Passing the driving test is easy if you've practiced enough. This article on how to pass your driving test has some excellent tips.

Driving is a big responsibility. The Los Angeles Safe Driving Guide for New Drivers gives good information to remember while driving. Keep your focus on the road and what you are doing. If the phone rings or indicates you have a text message, ignore it until you can arrive at your destination and can park. Then give it your full attention. If the weather is bad or going to be bad, avoid driving. If you need to drive or you are caught in the rain while driving, follow the advice in the guide above. Keep your headlights on, follow the car ahead of you with more distance between you, slow down and use caution at intersections. This is a good guide to follow. Give it a look.

Also there was a study in Richmond, Virginia on teen drivers and distracted driving that caused accidents. View the results.

If you are ready to purchase a vehicle to accommodate your driving needs, there is a report by Hoveround that helps you decide what you need. United Access is a company that modifies vehicles to make them wheelchair accessible. Also Jay Hatfield Mobility can help with installing adaptive driving controls. From time to time used lift equipped vans are available for sale at the centers for independent living.

To find out how to get a disabled license plate or tag in Kansas, you must complete an application form, have it signed by your doctor certifying that you require the permit and then take it to your county clerk for the permit. To get a form you go to your county treasurer's office where people pay for their car tags and taxes.

Local Transportation

Accessible local transportation is critical for people with disabilities to have the freedom to travel where, when, and how they choose. If you do not own your own transportation and there is no bus or taxi service in your town or city, the Kansas United We Ride interactive map helps you find public transportation near you. Also, check with your local center for independent living (CIL) for help with finding transportation.

If you are interested in finding an wheelchair accessible vehicle for your use, contact United Access. They modify vehicles to make them wheelchair accessible.

Quick Links

Driving Tips for Teens
Adaptive Vans and Devices
Disabled Parking Permit Form
K-Loan - a lending institution for purchasing assistive technology
United Access
Insurance Statistics on Teen Drivers
Texting and Driving Game
Kansas Transit Provider Directory

Health and Wellness

Healthy living includes many things. It can mean a healthy lifestyle, having health insurance coverage, and/or having health services. Below are links to all three:

Healthy Lifestyle

Everyone should strive to have healthy habits. From eating right to exercising to getting your immunization shots, it takes effort to be healthy.

Eating Right

The body needs the proper balance of fruits, vegetables, bread, protein, milk and oils to be healthy. The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) has a program, Choose My Plate, to share ways to eat healthy on a budget, dietary guidelines, and a fruit and veggie video contest. Go to the Choose My Plate website to learn more about a balanced diet and about fun forms of exercise, planning menus and how much of each food group to eat each day to be healthy. If you cannot exercise, it is even more important to limit calories and to eat a balanced diet.

Exercise

Even if you have only some mobility, it is important to move and keep your muscles lean and strong. This helps your blood circulate through your body bringing oxygen and nutrition to your brain, organs, muscles and skin and moving dead cells and toxins out of your body. It also builds strength and flexibility while lowering your blood pressure.

Steps to starting an exercise program

Always talk to your doctor before you start an exercise program. Tell your doctor you want to start an exercise program and ask if you are healthy enough to do so. Ask for recommendations of exercises you can do or programs you could join and how much to do when starting your program. If your doctor does not have any recommendations ask for a referral. A physical therapist or workout coach might be an option. If there are exercises he or she recommends you not do or a condition that will be made worse by certain exercises, note those on a pad of paper so you’ll remember.
Warm up before exercising. This helps your muscles and joints get ready for your workout.
Start slowly. If you are not used to exercising, your muscles and joints will ache for a few days while they get used to having more oxygen and blood circulation. Increase repetitions (reps) as the exercise get easier. Push yourself a little. If you’ve been doing 10 reps push for 15. If that isn’t hard go ahead and try for 20. But if it hurts, stop immediately and wait until the muscle or joint heals before you start again.
Use good form. Do the exercises properly. If you don’t use the proper form, you could cause damage to joints or feet. Healthline has a page that shows some exercises being done properly. Search on the Internet for other sites that show proper exercise techniques.
Drink eight glasses of water each day. This will hydrate your body and flush out toxins and waste.
Keep track of how much exercise you do every day. The Choose My Plate website recommends getting 30 minutes of exercise every day.

Health Services/Insurance

Having health insurance or access to health services is also important to good health. Having a regular check up for both your body and your teeth keeps your body working properly and you doing what you need to do every day.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed by Congress in 2010 and provides some benefits to everyone. For more information about how it affects people with disabilities review the ACA Fact Sheet.

If you are working and your employer does not provide health insurance, you may be eligible for Working Healthy. Most centers for independent living (CILs) have someone on staff who can tell you about Working Healthy and how to apply.

If you are on Social Security, you are probably already receiving health services from Medicaid. If you are not or just want more information about services available to you, see the Social Security website for more information.

The Health Benefits Advisor is designed to help workers and their families better understand their federal right concerning access to health coverage, whether provided through a group health plan or otherwise, especially when they experience changes in their life and work situations - such as marriage, childbirth, disability, job loss or retirement.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has a website with information for people with special health care needs. Check it out to see if there is something that can help you.

Also, your child might be eligible for KanCare. This is Kansas Medicaid program for children and adults with disabilities or who are living in poverty.

Additional Resources

Living Independently

Living independently does not necessarily mean living alone. It means making your own decisions about where you live, who you live with and how you live.

You may have many questions and ideas about the future. These thoughts and questions are part of a natural stage in development that brings about the transition of moving from youth to adult. During this time, both young people and parents have to communicate a lot to work through the changes in their relationship.

There are a number of things you have to consider as you prepare to live independently. Gather as much information as you can from a variety of sources to assist you with questions about living on your own. Examples of areas that you might need information on include housing, transportation, finances, and personal attendants if applicable, etc. A center for independent living (CIL) has information about local services and can teach you skills to help you live and plan effectively. To find a center near you, go to the Centers for Independent Living map and select city, county or zip code, then enter the information and click on Search Providers.

Money / Financial Literacy

Money/Financial Literacy

Managing your money is important to maintaining your ability to live independently. Understanding what a budget is and what information you need to do a budget is essential to managing your finances. Budgeting involves understanding your regular expenses each month (utilities, rent, food, transportation and other regular expenses) and projecting how much you will spend over the course of the year on other items (taxes, car repairs, medical expenses, gifts for birthdays and holidays). There are several websites that provide information on how to set up your budget and give you ideas on how to save money. Some are listed below.

Cents & Sensibility - a guide to managing your money
Money Essentials - A step by step guide to gaining control of your financial life
GCF Money Basics - Tutorials and learning interactives that range from very basic money skills, like checking cash back or paying bills, to useful money management tips for budgeting, retirement planning and smart shopping.
The Seven Baby Steps to Financial Peace - Dave Ramsey teaches how to save money, budget and get out of debt.
Practical Money Skills - Practical information on budgeting, saving, big money purchases and more.
MyMoney - Information and lessons for youth about how to save, plan for the future and more.

Relationships / Sexuality / Friendships / Dating / Bullying

Relationships/Sexuality/Friendships/Dating/Bullying

Relationships

Relationships are our links with friends, family or co-workers. It is important to have healthy relationships that you feel safe in and good about. Put downs, bullying, revenge or violence of any kind are not part of a healthy relationship. Here are several links to sites with information about how to have healthy relationships, how to be safe and what to do if you or someone you know is in a violent or dangerous relationship.

Sexuality

It’s an unfortunate reality that young people with disabilities are often excluded from mainstream sexual education provided by schools. For most young people, regardless of disability, broaching the subject of sex with their parents is an extremely uncomfortable experience.

It's important to know about sex and its potential consequences before actually having a sexual relationship. There are risks to having sex including pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). These two websites give you good information for making sexual decisions.

As you explore this area of your life, be sure to gather current, appropriate, and correct information from the Internet, read, and talk to your parents and friends.

From the 411 Disability Disclosure Guide - Disability Disclosure Guide in Social Settings

Friendships and Dating

People are social, so having friends is natural. It can be difficult if you are different, so you have to be more outgoing. Smiling and being friendly helps people relax a little and take a chance.

All too often, if a person has not had any experience with a person with a disability, they are afraid they will say the wrong thing, unintentionally hurt your feelings, stare. If you’re in a social situation where you want to get to know someone, introduce yourself, ask how it’s going or how they like the event you are attending. These kinds of questions start a conversation which helps you get to know someone and maybe eventually become friends.

This takes some self-confidence and acceptance that not everyone is ready to be your friend. But keep trying. Once people get to know you, they will see that you’re just like everyone else. People are people.

Dating relationships can be a fun and exciting part of your life. They can also be confusing, especially if dating is new to you. Once you know that the person that you like also likes you, you may not know what to do next. You can start by learning about what makes a dating relationship healthy and safe.

One good resource is the relationship page on the Girl'sHealth website. There is also a page on Young Men's Health about sexuality and health.

Bullying

Bullying is when one person or a group of people intentionally scare or hurt someone else. Bullies often target others who are often weaker or less confident. It can happen anywhere, such as at school, in the park, on a sports team, or even at home. Often the person being bullied has a hard time defending him or herself. In recent years, cyberbullying has grown due to the explosion of social media especially among youth. The GirlsHealth website has more about bullying and girls. Bullying is always wrong. Check out the Quick Links on the right-hand side of the page to learn more about bullying and how to stop it!

President Obama speaks out on bullying.

Abuse of someone over the age of 18 can be reported to Adult Protective Services. (Be sure to scroll down if you cannot see the information on the Adult Protective Services page) You can report suspected abuse on-line.

Quick Links

Renting or Buying a Home

Living in the community, whether with your friends, spouse, partner or by yourself, means making decisions and being responsible for yourself. This page has information about things that you will need to know and how you can get answers to your questions.

There are two ways to live in a community - rent a home or buy a home.

Renting

Renting is when you pay a monthly amount to live in an apartment or house without the responsibility of maintenance or benefit of owning the home. If something breaks, you call your landlord about it and he or she fixes it. There is no control over the amount of your rent, and it can go up at a random amount each year or whatever your lease agreement says.

There are many things to consider when renting including:

Deciding how much you can afford to spend on rent and possibly utilities (electricity, gas, water, trash pickup, etc) Utilities may or may not be included in your rent.
How close the apartment or house is to your work, grocery store, public transportation if you need it, shopping, entertainment, church, etc.
Accessibility if that is important to your independence.

There are other things to consider and you can go to a couple of different websites to find out more on how to rent wisely. There are also several websites that have tips for finding an apartment and they are located in Quick Links to the right of the screen. Of particular interest will be a website called SocialServe.com that provides updated rental property availability (including accessibility information).

Buying

Buying a home provides pride of ownership and also requires a commitment to maintaining the property. If something breaks or wears out, you, the owner, are responsible for getting it fixed. The benefits of owning a home are

Tax deductions - if you itemize your taxes, you can deduct the interest on your loan from the taxes you own
Appreciation - homes are considered a safe, steady investment, with values that rise while the debt amount you owe drops
Equity - the difference between what the house is worth (appraised value) and how much money you owe on the loan (mortgage). If you were to sell the house for the appraised value and pay off the mortgage, the equity is the profit you would make from the sale. Generally the longer you pay/own your home, the more profit you make from the sale.
Borrowing power - the equity above could be used to secure a loan if you needed money, but didn't want to sell your house to get it
Stability - if you get a fixed rate of interest on your mortgage, your payment would stay the same from year to year unless your loan includes payment of property taxes and insurance, then it would only go up a little compared to rent increases. In contrast, renters cannot control how much their rent will go up every year.

When considering buying a home, it is important to look at many of the same things mentioned above in addition to the size and age of the house or condominium.

If you decide to buy, a good realtor can help locate the house or condominium, negotiate the final price, file the appropriate papers and arrange to close the sale. The realtor will receive a commission which will make the final price of the home more than the negotiated price, but if you do not know what needs to be done in order to close the sale, the realtor is essential.

Other Resources

Housing and Mortgages for Veterans
Homeownership - Housing and Credit Counseling, Inc holds workshops on buying a home. They also have information on-line in their homeownership counseling page.
Tenant and Landlord Issues - Housing and Credit Counseling, Inc.
Housing Discrimination issues - Disability Rights Center
File a Housing Complaint - The Kansas Human Rights Commission has enforcement authority of the Kansas Act Against Discrimination.
Creating Assets, Savings & Hope (CASH) - A way to save money for the purchase of a house

Quick Links

Renting an Apartment
Renter's Rights
Renter's Insurance
Security Deposits and Evictions
Basics of Buying a House
Fair Housing Act - US Department of Justice information on housing and lending practices and your rights as a person with a disability
Housing and Credit Counseling, Inc.
USDA Rural Development Housing and Community Assistance - a grant and loan program

School to Work Transition

The goal of transitioning students out of high school is to prepare them for being on their own. But this process begins much earlier. Parents are responsible for helping children make choices and understand the consequences of those choices in an age appropriate manner.

Allowing students to make mistakes is a key part of the process of growing up. This is part of the maturity and growth process whether a student has a disability or not. The time frame, the parameters, and other things may change depending on the disability, but students still need to be able to make choices, make mistakes, learn from their mistakes and gradually become more independent. This is part of the transition process.

For a student with a disability, there may be more things that need to be discussed, figured out and possibly managed. That's probably why there is more discussion about transition with students with disabilities than students without disabilities.

All students, including those with disabilities, should be expected to work. Work defines us, provides self sufficiency, and is part of socialization.

To try and ignore or not address that a student has a disability is a disservice to the student and will hinder them as an adult.

In post-secondary education, if a student needs classroom or living accommodations, a student has to identify him/her self as someone with a disability and clearly identify what his or her needs are in school in order to get help from student support services.
In the working world, if an adult needs an accommodation in order to perform the essential parts of his/her job, then they need to be able to identify that they have a disability, what it is, how it impacts their work, and what kind of accommodation they need (if they know).

If someone with a disabilities grows up with people not being willing to talk about disability openly, then it will put him/her at a disadvantage in the school and work world. Open discussion about disability and understanding their disability is part of the transition process as well.

Here are some resources for more information:

Passport to Independence - a timeline for high school students with disabilities
Building a Life - Transition Guide for Kansans
Parent Transition Education
Student Transition Education
Teacher Transition Education

Students: Plans after High School

All Students leave school some day....what do you want to do? You have choices!

Technical training - the technical schools are mixed in with the community colleges, so you might have to scroll through to find the one nearest you.
Apprenticeship
Community College - two year college
College or University - four year college
Military
Work
Flint Hills Job Corps
Supported Employment - Supported employment is a service of Kansas Rehabilitation Services. Read about their services and then find a location near you.

How are you going to get there? You are in the driver's seat. Create your own future!

Make a Transition Plan. That means people in your life work together to help you move from school to the adult world. If you do an Individual Education Plan (IEP), you start working on it when you turn 14.
- Passport to Independence: Transition from School to Work Timeline
Explore a career
Know yourself: your strengths and weaknesses
Get work experience and/or volunteer experience
Graduate!

Who can help you?

Parents or Guardians
Family
Resource Families
Church
Teachers
Counselors
Therapists
Social Services
Case managers
Mentors
Tutors
Transition Staff or IEP managers
Disability Service Agencies (e.g. Centers for Independent Living, Community Developmental Disability Organizations, Community Mental Health Centers)
Disability Support Services at the technical schools, two year or four year colleges

Quick Links

Going to College - A Resource for Teens with Disabilities
Building a Life
The 411 on Disability Disclosure

Work

Work is fundamental to our lives and an important part of American society. It's how we earn and living, pay for extra things we want and how we socialize. Work is beneficial for all people including people with disabilities.

Everyone must work, including you. In order to be independent and self-sufficient you must work. Work builds confidence and self-esteem too.

Check out our Work Resources page for information on finding vocational training and jobs.

Quick Links

Vocational Information Center
Project Search - a vocational training program for students with intellectual/developmental disabilities (I/DD) or contact Shelly May, (785) 296-3272 or smaygm@kcdd.org.
Career Exploration Resources
How You Use Math at Work
Career Guide to Industries.
SkillUp has links to free and college courses

Welcome to the new and improved Kansas Commission on Disability Concerns Website!

Quick Links