Family Life

1
Family Life Disability

• Training for Native American Communities
• www.spiritlakeconsulting.com
• Dr.AnnMaria De Mars Dr. Erich Longie
• Spirit Lake Consulting, Inc.
• Funding provided through a Research Utilization
  Award, National Institute on Disability and
  Rehabilitation Research

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Who We Serve

• Every time I write a new training course, I try
  to keep a picture in my mind of someone for whom
  this could make life better.

3
Family Life Series

• Designed for Native Americans with disabilities
  and their families
• Needs and constraints of reservation communities
  were integral to the design
• Follows a computer-integrated format

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Reservation-based

• Limited chance to meet other families in similar
  situations
• When he was nine months old he was like a newborn
  child yet. And he started having what I didnt
  know at the time was a seizure. Before that I
  never even knew that there were people that were
  born with disabilities like this

5
Reservation-based

• The nearest university library with extensive
  information on disabilities is about a three- to
  four-hour round trip. That is when there is no
  ice or snow on the roads and no flooding. When
  there is, forget it.

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Reservation-based

• Transportation is provided as the reservations
  dont have public transit
• Lunch and coffee breaks are provided
• Child care is provided
• Each parent receives a 50 stipend for attendance
  since very few can afford to take two days off
  work without pay

7
Computer-integrated

• That mom on the reservation attending class in
  the winter, is smarter than people give her
  credit for. Contrary to what a lot of people
  think, she does know how to use a computer.

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Computer-integrated

• Spirit Lake Consulting, Inc. has collected the
  largest sample ever of computer usage of Native
  Americans with disabilities and their families
  who live on Indian reservations
• About half own a home computer
• Over one-third access the Internet and email
  every day

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Family Life Series

• If you, or someone in your family, has a
  disability, this website will help you from
  beginning to end. It was made for you by members
  of the Spirit Lake Tribe, Three Affiliated
  Tribes and Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa.
• However, most of what we discuss - children with
  behavior problems, the fears as your adolescent
  wants to be less protected and more independent -
  are experiences and concerns of every family,
  urban or rural, Indian or not.

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Family Life Series

• Five training workshops
• Disability Access An introduction to disability
  and disability services
• Family Life Disability
• Young Children Disability
• Disability in the School Years
• Adulthood, Disability Aging.

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Computer-Integrated Instruction A new way to
train people with disabilities, staff and family
members
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What we do

• Create slices of the Internet
• Customized on-site training for
• People with varying levels of experience with
  computers
• People who need information on specific types of
  disabilities or age groups

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Making Slices of the Internet

• Have you ever read something like this -
• The project engages in simultaneous top-down and
  bottom-up activities to educate stakeholders and
  demonstrate accessible EIT
• We select content that is useful and meaningful
  for your needs.

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Four Training Components

• Course Modules
• Virtual Library
• Commons Area
• On-site workshops

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Advantages of Computer-Integrated Training (A
very abbreviated list)

• Customizable for community needs from our
  archives of several hundred web pages
• Designed to meet needs of remote communities with
  virtual library and bulletin boards with posts
  from tribal members on web site and CD
• Includes both on-site training and emailed
  follow-up

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Family Life Disabilityhttp//www.spiritlakecon
sulting.com/

• Funded by a National Institute of Disability
  Rehabilitation Research
• U.S. Department Education Grant
• to Spirit Lake Consulting, Inc.

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Purpose of Training

• To help people with disabilities find the
  services they need
• To give people with disabilities, and their
  families, information they can use
• To help tribal members with disabilities and
  their families use the Internet and the
  Disability Access CD to find the information they
  need

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You can use the CD or website to create your own
custom-designed course

• IMPORTANT POINT !!!

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Training Design

• Does not require the user OWN a personal computer
• Training will take place on the reservation, in a
  computer lab similar to where most public use
  will occur
• The actual website and CD-ROM will be used in the
  training.

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Training Design

• Does not require Internet access (but that would
  be nice)
• Does not require a CD-ROM drive
• Does require EITHER Internet access OR a CD-ROM
  drive

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How to Use the CD

• Insert the CD
• Double-click on index.html to open the home
  page.
• Click on Family Life (on the left side of the
  page) and from the pull-down menu select the
  workshop FAMILY LIFE DISABILITY
• (Your CD does include all five workshops, and
  much more, but we will do this one for now.)

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Notes on Design

• The site is divided into modules. You can select
  the modules useful to your age, disability or
  interests.
• The website is redundant. That is, a person can
  link to the mental retardation section from the
  introduction or the page on specific
  disabilities.

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If you dont have a CD

• Open the web browser (Firefox,Netscape, Explorer
  or whatever you use).
• Type in the following web address
• http//www.spiritlakeconsulting.com/DA/
• (Pay attention to what is in capital letters. It
  needs to look exactly like what is written .)