Author: Natalie Symons, RN

September 11, 2024

Let’s All Make Some Room. Give Space to Grieve.

Modified from January 2019. Many years ago, I was at an agency to give a training for self-advocates on oral hygiene. As I walked into the room, there was a woman sitting by herself at the edge of the table. Her eyes were looking downward.  I greeted her, figuring she was early, and started about my business of setting up the...

Categories Everyday Life

August 21, 2024

Let’s Get Candid: You Don’t Want to Miss Grace Key

“Hey, party people!” That is the phrase you will hear often if you follow Grace Key on any of her social media sites. I was introduced to Grace several years ago via social media when I came across her Instagram page.  This day Grace was explaining why ice cream was most likely a health food and she wasn’t going to be...

Categories General

October 18, 2023

Consider Long Covid in the Workforce

This flyer from the Department of Labor highlights what employers may need to do to support employees who have been diagnosed with Long Covid related to their specific symptoms. Click to access Working_with Long COVID.pdf Medical Concerns of Long Covid include: In a person with an intellectual disability or Autism these medical concerns may appear different or like a “behavior”.  They...

Categories Community/General/Resources

October 4, 2023

What’s the Connection?

Do you have any guesses what might be the number one medical diagnosis for people with intellectual disabilities in our region?  If you guessed constipation, you are correct!  The people we support are more frequently diagnosed with constipation than anything else.  Take a moment to think about how many people you work with are on ducolax, miralax, or any other...

Categories General

September 20, 2023

Words Hit Like A Fist

In the past year, our HCQU team has been working with a young person with an intellectual disability that has experienced physical, verbal, and emotional abuse.  All of it has been documented and all of the right people have been informed to get this person help.  I just celebrated my twenty first year at the HCQU and twenty seventh year...

Categories General/Resources

September 13, 2023

A Tip Of The Hat

This week we celebrate Direct Support Professionals week.  I have seen many organizations proudly share their support for DSP’s.  We at the Milestone HCQU West also are thankful and grateful that DSP’s choose to continue on in this profession. I have worked Direct Care, but not in the last several decades, and I started to think about how different today’s...

Categories Community/General

August 2, 2023

Walmart Sensory Friendly Hours

Walmart is adding sensory-friendly shopping hours at stores nationwide. During this time, lights in the stores will be dimmed, radios will be turned off and moving images on screens will be changed to static ones. The sensory friendly hours are Saturday mornings in the months of July and August.  Senior Director for Walmart’s Accessibility Center of Excellence, Gayatri Agnew, talks...

Categories General

July 19, 2023

Upcoming Opportunities for Learning

Very soon we will start to see the first signs of fall, school supplies line the store aisles, everything is flavored with pumpkin and spices, and the mornings start with a crispness in the air.  Another sign that Autumn is on the horizon, is that we release our Fall Syllabus.  We are excited to share with you several new presenters...

Categories General

July 12, 2023

Raise the Flag for Disability Pride Month

July is disability pride month. This celebration occurs every July and it is in honor of when the Americans with Disability Act was signed into law on July 28, 1990.  The first official celebration of Disability Pride Month occurred in July 2015 when former New York City Mayor, Bill de Blasio, declared July Disability Pride month.  About The Flag The...

Categories General

June 28, 2023

Gaming to Learn How to Say No

In January 2020, right before the world shut down, ODP held the Everyday Lives Conference. David Hingsburger was one of the keynote speakers and I was excited to listen to him. I first heard him in 2006 at a hotel conference room in Monroeville that was standing room only. I was mesmerized and I bought every book he had for...

Categories General/Resources