Special Olympics announced Saturday that it has received its largest single private gift in the organization's 47-year history from the Golisano Foundation.
The Golisano Foundation will be on hand for the start of the Special Olympics 2015 World Summer Games on Saturday, with the focus on the health of those with intellectual disabilities.
Ann Costello is Director of the Foundation.
She says they'll be focusing on delivering health care screenings for thousands of athletes, many of them from developing countries who are seeing a medical professional for the first time.
Costello says others who have conditions that need to be treated will receive the care that they need.
A new study suggests that the increase in the number of children being diagnosed with autism is due, in least in part, to the way that diagnosis is defined.
The number of U.S. children enrolled in special education programs due to an autism diagnosis more than tripled between 2000 and 2010.
A new study from Penn State University says that may be because educators traded one diagnosis for another.
Dr. Susan Hyman, an autism expert at UR Medicine, says this is not a matter of semantics. The right diagnosis means a child will get the best treatment and services.
The Rochester Rotary is dedicating a special new facility at its Sunshine Campus in Rush tonight for children who have disabilities and autism.
The Gizzi Family Sensory Center will provide an escape for kids who may find the sights and sounds of camp over-stimulating.
Tracy Dreisbach, the Rotary's executive director, says the 2,700 square foot center has soothing music and lighting and various features and activities such as climbers and ball crawls that are calming to the senses.
Special Olympics World Games preview, then the delay in FDA rules on calorie counts on menus.
On this edition of Healthy Friday, we talk to an athlete and an ambassador headed to the Special Olympics World Games. We'll also learn about New York State's representation at the LA 2015 Games. This portion of the show is part of our Move to Include initiative.
Then, we find out why there's a delay in the FDA rules about calorie counts on menus. Diana Fernandez of the University of Rochester Medical Center will give us an explanation.
More than 2,500 local children and young adults with disabilities have a new place to explore at the Rochester Rotary Sunshine Campus in Rush.
The camp has unveiled its fully accessible wooden tree house - the first of its kind in the Finger Lakes region.
Rotary president Tracy Armstrong said it was designed to give kids with physical disabilities the same kind of childhood memories other kids have.
"From the point when the get on the ramp to the tree house and come out onto the other side, they're actually 22 feet above the ground," Armstrong said.
The New York State Senate and Assembly have recently passed a bill that creates a tax credit for people who want to live in visitable homes.
A universally visitable house has at least one no-step entrance and accesible bathroom on the same floor, as well as 32 inch doorways -- the size of a standard wheel chair. People can apply for up to $2750 to modify a house or purchase a new house with these specifications.
Stephanie Woodward is the Director of Advocacy at the Center for Disability Rights. She says this credit can be used to create more integrated communities.
Among the other events going on at this week's Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, is a place where you can do a little performing of your own. In the merchandise tent on “Jazz” (Gibbs) Street, is something called the Lip Sync Challenge, to benefit the organization AutismUp.
Katrina Busch is a spokesperson for the event, and she says it allows anyone to go before a video camera, and lip sync to one of the available songs.
"We videotape it, we upload it to the Autism Up YouTube channel and then we ask people to go there and share it with their friends , and Twitter or Facebook , anywhere that they want, to really increase the exposure and get other people out here to do the challenge."
We’re talking about neurodiversity in the workplace. Between 60 and 70 percent of people living with autism in America are unemployed. We’ll touch base with families who are working to support people with autism and look at local programs aimed at getting people on the spectrum into meaningful employment. We’ll also speak with a former director of the California State Labor Department about the Autism Job Club and six strategies that could reshape employment for adults with autism.
