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Interconnections Worldwide Working internationally to share information, help build knowledge and support teamwork around babies, children and young people who are disabled, marginalised or vulnerable The home of Team Around the Child (TAC) and the Multiagency Keyworker |
The third meeting of the Emergency Committee met regarding microcephaly, other neurological disorders and Zika virus. The Committee was asked to consider the potential risks of Zika transmission for mass gatherings, including the Olympic and Paralympic Games scheduled for August and September 2016, respectively, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Read the statement
Watch the press briefing
News from Disability Scoop: Physicians are seeing more instances of a birth defect in which infants are born with their intestines extruding from the stomach wall, with a particularly sharp rise among babies born to young African-American mothers, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Over the 18 years leading up to 2012, the CDC has documented a 263 percent increase in the birth defect, called gastroschisis, among children born to black mothers under the age of 20, said a report released this month by the agency.
Coleen Boyle, director of the CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, said it was urgent that researchers find the cause of the defect and determine which women are at greater risk for having babies with the affliction.
In gastroschisis, the intestines, and sometimes other visceral organs such as the liver and stomach, protrude through a hole next to a newborn’s bellybutton. Nearly 2,000 babies are born with the condition each year in the U.S.
Read more: https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2016/01/26/cdc-reports-rise-birth-defect/21825/
Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation is calling for a moratorium on WIFI. “The Teacher Union’s president says there is a growing mountain of evidence that WIFI can pose health risks” according to a recent news report.
Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario is also calling for a “WIFI moratorium until further health studies are done, and lawmakers can catch up with new regulations.”
People with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are known to be subject to stigmatising attitudes and bullying. This has shown to affect their quality of life and their mental wellbeing.
The Journal of Mental Health Research in Intellectual Disabilities acknowledges this widespread issue and its importance in the lives of people with IDD and would like to invite researchers and clinicians to contribute original research, review articles and short reports on the topic. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
Investigation of diagnostic approaches to stigma, discrimination and bullying in IDD across the lifespan and associations with mental health/wellbeing
Stigma, discrimination and bullying within different cultural contexts, different settings (e.g. schools, neighbourhood, family homes, hospitals) and impact on social inclusion
Approaches in managing stigma, discrimination or bullying in IDD across the lifespan to improve mental health or quality of life and issues of the law in dealing with discrimination
Guest editors: Dr Shirli Werner and Dr Afia Ali
Deadline for submission to the special issue: 31 July 2016.
Cartoon © Martina Jirankova-Limbrick 2011