This toolkit was designed by Indian people with disabilities and tribal leaders who served together on a Technical Expert Panel for the National Council on Disability (NCD). The toolkit contains information about disabilities, Indian tribes, and resources. You will also find suggestions for improving services, providing protections, and tapping resources in local tribal communities for people with disabilities. This guide focuses primarily on health care, independent living, education, and vocational rehabilitation. In addition, resources are provided in the areas of housing and transportation. Also, Disability Etiquette Handbook.

Native Americans suffer disproportionately from many social and health disparities. High rates of poverty, exposure to environmental toxins, and various forms of violence all increase the risk of health problems, including disabilities, yet there is very little published scholarship concerning Native American experiences with disabilities. In collecting contributions on various aspects of disability in Native American populations in one volume, this book seeks to redress this lack of attention. Writing about regions of the United States, Canada, and Australia, and spanning a diverse range of settings from remote rural areas, to reservations, to college campuses, the authors are attentive to the impact of specific environments on their inhabitants. Taking into account both physical and social environment, and recognizing the importance of cultural context, this book is a good starting point for anyone interested in developing a better understanding of the experience of Native peoples living with disabilities. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Social Work in Disability & Rehabilitation.

Topics include:Present Realities of American Indians, the state of Native American Health, Health disparities, Clinical Psychology and American Indians, Vocational rehabilitation of American Indians with alcohol problems, Assistive Technology, Vocational rehabilitation, American Indian women issues, and much more. -- Amazon.

This volume examines concepts of disability and wellness in Native American communities, prominently featuring the life's work of Dr. Carol Locust. Authors Locust and Lovern confront the difficulties of translating not only words but also entire concepts between Western and Indigenous cultures, and by increasing the cultural competency of those unfamiliar with Native American ways of being are able to bring readers from both cultures into a more equal dialogue. The three sections contained herein focus on intercultural translation; dialogues with Native American community members; and finally a discussion of being in the world gently as caregivers.

This report describes a project to promote independent-living outreach services that are culturally relevant for American Indians and Alaska Natives with severe or significant disabilities. A pilot training workshop conducted in Aztec, New Mexico, focused on the importance of service providers understanding American Indian culture and on independent-living strategies for outreach. At the close of the workshop, participants developed Blue Print for Action Plans. Progress outcomes were measured by a 1-month, 3-month, and 6-month evaluation of each action plan and its efficacy. Evaluations described completion of action plan steps, resources used, any revision of steps, barriers encountered and how they were overcome, and exciting aspects of the action plan. Evaluation results revealed that 43 percent of participants had to revise their action plans because of barriers associated with "finding American Indian consumers" due to isolated areas of the reservation and cross-cultural communication problems. A common solution to these barriers was "persistence in outreach services." Results indicate that 44-56 percent of participants who used the pilot training workshop methods for over 6 months increased their level of independent-living service delivery to American Indian clients. Appendices include the workshop agenda, evaluation forms for the workshop and action plans, handouts, a timeline, and the project advisory committee. (Contains 18 data tables and figures.) (SV)