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• Meet the needs of the many with an SDS Partnership page

  

  Did you know there are many large organizations that use the Self-Directed Search (SDS) on a regular basis? One of the most widely used career interest inventories, the SDS is routinely administered by universities, colleges, school districts, and other large businesses to a diverse base of clients, students, and even job applicants. If you’re part of a large organization that you believe could benefit from the insight the SDS offers, than you may be interested in our SDS Partnership program. The program provides customized access to the SDS and offers predetermined payment options. For any partnership, we can: Customize group access via a partnership web page or custom link that can include your logo and branding and any instructions you wish to provide. This is included as part of the regular SDS Partnership fees. Allow you to designate a supervisor’s or coordinator’s e-mail address where your clients’ or students’ reports can be sent, so you can monitor usage and results. Provide you with a data file of your clients’ or students’ assessment ...

• Testing clients with disabilities: Modifications vs. accommodations

  

  During our recent PARtalks webinar series on assessing individuals with disabilities, PAR received some questions about adapting, modifying, and accommodating assessments. It is important to be mindful of a range of psychometric, social, clinical, and disability-related issues. We hope the following will provide helpful guidance when determining if modifications or accommodations are necessary. Considerations when assessing individuals with disabilities There are many issues to consider that may complicate the psychological testing of people with disabilities. It is important to attend to issues of bias, reliability, and validity. Language,  motor, sensory, medical, and cognitive disabilities can impact aspects of an assessment. Additionally, comorbid conditions or secondary disabilities can be a complicating factor. It is crucial for examiners to consider each individual's disability and how it relates to other functions to develop a strategy that ensures the appropriate construct is being measured. For example, disability-related symptoms such as fatigue and pain can confound psychometric tests and artificially inflate measures of depression. Or a motor-functioning disability that affects fine motor control may create results that mistakenly imply cognitive impairment. Examiners who do not take these issues into ...

• Catching up with our Community PARtners

  

  One of PAR’s core values is to give back to the community. We participate in many special events during the year that benefit organizations in the Tampa Bay area. Here’s a look at some of the activities and events PAR staff have participated in recently.  In November, PAR staff supported the American Heart Association (AHA) with a neighborhood walk to raise funds to help people fight heart disease and stroke. Learn more about the work the AHA is doing to save lives. In honor of Thanksgiving, PAR staff collected donations and delivered 70 Boxes of Hope to Metropolitan Ministries to support their annual holiday food drive. This was the largest donation that PAR has ever gathered for this event and one of the largest single donations the organization has ever received—approximately 2,500 pounds of food! Metropolitan Ministries provides the boxes to families in need so they can enjoy a Thanksgiving meal.  In December, we collected donations for our annual Angel Tree program. Each year, our generous staff work with many agencies throughout Tampa to make the holidays brighter for those in our ...

• December 3 is International Day of Persons With Disabilities

  

  In 1992, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed an annual observance of International Day of Persons With Disabilities. Since that time, this day has been dedicated to promoting the rights and well-being of individuals with disabilities, increasing awareness of people with disabilities, and furthering the rights of those with disabilities in every political, social, economic, and cultural sphere.  The theme for this year, “Fighting for rights in the post-COVID era,” recognizes that people who live with disabilities are among the most affected populations from this pandemic—with an increase in poor outcomes, reduced access to health care, lack of mental health resources, and inadequate emergency services for those with special needs. The pandemic brought to light the need to make meaningful investments in communities and services that reduce the barriers that individuals with disabilities face.  Learn more about International Day of Persons With Disabilities as well as initiatives from the World Health Organization.     

• Life with Bipolar Disorder through the Eyes of Dr. Mark Vonnegut

  “The reason creativity and craziness go together is that if you’re just plain crazy without being able to sing or dance or write good poems, no one is going to want to have babies with you. Your genes will fall by the wayside. Who but a brazen crazy person would go one-on-one with blank paper or canvas armed with nothing but ideas?” Author Mark Vonnegut poses this question in the first chapter of his book, Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness Only More So. In this intimate and sometimes comic memoir, Vonnegut goes one-on-one with his past and present struggles with bipolar disorder, his family history, and his qualms with the medical field. His medical background and first-hand experiences provide readers with an eye-opening portrayal of life with mental illness. In order to understand his own disorder, Vonnegut looks at his family’s history as far back as his paternal great-grandfather. He ventures into his childhood, endearingly poking fun at his not-yet-famous father’s eccentricities and struggles as “the world’s worst car salesman who couldn’t get a job teaching English at Cape Cod ...

• Resources for use when assessing individuals with disabilities

  

  During our recent PARtalks webinar series on assessing individuals with disabilities, PAR received many questions about where to go for further resources. Here is a short list of additional resources that may be helpful when assessing people with various disabilities. American Psychological Association (APA) APA offers a significant number of resources on disability issues. In addition to Guidelines for Assessment and Intervention with Persons with Disabilities, APA also offers disability-specific APA resolutions, and a disability mentoring program designed to support individuals with disabilities who are psychologists or who want to be. APA offers resources on accessibility, inclusive language, and the Americans with Disabilities Act, and more. Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) The AUCD is a network of university centers that provide resources and training on disability issues, as well as advancing policy and practice for and with individuals with developmental and other disabilities. The AUCD offers a library of materials and resources on disability rights, disability research, and disability policy. Disability.gov Disability.gov is a federal government website run by the Department of Labor that provides information and resources on disability-related issues related ...