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This week: A new survey finds that a vast majority of Hoosiers say they believe in climate change, and Indiana officials hope to protect the state's native plants by banning some invasive plants.
This week: A new study warns that about 1 million plant and animal species are at risk due to human action, and Hoosiers may soon have to pay more money to recover from natural disasters.
This week: The U.S. Navy wants residents living near NSA Crane to test their water wells for potentially hazardous PFAS compounds, and we take a look at why an Indianapolis apartment complex isn't allowed to use the solar power it produces.
This week: It's a big week for Indiana on Capitol Hill. Two Indiana University professors testified before separate environmental hearings. We take a look at the issues they're championing in Washington, D.C.
This week: We take a look at how the state of Indiana's position on pesticides in food products selected for the state's WIC program could be exposing needy Hoosier families to potentially toxic chemicals, and a pathogen deadly to oak trees threatens to spread in the state.
This week: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lifted a ban on the sale of higher ethanol blends of gasoline during the summer months, a move that will benefit corn growers in Indiana but could adversely affect the environment.
This week: A government report says some Defense Department facilities may not be prepared for the effects of climate change, and the IER crew talks about HBO's Chernobyl and the state of Indiana's own ticking time bombs.
This Week: We learn more about a proposed Vigo County ammonia plant that seeks to have a near-zero carbon footprint, and health organizations are suing the Trump administration to stop an air pollution rule that could actually increase air pollution.
This week: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency expands the use of a pesticide it admits is "very highly toxic" to bees, and teachers get lessons on how to teach students about climate change.
This week: The U.S. EPA has chosen not to ban an Indiana-made pesticide linked to brain abnormalities and autism in children, and the state of Indiana has chosen the first round of proposals for Volkswagen settlement funding.
This Week: Air quality gains have slowed after two decades of improvement, and an app is helping beekeepers and growers check in on their bees without disturbing them.
This week: Community and environmental groups are suing the EPA for higher dust-lead standards, and environmental groups are concerned a Hoosier National Forest management plan may have a negative effect on the surrounding environment.
This week: We track a chemical release in the Little Calumet River, and we take a look at how changes to the Endangered Species Act could make it harder to protect vulnerable plants and animals.
This week: The town of Speedway is trying to find out who is dumping a large amount of industrial oil into the town's water supply, and a biofuel company says Big Oil's relationship with the Trump administration caused it to close a bioprocessing facility in Cloverdale, Indiana.
This week: Lots of roll backs. The Trump administration rolls back a rule that would have made light bulbs more efficient, and the EPA rolls back limits on methane, a greenhouse has 25 times more potent at trapping heat than carbon dioxide.
This week: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rolls back a 2015 rule that expands the definition of waterways protected by federal law, and the state of Indiana and 19 other states are backing up a federal air pollution law that may make air pollution worse.
This week: Hoosiers joined a global climate strike, and the EPA may rewrite a cross-state pollution rule after a court cracked down on open-ended compliance deadlines.
This week: A long-term Indiana University air pollution monitoring program will use a $5.9 million grant to measure the amount of PFAS chemicals in the Great Lakes, and a new book and movie chronicles the lawsuit that brought the toxic effect of those chemicals into the light.
This week: Two midwestern environmental advocacy groups take the first step in suing the company that owns a steel mill in northwestern Indiana responsible for Clean Water Act violations, and the state of Indiana received a nearly half a billion dollar loan to improve water infrastructure projects in the state.
This week: A new proposal from the EPA limiting the amount of lead and copper in drinking water could help ensure safer drinking water in schools, and NASA has made available nearly 20 years of satellite precipitation data that could improve the accuracy of climate and weather models in Indiana and around the world.
This week: A pair of environmental advocacy groups sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to tighten national emissions standards for toxic pollution from steel mills, and an EPA proposal seeks to make it easier for farmers to spray pesticides but could endanger farmworkers.
This week: After disastrous flooding, officials in Goshen, Indiana embark on a journey of climate change resilience, and a new online tool seeks to help communities prepare for climate change before it's too late.
This week: We talked to a former Russian army soldier who survived the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986 and eventually made his way to the U.S. He thought his first brush with environmental disaster would be his last. He was wrong. Plus, a federal report found that half of Indiana's toxic Superfund sites could be affected by flooding due to climate change.
This week: Millions of servicemembers and their families may have been exposed to chemicals linked to potentially deadly health conditions, and an Indianapolis group specializes in turning discarded building materials into fashion.
This week: IER investigates how the government shutdown is affecting national parks in Indiana, and we speak to an Obama-era official who says a new EPA proposal could allow power plants in Indiana and across the country to emit more toxic pollutants into the air and neuter future environmental policies.
This week: We take a look at why Indiana ranks 44th in the nation for new incidences of lung cancer, and the federal government makes a deal with a national cement company for alleged Clean Air Act violations.
This week: A major electricity supplier in Indiana plans to retire two coal-fired units at its Petersburg Generating Station, and we take a look at what you can do to make sure your campfire fuel isn't helping spread invasive bugs.
From the peaks of the Appalachians to a wave of Belgian plantations and the Louisiana shoreline, we explore how the age-old holiday tradition of tree decoration intertwines with the environment.
1:45 - holiday trees in Bloomington
6:45 - Al Eernisse of Greene County Trees on farming today
12:00 - Lauren Wood of Virginia Commonwealth University on the fate of the Fraser fir
19:30 - story about bird assemblages on Christmas tree plantations, featuring Robin Gailly of Liège University
23:45 - Karen Zraick of The New York Times on the real vs. artificial debate
30:30 - Bev Banks of E&E News on recycling trees to save the wetlands
Take Edna F. Einsiedel by the numbers, and one can see the impact she’s had on academia.
She has published nearly 70 journal articles, contributed to more than 30 books and taught thousands of students. Her curiosity and love of learning have led her to more than 40 countries, where she’s researched topics like communication, pornography, technology and the environment.
But Einsiedel has never allowed her work in academia to exist in a vacuum. First as a student and later as a journalist, researcher and professor, she has prioritized bridging gaps between university and town, government and citizen, and teacher and student.
By the time Einsiedel earned her doctorate from IU in 1975, she had already established her philosophy about academic writing – that it, like journalism, should be a communicative act.
“A lot of it had to do with being in journalism school, and that kind of training and background emphasized to me the importance of being clear and being accessible to readers,” Einsiedel said. “That training stuck with me.”
Einsiedel, who has a B.S. in zoology from the University of the Philippines and a master’s in political science from California State University, Chico, is the author of an inventive 1974 doctoral dissertation on attitudinal bias in journalistic interviewing, which was praised by IU professors for its accessible, easy-to-read style.
Upon graduating from IU, Einsiedel began to teach journalism as an assistant professor at Kent State University. At the same time, she took an evening job at the Kent Record-Courier in an effort to gain more practical journalism experience and make her skills useful in the community.
“I was in a journalism program, and a lot of the emphasis was on practical training,” Einsiedel recalled. “I felt my personal training wasn’t fully rounded. That was another way of getting some hands-on experience.”
In 1978, Einsiedel took an associate professorship at the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. There, she studied the impacts of agenda-setting in the media. She also studied pornography, a research interest that developed out of similar studies as a graduate student at IU. Her work in this field led to her appointment to the U.S. Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography, commonly known as the Meese Commission, during her last two years at Syracuse.
It was controversial work, she recalled, and gave her a taste of the issues raised by contentious science.
During this period, Einsiedel still fulfilled her faculty duties at Syracuse. In 1985, she was promoted to full professor. Around that time, she moved to the University of Calgary, where she has taught for 30 years, earning the distinguished rank of university professor.
There, she has studied the communication of science, technology and environmental and climate change, and focused on how publics can be more effectively engaged and participate in science and technology issues.
Today, Einsiedel credits her students with helping her maintain her curiosity and fervor for learning and research.
“My students have inspired me,” she said. “They push me to ask a wider variety of questions. I learn a lot from my students and I hope they learn just as much from me.”
When so many of us feel responsible for and powerless against climate change, it can be difficult to assess which actions are effective. In this episode, associate producer Jacob Einstein speaks with Chelsea Campbell about the environmental app she developed and explores the relationship between individual and collective action in the fight against climate change
Ellsworth Christmas (Master), Jon Kay (Director), Traditional Arts Indiana
Summary:
For nearly 45 years, Ellsworth Christmas has volunteered at the Indiana State Fair’s Pioneer Village to teach fairgoers about Indiana’s traditional crafts and agricultural practices. He grew up on a farm in rural Warrick County, Indiana at a time when farming with a mule and plough was slowly giving way to tractors.
In 1975, Maurie Williamson* at the Purdue Ag Alumni Association invited the young extension specialist to demonstrate chair caning at the Pioneer Village. In subsequent years, Ellsworth constructed a smoke house and built the pin-framed barn that serves as the backdrop for the Pioneer Village stage. He worked with other From splitting shingles and smoking hams to building wooden wheels and making an ox yoke at the fair, Ellsworth Christmas has worked to preserve Indiana’s farming heritage through his contributions and demonstrations at the Pioneer Village.
volunteer artisans to build the “Johnson Cabin,” a replica of the 1822 cabin that once stood on the fairgrounds. While he continues to demonstrate during the fair each year, Ellsworth works with a team of volunteers to restore the village’s collection of antique farming equipment and wagons.
In fewer than 50 years, North America has lost 2.9 billion birds, nearly a third of the 1970 population. In this episode, the team explores the significance of birds, the story of one unloved variety and the ways people can work to bring back our feathered friends. Hint: a big one is birding. 2:15 - black vulture story with Katie Fallon from the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia 11:00 - interview between Janet McCabe and IU's own Ellen Ketterson 24:00 - bird loss vox pop with Jacob Einstein and Emily Miles, featuring voices from around the IU campus 29:30 - interview between Jim Shanahan and Wesley Hochachka from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology
James Farmer, associate professor from IU SPEA, and Julia Valliant, a postdoc researcher from the Ostrom Workshop, talk with Dean Shanahan about farm transfers, capturing the stories of Hoosier farmers, and sharing those stories in the media.
In this episode of Through the Gates, guest-host Terri Francis, director of the Black Film Center/Archive, sits down with filmmaker Kevin Everson to discuss how he came to create films and the artistic vision with which he creates them.
In this special guest interview, Terri Francis, Media School associate professor and director of the Black Film Center/Archive, talks with long-time film and television director Michael Schultz. They cover Schultz's youth, industry experience and storytelling philosophy.
Narrative literature reviews, systematic literature reviews, meta reviews, meta analyses, research in context: what should you do when you are asked to provide a review of the literature? What may have served as a fairly routine task in your early years as a student or scholar has been complicated by the growing volume of published research and the interdisciplinarity of many domains. It is becoming common practice to not only meticulously document the methods of your research design, but also to demonstrate the ways in which you searched the literature. Furthermore, there is increased value in the use of reviews to summarize the literature and find evidence across published results. Review articles have high value to the field—as demonstrated through citations—but can also lose their value when authors use ad hoc approaches or fail to acknowledge bias in how the review was assembled or analyzed.
Systematic literature reviews (SLRs) offer a way of producing less biased and more generalizable findings. SLRs use explicit selection criteria and a rigorous, rules-driven approach to the analysis of prior scholarship. The presenters will walk participants through the process of designing and conducting a systematic literature review using Cochrane-Campbell protocols, discussing bibliometric sources for systematically identifying literature, and providing tips and suggestions based on their own research experience.
With two Musical Composition/Arrangement Emmy wins behind him, professor Larry Groupé talks with Dean Shanahan about Hollywood scoring for movies, video games, and shows. Groupé leads IU's new film and media scoring program, teaching classed in the Jacobs School of Music and the Media School.
Through the Gates celebrates Valentine's Day with one of IU's beloved professors emeriti, Susan Gubar. Author of the new book Late-Life Love, Gubar talks with Dean Shanahan about the way love changes and remains the same as we age. They also discuss Gubar's life and New York Times blog Living With Cancer.
Since 2014, partners from Indiana University Bloomington (IUB) and Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Libraries have been collaboratively developing new Samvera (formerly Hydra) software to manage and deliver page turning digital objects. In 2018, conversations with Enterprise Scholarly Systems (ESS), a partnership between IUB Libraries, IUPUI Libraries, and University Information Technology Services (UITS), expanded our project's scope. This presentation will highlight our development efforts, now known as the ESS Images project or ESSI.
In the past year, the ESSI team has developed numerous improvements to the Hyrax digital repository software, one of the Samvera community's most commonly-used open source platforms. These improvements include the ability to order, structure, and label pages within an item, replicating features available in the Pages Online service launched in 2017. Additionally, the project has implemented optical character recognition search in a community-accepted way, building upon components of the IMLS-funded Samvera Newspaper Works application.
This presentation will also discuss in-development improvements for our existing image collections. The Hyrax repository by default assumes every item can be described by the same group of metadata fields and labels, but in actuality, collections of digital images often have wildly different metadata profiles from each other. Our recent work has aimed to incorporate a model for flexible metadata developed by the Samvera Machine-readable Metadata Modeling Specification (M3) Working Group within Hyrax. This work will help IU, IUPUI, and the Samvera community better adapt Hyrax to manage and deliver a wide variety of digital library collections in a standardized way.
This presentation is a step toward understanding the problem of bias in metadata and how that impacts inclusivity in the research process. Original description provided for digital collection discovery and access as well as controlled vocabularies commonly used for subject headings (such as Library of Congress Subject Headings) have inherent biases which present challenges for researchers discovering and engaging with these collections, particularly researchers from underrepresented or historically marginalized populations. We’ll review work in this area to date and discuss possible approaches for where to go next to improve description and the academic research experience.
Using inclusive vocabularies, defined here as those vocabularies representative of and created by historically marginalized communities, is helpful for providing options when creating original description. Is it possible to also supply these vocabularies for use as a navigation aid into a system that only makes use of commonly used controlled vocabularies that are not as inclusive or representative, such as Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)? This talk will explore progress in learning about the scope of available controlled vocabularies and classification schemes from marginalized communities and a proof-of-concept project to engage such a vocabulary as an information retrieval aid for search and discovery against a system using only LCSH for subjects (a typical library catalog).
This interactive workshop will consider how Open Educational Resources (OER) can alleviate the high cost Indiana University Bloomington undergraduate students pay for course materials (an estimated $1,034 each academic year). Data suggests that students will forgo purchasing expensive course materials, even when they know it will impact their success in the classroom. This session will introduce OER and discuss its benefits, critically think about challenges to OER adoption, and formulate strategies to support IU instructors in finding high-quality OER, adapting them to fit students’ needs, and creating (even in collaboration with students) customized course materials. Please bring a laptop or similar device.
As climate changes, so do pieces of culture. Pieces like car ownership, outdoor sports, and the drinks we share. This is the final episode in our beverage series, and it's all about coffee. We follow guests to Colombia, El Salvador, and Costa Rica to learn about the systems preventing coffee farmers from building climate resilience and possibilities for improvement.
In this episode:
James Harper of the Filter Stories podcast
Jessica Eise of the Purdue University Brian Lamb School of Communication
Thaleon Tremain of Pachamama Coffee Cooperative
Hess, Mary, Emmert, Rock, Blair, John, Vaal, Randy, McCabe, Janet, Hawkins, David, Nolen, Janice, Greenbaum, Dan
Summary:
The billowing black factory smoke may be gone, but there remains much work to be done in U.S. and global air quality. As the earth warms, ozone worsens and wildfire particulate matter threatens communities. Janet, Jim and Emily delve into these issues and more with a host of seasoned air quality experts and one community group fighting for quality of life. 7:00 - Dale, Indiana coal to diesel refinery story, featuring Mary Hess, Rock Emmert, John Blair and Randy Vaal 13:15 - interview between Janet McCabe and David Hawkins of the National Resources Defense Council, with contributions from Janice Nolen of the American Lung Association 28:15 - interview between Janet McCabe and Dan Greenbaum of the Health Effects Institute, with contributions from Janice Nolen
This week Dean Shanahan sits down with IU alumna and Rhodes Scholar Jenny Huang. Tune in to hear Jenny's story: from her avid reading as a child, to field research in Iceland, to her new adventure as a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford.
Observational data often have issues which present challenges for the data analyst. The treatment status or exposure of interest is often not assigned randomly. Data are sometimes missing not at random (MNAR) which can lead to sample selection bias. And many statistical models for these data must account for unobserved confounding. This talk will demonstrate how to use standard maximum likelihood estimation to fit extended regression models (ERMs) that deal with all of these common issues alone or simultaneously.
Bayesian analysis has become a popular tool for many statistical applications. Yet many data analysts have little training in the theory of Bayesian analysis and software used to fit Bayesian models. This talk will provide an intuitive introduction to the concepts of Bayesian analysis and demonstrate how to fit Bayesian models using Stata. No prior knowledge of Bayesian analysis is necessary and specific topics will include the relationship between likelihood functions, prior, and posterior distributions, Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) using the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm, and how to use Stata’s Bayes prefix to fit Bayesian models.
Chuck Hughes, executive director of the Gary Chamber of Commerce, describes how the Chase Street spring water was like a treat for him and other children.
This was one of a group of excerpts gathered under the subject heading of Community Use of the Spring for a digital and in-person exhibit of the Spring at Small Farms Oral Histories. The digital exhibit can be seen at https://iusbarchives.omeka.net/exhibits/show/spring-at-small-farms/home.
Gary Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Chuck Hughes shares a short history of his familial origins and what it was like for them to move from the South to the North. He compares the environment of Small Farms to that of rural Mississippi and Alabama, and describes the topography of the area, noting that it was wooded and had dirt roads. He also shares that he and other children had a "very creative childhood" because they used their imagination and surroundings in their play.
This was one of a group of excerpts gathered under the subject heading of Growing Up in Small Farms for a digital and in-person exhibit of the Spring at Small Farms Oral Histories. The digital exhibit can be seen at https://iusbarchives.omeka.net/exhibits/show/spring-at-small-farms/home.
Gary Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Chuck Hughes describes his childhood in Small Farms. He says that he and his siblings thought they were "living large" in a big house filled with extended family members. Hughes' family were avid fishermen and would sometimes host fish fries for the neighborhood. He says as children they had everything they needed in Small Farms, and that "we essentially didn't leave that area...until it was time to start school."
This was one of a group of excerpts gathered under the subject heading of Growing Up in Small Farms for a digital and in-person exhibit of the Spring at Small Farms Oral Histories. The digital exhibit can be seen at https://iusbarchives.omeka.net/exhibits/show/spring-at-small-farms/home.
Gary Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Chuck Hughes discusses life growing up in Small Farms. He shares stories of how he and other children were teased at school for where they came from. He attributes this treatment to the dirt and dust that settled on their clothing during their walk on dirt roads to get to school. Classmates called them "farmers from the Black Bottoms" (after a nickname used for Small Farms). But he says they were proud of their origins and the place they called home. As Hughes puts it, "We wore it as a badge of honor."
This was one of a group of excerpts gathered under the subject heading of Growing Up in Small Farms for a digital and in-person exhibit of the Spring at Small Farms Oral Histories. The digital exhibit can be seen at https://iusbarchives.omeka.net/exhibits/show/spring-at-small-farms/home.
Kay Westhues interviews Kristin Huysken at Professor Hysken’s lab in Marram Hall, Indiana University in Gary, Indiana, on October 4, 2019. Professor Huysken is an Associate Professor of Geology and Chairperson in the Department of Geosciences at Indiana University Northwest. She describes the Introduction to Earth Science class field trips she led at two local artesian wells: the Gary spring on Chase Street, and the spring at Beverly Shores, Indiana. She describes the geological processes that produce an artesian well, and some specific geologic features in the region surrounding the spring. Part of the Spring at Small Farms Oral History Project. See the full exhibit here: https://iusbarchives.omeka.net/exhibits/show/spring-at-small-farms/home
Professor Kristin Huysken, an Associate Professor of Geology and Chairperson in the Department of Geosciences at Indiana University Northwest, discusses the science of artesian wells. She says that the purity of the water in these springs is dependent upon the amount of time the water spends in the aquifer. "The aquifer itself acts as a filter," she says. "The longer time the water can spend in that aquifer," she explains, "If the pore spaces are small enough and you know it takes enough time to get through, that's good. It means you're drinking old water."
This was one of a group of excerpts gathered under the subject heading of Science of Artesian Wells for a digital and in-person exhibit of the Spring at Small Farms Oral Histories. The digital exhibit can be seen at https://iusbarchives.omeka.net/exhibits/show/spring-at-small-farms/home.
Professor Kristin Huysken explains the proper conditions necessary for an artesian well to flow. "It has to be like...a sandwich," she says. "You have to have an impermeable layer...with a permeable layer between it," that filters the water. "The second criterion," she explains, "is that the recharge area...where the rain is coming in and charging, the system, has to be higher than the discharge area." Huysken then uses a diagram to provide a visual representation of how artesian wells work.
This was one of a group of excerpts gathered under the subject heading of Science of Artesian Wells for a digital and in-person exhibit of the Spring at Small Farms Oral Histories. The digital exhibit can be seen at https://iusbarchives.omeka.net/exhibits/show/spring-at-small-farms/home.
Kristin Huysken, Associate Professor of Geoscience at Indiana University Northwest, discusses her use of the Chase Street Spring today. She leads field trips to the well to help her students "understand how geology affects them in their everyday lives and how they interact with their geologic environment."
This was one of a group of excerpts gathered under the subject heading of Use of the Spring Today for a digital and in-person exhibit of the Spring at Small Farms Oral Histories. The digital exhibit can be seen at https://iusbarchives.omeka.net/exhibits/show/spring-at-small-farms/home.
Kristin Huysken, Associate Professor of Geoscience at Indiana University Northwest, describes how she uses the Chase Street Spring to teach her students about artesian wells. She asks her students to observe what they see at the spring, and engages them in a conversation about the science behind it.
This was one of a group of excerpts gathered under the subject heading of Use of the Spring Today for a digital and in-person exhibit of the Spring at Small Farms Oral Histories. The digital exhibit can be seen at https://iusbarchives.omeka.net/exhibits/show/spring-at-small-farms/home.
"They was mean to me. And I'm glad I'm not in an institution no more.” Beth was sent to an Indiana institution when she was young. She didn’t have the opportunity to go to school but states she learned to write and do math. After leaving Muscatatuck State Developmental Center, Beth also spent part of her life at Madison State Hospital. Beth is happy she doesn’t live in an institution anymore. Today, she lives in a house with roommates and enjoys spending time at Stone Belt Arc in Bloomington during the day. Beth says of the staff, “They don't treat me mean. They're good. I care about all of them.” Beth was interviewed in 2019.
“It was the hardest thing I’ve done in my life.” In the 1970s, Bonnie Smith was having difficulties providing care at home for her adolescent son Brooks. After seeking assistance, it was determined Brooks would go to Indiana's Madison State Hospital. Hospital staff told Bonnie her son needed time to adjust to his new living situation and could not receive visitors for a few months. When Bonnie and her husband went to visit Brooks at Thanksgiving, Bonnie found Brooks wearing clothes that did not belong to him. Bonnie was informed his clothes had been stolen. “It was a terrible, terrible experience. I mean the hospital is a terrible place.” Bonnie was interviewed in 2013.
John Dickerson, retired Executive Director of The Arc of Indiana, explains that after World War II, parents across the country began to think differently about the future of their children with disabilities. In 1951, there was a national meeting of parents and other interested individuals that kick-started state organizations. The first schools for children with disabilities started in church basements. At the time, there were no special education teachers. Parents found teachers accredited in other things, but who were interested in providing educational opportunities to children with disabilities. The Arc is a national community-based organization advocating for people with disabilities. The Arc of Indiana was formed in 1956 when there were few services for individuals with disabilities.
“Oh, my favorite thing was we got the opportunity to take two clients to Tennessee.” Lori Nei talks about a career highlight as a service manager in the disability field in Indiana. As part of her responsibilities, she provided support to two men who both spent over 30 years living in institutions. In her 2019 audio-recorded interview, Lori shared some of the challenges in helping both men transition to community life.
“No children were really served in a community setting, in a public school, especially children with moderate to severe disabilities,” explains Pat Barber. Pat received her special education degree in the early 1970s from Indiana University. She started her teaching career at Stone Belt Center in Bloomington, Indiana. There were several classrooms in the building set up for infants to school age children. Pat describes what a school experience was like for a child with disabilities attending the Stone Belt Center. Pat was interviewed in 2017.
“No children were really served in a community setting, in a public school especially children with moderate to severe disabilities,” explains Pat Barber. Pat received her special education degree in the early ‘70s from Indiana University. She started her teaching career at Stone Belt Center in Bloomington, Indiana. There were eight to nine classrooms from infants to school age. Teachers were contracted by the public schools. The program ran year-round.
Somewhere in the late ‘70s to mid ‘80s, children started moving into public schools. Pat gives credit to families for pushing to have their children included in regular public schools. There were families and many teachers concerned if public schools were ready to provide the needed supports. Pat says, “I definitely feel that kids flourished. And one of the fears or worries that a lot of us had is that, can anybody do it as well as we can? They-- you know, people out there, they don't know kids with disabilities…I have to say in all my years of experience that they are. I mean, good teachers, good principals, good administrators are good for all kids."
After teaching preschool for 20 years, Pat became the coordinator of the school corporation’s preschool program. One of her roles was to support five-year-olds entering kindergarten. The transition process would start a year before kindergarten. Pat explains, “We had the most success when we lined out a very specific transition plan at least 12 months before that transition happened. And it included lots of visits. It included parents going to the classroom because they are so critical to help us develop a transition plan.”
Pat also discusses changes to the IEP process, experiences with home visits, assessment tools used in the classroom, and changes in attitudes. She says, “I don't know that I could say that there was one specific event or one specific law that changed. I think attitude started to change with the rules, with parents, and with people showing that kind of respect.” Pat was interviewed in 2017.
“We would get referrals from the workshops usually, and we would meet with the individuals to determine their eligibility.” Roberta Stafford worked as a vocational rehabilitation counselor for almost 24 years. Indiana Vocational Rehabilitation Services is a state and federally funded agency working with people with disabilities to assist in finding employment. Roberta describes the work evaluation people would go through to determine what help they might need to do a job. However, at the end of evaluation, people wound up working in the sheltered workshop. That all changed in the mid-1980s with the introduction of supported employment. The counselors were initially skeptical this new program would work. Instead of telling people what job they could have, counselors learned how to empower individuals. Roberta explains, "It's all individualized. So, you know, so we work with people to get them through that process so that they can figure out what kind of job they want." Roberta was interviewed in 2019.
“That was a huge experience for me,” Ronelle Johnson recalls of her term as President of Indiana Chapter of Black Deaf Advocates (ICBDA). “I decided to be involved in the Deaf community because their needs for advocacy was great.” Having lost her hearing when she was 18 months old, she attended the Indiana School for the Deaf in Indianapolis. There all her teachers were required to sign, which they did fluently. “That's when I started picking up more language, more signs, and started becoming more ingrained in the Deaf community.” In 2005, she joined ICBDA. The organization was started in 1991. Its activities include mentoring children, promoting their ability to express themselves, and reinforcing positive values. Ronelle has been active in advocacy for Deaf rights and working for systems change. “Many of the people in our group have experienced suppression and opposition because of being Black and Deaf.” Ronelle became ICBDA’s Midwestern regional representative and got involved at a national level. Ronelle was interviewed in 2019.
