From Business Dot Gov: A Quick Guide To Microloans

Money money money…these days, it’s all about the money. Who’s got it, where can you get it, how can you get it, and how to spend it? Well if you’re a small business and are looking for just a small amount of money, a microloan might be just what you’re looking for. Designed to provide more loans to small businesses, microloans have made small amounts of capital more readily available. Since conception, the microloan program has awarded over $112 million in more than 12,500 loans.

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disability, self-employment, u.s goverment | No Comments »

From the NY Times|Small Business: Networking for the Shy Entreprenuer

You know you have to do it. You have been meaning to do it. And now that the recession is here, you wish had done it sooner. But networking, especially if you are never going to be described as outgoing, can be extremely difficult. Still, by putting off any real effort to network, you have not used the opportunity to create mutually beneficial business relationships.

It’s not too late, experts say. Here are some tips that can help.

IT’S NOT THAT HARD. Writing on CIO.com, Meredith Levinson makes two good points that may relieve some of your anxiety.

While most people instantly think about approaching strangers whenever the term “networking” surfaces, that doesn’t have to be the case. You can begin by “seeking out familiar faces, such as relatives and friends,” she says. “Starting with someone you know makes it easier to get your networking career under way.”

Second, “many introverted professionals think they have to act like an extrovert in networking situations. While you do have to make an effort to be more gregarious than normal, you shouldn’t be artificial.”

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Souce: New York Times: City Room

It is the usual reminder, just a little firmer than in the past. This week, as it has done every couple of years, New York City Transit is starting an advertising campaign asking New Yorkers to remember to “please offer a seat” to disabled passengers on buses and subways.

There was a time — who knows if it really existed — when such civility was assumed. However, the new posters on subways and buses give riders an extra prod: “It’s not only polite, it’s the law.”

“It’s the first time we’ve really stressed this,” said Paul J. Fleuranges, vice president for corporate communications at New York City Transit, the largest arm of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Those who decline to give up a seat on request face up to a $50 fine, he said. (The new campaign also warns that “not all disabilities are visible.”)

As long as there has been public transportation, there has been grumbling about healthy young men taking a load off while the pregnant, the old and the infirm stand by.

Recently, some bloggers have chronicled their own troubles securing a seat while injured or pregnant.

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Source: WSJ Health Journal

Silencing a Voice That Says You’re a Fraud

By Melinda Beck

A physician starts playing a harsh mental tape in her head every time a new patient calls: What if I make the wrong diagnosis? I’m a terrible doctor. How did I get into medical school?

An executive loses his job and despite 25 productive years, he tells himself: I’m a loser. I can’t provide for my family, and I’ll never be able to again.

An eminent scholar is offered a top post in the Obama administration and his first reaction is: They must have made a mistake.

If these real-life examples sound familiar, you may have a caustic commentary running in your head, too. Psychologists say many of their patients are plagued by a harsh Inner Critic — including some extremely successful people who think it’s the secret to their success.

An Inner Critic can indeed roust you out of bed in the morning, get you on the treadmill (literally and figuratively) and spur you to finish that book or symphony or invention.

But the desire to achieve can get hijacked by harsh judgment and unrelenting fear. “There’s a healthy version and an unhealthy version,” says Daniel F. Seidman, a clinical psychologist at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. In some cases, he says, “people may achieve a lot, but they are totally miserable about it.”

Unrelenting self-criticism often goes hand in hand with depression and anxiety, and it may even predict depression. In a study of 107 patients in the latest issue of Comprehensive Psychiatry, David M. Dunkley at Jewish General Hospital in Montreal and colleagues found that those who were most self-critical were the most likely to be depressed and have difficulties in relationships four years later, even if they weren’t depressed to begin with.

Self-criticism is also a factor in eating disorders, self-mutilation and body dysmorphic disorder — that is, preoccupation with one’s perceived physical flaws. “We have expanded what we expect of material success and physical appearance so that it’s completely unrealistic,” says Robert L. Leahy, a psychiatrist and director of the American Institute for Cognitive Therapy in New York.

Many people’s Inner Critic makes an appearance early in life and is such a constant companion that it’s part of their personality. Psychologists say that children, particularly those with a genetic predisposition to depression, may internalize and exaggerate the expectations of parents or peers or society. One theory is that self-criticism is anger turned inward, when sufferers are filled with hostility but too afraid and insecure to let it out. Other theories hold that people who scold themselves are acting out guilt or shame or subconsciously shielding themselves against criticism from others: You can’t tell me anything I don’t already tell myself, in even harsher terms.

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I was recently presented with an opportunity I wasn’t sure was right for me. I wasn’t sure it was wrong for me either. So, I went ahead and decided to give it shot; either way I’d learn something.

I spent the weekend mulling over my decision. It turned out the opportunity wasn’t right for me and I wasn’t right for it. However, if I hadn’t been willing to give it a shot, I wouldn’t have learned as much as I did. I frequently enjoy the flexibility to make mistakes because I work for myself. Mistakes have taught me a great deal in life, whether they were mine or someone else’s. We all make mistakes, whether we like to admit it or not.

It seemed the Universe was in agreement yesterday as I read Ari Markenson’s post on Dumb Little Man:

We are all afraid of making mistakes. Humiliation, embarrassment, censure and lots of other nasty things can come from simple or significant mistakes.

We would all love to be perfect and do it all right. However, life simply doesn’t work that way (if it does for you, please share your secret!). One person’s right can be another person’s wrong and the absolute pursuit of perfection can stress the body and mind to its limits.

So, should we all run out and purposefully screw something up? No, although, it might sound like fun once in a while. What we can try to do is not be fearful of making mistakes. We can take calculated risks and suppress our natural ability to be afraid to make mistakes.

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What have you learned from mistakes in your life?

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Dear friends and allies,

Coming up in a month (June 22, 2009) is the 10th anniversary of the Olmstead decision, declaring that people with disabilities have a right to live in the community and not in nursing homes and other institutions. It is a great opportunity for people with disabilities to come together to make sure that the dream of Olmstead becomes a reality! Given the talk of health care reform in Washington DC, and concern about whether or not President Obama and the federal government will make sure that community-based choices are included, publicizing the Olmstead anniversary is more important than ever.

Just like the disability community held events around the country for Obama’s inauguration or for the introduction of the Community Choices Act, we’d like to coordinate events nationwide for the Olmstead anniversary. There are a bunch of events you could do, and we want to help you make it happen!
*** Take Action ***

1) Whether you are a group or an individual, pick one of the following events you think you can do.
2) Email disabilitymovement@gmail.com to tell us what you’d like to do and what kind of materials or other help you need.
3) Pick 1-2 new forms of outreach in the list below, so that you can bring in new people.
4) Hold your event and have fun with it!

Possible events:

• Call or visit your district’s members of Congress, or the local Health & Human Services office; ask what they’re going to do to implement Olmstead
• Hold a press conference in front of a nursing home or other institution
• Get a group of people to go visit a nursing home — tell the nursing home that you’d like to bring cookies and visit with people
• Create a film of people talking about wanting to stay out of nursing homes and other institutions; or if we can find one that exists, show a film!
• Pass out flyers at a grocery store, shopping mall, or other busy site, talking to people about Olmstead and institutions, maybe including some kind of survey about thoughts on living in a nursing home
• * Have a rally at HHS office, state building, or possibly a nursing home (this last can be tricky)
• Have a caravan to different sites above
• Deliver a signed copy of the AAPD petition to local Congressional offices, maybe deliver them with some kind of “Implement Olmstead” cookies.
• Have an event and invite legislators to come and talk about independence for people with disabilities
• Get people together to talk about Olmstead (educate ourselves). Provide snacks, have everyone write a letter and sign the AAPD petition. You could also get people together and then go out before or after for any of these other suggestions.

Ideas for outreach:

• Talk to leadership at churches in your area, and get someone to make an announcement, pass out flyers, etc.
• Go to a health clinic or hospital, and ask people to sign a petition (so you can get contact information) and pass out flyers
• Knock on doors at housing developments for people with disabilities
• Post on facebook and blogs
• Go to Vocational Rehab offices, ask them to talk to clients, pass out flyers
• Go to your local CIL, Developmental Disability Council, etc.

THANK YOU!

Jessica Lehman & the Justice for All Action Network Organizing Workgroup

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From Profoundly Yours

This is a question I am often asked: Does the shaky economy make it harder for people with disabilities to find a job? Undoubtedly, yes. The job marketplace is more competitive, and frankly, it’s easier for an employer to hire someone who doesn’t need an accommodation.

Though the American with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination of the disabled, it still happens indirectly — and more so when the hiring pool is larger. Just look at U.S. employment rates from the past year. Only 46 percent of working-age people with disabilities held jobs, vs. 84 percent of non-disabled people. The national unemployment rate for people with disabilities was 12.9 percent in April 2009, compared to 8.6 percent for non-disabled Americans.

And here’s a little-known fact: It takes someone with a disability 10 times longer to land a job than the average person. “Employers want to hire people with disabilities but they’re often not trained on how to find, interview or manage this group,” says Sheridan Walker, founder of consulting firm HirePotential.

The good news is assistive technologies can level the playing field. Many of these accommodations are already in use in the workplace, and most cost less than $500 or are free to use. For instance, a screen reader for the blind is built into both Windows and Mac computers. Speech-recognition software, around $200, is used by both busy CEOs and workers who are dyslexic. Instant messaging programs, free and used in offices everywhere, are also very useful for the deaf and hard or
hearing.

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“I’m the sort of person who’s prone to saying that we could have a more entrepreneurial economy in the United States if we had a universal health care system. The thinking is that our current system unduly punishes risk-taking. There are a lot of different aspects of this, but basically the American health care system both produces labor market rigidities (”job lock”) and makes jobs at small firms relatively unattractive. But do I have any actual evidence of this? Well, not really. I think theory alone can establish that the effect should be there, but how big is it”?

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From Dumb Little Man

Have you been miserable lately? Got the hump, feeling down, worrying, stressing? Whatever’s got you down – swine flu, the credit crunch, the weather, a busy time at work — you might as well milk it for all it’s worth. Here’s how to make yourself (and everyone around you) feel completely and utterly miserable.

(And don’t tell me you don’t want to be miserable. I’m pretty sure you’re already doing at least a few of the things on this list…)

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productivity | No Comments »