Tag: social problems

Mandatory Autism Awareness and Response Training for Law Enforcement

I am one of millions of people whose life has been touched by somebody with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).  I work with individuals who have autism, both children and adults, mostly in their homes and out in the community.  On a regular basis when I am with my clients, we are stared at, and …

Continue reading

Share

Housing First Model for Homelessness?

Is it time to start thinking differently about homelessness?  There’s a broad spectrum of approaches and opinions surrounding homelessness in the US and its assumed you are somewhere on that continuum.  The Veteran’s Administration and Barack Obama have declared to end veteran homelessness by 2015, although results and progress remain to be seen.  What if …

Continue reading

Share

So is Voluntourism the Road Better Traveled?

Voluntourism, as discussed in a previous blog, To Go Or Not To Go, provides a unique impact and scope compared to traditional donations.  The second part of the series seeks to uncover the road of donations as compared to voluntourism in terms of reaching the destination, community impact, and the values of overhead.  The analysis …

Continue reading

Share

UAA: Is it Enough?

This week I stumbled upon some thrilling news: The Universal Accreditation Act of 2012 (UAA). This fancy little piece of legislation goes into effect July of 2014 and may be a push in the right direction for addressing the loopholes in existence within the international adoption process. So what is the UAA? This document, signed …

Continue reading

Share

Literacy in Bangladesh

Sunday (September Eight) was first International Literacy day. Twitter was alight with quotes about the power of reading, infographics, and uplifting stories, and it really got me thinking and wanting to learn more about literacy rates around the world. In honor of International Literacy Day the United Nation Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) published …

Continue reading

Share

To Go or Not To Go: Voluntourism

With the advent of global media and an increasingly connected world, the average citizen is drastically more informed and aware than yesteryear’s counterpart.  This media saturation combined with man’s natural tendency to travel has produced a budding practice coined voluntourism, where socially conscious travelers are able to incorporate humanistic ambitions with new and exciting experiences …

Continue reading

Share

Thailand’s Deep South

Some people might wonder why I am writing a blog post about the South Thailand Insurgency. It is well known that this Islamic insurgency took place in 2004 and had experienced its peak in 2007. It may seem like an outdated conflict that had dissipated throughout the years, but it is in fact still an …

Continue reading

Share

Is Burma really on the path to Democracy?

The religious crisis in Arakan state, Burma against the Rohingya Muslims is escalating by the second. I had previously written about this subject in my blog posts, but I want to update everyone on what is currently going on. To briefly explain what the conflict is about, there are groups of Buddhist extremists and Burmese …

Continue reading

Share

Home – Poverty and Gentrification

This past weekend I travelled to New York to visit my sister, who recently moved to Brooklyn. Anyone would love her neighborhood, fit in in her neighborhood. It’s diverse. From islanders to east asians, there are plenty styles and cultures to observe from afar or experience close up. The hipster coffee shop around the corner …

Continue reading

Share

Where is our freedom of speech in Southeast Asia?

Nguyen Van Hai, a 12 year sentenced prisoner in Vietnam, has been on a hunger strike for 30 days in his prison cell to protest against poor treatment in jail. However, he should not be in jail in the first place. He is one out of 43 of bloggers, journalists, and political activists that have …

Continue reading

Share