Workshop Description: Many people with disabilities have experienced poor mental health care for a multitude of reasons. An important factor is that mental health providers often lack the understanding that working with a person with disabilities requires cultural competence, as working with any population, as well as the importance of accurate assessment to guide treatment. In this workshop, you will hear from someone who experienced discrimination, misdiagnosis, and the resulting mistreatment and how that impacted them. You will also hear from a psychologist with 35+ years’ experience working with people with developmental disabilities and the insights they’ve gained regarding accurate assessment and treatment planning. You will be asked to share your experiences, insights, and lessons you’ve learned through your own experiences.
Recording:
Speakers:
Melanie Hecker, MPA
Melanie Hecker is an autistic young woman and lifelong disability self-advocate. At age fifteen, she began traveling around the country speaking about autism, mental health and disability. She started her formal advocacy career at Youth Power at Families Together in New York State, before going on to get a Master of Public Administration degree at the Rockefeller college of Public Affairs and Policy. She also worked as a Research and Training Associate at the National Center for START Services. Melanie’s volunteer contributions are too many to list but include a position on the Board of Directors of Living Resources, four terms serving as the Student Representative on the Post Secondary Advisory Council for Students with Disabilities to the Board of Regents and serving as the co-chair of Congregation Ohav Shalom’s Inclusion Committee. She is the recipient of the 2019 Independent Living Center of the Hudson Valley Beacon Leadership Award and the 2021 START Champion Award.
Karen Weigle, PhD
Dr. Karen Weigle is a clinical psychologist with over 35 years of experience working with people with Neurodevelopmental Disabilities and mental health needs, and their families. She received her master’s degree and PhD from West Virginia University. Dr. Weigle has contributed to developing crisis prevention and intervention services for people with IDD and mental health needs, as well as completing research in the field and developing training on the topics for a wide audience. Dr. Weigle has worked in multiple health, mental health, and school settings, and is a founding member of the Chattanooga Autism Center. She currently works at Anna Shaw Children’s Institute, a multidisciplinary clinic for children with disabilities.
