SUNFLOWER

Bioptic Drivers Australia Belinda O'Connor interview with Ann in Canberra ACT and driving instructor Kim from Fifth Gear Motoring - commentary of how she drives using a mini telescope and glasses with training and impact on her life - 9 mins - from 2026 Emerging Voices 

BIOPTIC DRIVERS AUSTRALIA interview with Ann in the car and Kim an instructor - ACT

In this Complex Care Journal Club podcast episode, Ms. Emily Johnson and Dr. Florence Gagné discuss a scoping review of interventions to assess social needs for children with medical complexity. They describe the different approaches to screening and intervention in the five included studies, implications for practice, and opportunities to engage social workers in research.

SPEAKERS
Emily Johnson, MSW, LICSW
Clinical Social Worker
Boston Children's Hospital

Florence Gagné, MD
Pediatrician
Montréal Children’s Hospital

HOST
Kristina Malik, MD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Medical Director
Pediatrician, Special Care Clinic‌‌
‌University of Colorado School of Medicine
KidStreet
Children’s Hospital Colorado

DATE
Initial publication date: August 11, 2026.

JOURNAL CLUB ARTICLE
Johnson ER, Hadge SM, Wachter SM, Gagné F. Interventions to assess social needs for children with medical complexity and their families: A scoping review. Patient Educ Couns. 2026;148:109555. doi:10.1016/j.pec.2026.109555.

OTHER ARTICLES REFERENCED
Ming DY, Jones KA, Sainz E, Tkach H, Stewart A, Cram A, Morreale MC, Dizon S, deJong NA. Feasibility of implementing systematic social needs assessment for children with medical complexity. Implement Sci Commun. 2021 Nov 21;2(1):130. doi: 10.1186/s43058-021-00237-3. PMID: 34802465; PMCID: PMC8606226.

TRANSCRIPT
https://cdn.bfldr.com/D6LGWP8S/as/3sgvpf2qjsvt9zqxvf37xspz/Gagne_and_Johnson_Final_Transcript_8-3-26

Clinicians across healthcare professions, advocates, researchers, and patients/families are all encouraged to engage and provide feedback! You can recommend an article for discussion using this form: https://forms.gle/Bdxb86Sw5qq1uFhW6.

Please visit: http://www.openpediatrics.org OPENPediatrics™ is an interactive digital learning platform for healthcare clinicians sponsored by Boston Children’s Hospital and in collaboration with the World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies. It is designed to promote the exchange of knowledge between healthcare providers around the world caring for critically ill children in all resource settings. The content includes internationally recognized experts teaching the full range of topics on the care of critically ill children. All content is peer-reviewed and open-access thus at no expense to the user. For further information on how to enroll, please email: openpediatrics@childrens.harvard.edu

CITATION
Johnson ER, Gagné F, Malik K. Screen and Intervene: Meeting Social Needs for Children with Medical Complexity. 08/2026. OPENPediatrics. Online Podcast. https://soundcloud.com/openpediatrics/screen-and-intervene-meeting-social-needs-for-children-with-medical-complexity.

Screen and Intervene: Meeting Social Needs for Children with Medical Complexity

Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) announced in a press release on August 5 that it has partnered with the upcoming film ‘Parallel and Vertical’ as part of a nationwide campaign to promote public understanding of developmental disabilities. The film directed by Seitaro Kobayashi and starring Shota Yasuda and Non, opens in cinemas across Japan on Aug. 28. The story follows the siblings as they confront a major turning point in their lives when the younger sister prepares to marry, prompting both to reconsider the nature of their lifelong bond.

Episode notes:

‘Japan health ministry teams up with film to promote understanding of developmental disabilities’:

https://barrierfreejapan.com/2026/08/06/japan-health-ministry-teams-up-with-film-to-promote-understanding-of-developmental-disabilities/



Japan health ministry teams up with film to promote understanding of developmental disabilities


Efforts are underway in Kumamoto Prefecture to provide children with developmental and intellectual disabilities with places to stay during the day and relieve stress, after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck the southwestern Japan prefecture late last month. At Asobi Studio Uki, an after-school daycare service facility in the city of Uki, the voices of elementary and junior high school students echoed through the building Friday. Some children relaxed by lying on balance balls, while others had their hair tied by staff members. During a game of team ball-toss, a boy on the losing team asked a staff member for another round.

Episode notes:

‘Children with Disabilities Offered Places to Feel at Ease in Quake-Hit Kumamoto’:

https://barrierfreejapan.com/2026/08/10/children-with-disabilities-offered-places-to-feel-at-ease-in-quake-hit-kumamoto/



Children with Disabilities Offered Places to Feel at Ease in Quake-Hit Kumamoto

According to the bureau, at around 4:30 p.m. on May 19, a woman using an electric wheelchair attempted to board a bus at the Higashinada Ward Office bus stop in Kobe’s Higashinada Ward. The driver refused her request, citing overcrowding. In fact, only the front part of the bus was crowded, and the bureau determined that the driver had failed to assess the situation properly or ask other passengers for their cooperation.

Episode notes:

‘Written Warning Issued to ‘Hanshin Bus’ After Electric Wheelchair User Refused Boarding’:

https://barrierfreejapan.com/2026/08/13/written-warning-issued-to-hanshin-bus-after-electric-wheelchair-user-refused-boarding/


Written Warning Issued to ‘Hanshin Bus’ After Electric Wheelchair User Refused Boarding

Chicago funded affordable housing for years without verifying or tracking its accessibility. Disabled residents paid the price—and after a recent settlement, the city will have to as well. Shelterforce's Re'Dreyona Walker reports.

Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2026/08/06/courts-to-city-housing-depts-pay-for-accessibility-up-front-or-pay-more-later/

Music by ℗ ComaStudio


Courts to City Housing Departments: Pay for Accessibility Up Front—Or Pay More Later

According to the complaint, Runa (a pseudonym), who was 16 at the time, was arrested in June last year on suspicion of assaulting a user at a disability welfare facility in Hyogo Prefecture. She was held in custody for 18 days. Runa was released and subsequently not prosecuted. However, her family says that she developed PTSD and an eating disorder due to the stress caused by the interrogation, during which investigators allegedly pressured her to confess, saying things such as, “Do you want to go to a juvenile detention center?” About five months later, she died in a state of severe malnutrition.

Episode notes:

‘Complaint Filed Over Death of 16-Year-Old Girl Following Arrest, Interrogation’:

https://barrierfreejapan.com/2026/08/15/complaint-filed-over-death-of-16-year-old-girl-following-arrest-interrogation/




Complaint Filed Over Death of 16-Year-Old Hyogo Girl Following Arrest, Interrogation

Regarding the wooden reconstruction of the Nagoya Castle keep, Nagoya City is aiming to install a vertical lifting device, while disability organizations are calling for the installation of a large elevator. The two sides remain at odds, but Nagoya City says it hopes to present an overall plan for accessibility, including the lifting equipment, by February 2027.

Episode notes:

‘Individual interviews with organizations representing people with disabilities regarding Nagoya Castle reconstruction begin’:

https://barrierfreejapan.com/2026/08/18/individual-interviews-with-organizations-representing-people-with-disabilities-regarding-nagoya-castle-reconstruction-begin/



Nagoya Castle Accessibility Debacle Continues

Anything Goes crew Xanthia-Grace and Lima take on the Sydney Disability Expo.

Featuring interviews with exhibitors from Gig Buddies, Para Dance Sport NSW and assistant dogs provider Pat Dogs Australia.

Tune into Anything Goes radio show Monday and Tuesday 2pm-4pm on Radio Skid Row 88.9fm.

Produced by Ellie Violet

Sydney Disability Expo 2026

Shelterforce is nonprofit news publication that covers affordable housing in the U.S., as well as community planning, racial equity, community development, and more. Here you can listen to authors read their latest Shelterforce articles, as well as our interviews with folks on the ground. For more, go to shelterforce.org.

To support our nonprofit newsroom, make a tax-deductible donation at https://shelterforce.org/donate.

Visit our website to learn about reduced vision Bioptic driving in Australia: https://www.biopticdriversaus.com

The only way to heal is through Music.
Be Basic. Be yourself.
Contact: collab@animusfound.com
MGMT: artists@meyermedia.eu

Hosted by Michael Gillan Peckitt, who resides in Kobe, Japan, the Disability News Japan Podcast is News website 'Barrier Free Japan's podcast, a weekly digest of some of the news about disability in Japan in audio form. New episodes will usually be available every Friday at 6am Japan Time.

Radio Skid Row is a grassroots community radio station based in Marrickville, broadcasting to the Inner City Sydney. This includes the municipalities of Leichhardt, Marrickville and the City of Sydney.
Radio Skid Row plays some of the best hip hop and reggae you will hear on air Sydney. we also broadcast in 15 languages!

Our SoundCloud page invites you to listen to programs, interviews and segments.

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