Families of disabled children go without food as credit crunch takes its toll

Northern Ireland families with disabled children have become the latest victims of the credit crunch, with many forced to live without basic food and heating.

The worrying news comes after an investigation undertaken by local charity, Contact a Family, found that the soaring cost of life’s essentials has all but pushed some vulnerable households over the edge.

Chief among the findings of the study, entitled Counting the Costs, was that one in six disabled children lives in a household struggling to afford food and heating.

The survey also revealed that almost half of families have borrowed money from friends and family, with one in five using the cash to pay their heating bill. And, perhaps even more unsettling, the statistics showed that one in 14 children with a disability or medical condition is living under threat of losing their home.

Contact a Family surveyed almost 800 parent carers in the UK about their financial situation in the current economic crisis in order to determine the impact it is having on survival.

Frances Murphy, director of Contact a Family Northern Ireland, said the study has highlighted some unpleasant truths about the the effects of the current economic downturn.

“Our survey findings paint a shocking picture of what these often vulnerable families are experiencing,” he said.

Paula McManus from Dunmurry, mum to Gary who has cerebral palsy and Rachel who has a heart condition, said the spiralling cost of commodities is proving difficult to accommodate.

“My children are often sick in the night because of their conditions, so we have the washing machine on three or four times a day,” she said.

“Gary can’t walk or move around much so doesn’t generate his own heat which means we have the heating on up to 12 hours a day. I’ve noticed a big jump in gas and electricity bills which is difficult to afford.”

As the housing market slumps 18% of families with a disabled child said they are struggling with mortgage and rent payments and have been in arrears in the last 12 months.

To make ends meet a quarter of families have approached charities for financial help and one in four has taken out a loan.

Families concerned about their finances should telephone the Contact a Family national freephone helpline 0808 808 3555.

-Belfast Telegraph, United Kingdom

Support Grows for Disabled Job Seekers

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Lucy Shi, a job seeker who has a genetic condition that causes short stature, says she's happy to be singled out as a disability candidate as she hunts for a position in New York.

A graduate of New York University, Ms. Shi, 25, recently interviewed with several Wall Street firms at a recruiting event geared toward people with disabilities who aim to develop professional business careers. "It's hard to have a disability that's so visible, and it's just nice to be able to talk to recruiters without competing with the rest of the world," says Ms. Shi, who believes many interviewers view her as a child because of her height.

There are 22 million working-age Americans with disabilities who have come of age under the Americans With Disabilities Act -- passed 16 years ago this month -- which helps to prevent job discrimination against qualified disabled individuals. But only 38% of the nation's working-age disabled have a job, compared with 78% of able-bodied people.

Over the past few years, companies have begun taking bigger steps to bring more of the disabled into the professional work force. The latest effort is partly due to the efforts of Rich Donovan, a former Merrill Lynch trader who has cerebral palsy, a disability that limits his speech and movement.

Mr. Donovan recalls the resistance he met from many recruiters who weren't sure he was nimble enough to perform the physical aspects of a busy trader's job. Even his mentors at Columbia University's business school tried to talk him out of it, saying he'd make a "fine risk manager." He was hired at Merrill and quickly hatched a plan to get more disabled people hired at the firm.

Mr. Donovan's idea was based on the premise that corporate America should recruit and give qualified people with disabilities the same sort of opportunities that his firm -- and most big companies -- already had in place for minorities and women.

Merrill agreed to give it a try, and in 2006 Mr. Donovan founded LimeConnect, with the company as its first partner. Today, the organization matches disabled college-level and professional candidates through private recruiting efforts led by its four major partners: Merrill, Goldman Sachs, PepsiCo and Google. Last fall, Lime helped its partners source more than 300 disabled internship candidates from two dozen universities, including Harvard, M.I.T., Princeton and Georgetown. In May, Lime invited 60 candidates for job interviews in New York; at least a dozen have been invited back for further interviews.

It isn't just a goodwill gesture, say Lime's partner companies. "There's a business case for hiring people with disabilities. This is a market we need to, and want to, tap into as much as we can," says Ron Parker, chief diversity and inclusion officer at PepsiCo.

Corporations are casting a wider net for good reasons. With the labor pool shrinking, U.S. employers will face a shortage of 20 million workers by 2020 as baby boomers retire. What's more, one out of every 10 consumers is a person with a disability, representing $200 billion in annual buying power, according to the National Organization on Disability in Washington.

"We want to be an organization that reflects the globally diverse audience that our search engine and tools serve," says Jordan Bookey, Google's global-diversity and inclusion programs manager, who used Lime to find applicants for its new diversity summer internship program.

Building a disability candidate pipeline isn't easy, as many companies still lack a centralized talent pool from which to draw. Still, companies can join corporate partnerships, such as Lime, or become members of one of several nonprofit organizations geared toward linking disabled professionals with corporations.

One group, the National Business & Disability Council, runs a diversity-internship program called Emerging Leaders. The program was founded by consulting company Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. and now has more than 30 corporate members, including AIG, KPMG, Liz Claiborne and Procter & Gamble. It has placed 75 students in summer internships since 2005.

Booz Allen's efforts to hire people with disabilities began at the top: Its chairman and CEO, Ralph Shrader, has a son with disabilities. "Finding a job -- and gaining the significant benefits that come with employment -- is difficult, but when the right opportunity comes together, the rewards for the employee and the company are extraordinary," Dr. Shrader says.

The group also hosts an annual invitation-only Wall Street job fair for candidates seeking jobs at financial-services firms, including Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs. Last fall, Merrill also hosted a Wall Street consortium with business and government leaders to explore strategies for recruiting and retaining people with disabilities.

"We're making an intellectual-capital decision," says Elizabeth Wamai, head of global campus recruiting at Merrill. "To continue to win in this business, we need the creative eclectic approaches that different people bring."

Companies like KPMG say they also work to attract candidates by changing their workplace to include more professionals with disabilities. Creating an employee network for the disabled, establishing disabled-specific mentoring programs, or changing benefits to allow for time off for medical issues can make a difference.

KPMG recently launched a disabilities network, and this year, Eastman Kodak, IBM and Pepsi all landed on DiversityInc's Top 10 Companies for People with Disabilities list in part because they run employee networks geared toward disabilities. PepsiCo's EnAble network gained fame when it sponsored a Super Bowl commercial featuring two deaf employees.

By SUZANNE ROBITAILLE- Wall Street Journal

New EU legislation to give more rights to disabled air passengers

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New EU legislation has been introduced to give disabled travellers more rights. Disabled air passengers will receive more help when using EU airports.

Disabled travellers are to benefit from the new EU legislation that states all passengers with a disability or suffering from reduced mobility must be given suitable help throughout the whole airport process, reports leading charity Leonard Cheshire Disability.

Airports must give disabled passengers assistance from checking in to boarding the plane. This responsibility previously fell to both airlines and airports. To ensure that the holiday continues in the same vein, holidaylettings.co.uk offers wheelchair-adapted holiday homes for holidaymakers set to benefit from the new legislation.

The new EU legislation for disabled passengers has been welcomed by Leonard Cheshire Disability, which has been campaigning for greater rights for disabled passengers through its Now Boarding campaign. Katie Turner from the charity said: "Disabled people are still facing barriers when using air travel, when they should enjoy the same opportunities that most of us take for granted.

"We want to see air travel providers take this new directive seriously and equip their staff with the skills and understanding to support disabled customers."

A recent survey by the charity revealed that 61 per cent of respondents had experienced difficulties when boarding a plane. Disabled passengers will now be able to voice their concerns with the Equality and Human Rights Commission to ensure that the new legislation is properly enforced.

This story was brought to you by holidaylettingsco.uk, the UK's No.1 holiday home website.

Health Tips For Old Age - Get A Long And Healthy Life

Everyone wants to be healthy and vigorous throughout their life. But more so being healthy in old age is just like a boon. Since, old age brings with itself many health problems and if you are not taking complete care of yourself then these diseases becomes hard to cure and manage in old age. Here are given some useful health tips for old age:

Drink enough water:

It cleanses your body machinery and helps your heart in functioning well. Drinking of enough water will keep away chances of kidney stone and urine problem. It will also keep you looking young and active along with natural glow on your face.

Exercise regularly:

Inclusion of regular exercise in your daily life is the best health tips for old age. Exercising will not only help in promoting brain regeneration but also obviate decline in body parts. Practice any form on exercise depending on what you and your body can manage. Talk to you health care provider on what exercise you should undertake in your old age. Seniors can also use yoga which generates flexibility and balance in their body.

Well balanced diet:

Well balanced diet plays a very important part in keeping you healthy in old age. Avoid taking rich food like sweets, high stuffed and fried. As it will leave impact on your lever and may result in damaging it. You should add calcium rich diet as it will strengthen your bones. In old age teeth becomes week and so diet should also be soft cooked so that it intake is easy. Add fruits, vegetables and greens in your daily diet to maintain your health in old age. Proper nutritional food keeps many diseases away and also save you from common problems of aging. Addition of nutrition food can save from problem like obesity, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and osteoporosis as these are generally prevalent nutrition related health problems which occur in old age.

Be happy and engage in recreational activities:

During old age, Factors like social isolation, low income and depression affect health in old age. Loneliness is a common problem in old age and leads to related problems. During this time, it becomes all the more important for seniors to take on some activity which occupy their time. Take part in social activities and indulge in pursuing your hobbies in spare time. Make friends and make use of their company to keep yourself active and happy.

Be happy and visit your doctor regularly:

During old age, seniors should take deep care of their health. This includes a regular visit to a health care professional. You should visit and consult your doctor regularly and try to implement all the suggestions and precautions given by your doctor.

Health in old age is not that hard to have and maintain. All you need is to follow some simple steps which can be easily included in your daily life without much effort. Most likely you are to know them already but now is the time to get started.

Good health is not a struggle, nor it is an extraordinary feat. Healthy living is about understanding what your body needs and what is good for it. Re-discover good health in a simple way with Tania Hackner and make good health a way of living!.For more information and advice on Health tips for old age Please visit us at http://www.whatyouneedtoknow.co.in

Social Security Disability - Not So Easy For Someone With a Mental Illness

My experience with Social Security has been a rough one. In the beginning, my family and I did not want to consider it because we thought it would be easy for me to get a job. However, it was not so easy. The first time I went to their office I had to wait a long time for the clerk to give me an application. The long lines were terrible and so overcrowded.

After I finished with the application, I sent it to Social Security and within weeks received an answer. It stated that although I have difficulty in stressful situations; based on my age and education I could have done a job with simple tasks. What Social Security does not comprehend is that there is a need for accommodations in order to get a job and keep it depending on the severity of a person's mental illness. They do not realize how stressful job interviews are, why disclosure is so difficult, and how hard it is to maintain a job with today's technology.

After the first rejection, I filed another application form for reconsideration. This time Social Security realized that I have Bipolar Disorder, which has given me difficulty concentrating and relating to people, and they still felt that I could work doing simple tasks. How could they say this to me when they know I have a serious mental illness? How can a person work when there are issues and problems that the mentally ill are facing? For instance, stigma, discrimination, etc.

I thought my battle with Social Security was a lost cause until I was advised to see a lawyer. The first thing I had to do was to fill out a request for a hearing, so a judge could decide my case. When I saw the judge, he could see how nervous I was, and at the hearing the judge agreed that I should get my Social Security Disability benefits.

I feel this whole system is ridiculous and unfair to those who suffer from a disability. To go through this struggle every time Social Security reviews your case can damage a person's mental health even more.

If I had a book that would have helped me at that time, I probably would have received it the second time around, if not the first. I probably would not have to get a lawyer either. However, the book was not available at that time.

Today, there is a book on how to help people with Bipolar Disorder or other mental illnesses to win Social Security Disability Benefits. The book is called "Bipolar's Guide to Winning Social Security Disability". Although it is a specifically geared toward people with Bipolar Disorder it can be used for other mental illnesses too. It is an excellent book to get and I wish they had such a book in my time, it would have made things a whole lot easier.

For those of you who have Bipolar Disorder or any other mental illness, I strongly recommend that you buy this book, especially if you are applying for Disability. Do not worry how much this book will cost, it is for your benefit if you have not found a job yet and will help you get some income for yourself and be more productive and independent in your life.

My name is Linda Baron Katz and I have Bipolar Disorder and as you see from my experience with Social Security, it is not an easy process, so buy the book and it will tell you everything you need to know about getting Social Security and the incentives that you need to know once you have your benefits. To visit my blog go to: http://bipolardisorder-march21.blogspot.com/2008/02/getting-social-security-disability.html

The Rules Of Etiquette with Wheelchair Users

As a group, the wheelchair users are always receiving long stares or funny type looks. Usually those unfamiliar with wheelchairs will begin to act weird or funny when around those who use wheelchairs.

To avoid such occurrences from happening people should generally learn the particular rules for etiquette when they interact with those people confined in a wheelchair. To locate this information you merely have to perform an internet search to discover everything you may want to know concerning the subject.

The initial rule concerning etiquette when you're interacting with these people in a wheelchair or a power chair is to keep in mind not to focus upon their disability. Focus instead on the person themselves. An additional rule concerning etiquette is during the process of shaking their hands. In the event the wheelchair person has limited use of his limbs, this simple gesture will create a leisure tone for the social interaction which will provide a feeling of ease.

An important rule to consider is that you should never rock the wheelchair nor lean on it. An electric or manual chair may appear as an inanimate object only but the truth of the matter is their chair is just as much a part of them as your arm or your leg is to you.

Remember to speak to the wheelchair user as you would anyone else. They are no different then any other person. Other rules may apply and these include permitting children to ask a question concerning people in a wheelchair. Since curiosity is a normal occurrence in children this open communications will assist in avoiding fear and getting the wrong attitude.

It's not difficult to hold a conversation with someone who is confined in a wheelchair. Often those people who aren't confined in a wheelchair have questions or issues concerning the interaction with someone in the wheelchair. There are certain rules of etiquette which do exist. Simply by completing a search of the internet one can discover all that is needed to know concerning how to interact with anyone who may be using a motorized or manual wheelchair. As in other interactions in life etiquette represents a great skill when interacting with handicapped people.

Copyright @2008 Joseph Parish

For more information relating to survival visit us at http://www.wordwriter.info

Blind, Disabled Author Wins Eighth Book Award

Shirley Cheng, a blind and physically disabled 25-year-old author, has been named a finalist in the 2008 Next Generation Indie Book Awards in the Motivational category for her new book, "Embrace Ultra-Ability! Wisdom, Insight & Motivation from the Blind Who Sees Far and Wide."

"After winning eight awards, what else is there to say? How could I possibly describe how I feel write now? But don't be surprised if you see me dancing on a cloud," says Cheng.

Shirley Cheng (b. 1983), a blind and physically disabled award-winning author, motivational speaker, self-empowerment expert, poet, author of seven books, contributing author of ten books, and a parental rights advocate, has had severe juvenile rheumatoid arthritis since infancy. Owing to years of hospitalization, she received no education until age eleven. However, after only about 180 days of special education in elementary school, she mastered grade level in all areas and entered a regular sixth grade class in middle school. Unfortunately, Shirley lost her eyesight at the age of seventeen. After a successful eye surgery, she hopes to earn multiple science doctorates from Harvard University. http://www.shirleycheng.com


Shirley Cheng is the author of Waking Spirit: Prose & Poems the Spirit Sings (with foreword by New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Brian), a heartfelt collection that explores a world of dancing hearts, singing spirits, with infinite love from life (ISBN: 9780615136806 paperback; 9780615138930 hardback); Daring Quests of Mystics, a soothing read to relax the mind, body, and spirit (ISBN: 9781411656642); an empowering 700-page autobiography, The Revelation of a Star's Endless Shine: A Young Woman's Autobiography of a 20-Year Tale of Trials and Tribulations (ISBN: 9781411618602); and Dance with Your Heart: Tales and Poems That the Heart Tells, an anthology of inspirational and fantasy short stories (fairy tales, fables, and myths) and poems for the heart from the heart (ISBN: 9781411618589).


Waking Spirit is an award-winning finalist in the national Indie Excellence 2007 Book Awards in the new age nonfiction category, Honorable Mention in the 2007 New York Book Festival in the poetry category, as well as Honorable Mention in the 2007 DIY Book Festival in the poetry category.


With highly acclaimed experts like Dr. Wayne Dyer, Tony Robbins, and Brian Tracy, Shirley co-authored Wake Up...Live the Life You Love: Finding Life's Passion, the latest installment in the bestselling Wake Up...Live the Life You Love series; she is also the co-author of 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2, along with leading experts Jack Canfield, John Gray, Richard Carlson, Alan Cohen, Bob Proctor, et al.


Shirley is also an advocate of parental rights in children's medical care, and aide/caregiver monitoring and screening for students with special needs and disabled people. As a parental rights advocate, she wants to help today's loving parents protect and keep custody of their children. "When doctors ask yes or no, parents should have the right to say no," says Shirley, who is the survivor of the 1990 five-month internationally broadcast news of mother Juliet Cheng's custody battle with a doctor. Juliet was on CBS This Morning with Paula Zahn.


Shirley promotes aide advocacy for the disabled because she was mistreated and abused by one-to-one aides when she attended school. "The trouble with the uncaring aides actually lies with the authorities," she says. "If they listened to my complaints and kept a close watch on the aides, I wouldn't have gone through all the suffering."


She had been published twice before her writing career. One of her short stories, Mary Miller, the Elusive Lady, received Honorable Mention and was published by the Poughkeepsie Journal in 1997, and a poem, The Colors of the Rainbow, earned merit status and was published in Celebrate! New York Young Poets Speak Out in 1999.


In 2006, Shirley tied for 1st place in the national writing contest for Be the Star You Are! founded by New York Times bestselling author, TV/radio personality Cynthia Brian, garnering her a third appearance on Cynthia's live radio show. Shirley's winning entry, titled The Jewel from Heavenly Father, is dedicated to her beloved mother Juliet Cheng. In 2007, Shirley received Honorable Mention in the same contest for her essay, I Hold the Power, her personal story of overcoming blindness at the age of seventeen.

Source:
American Chronicle, CA

Disabled residents have support

KINGMAN - Because of Bullhead City's and much of the area's short history, the public buildings in the Tri-state are generally accessible for the disabled.

With more than 10,000 people in the area with some kind of disability, the Tri-state offers disabled residents transportation, support groups, entertainment and financial assistance, making their lives a little easier.

Eric Beiningen has worked as a defense attorney with the legal defender's office for most of the eight years he has lived in Mohave County. Born with spina bifida, a birth defect of the spine, he has been confined to a wheelchair his entire life.

A resident of Bullhead City, he drives himself to the legal defender's office every day in Kingman, wheeling himself back and forth to court across the street from his office. He said he has not joined any support groups in the area.

Because Bullhead City and Laughlin are relatively new cities, the buildings are more likely to be designed for wheelchair access. Growing up in South Dakota, he said some of the buildings back east, such as at Northern State University where he went to college, did not have elevators, making it tough, if not impossible, to access higher floors, Beiningen said.

The terrain in Bullhead City and along the Colorado River is also relatively flat, making it easier to get around. Some sidewalks and curbs have cuts, allowing people in wheelchairs to get around. One drawback he has found at some of the Laughlin casinos is the plush carpet that makes it harder to wheel his chair through the gaming rooms.

Orlando and Etta Hartford's 11-year-old daughter, Cynthia, suffers from congenital cytomeglo-virus. While on his dangerous duty as a firefighter and paramedic with the Bullhead City Fire Department, Orlando may have been exposed to a virus, which led to his daughter's condition during her conception.

Etta said pushing her daughter's wheelchair into stores or utility companies is hampered by a lack of automatic doors or wheelchair ramps onto the sidewalk. She also said many restaurant bathrooms are lacking in wheelchair accessibility. She also asks people who are not disabled not to use a bathroom stall designed for those in wheelchairs.

Etta has organized a group called Bullhead Area Parent Partnership, which helps parents of special needs children make their lives more positive.

The group has worked with the Bullhead City Parks and Recreation Department to modify playground equipment to make it more accessible to children in wheelchairs. The group's other goal is to add a voice for parents of children with special needs in the state Legislature.

Orlando said having a daughter with special needs allows him to be more familiar with other families who may have a relative with special needs whom he meets in his job as a paramedic/firefighter.

Vernon Gerhardt, 88, is the vice president of the Vision Impaired Person's support group that meets once a month in Bullhead City. Gerhardt, like about 60 percent of the 40-60 people who attend the meetings, suffers from macular degeneration. One goal of the group is to supply magnifying readers to people with limited vision. The readers magnify the print of magazines, books or newspapers about 60 times, allowing people who are visually impaired to read.

Gerhardt usually has someone take him when he goes out. His wish is to find more transportation for the visually impaired to go to their doctors, shopping or to restaurants.

The Vision Impaired Person's support group meets at 1 p.m. the fourth Thursday of each month at the senior center, located at 2275 Trane Road. The VIP support group tries to loan members the read/write units that allow members to read text up close. The group's dues are $1 a year and members must attend the monthly meeting at least five times per year. For more information about the group, call 928-565-2275.

A meat cutter for Smith's Food and Drug Center and other stores for 28 years, retiree Don Brink, 71, also attends meetings of the Vision Impaired Person's support group. Legally blind because of diabetes, Brink also lost his leg from just below the knee to the disease. However, he is able to walk with a prosthetic leg.

Living in a senior apartment complex in Bullhead City, Brink's children or a caretaker takes him to the store or on other errands. He also takes Bullhead Area Transit Service or the county senior bus service, but one has to notify BATS a day in advance and sometimes a week in advance for the senior bus service if they have a disability.

Brink enjoys going to the blackjack tables or the slot machines in Laughlin. Only able to read his own cards up close, the blackjack dealer will tell him or other vision impaired gamblers what the dealer's showing cards are, he said.

Bullhead City resident Lee Bias suffers from multiple sclerosis, which she has had for about 30 years. She has been in a wheelchair for the last four years. Before that, she worked as a waitress and raised her children. She now takes an expensive shot that stabilizes her disease, which has no cure. However, if the shots she now takes were affordable years ago, she would now be better off physically. Shots such as Avonex that cost as much as $1,500 a month are too expensive for most people.

Because her street does not have a sidewalk, Bias cannot take her wheelchair around her neighborhood. She also avoids the street because of the traffic. Most of the Laughlin casinos, shopping centers and government buildings in and around Bullhead City are handicapped accessible for wheelchairs, but many restaurant restrooms throughout the area are not, she added.

Bias, 56, who moved to Bullhead City more than 10 years ago, praises the MS support group in Bullhead City but does not go to the meetings herself. She does not go anywhere without her husband pushing her regular chair. Her motorized wheelchair is too heavy to tote around by herself, she said.

For more information about the MS support group, call 928-758-3561.

Source:
Mohave Valley News, NV

Disabled group sues airport

Roseville man sues airline, seeks improvements for travelers

By Jameson Cook
Macomb Daily Staff Writer

A Roseville man is a plaintiff in a lawsuit against a major airline and the authority that operates Detroit Metropolitan Airport that his lawyer says could have nationwide ramifications.

Martin Drouillard, 61, is one of five disabled people who in April sued Northwest Airlines Inc. and the Wayne County Airport Authority in federal court in Detroit, claiming both entities have violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and other laws requiring them to provide adequate accommodations for those with disabilities.

"When you talk about civil rights, that includes talking about rights for people with disabilities, the right to travel and go places," said attorney Richard Bernstein. "This case will affect airports across the country. A systematic and epidemic problem exists in the airline industry. ... It'll only get better when they are forced to (make changes)."

He said potential precedents set in this case could help able-bodied air travelers in areas such as safety, cancellations and lost luggage.

The plaintiffs seek improvements in procedures and accommodations for the disabled.

Among the many complaints in the lawsuit are lack of boarding assistance, special seating, stowage for wheelchairs, accessible bathrooms, transportation to and from parking areas, litter areas for service animals such as seeing-eye dogs, and "ticket kiosks and in-flight entertainment devices" for the blind.

In addition, NWA charges the disabled higher, make service counters too tall, damage wheelchairs and other equipment, and force disabled people to wait in line for long periods.

"Defendants treat them as second-class citizens, and unjustly disregard their basic rights to equality and dignity, and cause embarrassment, humiliation, harassment and emotional distress," the lawsuit says.

Man dropped

Drouillard, a wheelchair user, said in an interview with The Macomb Daily he was dropped from a special chair inside the airplane last October because an employee failed to strap him in, and was denied a special seat in 2005 even though he was told one would be made available and a woman indicated she would give up the special seat.

Drouillard said the airline is "inconsistent" in providing special accommodations for the disabled, as it is required to do.

Bernstein noted the plaintiffs are not seeking monetary damages, only that the airline and authority comply with special accommodations they must provide by law at the Romulus airport to those with disabilities. He accused Northwest of violating a 2002 settlement between Northwest and the U.S. Dept. of Transportation over air travelers with disabilities. NWA paid a $700,000 civil penalty and agreed to conform to ACAA and DOT regulations.

Northwest officials could not be reached for comment Friday, but have filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

NWA responds

NWA contends in the legal brief the plaintiffs should not even be able to sue the airline. NWA argues that many of the allegations don't apply to NWA; the court does not have jurisdiction over the Air Carrier Access Act, under which some claims are made; and the ADA and Rehabilitation Act, under which allegations are made, do not apply to "airline carriers."

"Plaintiffs make several claims that are contrary to actual facts," says the legal brief penned by attorney Tiffany Buckley. "Plaintiffs made allegations against NWA that actually relate to other entities, such as the Transportation Security Administration and the Wayne County Airport Authority."

NWA says private parties cannot sue to enforce the regulations; that falls with governmental agencies.

Bernstein said two years ago he met with authority officials about improving access for the disabled, but upgrades have not occurred.

Airport takes matter 'seriously'

Michael Conway, director of public affairs for the authority, confirmed the two sides talked but could provide little comment.

"Providing service to our customers with special needs is something the airport authority takes very seriously," Conway said in a written statement. "However, since Mr. Bernstein has filed a legal action in this matter, it would not be prudent for us to comment."

The WCAA filed an answer to the lawsuit, saying many of the accusations are untrue or that the authority cannot admit or deny them.

The plaintiffs must file response legal briefs by May 29 in U.S. District Court. The case has been assigned to Judge George C. Steeh.

Bernstein, who is blind and specializes in advocating for the rights of the disabled, said his office has received many complaints about the airlines. He picked five that represent various problems at the airport and types of disabilities. Many other witnesses could provide tales of discrimination and lack of accommodations, he said.

"People come to us with all kinds of issues, and we realized this is becoming a serious problem," he said. "We have a large number of witnesses who can talk about incidents that are even more horrific than those in the complaint."

He declined to elaborate on the number of potential witnesses.

Accomodations decline

Drouillard, who retired in 2004 as an assistant principal at Roseville High School, has been a wheelchair user since a diving accident in 1983 left him a quadriplegic, although he can move his arms and has some use of his hands. He said he has traveled via air to Las Vegas 26 times, 20 of them on Northwest since he began traveling in 1992. He said accommodations for the disabled at Northwest in the 1990s and early 2000s gradually improved, but have declined in the past three to four years.

"It's the consistency; sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not," he said. "I've had a couple of bad experiences."

Drouillard said last October on a flight departing from Detroit he was not given a "bulkhead" seat -- first row behind business class, which has more leg room -- even though at least one person in one of the seats indicated she was willing to trade.

"The people there didn't know what 'reasonable accommodations' means," Drouillard said.

He said he requested the seat when he first purchased it in July. He was first told one was not available then told to arrive early, and employees would find another passenger to trade with him. But that never occurred. About two-thirds of the way through the flight, a woman in one of the seats indicated she would give up her seat.

Parking an issue

In 2005, Drouillard fell from a special wheelchair, called an "aisle chair," the airlines use to transport disabled people from the terminal into their seat because an employee failed to strap him in and left him. The incident occurred before he was to be lifted from the aisle chair to his seat on the airplane.

"I ended up on the floor," he said. "At first I thought my ankle was broken because my shoe came off a little bit, and it looked like it was twisted. When I said, 'Oh my God, I think my ankle is broken,' that got some attention."

Drouillard, who weighs more than 200 pounds, said another common problem is Northwest sometimes deploys staffers who are not strong or trained to lift him from the aisle chair into his seat.

"I'm a pretty big guy, not easy to lift," he said. "I don't want to get hurt or someone else to get hurt."

Drouillard, who drives a specially equipped SUV, says in the lawsuit he was denied "accessible parking" due to lack of spaces and/or lack of signage to direct a disabled person to spaces.

He says he also has experienced long waits while waiting to be removed from an airplane.

Drouillard noted that the accommodations decreased about the same time Northwest completed the Edward H. McNamara terminal at Northwest World Gateway. However, Bernstein attributed it to the airlines' lack of attention and resources.

"They have cut staff and don't have the necessary protocol and procedures," Bernstein said.

Drouillard is divorced and has three adult children.

Besides Drouillard, plaintiffs include Deborah Thomas and Emma Daniels, both of Detroit, James Keskeny of Pickney and Jill Babcock of Farmington.

Source:
Macomb Daily, MI

Task force addresses needs of the disabled

Scottdale-area residents concerned about treatment of disabled people met recently.

The group, calling itself the Westmoreland County Disability Task Force, hopes to address the needs of the disabled and work with feedback from those in need of assistance.

Members from several area agencies attended the meeting to gauge the wants and needs of the disabled in the county.

"Today will be a brainstorming meeting in which we can discuss information about the people of Westmoreland County who are living with disabilities," resident Norene Price said at the initial meeting. "We are hoping to get together a good group of concerned people who are willing to go for it and work to get something accomplished."
The first topic of discussion was the major one.

"Transportation -- or lack of -- is our No. 1 concern," Price said.

An informal discussion on the issues of transportation was then held, with the layout of the county itself addressed as the cause for problems in the area.

"Unlike Allegheny County, which is made up a great deal by the city of Pittsburgh itself, Westmoreland County is a big county and it's more rural in general," said Steven E. Chopek of the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency. "It consists of many smaller remote towns that pose problems for public transportation."

Housing was also a topic that was discussed, stressing the lack of good, affordable living quarters for those with disabilities and also for the elderly.

"There is not enough good housing available for people with disabilities," Chopek said. "The public attitude needs to change to a more proactive attitude."

Other topics discussed at the meeting included consumer and community awareness of the Americans With Disabilities Act, veterans with disabilities, the identification of local service organizations, and voting issues and problems for those who suffer from disabilities.

The group also discussed playing host to an awareness and anniversary celebration of the ADA, with the date being set tentatively for sometime in July.

"We want to embrace all people with disabilities and not just those with physical disabilities but those with developmental disabilities as well, and we have lots and lots of work to do," said Victoria Campbell of the Three Rivers Center for Independent Living. "We need to get out there and beat the bushes. We can't get everything solved in one day. None of us can work without the other and we all need to join forces to move ahead with this."

The group is offering an open invitation to all area service groups and organization. The group's next meeting will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Music n' More on Broadway in Scottdale.

Source:
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, PA

Special benefits for Malaysian Disabled

If you are disabled or your families/children, you can register with The Welfare Department of Malaysia to get assistance as follows:

Benefits

• Free medical treatment in public hospitals.
• Fare concession from MAS, KTM & Transnasional.
  
• Free passport.
  
• Special education in special schools and integrated classes.
  
• Financial Aids and Artificial Equipments.
  
• Disabled Workers’ Incentive Allowance .
  
• Rehabilitation & institutional services, and vocational training provided by JKM / NGOs.
  
• Job opportunities in public or private sectors.
  
• Income tax deduction.
  
• Free road tax.
  
• 50% sales tax exemption for purchase of national cars & motorcycles.
  
• Free monthly phone rental from Telekom Malaysia.

Please bring along:
For Registration with Social welfare Department

• 1 photocopy of child’s Birth Certificate.
• 1 photocopy of child’s NRIC (if above 18 years old).
• 3 NRIC-sized photographs of child.
• Diagnostic letter from doctor (optional).

For Registration with State Special Education Department

• 1 photocopy of child’s Birth Certificate.
• 2 passport-sized photographs of child.
• Diagnostic letter from doctor (optional).

Smart Casual / Baju Melayu / Baju Kurung.

For more information, please contact:
Miss Lee: 04 - 6585396 (Asia Community Service)

Or visit to the website www.jkm.gov.my

Companion Card to help the disabled

Companions of severe or profoundly disabled NSW residents will receive free public transport and entry to some government facilities as part of a new initiative.

The Companion Card will be available later this year and is aimed at assisting people who need a carer to better participate in the community.

"The Companion Card recognises that a carer is indispensable to a person with a profound or severe disability and gives them equal access to services and facilities like everyone else," Minister for Ageing and Disability Services Kristina Keneally said.

"The card will be free, it won't be means tested, and we estimate it will make it easier for about 25,000 people in NSW to better access the community, every day services and events.

"In addition to public buses and trains, we believe there will be strong support for the card from the private sector, particularly entertainment and sporting businesses."

All public transport, including ferries, plus entry to national parks and Sydney's Taronga Zoo will be covered by the Companion Card, Ms Keneally told reporters in Sydney.

With a Companion Card, a disabled person and their carer need only buy one public transport ticket and pay a single entry fee to entitle both to travel or access.

"This acknowledges carers and brings great recognition," carer Tania Hayes said.

Mrs Hayes cares for her severely disabled husband Warren, who suffered a brain injury following a tumour 11 years ago.

Welcoming the Companion Card, Ms Hayes said the "minimal" carer's pension did not allow for many luxuries like a trip to the zoo.

The government expects to issue about 25,000 Companion Cards at an annual cost of $2 million a year, Ms Keneally said.

The NSW opposition welcomed the introduction of the Companion Card but criticised the government for not making the move earlier, saying the idea was first slated by the coalition in 2006.

"I welcome Kristina Keneally adopting sound NSW Liberal/Nationals policy. It's just a shame the Iemma government didn't do it when it was first announced back in 2006," opposition disability services spokesman Andrew Constance said in a statement.

"Instead of welcoming sensible NSW Liberal/Nationals policy when it is announced, the Iemma government resorts to political point-scoring before adopting the same policy when the minister has run out of ideas.

"If the Iemma government had been sensible enough to adopt this policy when it was first announced by the NSW Liberal/Nationals in 2006, then carers would already be enjoying the benefits."

Mr Constance said the government should have acknowledged the coalition's input.

Perfecting the application process for the Companion Card took time and Ms Keneally said the government wanted to make sure it "got it right".

Sydney Morning Herald, Australia

Court denies bid to sterilize mentally disabled woman

Disability rights advocates and medical ethicists praised a precedent-setting ruling Friday by the Illinois Appellate Court denying a bid to sterilize a mentally disabled woman against her will.

The woman, identified only as K.E.J. in court records, isn't capable of raising a child on her own, but her guardian did not prove that sterilization would be in her best interests, a three-judge panel in Chicago ruled unanimously.
"Tubal ligation is a particularly drastic means of preventing a mentally incompetent ward from becoming pregnant," Judge Joseph Gordon wrote in the 36-page opinion. There are "less intrusive and less psychologically harmful [birth-control] alternatives."

The ruling was the first appellate opinion on the issue in Illinois.

"It's extraordinarily significant" because it guarantees the disabled a court hearing, said Katie Watson, a Northwestern University professor who wrote a friend-of-the-court brief in the case on behalf of about two dozen medical ethicists.

"In the past, this was a decision that could be made between a guardian and a doctor," she said. "The decision must be moved into the light."

The ruling means a guardian must go through some "significant legal hoops" before a court will order sterilization, said the woman's attorney, John Whitcomb of Equip for Equality, a disability-rights group.

K.E.J., 29, suffered a brain injury as a child when she was struck by a car. As a result, she cannot be left alone to operate a stove or perform most household chores.

The woman lives with her aunt, who was appointed as her guardian in the mid-1990s. In 2003, the aunt filed a "petition for tubal ligation" in Cook County Probate Court, arguing that her niece had a bad medical reaction to other birth-control methods.

mjhiggins@tribune.com

Chicago Tribune, United States

Row over plan to reduce care for disabled

COUNCIL chiefs in Midlothian want to cut care for some disabled children in a bid to plug a £600,000 budget shortfall.

However, the controversial plans have been attacked by opposition councillors, and have been "called in" to be discussed at a meeting next week.

There are 286 disabled children in the county, with 60 of those receiving social care.

The Labour controlled council wants to introduce a "fairer" system, whereby only those with "critical" or "substantial" needs will receive full assistance.

However, opposition councillors claim that up to a quarter of the families currently receiving care may lose out. The plans have been called in by the performance review committee, led by SNP group leader Colin Beattie.

He said: "It's not just numbers we're dealing with, it's people's lives and we have a social responsibility to find out how these lives will be affected."

Colin Anderson, acting director of the social work division, said the new "eligibility criteria" will allow resources to be allocated fairly.

He added: "Failure to confirm eligibility criteria as a permanent policy would jeopardise the council's ability to meet its statutory duties within allocated budgets."

Scotsman, United Kingdom

EEOC issues two guides on employing disabled veterans

After disabled veterans returning from places like Iraq and Afghanistan are treated for their wounds and injuries, the next step for them is to find suitable employment.

Two federal laws contain provisions designed to help injured veterans compete in the workplace: The Americans with Disabilities Act and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. Title I of the ADA is administered by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The USERRA is enforced by the U.S. Department of Labor.

The EEOC recently issued two guides providing assistance for employers and veterans on workplace issues affecting veterans with service-connected disabilities. Both are available at www.eeoc.gov. The guides explain how protections differ under both laws and are presented in a question-and-answer format.

In a press release, EEOC Chairman Naomi Earp stated: “Members of the military who have bravely sacrificed for America should never have to come home and face unlawful employment obstacles because of a service-connected disability.” She also expressed the overall goal that injured veterans deserve to compete on a level playing field, along with everyone else.

EEOC legal counsel Reed L. Russell is also cited in the press release as endorsing the release of these two documents. He said these guides will provide valuable assistance to returning wounded veterans and employers.

The first guide shows how the ADA applies to certain aspects of employing disabled veterans such as recruiting, hiring and accommodating these veterans with service-connected disabilities.

The second document highlights protections for disabled veterans seeking to return to their former jobs or those aiming for their first or new civilian jobs. It explains adjustments possibly needed to perform a job or to attain equal access to the workplace.

Both of these guides contain lists of resources that describe how to obtain more information on the ADA and the USERRA. These lists include public and private organizations that can assist employers seeking to recruit and hire disabled veterans.

Vero Beach Press-Journal

Ohio's Medicaid buy-in program allows disabled to work with benefits

A new state program will help Charissa Warner and a lot of others go back to or get full-time work.

April 1 was the first day to apply for Ohio's Medicaid buy-in program for workers with disabilities, which allows eligible disabled workers to continue receiving Medicaid benefits by paying an income-based premium.

The two biggest barriers that stop disabled people from working is lack of accessible transportation and the fear of losing benefits — especially medical benefits, said John Conelly, executive director of the Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission.

Until now, earning too much meant losing Medicaid benefits or losing a large part of a paycheck.

The commission is the state agency charged with helping Ohioans with disabilities by helping them get jobs through its Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation.

Last year, the commission helped more than 8,700 Ohioans find or keep jobs. In Stark County, the commission served 2,646 people with disabilities and helped 375 get jobs at an average hourly wage of $9.75 per hour, working an average of about 32 hours per week.

For Warner, the Medicaid buy-in means she will be able to go back to full-time work. "We've been waiting for this for years," she said.

The 28-year-old Strasburg woman is a drafting technician, designing roads and bridges for the state Department of Transportation's District 11, headquartered in New Philadelphia.

She's also been a quadriplegic since breaking her neck in a sled-riding accident when she was 11. Inspired by her father's example, she grew up determined to make a living, and the commission helped with her education and with alterations to her van.

She earned an associate's degree in computer-assisted design and a bachelor's degree in computer science at Kent State University Tuscarawas Campus.

Going on her husband's company insurance would put their premiums "through the roof," she said. When she landed a job with the state, she had health coverage, but, "There are a lot of things that insurance doesn't cover. That's why we can't afford to lose our Medicaid," she said.

"A lot of us (disabled people) are uninsurable because of pre-existing conditions," she said

"Most of the people we're working with have more than one disability," Conelly said. "It's usually a combination of physical and psychological."

Warner was working full time, but dropped to part-time because of a "patient-liability" rule that required payment of all money made in excess of the income cap. "It really discouraged a lot of people from getting a job," Warner said.

She's waiting for a state hiring freeze to end so she can go back to full-time work.

Conelly said many disabled people were unwilling to take the risk of losing Medicaid because a catastrophic health problem would wipe out all their assets. The new rules also upped the amount of savings a disable person can have: from a cap of $1,500 to $10,000.

The buy-in allows workers with disabilities earning up to 250 percent of the federal poverty level, after deductions, to pay a monthly premium to continue Medicaid coverage, said commission spokeswoman Eileen Corson.

That percentage amounts to $26,000, but the first $20,000 doesn't count, so people are eligible for the buy-in even if they earn up to $46,000, or more with deductions, she said.

"Medicaid buy-In breaks down the barrier to adequate health coverage and frees Ohio's workers with disabilities to enter the work force or secure higher-paying jobs, strengthening the state's economy," Conelly said

Reach Repository Business Editor Pat Kelley at (330) 580-8323 or e-mail:

pat.kelley@cantonrep.com

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Ohioans between the ages of 16 and 64 with a disability defined by the Social Security Administration can pay an income-based premium for Medicaid coverage.

Buy-in applications are available at: jfs.ohio.gov/ohp/consumers/Application.stm or by calling the Medicaid consumer hotline at (800) 324-8680 or TTY at (800) 292-3572. Applications may be returned by mail, fax or taking completed forms to the Stark County Department of Job and Family Services.

People with disabilities who would like to get jobs, pursue career advancement or return to work can contact the Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission at www.rsc.ohio.state.oh.us or (800) 282-4536 for both voice and TTY.

The Canton Repository

Marshall grad introduces advocate group for the disabled

Cerebral palsy has confined Chris Worth to a motorized wheelchair. But it hasn't held back his ambition.

Worth, who earned both his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Marshall University's Fine Arts program, is the founder and lead director of Enable Project, Inc. Worth and his team introduced the program to the public Saturday night at The Great Give Gala, a fundraiser that featured music by 2005 Grammy nominated artist Al Pettaway and his wife, Amy White, local folk band The Shadow Puppets, a silent auction and a movie.

The program, which is designed to enhance the relationship between disabled clients and the agencies that help them as well as businesses, is a step in the right direction for the advocacy of people living with physical and mental disabilities, Worth said.

"I was trained out of thinking that I was handicapped," Worth said of the a West Virginia family who adopted him at the age of 11 without him being able to read or write. "I'm wanting to bring that spirit of freedom into this world that my parents gave to me."

He said the world doesn't treat the disabled the way his parents do, and he learned very quickly when he went off to college that life was going to be difficult if he didn't find a balance.

"Even though I was raised like that, I still had to deal with not being able to get on a bus," Worth said. "I had to find a balance between dealing with being physically challenged and accomplishing my goals."

He and his brother and co-director Wayne Worth hope Enable Project, Inc., will break down social, economic and political barriers that hinder the potential of a person with a disability.

They have developed a list of providers that will become a database for clients, and they hope to form a network driven by the disabled population itself, Wayne Worth said.

"Our goal is not to shut anyone down, but to work with businesses and other agencies," Wayne Worth said. "To have a collaboration and integration of the physically and mentally handicapped."

Patrick Stubblefield, a 20-year-old with cerebral palsy, said Enable Project, Inc. is going to bring about changes, and he wants to be a part of it.

"What Chris is doing is tremendous," Stubblefield said. "It's really going to open up everyone's eyes and get us the services we've been needing for a long time."

The biggest challenge for Enable Project Inc. is setting goals and defining progress. But Chris Worth said if he's learned one thing through his disability, it's to take things one day at a time.

"I'm a guy who bases a lot on small victories," Chris Worth said.

As far as he's concerned, Saturday's gala was the first of many victories he is sure will come.

Huntington Herald Dispatch

Program gives disabled kids a place to play

The mission a decade ago was simple: Build "one beautiful playground" for kids with disabilities so they too could soar on swings, frolic in sandboxes and traverse bridges.

For the folks at Shane's Inspiration -- a nonprofit started in 1997 to honor Shane Alexander, who only lived two weeks after being born paralyzed -- that mission seemed strong enough to get the roughly 180,000 kids with disabilities in Southern California to come out and play.

But the children didn't come.

"There were a lot of haunting questions over the last 10 years," said Tiffany Harris, program co-founder, along with Shane's parents, Catherine Curry-Williams and Scott Williams. "Where are the children? Why aren't they coming? And how do we remove the bias? We didn't want this to be a hollow mission."

Today, the program has turned a corner with 16 universally accessible playgrounds in Southern California and more on the way, supported in part by the state's Proposition 40.

There also is an educational program in 40 schools aimed at combating bias against children with disabilities, and monthly play dates have brought out thousands of kids.

And now, waiting around the bend, are 80 playgrounds planned throughout the country and as far away as India.

The group's first big break came when then-Councilman Mike Feuer helped secure 2 acres at Griffith Park for Shane's Inspiration, which was completed in September 2000.

And the City Council passed an initiative guaranteeing that similar playgrounds would be built across Los Angeles.

Funds for the project came in 2002, when current City Councilman Tony Cardenas, then-chairman of the budget committee for the state Assembly, backed a bill earmarking $9.5 million of voter-approved Proposition 40 bond money for universally accessible playgrounds in Los Angeles.

"I started to realize that, fundamentally, we needed to do more, so I went ahead and championed it," Cardenas said of Assembly Bill 716, which ensured that at least one universal playground would be built in each of the city's 15 council districts.

Within the next two weeks, more children will have the opportunity to play as more universally accessible parks open in South Los Angeles and the Fairfax District.

In the San Fernando Valley, one is slated for the county's El Cariso Community Regional Park in Sylmar later this year.

"I think you're seeing a spark from Los Angeles that's going to ignite the nation and the world," said Jon Kirk Mukri, general manager of the city Recreation and Parks Department, which has partnered with such organizations as Shane's Inspiration to build more playgrounds for disabled kids.

"It's a lab, a learning lab -- a real learning lab where kids can get together and see, except for wheelchairs and leg braces, there's not much difference between kids' laughter," he said.

And the playgrounds also allow disabled adults the opportunity to play with their children and grandchildren.

"We want to have a fully accessible playground for all the families," Mukri said. "Can you imagine the men and women coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan with disabilities?"

Gale Williams remembers sitting on the sidelines while his kids jumped around on playground equipment.

The retired computer systems designer and father of four broke his neck in a car crash when he was 18, suffering full paralysis in his legs and partial paralysis in his arms.

"As a father, I didn't have any accessible playgrounds," he said. "I might go someplace with them and watch them play."

A longtime advocate on behalf of those with disabilities, the 69-year-old Williams said being able to participate in something as seemingly small as a playground can have a profound effect on children with disabilities.

"What it does is it expands their imagination, where they know they can do something," Williams said. "Play for a child with a disability helps them get into the mode of 'Maybe I can do more. Maybe I can't be a concert pianist, but I can do other things."'

The latest Americans with Disabilities Act playground standard states that if a playground has elevated ramps or platforms, 50 percent of the activities on those ramps and platforms have to be reachable by children with disabilities, said Virginia Hatley, director of design for Shane's Inspiration.

The ADA accepts the use of "transfer stations," or rises, in which children in wheelchairs have to pull themselves out of their chair in order to access ramps and platforms.

"They consider them a legitimate form of accessibility," Hatley said. "We don't consider that accessible; we consider that humiliating."

While Shane's Inspiration credits the ADA for paving the road for organizations such as theirs, the ADA's compliance board standards for playgrounds are limited because they must consider factors including costs.

Hatley said the price of universally accessible playgrounds generally runs about 20 percent higher than a standard playground -- anywhere from $65,000 to $1 million.

But despite the added cost, Shane's Inspiration, the National Center for Boundless Playgrounds and other groups are aiming for 100 percent fully accessible playgrounds for all kids.

"A child shouldn't have to drive from Chula Vista to Los Angeles to play," Harris said.

Cole Massie of Atwater Village only has to travel a few blocks to enjoy the Shane's Inspiration playground at Griffith Park.

An engaging 10-year-old boy with boundless energy, Cole said he's Shane's Inspiration's "junior chair" of the safety committee -- a job he takes very seriously, as he pushes and pulls on playground bars and jungle gym steering wheels.

"My job as the chair of the junior safety committee is to make sure all the kids are safe," he said while lying on his stomach on the low deck of a playground apparatus, tapping a pole to check its sturdiness.

Born with cerebral palsy, Cole said the playground has allowed him to play on equal footing with other kids, which is great news to his mother, Michelle Massie.

Still, as Cole played on a recent weekday -- struggling to pull his body up and down steps and dragging himself across bridges -- his mother said she usually doesn't bring him to the playground unless it's for one of the monthly get-togethers organized by Shane's Inspiration.

"Unfortunately, when you go on weekends, it's very crowded and there are no special-needs kids," Massie said. "Generally speaking, it's just crazy."

Harris said the monthly "play dates" -- with able-bodied and disabled children -- were added as the group's mission has changed from building playgrounds to using them as an educational tool to end bias against children with disabilities.

An education program, "Together We Are Able," also includes tutorials with able-bodied elementary school students encouraged to give their honest -- and often negative -- opinions about kids with disabilities.

The children are then taken on a field trip where they're paired up to play with special-needs kids, which is followed by another classroom session.

"We don't make it easy," Harris said. "There's this great trepidation as these two buses pull up. ... Two and half hours later, they've eaten lunch together and they've played and they don't want to leave."

At Griffith Park, one boy asked Cole why he couldn't walk. Cole politely answered: "I was born this way."

Question answered. Back to his safety committee duties.

Cole gave his reasons why he loves coming to Shane's Inspiration.

"It's like really fun for the kids," he said. "Because here, it's allllllll about the kids."

rick.cocadailynews.com

818-546-3304

Los Angeles Daily News

Wheel-a-thon event raises awareness for the disabled

Catherine McDonald and her son Jeremy, 14, left, make their around the track Saturday (April 19, 2008) during the third annual Wheel-a-thon sponsored by the Life Center for Independent Living at the Shirk Center in Bloomington. Bloomington. (Pantagraph/CARLOS T. MIRANDA)

Wheels were spinning Saturday to raise money for programs to serve people with disabilities in four central Illinois counties.

The Wheel-a-thon sponsored by the Life Center for Independent Living included a marathon of wheelchairs speeding around the indoor track at Illinois Wesleyan University’s Shirk Center.

In addition to the opportunity for some serious exercise, the fundraiser provided a forum for information and awareness about programs that provide support for disabled people who want to live independent lives.

LIFE CIL provides direct services to about 1,800 individuals a year in McLean, DeWitt, Ford and Livingston counties.

Event coordinator Marianne Cavanaugh-Wozniak said money raised at the Wheel-a-thon will help cover the cost of services not covered by grants, such as a program to loan equipment to disabled individuals. The group had a goal of raising $25,000 from Saturday’s event.

Tim Harshbarger, a member of the LIFE CIL board, considers wheelchairs a powerful symbol for all forms of disability. The chairs that offer people the ability to move may be viewed as a symbol of hardship, said Harshbarger, who is blind.

“People tend to focus on what a person can’t do. When you see people using a scooter or wheelchair, that’s really not the case. These are devices of liberation, not a prison,” said Harshbarger.

Harshbarger and a team of eight family members raised funds and participated in the wheelchair track event.

Mike Ready was able to walk for 40 years before a fall in December 2005 left him paralyzed.

The cost of living independently can be high, said Ready, who works as a Realtor and plans to design homes for disabled residents. Ready said the motorized wheelchair that transported him around Shirk Center cost $16,000.

“An accident can happen. Life can change in a minute,” said Ready.

Activities at Saturday’s fundraiser included a puppet show aimed at teaching children respect for people with disabilities. Students For An Accessible Community from Parkside Junior High and Normal Community West High School performed “Kids on the Block,” a play featuring characters with disabilities.
--Pantagraph.com

My Personal Goals for Justice for All

by Marlene Chait, Ed.D
Marlene Chait is an active disability rights advocate.

I think of myself as one person act believing that the United States of America (USA) needs to throw the baby out with the bath water. The baby I am referring to is the United States’ endless fragmented disability service-delivery system that seems to disable individuals and their loved ones more than the disability, impairment or illness itself.

I’m eager to hear contenders who want to be President of the United States discuss the need to join the international community, embracing the human rights model and who will immediately sign the United Nations Convention on the Rights for Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD). It is also my belief that it is time for the international community to recognize that just because a person with a disability lives in the USA does not mean they live interdependently in the community of their choice, with various community-based service (CBS) needs met, e.g., personal assistance services (PAS), accessible transportation, employment, and access to accessible housing, assistive technology (tools for independence) such as recreation, leisure and intimacy.

Yes, it is true the USA has done much in the area of disability legislation and giving poor disabled adults and children assistance. Yet, I do not understand why President Bush is not signing for the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD). The UN CRPD is based on a Human Rights Model charging the world with total inclusion for all people with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was an effort to “level the playing field” by mandating equal opportunity for those with disabilities in most areas of life (e.g., employment, recreation and access to buildings).

Unfortunately, the ADA fails to address one of the most basic human needs –sexual expression-leaving disabled people and disabled women in particular, with no avenue or guidance for accommodating this aspect of their identity. Countering this omission has required individual courage and political will by disabled women in order for them to speak truthfully of their life experiences. A labyrinth of problems exists that centers on PAS, sexuality education and sexual expression.

Unlike Sweden and other countries, the United States does not have an all-inclusive comprehensive and national community-based PAS. Despite the maze of federal, state, local for private and non-profit agencies, and independent living center organizations that administer a wide array of PAS programs many disabled individuals and older Americans want the freedom and control of living independently in their own communities as well as hiring their own personal assistants (PA). Yet, many physically disabled people are simply not poor enough to qualify for federal government PAS programs or rich enough to afford PAS without government assistance.

Read more>>>>

For 115 years, Cotting School has helped disabled children

It's 1901, and an 11-year-old boy, born without hands, is staring into the lens of a camera. Today, looking at the sepia-tone photograph that recorded the moment, it seems the boy's tall wooden chair and dark breeches are primitive and inadequate to the task of preparing him for the 20th century.

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Then one notices the flat board and piece of paper at the boy's feet. He is holding a pencil in his toes. Frank Gardello is writing. The caption reveals more: "I am learning to use the typewriter with my toes," he wrote 107 years ago. "I can play football, play on a little toy piano, and can ride a bicycle."

Readers will be able to learn more about Gardello and hundreds of other disabled children like him next month when Arcadia Publishing, a South Carolina-based firm that sells popular local histories featuring vintage photographs, releases a 128-page volume about the Cotting School in Lexington.

Founded in Boston in 1893, the day school for disabled children is considered the first of its kind in the country. That alone makes it worthy of a book dedicated to its past, said authors David Manzo, the school's president, and Elizabeth Peters, its director of development.

But Manzo and Peters said they collected hundreds of photos, scoured archives in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and pored over years of annual reports not only to memorialize the school, but also to pay respect to the students and teachers who walked its halls over the past 115 years. A lot of prejudice, doubt, and physical impairment have been overcome in that time, they said.

"We as a school helped change attitudes toward kids with disabilities," said Manzo.

At the same time, in the process of focusing on Cotting, Manzo and Peters realized they were also writing about the history of disability and education in America, as well as the history of philanthropy in Massachusetts.

"There are a lot of subhistories being told here," said Manzo. "For someone who is a physical therapist, this is telling the history of their profession. Someone who is a nurse who works with special needs children can look at this and see the history of nursing with special needs children."

Teachers might be surprised to see photos showing a class held on the school's roof in the winter of 1912, for example. Educators at the time thought children, whether they were disabled or not, should breathe as much fresh air as possible, according to Manzo. The students are sitting at desks with blankets draped over them.

Boston's elite families are also covered. At its inception, seven students received instruction at The Industrial School for Crippled and Deformed Children, as Cotting was originally named, according to a draft copy of the book. Classes were held in the basement of an Episcopal church on Chambers Street in Boston.

By 1903, thanks to a $150,000 fund-raising campaign that involved prominent figures such as Isabella Stewart Gardner, the school built its own state-of-the-art building on St. Botolph Street, the draft says. Trustees including former Raytheon president Charles Adams oversaw the school's move in 1987 to a 14-acre campus on Concord Avenue in Lexington.

"There were these tremendous pillars of society in Boston who cared about people no one cared about," said Manzo. "They were thinking about an endowment when they were just starting."

The school now serves about 130 day students, ages 3 to 22, from Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire on a budget of around $10 million a year, said Manzo. The average annual cost of teaching a child is $53,000, he said. Much of those costs are paid by local school districts that lack proper facilities to educate children with special needs.

The book, titled simply "Cotting School," illustrates the bittersweetness of children with disabilities. Photos depicting students devouring turkey dinners at Thanksgiving in the early 20th century show how the youngsters led normal lives, even with crutches propped up behind their chairs.

Others photos are unsettling. A 1898 image shows a teenager whose back was broken by a horsecar when he was 8. He sits in a long box with wheels, his body severely misshapen.

A central focus of the book is how the Cotting School evolved as society's definitions of disabilities changed. Its first students were mostly children with birth defects or those permanently injured in industrial accidents, Manzo said. They were taught academic lessons and trades like sewing and woodworking.

By the 1950s, polio was by far the most common disability among Cotting students, said Jim Tanner, a 1969 Cotting graduate with cerebral palsy who is now director of the school's vocational programs. After polio vaccinations started in 1955, the school gradually became more of a prep school for children with a range of less complicated disabilities. Many of those students went to college, said Tanner.

Now, as science has cured some diseases, created treatments that allow more disabled students to attend regular schools, and saved the lives of children born with birth defects once considered fatal, Cotting tends to accept children who need significant medical attention and physical therapy for conditions such as muscular dystrophy and Down syndrome.

Many of those children can't walk or communicate without electric wheelchairs or special computers. "Now we're trying to find jobs for kids who are really challenged," said Tanner.

Yet aspects of the school's curriculum haven't changed. Woodworking is still taught. Art classes are still used as a mechanism to develop disabled children's dexterity and understanding of visual imagery. "For math skills, we do lots of things with patterns of shapes," said teacher Rosanne Trolan.

Meg Comeau, a Burlington resident whose 20-year-old daughter has attended Cotting for 12 years, said the school's best asset is that it does not make disabled children feel like outcasts.

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Comeau's daughter has Prader-Willi syndrome, a disorder that can include mental impairment, poor muscle tone, and scoliosis. Her daughter attended a regular school through second grade, she said, until the young girl started feeling excluded from the life of her healthy peers.

"When people started reading, she didn't," said Comeau. "When kids ran to the playground at recess to climb the jungle gym and she couldn't, she knew that. It was very difficult for her. If you could call a second-grader depressed, you could call her that at the time. Now she sort of feels that, at Cotting, she's just one of the gang."

Evelyn, a 19-year-old Cotting student with cerebral palsy, said camaraderie was an essential part of her education. "I like it here because there are a lot of kids with disabilities," she said. "It lets me know I'm not the only one."

School officials asked that Evelyn's last name be kept private.

Arcadia spokeswoman Lynn Ruggieri said the $20 book will be widely available throughout the Boston area in a few months. She said the publisher's histories have gained popularity over the years because they target specific audiences who leap at a chance to purchase an easy-to-read paperback about their town or school that is often written by a local author. "Our markets are very local niche markets," she said.

Massachusetts has one of the highest concentrations of Arcadia local histories in the country, according to the company's website. "The Boston area is a huge market for us," said Ruggieri. "I think the biggest reason is that it's so historically rich. People are very passionate about history there."

Manzo and Peters said they were inspired to organize photos and write the book in part because Arcadia already published a similar history of the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, considered the first in the United States when it was founded in 1829. Cotting had its own story, and Manzo and Peters said they were determined to tell it.

"I had seen Arcadia's books," Manzo said. "And I knew Cotting had a treasure trove of photographs. I feel it is our responsibility as the first school in the nation to share what we've learned with others."
Source: The Boston Globe

Surprise fair promotes services available to disabled

Surprise is hosting its first-ever Human Services and Disability Fair to promote all the programs that exist in the area that benefit disabled residents.

There are many programs that residents may be unfamiliar with, and the intent is to bring all of them together in one place, city disability advocate Nanette Bowles said.

"There is more in Surprise now than there ever has been," she said.

The free event will take place from 1 to 4:30 p.m. on April 7 at the Northwest Regional Library, 16089 N. Bullard Ave.

The event will include information about the city's Disability Advisory Commission, a citizen's group appointed by the City Council and tasked with finding ways to make Surprise more accessible for those with disabilities.

City staff also will help residents through the first steps of finding support groups, finding employment or signing up for programs such as Dial-a-Ride or St. Mary's Food Bank.

Other groups on hand will include: American Cancer Society, Area Agency on Aging, Arizona Commission for the Deaf & Hard of Hearing, Arizona Council for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and the Division on Developmental Disabilities.

For more information: 623-222-1651.
Source: Az central

Disabled protest in Paris for increased aid

More than 16,000 disabled people, many in wheelchairs, protested in Paris on Saturday to press for increased government aid.

Up to 100 organizations around France joined together to demand a pension equivalent to the minimum wage, €1,280 (US$2,010). The disabled currently receive less than half that, €628 (US$986).

Protesters came to Paris by train, bus or specially equipped vehicles to march on the city's Right Bank. A delegation later delivered a petition supported by tens of thousands to President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The French "imagine that everything is done in this country for the handicapped, (but) it's not true," said Jean-Marie Barbier, head of the Association of the Paralyzed of France.

A second protest march Saturday of retirees angry over an additional year being added to social security payments, to make it 41 years to receive a full pension, drew less than 5,000 people.

The Associated Press

Wheelchair Archery Sports - Get Active, Get Fit, Challenge Yourself!

Archery is a sport that is open to athletes even with a physical disability. Even though this sport is very physically demanding, it is one sport that disabled athletes can compete on an equal basis with able-bodied people. In fact wheelchair target archery has been a Paralympic sport for more than 30 years, and still going strong.

There are of course, specific rules relating to wheelchair competitors. However all other rules of competition are the same with able-bodied target archery. The difference is that wheelchair archers are divided into 2 different classes whereas there are other classifications for standing archers. Wheelchair archers compete in either W1 for quadriplegic archers that allow them to use a release mechanism, or W2 which is open to all wheelchair archers. In recent years, wheelchair archery is becoming an increasingly popular sport for the wheelchair bound athletes.

For many disabled individuals, wheelchair archery does not require any special accessories like a sports wheelchair. However, some people prefer to remove the armrest to improve aim. For others, a recurve 48-inch bow is recommended because the bow is lighter and easier to control. For persons with little arm strength, devices to help hold the bow may be allowed. Quadriplegics may have an assistant to help place the arrow in the bow, but verbal advice is against the rules.

Although outsiders may initially think the rules should be more lenient for the disabled, people participating in wheelchair archery appreciate the opportunity to be treated as another other sportsperson. The thrill of competing, participating in sports, and healthy exercise should not be diminished. Wheelchair archery provides an enjoyable diversion from the frustrating challenges of living a disabled life. For a time, wheelchair archery levels the playing field, and the handicapped are vital and alive, like everyone else.

Wheelchair archery is not simply a sport to the wheelchair bound athletes; wheelchair archery is also a chance to be normal, a boost in self-esteem, an opportunity to get some much-needed exercise, and an activity to add adventure to the restrictive life of the disabled. Instead of sitting on the sidelines and always cheering on other athletes, wheelchair target archery allows the physically challenged unique occasions to hear cheers from the benches.

In summary, live life to the fullest, despite physically handicapped. Wheelchair archery is an excellent competitive sport for anyone, regardless of ability, especially if you are up for a challenge.

Moses Wright is the owner of Wheelchair. He provides more useful information on Electric Wheelchairs and Wheelchair Van on his website.

Court hits District for blocking homes for disabled

A federal court criticized the D.C. government yesterday for blocking construction of four group homes for disabled children.

The city sided with community opponents in denying building permits for the homes to be built in the 1300 block of Pennsylvania Avenue SE.

Boys Town of Washington dropped its plans for the tax-funded homes in 2004 as opposition grew from local community groups.

However, the federal government took up Boys Towns' cause by suing the D.C. government.

The Justice Department lawsuit accused the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) of violating the Fair Housing Act by denying building permits for the four homes, each of which would house six children and a married couple of supervisors.

The lawsuit sought a court order that would have required rewriting nine of the DCRA's regulations on housing for the disabled.

The DCRA was imposing regulations more stringently on the children's group homes than for the general population in an apparent attempt to keep the Boys Town houses out of the neighborhood, the Justice Department argued.

Boys Town sought the building permits under an exception to the D.C. code that says special authorization is not needed for a group home if it houses six or fewer residents. The nonprofit group already operates a home for boys and girls under 18 at 4801 Sargent Road NE. It obtained permits for the houses on the site with little community or District opposition.

The DCRA issued four permits for the buildings on Pennsylvania Avenue on Sept. 6, 2001, but community activists appealed.

Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6B and a group of residents called Southeast Citizens for Smart Development said the group housing complex would disrupt the community, potentially bringing in more traffic and risking crime against the disabled children.

"It was not the appropriate place for that project," said Ellen Opper-Weiner, co-chairman of Southeast Citizens for Smart Development.

Their attorney, Andrea Ferster, argued in the appeal that although the children would be housed in four buildings, they would be linked in a single complex. As a result, the complex surpassed the occupancy limit to avoid special-exception permits.

"It's a manipulation of the rules," Ms. Ferster said yesterday. "If you allow any large facility to evade the special exception rules, then you've opened the door for any large facility to be built."

She said the fact the Boys Town facility would house disabled children was not the issue.

"Size matters in residential neighborhoods," Ms. Ferster said.

The District's Board of Zoning Adjustments agreed, saying the houses on Pennsylvania Avenue still would need to meet the District's "youth residential care home" special permit standards. The standards cover issues such as licensing, parking and potential disruption to the neighborhood.

After Boys Town dropped its planned group home, the Justice Department sued on April 15, 2004, in U.S. District Court.

The court agreed this week that the D.C. government violated the Fair Housing Act but refused to grant the sweeping changes to D.C.'s housing regulations sought in the lawsuit.

Instead, the court issued a ruling that prohibits "the District from violating the Fair Housing Act's requirement that the disabled be provided equal access to housing through reasonable accommodations."

The Justice Department argued that nine zoning regulations gave unfair preference to housing for persons without disabilities "without sufficient justification."

The ruling by U.S. District Judge James Robertson rejected that argument, saying, "Such facts must be proven on a case-by-case basis rather than assumed across the board."

A condominium now stands on the site where Boys Town planned to build its group homes.

Source: The Washington Times