Disabled get a break

TYLER Fishlock's family and thousands like them struggling to raise a disabled child may get help.

A federal government taskforce has recommended easing eligibility requirements for the child carers' payment.

Only 3570 families qualify for the payment, despite 165,000 Australian children having a severe or profound disability.

Tyler, 5, lost his eyes to cancer retinoblastoma.

But his mother, Georgette, was unable to claim the carers' payment because Tyler was not classed as disabled.

The Caroline Springs woman, who led a campaign to change the rules, said she was delighted her fight had been recognised.

"They made it so hard and rigorous that no one could access that payment," she said.

The means-tested payment is worth up to $537 a fortnight. Parents of children who don't qualify get the standard allowance of about $95 a fortnight.

"That didn't even cover the cost of parking at the Royal Children's Hospital," Ms Fishlock said.

Currently, children must be terminally ill or have at least three serious medical or physical conditions to qualify for payment.

In 2005-06, 12 per cent of carers' allowance applicants got the benefit.

Family and Community Services Minister Jenny Macklin said the old rules were tough for families.

"Let's think about those rules. Let's look at what parents need to support severely disabled children," she said.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Senate OKs stimulus, adds $300 rebates for seniors, disabled vets

Voting 91-6, the Senate has agreed to $300 rebates for 20 million older Americans and 250,000 disabled veterans.

The amendment was added to the House-passed economic-stimulus package supported by President Bush. It includes rebates of $600 for individuals and $1,200 for couples, plus some tax breaks for businesses. Final Senate passage of the full measure is expected shortly.

The House would then have to re-vote on the amended legislation before it could be sent to Bush for his signature.

Update at 5:13 p.m. ET: The Senate has passed the legislation, 81-16. The House is expected to approve the amended bill tonight and send it to the president. The compromise measure does not contain a Democratic proposal to extend jobless benefits, offer heating aid for the poor and give tax breaks to certain industries.

Update at 5:32 p.m. ET: The rebates would be based on 2007 tax returns, and checks are expected to begin arriving in May.

Update at 8:12 p.m. ET The House has passed the legislation and sent it to President Bush. The White House indicates he'll sign it into law.

Source: USA Today

Malaysia: Anticipating disabled needs

Hosting an outing requires much consideration for the needs of disabled guests. But with a little extra effort, the event can be a memorable one.

MANY charitable events are held nowadays. However, in my almost 50 years of personal experience with a handicap, I have only come across a few that have been organised exceptionally well. Especially when they are done for the disabled and older persons.

Last week, however, I was delighted to be involved in one such project. And so were about three dozen other disabled persons. All of them were elderly and accompanied by their faithful caregivers and volunteers.

The event was held at Mid Valley Megamall in Kuala Lumpur and organised by Mid Valley City, in support of Petpositive, the animalassisted therapy non-profit national society in which I serve as president.

Little did we realise that we were about to take part in a half-day outing that would last a long time in our memories.

Mid Valley City’s initiative was supported by Mid Valley Megamall, Cititel Mid Valley and Boulevard hotels and The Gardens shopping centre that are all connected within the same area.

The organisers’ hospitality began at the car park. This is where I think every event involving the physically disabled should start.

Nearly a dozen parking slots at Cititel’s valet parking were blocked off for the hotel’s handicapped patrons.

This was a tremendous help, especially for the majority of the physically-disabled guests with Parkinson’s disease. This meant that they didn’t have to walk or wheel themselves very far to get to our meeting point.

It was also a great relief for some of Petpositive’s other senior guests with HIV/AIDS who came in their wheelchairs. The morning event quickly turned out to be a rather exciting adventure of sorts.

We were split into two groups. The physically disabled went for free eye checks whilst the blind guests, who numbered more than a dozen, had free haircuts at La’Mode, a professional hairstyling centre on the first floor.

I decided to “abandon” my wheelchair friends and joined the blind. The haircut offer was too tempting to resist!

Everyone at La’Mode had smiling faces and warmly welcomed us. They were only too happy to move away their regular chair to make way for my wheelchair when it was my turn for a haircut.

In fact, wherever we went, we were escorted by the top-notch staff in the public relations section of Mid Valley – something not usually seen at other charitable events.

They helped us manoeuvre our wheelchairs, held the lift doors open for us, met us at the right floors, etc.

We could not help but feel like VIPs for the day, which is exactly what we were at the function.

Many more surprises awaited us, some of which Mid Valley kept secret from me until the last minute.

We were treated to a grand eight-course Chinese luncheon at Cititel complete with live traditional Chinese instrumental music on stage.

As this was my very first yee sang lunch, I was at a loss as to what to do, particularly how to toss the ingredients for good luck.

The luncheon ended with Mid Valley City pledging RM10,000 worth of equipment for Petpositive’s centre. (Incidentally, we are still looking for a bungalow in Petaling Jaya to operate from.)

The finale of the outing was a world-class acrobatic performance by a youth troupe from China. We were given the best seats in the house.

Every one of us enjoyed the show thoroughly. At one point, I turned around and even saw the blind smiling. Some of their sighted volunteers were describing to them what was going on.

Source: The Star

Disabled woman sues Aurora hospital, saying she was sexually assaulted by patient

A physically disabled woman is suing an Aurora hospital, alleging she was sexually assaulted by another patient while being treated for depression.

The suit, filed Jan. 28 in Kane County Circuit Court, alleges Provena Mercy Medical Center failed to protect her from a patient in the psychiatric unit. The woman, who has spina bifida and uses a wheelchair, alleges the man entered her room on Jan. 30, 2006, and attacked her. She was able to scream and alert hospital staff, according to the suit.

The woman, who was 39 at the time, was living in an Aurora residential facility and had been admitted to the hospital's Hope Unit three days earlier suffering from depression.

"Here's a patient that was emotionally vulnerable and also physically vulnerable," said her attorney, Keith Johnson. "The hospital had a duty to protect her."

The man, now in an Elgin care facility, was not charged in the incident because police apparently took his significant psychiatric condition into account, Johnson said.

The lawsuit seeks damages of more than $50,000. Provena Mercy Medical Center did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Source: Chicago Tribune

Disabled athletes reach the top against able-bodied peers

World class athletes command respect but just as inspiring are disabled athletes who compete at the very top against able-bodied peers.

Natalie du Toit of South Africa, Manuel de los Santos of the Dominican Republic, Oscar Pistorius of South Africa and Italian Alex Zanardi have shown the way.

South African 'Bladerunner' Oscar Pistorius may have been banned from competing in the Beijing Olympics with his carbon fibre blade attachments but one can only marvel at his achievements.

The disabled sprinter, who had both his legs amputated below the knee as a child, has been prevented from competing in China after a scientific study revealed that he used 25 percent less energy than able-bodied runners to run at the same speed.

Pistorius finished second in the 400m 'B' race at the Rome Golden League meeting in July 2007 against top able-bodied athletes, clocking 46.90sec.

Pistorius's paralympic world record of 46.34secs for 400m is some way behind the best times by able-bodied runners.

The fastest time of an athlete still competing is 43.50 set by American Jeremy Wariner, while the world record stands at 43.18, set by compatriot Michael Johnson.

And what of Manuel de Los Santos, who lives in France but comes from the Dominican Republic, and whose loss of a left leg has not stopped him competing at the highest level in French domestic golf competitions.

When he swings his club, he removes his prosthetic left leg and balances on his right leg.

He wins most events for disabled people but he has become the first amputee to play in the French Grand Prix alongside able-bodied golfers.

He told l'Equipe magazine: "My aim is to be among the best handicapped golfers in the world and to continue to play in the Grand Prix series against able-bodied athletes."

De Los Santos was hit by a car in a motorcycle accident which meant he lost his left leg and he came to Europe with his French girlfriend Elena.

South African Natalie Du Toit made history at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester when she reached the final of the 800m freestyle, becoming the first athlete with a disability to qualify for an able-bodied final in a major competition.

She also won gold in the multi-disability 50m and 100m freestyle races at the Manchester Games.

She broke four world records in one day (heats and finals) in her category's 50m and 100m freestyle.

Alex Zanardi lost both his legs in an accident in 2001 while racing Champ Cars in Germany.

Fitted with prosthetic limbs, he went on to compete against able-bodied drivers in the BMW World Touring Car Championship, using specially-adapted hand controls.

Earlier in his career, the Italian won the Champ Car crown twice, drove for F1 teams Minardi and Lotus between 1991-94 and Williams in 1999.

Source: AFP

Disabled driver highlights plight

A FORRES man has come forward to state his own case after reading last week's "Forres Gazette" about changes to the rules governing allocated disabled parking spaces.

Ken Stewart, who lives at 66 Burdshaugh, applied to Moray Council to get an allocated space. He fits the criteria for a disabled space and had one at his previous home in Califer Road.

However, he was refused a disabled space outside his home in Burdshaugh, because he has enough room to have off-road parking beside his home. However, while admitting that he has space to park his car outside his house, he claims that he needs a space because he has been experiencing problems with people parking outside his property and blocking his gates.

His home faces Forres Academy and at busy times the roads outside the school are jam-packed with traffic, including parents picking up or dropping off children.

"I live right opposite the academy," he said. "The cottages are on the corner and there is a large piece of road outside the house, it is hard to tell whether it is a road or a car park because at times it gets so busy."

Mr Stewart said that he asked Moray Council if they would put markings on the piece of road or outside his double gates to prevent people parking there, but they refused.

He was told that if he were to block off his gates so he had no off-road parking space, then they would be able to put markings on the road to stop people parking there and allow him to park.

"They told me that they would only give me a disabled space if my off-road parking was not available," he said. "They said one of the gates would have to be blocked off with a bollard."

He had also previously asked for a dropped kerb to be installed from the gates onto the road, indicating a driveway, but the council told him the cost of the works would be between £600 and £700, which he would have to pay himself. He said he wasn't happy.

"Moray Council won't give me a disabled parking spot because they claim I have off-road parking," he said. "But it is often blocked off by drivers going to the academy. On two occasions ,I asked people to move so I could get out of the house and they told me where to go. Then they want me to pay £600 to have the kerb lowered and block my gate off. I'm stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea really."

Forres man Kenny Shand, who is registered disabled and campaigns for rights for the less able-bodied, said there should be a way around the problem.

"If Mr Stewart was entitled to a space before then I would say he still would be," he said. "I would say that if he lives on a corner then I don't think it would be done under road traffic regulations. Perhaps he could consider getting his own sign made up to prevent people from parking at his gate. It should only take something like this to deter people."

Meantime, Mr Shand is awaiting confirmation that an e-petition campaigning for support for changes in disability parking rights has been accepted by http://petitions.pm.gov.uk which will be available for people to sign online. Forres Community Council member Eleanor Hayward, who first raised the issue of changes in parking spaces for disabled people, said that she was sure that there were a great many more people in the town, affected by the issue, who might now come forward.

Source: Forres Gazette

Woman makes progress for Wayne disabled

The efforts of Barbara Houghtaling, who Gov. Ed Rendell appointed last year to the Pennsylvania Statewide Independent Living Council, most recently reached the county level. The county is seeking bids to install handicapped door handles on the county annex building and railings on the second and third floors where the Wayne County Courthouse connects to the annex.

“Well, it took a long time to get them to do it, but I’m glad they’re doing it,” said Ms. Houghtaling, who started petitioning the county for changes about a year ago.

Vicky Lamberton, county chief clerk, said the money for the improvements will come from a portion of the county’s 2007 Community Development Block Grant funding.

Ms. Houghtaling, 60, of Rileyville, began campaigning for ADA improvements after a car accident in October 2004 left her paralyzed. Prior to her accident, she operated Rileyville Daycare, which her daughter, Karen Lorenzen, has taken over.

These days, Ms. Houghtaling focuses on advocacy work. She estimates she’s visited about 100 business in Honesdale and Hawley. The majority of infractions she said she sees are businesses lacking ramps for the disabled to use.

“Most businesses, once I bring it to their attention, make the necessary changes,” she said.

However, she knows she still has work to do.

Ms. Houghalting wants disabled residents to have the choice of shopping along Main Street rather than automatically going to a mall. She doesn’t want the possibility of inaccessible restaurants or shops to keep disabled people at home.

“Oh, I know it’s definitely one of the reasons people stay put,” Ms. Houghtaling said.

She had found support through friends she’s made during her therapy appointments in Honesdale.

“They’re really encouraging,” Ms. Houghtaling said. “They want me to keep after the businesses.” She’s not planning to stop anytime soon.

“Once the weather gets nice, I’ll be going out there again,” she said.

Source: The Times Tribune

Disabled workers to strike over factory closure

Disabled workers at a site in York are to stage a 48 hour strike in protest at the closure of their factories.
Remploy workers Birkenhead and Aintree are already striking and two further 48-hour walkouts are planned later this month as part of a long-running row over the closure of 28 plants.

The York Remploy workers will join the next stoppage on February 13 and 14, unions have announced.

There are a further five official strike ballots in the pipeline among Remploy workers at Hartlepool, St Helens, Treforest, Ystradgynlais near Swansea and Brynammon in South Wales.

Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB, said "It is shameful that disabled workers employed by Remploy are forced to take strike action to defend their jobs.

"These disabled workers are victims of long running poor man
agement and direction that failed to use the changes in the EU procurement laws to provide a steady workload to all factories.

"Remploy workers have been betrayed by the Labour Government who misled the workers, the Labour Party conference and the public that there would be a change of policy regarding choice and public procurement to secure a future for the Remploy network."

Tony Burke, assistant general secretary at Unite, added: "Our members are furious at Remploy management and the former secretary of state Peter Hain, who should be ashamed to approve this closure plan, destroying a first class company that was set up by Labour to provide work for disabled ex-servicemen.

"Trade unions will continue to exhaust every possible avenue and everything in their power to secure the future of the Remploy network."

Source: Halifax Courier

Disabled Neenah students stay out of class

Parents have pulled three severely disabled students from school for fear of their safety after one of them suffered a serious mouth injury in the classroom.

Nicole Lutz, a cognitively and physically disabled fourth-grader at Coolidge Elementary School, needed surgery to wire her jawbone and bottom teeth back into position.

The injury occurred Dec. 21 as a classroom teacher tried to remove Nicole, 10, from a prone stander after she had bitten down on the stander's tray.

Neenah police investigated the incident and characterized it as an unfortunate accident. Investigators don't foresee any criminal charges against the teacher, who has expressed deep regret for the injury.

School administrators found no wrongdoing that led to any discipline of the teacher, and they have encouraged the parents to send their children back to the classroom.

"It certainly wasn't intentional or the result of negligence," Anne Lang, Neenah's director of pupil services, said of the injury.

The school district's response has been insufficient to calm fears of the parents.

They met with representatives of Disability Rights Wisconsin earlier this week to determine their course of action.

Nicole's mother, Ann Lutz, has filed a complaint against the Neenah Joint School District with the state Department of Public Instruction. She has no intention to send her daughter back to Coolidge or to the classroom staff.

"I want a placement change, and I want the curriculum seriously looked at," Lutz told The Post-Crescent.

Christine Becker shares Lutz's position. She removed her 11-year-old daughter, Brittany, from the class after Nicole's injury.

"We feel it is an unsafe environment after a tragedy like that," Becker said.

The class had five students supervised by the teacher and two aides. Only two students remain in the class.

Injury to Nicole

Nicole suffered a broken jawbone and injuries to her gum and teeth, according to her mother. She needed surgery that night and since has undergone three root-canal procedures.

She was injured as her teacher removed her from a prone stander, which is a piece of equipment that supports the front of the body to help achieve a standing position for people who are unable to stand independently. Nicole was placed in the stander as part of her physical therapy program to increase bone mineral density.

The teacher told police Nicole had been in the stander for 65 minutes.

The school district's incident report says Nicole, unbeknownst to the teacher, had bitten down on the tray of the stander and was injured as he pulled her up and out from behind.

The Post-Crescent is not naming the teacher because he has not been charged or disciplined. In a telephone interview, he said the injury was an accident and that he sincerely regretted what happened.

He said he has taught the children for more than three years and had not encountered any previous problems.

Nicole is nonverbal and cannot communicate what happened.

An initial investigation by Neenah police determined the injury was an accident.

The child welfare division of the Winnebago County Department of Human Services started its own investigation to determine whether Nicole needed additional protection, and it asked Neenah police to reopen their investigation because of the severity of the injury.

That investigation is not complete, but Lt. Steve Larson said he does not anticipate criminal charges.

"At this point, with the information we have, I don't expect that to happen," he said.

Lutz suspects that Nicole was jerked with great force, judging by the injury. She said for the teacher not to realize Nicole had clamped onto the tray was "total carelessness."

Compounding the injury, at least in Lutz's mind, was the school's failure to call an ambulance.

Instead, the school called Lutz at work in Menasha, and she took Nicole to the emergency room.

Additional injuries

Lutz said the Dec. 21 injury was not the first sustained by Nicole. She recalled four other injuries to her daughter while under school care since 2002. In one instance, she said, aides failed to buckle Nicole in her wheelchair, resulting in a fall that caused a head injury.

"The trust has been broken time and time again," Lutz said.

Becker said her daughter suffered a head injury last year when an aide lost control of her during a walk. "Three days later, she started having seizures," Becker said.

Garry Jungwirth said a classmate kicked his son, Jeremy, who, like Nicole and Brittany, has not returned to Coolidge.

"They didn't tell me about it until two days after it happened," Jungwirth said. "There are a lot of circumstances that we are really concerned about."

Lang said she was unaware of any previous injuries to the students. She said no complaints had been filed against the teacher or the program before Dec. 21.

School response

An administrative team, including Lang and Coolidge Principal Le Ann Metzger, met with the parents to listen to their concerns after Nicole's injury.

Metzger subsequently sent a letter to the parents assuring them that the classroom staff was adequate to meet the students' needs.

"We have examined each situation to identify what needs to change and have communicated these expectations with (the staff)," Metzger wrote. "They assure me that they can meet the expectations established for your children's safety, personal care and communication."

Metzger said the school re-evaluated classroom equipment and procedures, and she invited the parents to visit the classroom to see that the environment is safe.

When the students didn't return to school, Metzger sent a second letter regarding the mounting absences.

"I am concerned that your children are missing valuable educational time and should return to school as soon as possible," she said.

Lutz said unexcused absences from school are the least of her concerns.

"We are not going to put our kids in danger just to have perfect attendance," she said.

Changes sought

The parents have asked administrators to place their children in a different school with a different staff.

Lutz's complaint to the DPI concerns the use of the prone stander, which she says was not specified in Nicole's individualized education program, and whether the staff was properly trained and supervised regarding the use of the stander.

Lutz said she was unaware that Nicole had been placed in the stander for 65 minutes, which she said was more than her daughter could tolerate.

The DPI has 60 days to issue a decision on the complaint.

Dan Lutz, Nicole's father, said the parents shouldn't be expected to send their children back to the classroom where Nicole was injured, particularly after filing complaints against the staff.

"We don't want the same staff," he said. "We have had a pattern of incidents with the staff."

The parents want the school district to hire additional and more highly trained staff for students with special needs.

Becker said they requested that cameras be installed in the classroom so they could witness the care provided to their children. She said she learned of Nicole's injury not from the school but from Ann Lutz.

"We should have been aware of what happened," Becker said. "Our children cannot communicate with us."

Lang said administrators are willing to meet with the parents to further discuss their concerns.

Duke Behnke: 920-729-6622, ext. 32, or dbehnke@postcrescent.com

Source: Post Crescent

Disabled can lead normal life by taking sports

People having different ability can be an important part in the development of the sports and can lead a life like an able person by participating in sports.

Speakers at a workshop entitled �Advocacy and Awareness for People with Different Ability (PWD) Project" also spoke of the need to include disabled persons in sports so that the sports reach can be expanded in the society.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony of the workshop, organised by PWD Project of National Sports Council, Minister of State for Education and Sports, Mohan Singh Rathour said that the meaning of disabled persons should be re defined in the changing context. State Minister said that the trend of players leaving for foreign nations has increased because the nation had been unable to provide justifiably adequate importance to sports and players.

NSC Member Secretary Jeevan Ram Shrestha said that the idea of making differently able persons the part of Nepali sports is new one, which would help to expedite development of the games in a very new way.

Shrestha said that sports should not be confined to the reach of the able persons and must be developed as the per need of the 21st century. Sports must reach to children, adults able and disable, he added. Shrestha also noted that due to resource constraint, the NSC is unable to launch all activities together.

Noted journalist Yuvraj Ghimire said that disabled persons must also attempt to utilize the opportunities that come to their way because the Nepali society is itself disabled in various way.

The society's attitude of not providing whatever it could is a sign of the society going handicapped, Ghimire said.

Accroding to the organisers, more than 30 differently able persons participated at the workshop and actively participated in group discussions. NSC's Ramesh Khanal had presented the papers on the ways and importance of including disable persons in sports.

Source: The Rising Nepal

Jobs support to help disabled people find work

AN INNOVATIVE programme of intensive support to help disabled people in Tees Valley create their own job or find work kicks off with a series of events next week.

The initiative follows news that the Government is pressing ahead with plans to close sheltered factories run by Remploy in Stockton and Hartlepool, with the aim of transferring 140 workers to mainstream employment.

The programme is being set up by Social Firms aNd Enterprise (SFNE), a not-for-profit company that supports disabled people and those with mental health problems begin in business or work.

“Many disabled people are tired of trying to persuade employers we have something to offer,” said Guy Turnbull, one of the event organisers.

“For some of us, the easiest way of dealing with this is to set up our own businesses. For others, they need specialist help to find a job.”

SFNE initiatives include two Enterprise Workshops on Wednesday and Thursday, a dedicated Micro Memo website for business ideas and advice, The Agency, which will help disabled people find work and The Social Firm Club on Wednesday evening for entrepreneurs with disabilities.

The events will be rounded off by The Forum, for those working with disabled people on Friday.

SFNE has already helped establish a number of businesses, such as Woodcraft for Landscape, which makes wooden items for gardens and does landscape gardening in Wheatley Hill. It is also working with Denise McLleary, to set up Herbees, which will grow herbs around Tyne and Wear.

“Setting up any business is hard,” said Denise. “Without SFNE I very much doubt we would have got so close to setting up our business, which is ready to go once we find a small plot of land.”

Disabled people, their carers and people who work with them are being invited to take advantage of the activities.

The programme, which is free, is sponsored by the Learning and Skills Council. To find out more, contact Carol Bell at carolbell@sfne.org.uk or call 0797 443 1738.

Source: nebusiness.co.uk

Sen. Tester calls for disabled vets to be included in rebate proposal

U.S. Senator Jon Tester is calling on members of the U.S. Senate to include the nation's disabled veterans in an economic stimulus proposal.

The Montana Democrat has thrown his support for Senator Max Baucus' tax rebate plan for Americans which would give a $500 rebate to all disabled veterans who have no income other than their disability benefits.

Sen. Baucus is also proposing to give a $500 rebate to any American reporting $3,000 of income in their 2007 tax return.
Senator Tester says that no matter what happens with the U.S. Senate's current version of the proposal, he will fight to include a rebate for disabled veterans in the final version.

Source: Montana's News Station

A Disabled Artist Gets Inside Her Own Head

This painting by California artist Katherine Sherwood contains surprising medical content.

Some of the blue and white swirls behind a mystical medieval symbol are not painted on: They're actually an angiogram of blood vessels in the artist's brain.

Even before a brain hemorrhage paralyzed her right side 10 years ago, Sherwood was interested in depicting the brain. But after the event, Sherwood started incorporating her angiograms into her art as a form of personal and occupational therapy.

It took her six months to learn how to paint with her left hand and to regain the stamina to do so. "When I did return to the studio, I knew my angiograms were the way into working again. They could stand in for me, my blood, my brain," Sherwood says.

Eleven of Sherwood's works are on display in her show "Golgi's Door" through Feb. 22 at the National Academy of Sciences, 2100 C St. NW.

Source: Washington Post

Disabled athletes reach the top against able-bodied peers

World class athletes command respect but just as inspiring are disabled athletes who compete at the very top against able-bodied peers.

Natalie du Toit of South Africa, Manuel de los Santos of the Dominican Republic, Oscar Pistorius of South Africa and Italian Alex Zanardi have shown the way.

South African 'Bladerunner' Oscar Pistorius may have been banned from competing in the Beijing Olympics with his carbon fibre blade attachments but one can only marvel at his achievements.

The disabled sprinter, who had both his legs amputated below the knee as a child, has been prevented from competing in China after a scientific study revealed that he used 25 percent less energy than able-bodied runners to run at the same speed.

Pistorius finished second in the 400m 'B' race at the Rome Golden League meeting in July 2007 against top able-bodied athletes, clocking 46.90sec.

Pistorius's paralympic world record of 46.34secs for 400m is some way behind the best times by able-bodied runners.

The fastest time of an athlete still competing is 43.50 set by American Jeremy Wariner, while the world record stands at 43.18, set by compatriot Michael Johnson.

And what of Manuel de Los Santos, who lives in France but comes from the Dominican Republic, and whose loss of a left leg has not stopped him competing at the highest level in French domestic golf competitions.

When he swings his club, he removes his prosthetic left leg and balances on his right leg.

He wins most events for disabled people but he has become the first amputee to play in the French Grand Prix alongside able-bodied golfers.

He told l'Equipe magazine: "My aim is to be among the best handicapped golfers in the world and to continue to play in the Grand Prix series against able-bodied athletes."

De Los Santos was hit by a car in a motorcycle accident which meant he lost his left leg and he came to Europe with his French girlfriend Elena.

South African Natalie Du Toit made history at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester when she reached the final of the 800m freestyle, becoming the first athlete with a disability to qualify for an able-bodied final in a major competition.

She also won gold in the multi-disability 50m and 100m freestyle races at the Manchester Games.

She broke four world records in one day (heats and finals) in her category's 50m and 100m freestyle.

Alex Zanardi lost both his legs in an accident in 2001 while racing Champ Cars in Germany.

Fitted with prosthetic limbs, he went on to compete against able-bodied drivers in the BMW World Touring Car Championship, using specially-adapted hand controls.

Earlier in his career, the Italian won the Champ Car crown twice, drove for F1 teams Minardi and Lotus between 1991-94 and Williams in 1999.

Source: AFP

Disabled angry over sterilisation

Many physically disabled women have lost their chance to become mothers as, without their knowledge or even permission, they were subjected to sterilisation.

Published on February 6, 2008


"Some of them don't even know when it happened," Nattaya Boonpakdee said yesterday. "These women found out the harsh reality only after they visited doctors to check why they were not becoming pregnant after being married for a long time."

Nattaya heads the Thai Health Promotion Founda-tion's sexual-health promotion division.

"We have to end this problem," Nattaya said, referring to the fact that many disabled women were sterilised against their will.

She said such sterilisation was a clear violation of their rights.

According to Nattaya, various groups are now fighting for the child-bearing rights of wo-men with physical disabilities.

At a recent seminar on sexuality, many academics said women with physical disabilities have faced a lot of social pressure when they are in a sexual relationship or become pregnant.

"They are sexually controlled. Other people try to

prevent them from being in sexual relationships and from responding to their sexual needs," said Dr Penchan Pradubmook-Sherer of the Mahidol University.

Very often public-health officials urged disabled women to undergo sterilisation, she added.

"When disabled women become pregnant, hospital officials say they are irresponsible and their children will become a burden to society," Penchan said.

Penchan said a disabled woman once complained that she was sterilised because government officials were afraid that she would become pregnant if raped.

"But she asked whether this would protect her against rapists. She said disabled people did not want welfare. They want their rights protected," Penchan said.

Dr Chalidaporn Songsamphan, who teaches at Thammasat University's Faculty of Political Science, said society should not deprive disabled women of their right to become mothers.

Source:The Nation (Thailand)

Disabled man ‘can't board buses’

A disabled pensioner has complained he is being squeezed off buses by mums with buggies.

Both Oxford Bus Company and Stagecoach have expressed sympathy for Bob Light, 65, who was unable to board four buses in succession outside The Swan in Cowley Road because pushchairs occupied the wheelchair space.

Mr Light, 65, from Headington, said many mothers were extremely considerate, but claimed that his attempts to travel into the city centre were becoming a nightmare.

If pushchairs are left in the space for wheelchairs, mums are requested but not legally obliged to fold them up.

Mr Light said: "I travel into town all the time and I think the bus companies have got it wrong.

"Nothing should be in the wheelchair space except wheelchairs at any one time.
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"All pushchairs should be folded up and then you wouldn't have a problem.

"Don't get me wrong - a lot of women do fold them up when you ask, but a lot don't and I think it's disgusting."

Oxford Bus Company director Louisa Weeks said she sympathised with people with wheelchairs who had problems.

"We do know that from time to time the wheelchair space is already taken by buggies," she admitted.

"Unfortunately, despite signs saying that wheelchair users have priority, some passengers refuse to move their buggies and on occasions they've been extremely rude to our drivers.

"We really are between a rock and a hard place and drivers need the wisdom of Solomon to resolve disputes at times. We'd love to wave a magic wand and come up with a solution that keeps everyone happy."

Stagecoach spokesman Chris Child said his company's policy was the same.

But he explained: "Drivers cannot enforce this and passengers do refuse.

"This puts them in a difficult position when a passenger is less sympathetic to a wheelchair user.

"We work closely with disabled passengers to understand their concerns and this is something which they regularly raise with us."

Source: Oxford Mail

Disabled are among the most excluded

Estimates vary from 40 to 90 million people in India: World Bank report

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Households with disabled significantly poorer than average

Private sector incentives for hiring disabled people found to be few

Children with disability are around four or five times less likely to be in school than the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe children, says a recent World Bank report — “People with Disabilities in India: From commitments to outcomes.”

“People with disabilities are among the most excluded in society,” notes the report. With better education and more access to jobs “India’s 40 million to 90 million disabled people can generate higher growth, which could benefit the country as a whole.” What is more, it says that people with disabilities are also victims of “multiple deprivations.”

Households with disabled members are significantly poorer than average, with lower consumption and fewer assets. Disabled adults also have far lower employment rates than the general population — down from 43 per cent in 1991 to 38 per cent in 2002, even amidst high economic growth. This the report points out, “despite the fact that studies show that disabled employees have extremely good performance rates.”

Socio-economic outcomes

Some of the findings of the report are: There are substantial differences in socio-economic outcomes, social stigma and access to services by disability type, with those with mental illness and mental retardation in a particularly poor position. There are also major urban-rural differences in outcomes. Gender, class, and regional variations are also significant in many cases. There is growing evidence that people with disabilities comprise between four and eight per cent of the Indian population — around 40 to 90 million people.

Estimates suggest that disability due to communicable diseases could be halved between 1990 and 2020, but disability due to injuries/accidents is set to double by then. A more than 40 per cent increase in the share of disability due to non-communicable diseases has also been projected.

The educational attainment rate of the disabled are much lower — with 52 per cent illiteracy against a 35 per cent average for the general population.

Illiteracy is high among children across all categories, even in the best performing States. A significant share of out-of-school children is those with disabilities: Kerala has 27 per cent and Tamil Nadu over 33 per cent. Private sector incentives for hiring disabled people are found to be few and piecemeal.

In the late 1990s, employment of people with disability among large private firms was only 0.3 per cent of their workforce. Among multinational companies, the situation was far worse, with only 0.05 per cent representation for them.

In early 2006, the government approved a national policy on Persons with Disabilities.

Till now, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka are the only States to have a draft disabilities policy.

The Chhattisgarh draft policy can be considered ‘best practice,’ and could provide a model for future national and state-level policy development.

Preventive care

The report has called for additional policy measures such as preventive care for both mother and child, identifying people with disabilities as soon as possible after onset, and getting all children with special needs into school.

Source: The Hindu.com

Only 1 type of voting machine will be available for disabled

New York's already laggard efforts to catch up with federal voting laws may be further delayed by lawsuits filed against the state Board of Elections.

Years behind on multiple deadlines to ensure the accuracy of voting, the board told local election officials last week they could choose between three machines to ensure voting access for the disabled, a requirement of the federal Help America Vote Act.

But board officials soon after cut the choice to a single machine, which led to one of two lawsuits from voting machine makers that could interfere with a court-ordered Feb. 8 deadline, when election officials must order new machines.

The lawsuits and board actions could mean disabled voters won't get to use new machines in time for the presidential election this fall.

The U.S. Department of Justice sued the state in 2006 for failing to meet the terms of the HAVA and U.S. District Court Judge Gary Sharpe approved a rigid timeline last month for the state to come into compliance. He said if one deadline is missed, he would consider appointing a special master to take charge of the process.

It may be "premature" to worry about missing deadlines, board spokesman Lee Daghlian said Monday. But he added that it was possible the companies filing suit could ask for an order to stop the counties from ordering machines.

"If we get stopped by an order, we get stopped," he said. "Then we have to work it out with the Justice Department."

The state is years behind in complying with the HAVA, which was enacted after the contested 2000 presidential election to ensure voting accuracy and access for the disabled.

"There's been frustration all along with this process from day one," Daghlian said. "So, it's nothing new to us. We've had to change dates before because of certain things the vendors didn't do, or testers didn't do, so there's certain things that take us off our timeline that are out of our control."

While the board initially selected three machines for county officials to consider, officials couldn't decide whether two of those machines met state standards for providing a "full-face" ballot _ showing all of the candidates and choices on one sheet _ and eliminated Premier Election Solutions and Election Systems & Software Inc. from the field.

Without those devices, disabled voters around the state will all use the same type of machine to cast their ballots in the fall presidential elections.

The last remaining machine is an optical scan model made by Sequoia Voting Systems Inc. of California. Voters mark their ballots by filling in "bubbles," similar in appearance to standardized tests. In the fall elections, those ballots would likely be counted by hand, but the machines are also designed to scan and count the results while maintaining a paper record in a lockbox.

Texas-based Premier, previously Diebold Election Systems, Inc., and ES&S, of Nebraska, each submitted similar Automark Technical Systems machines _ a ballot marker that the companies sought to use with their own scanners to read the ballots.

Premier is suing the board in state Supreme Court, arguing that the company should be one of the counties' choices.

The exclusion is "capricious and unwarranted," Premier spokesman Chris Riggall said.

ES&S was "shocked" by the board's decision and hasn't decided whether to file a suit, spokesman Ken Fields said Monday.

In a written statement, the company said the board's "arbitrary and baseless decision is not in the best interests of New York or its voters _ including those with disabilities ... Because of the importance of this decision, we are willing to go to court to ensure that this matter is resolved fairly and quickly."

Liberty Election Systems is also suing the state over the board's decision not to include the company among the initial three options.

"They said that we don't have a full-face ballot, which obviously isn't the case," said Robert Witko, president of Liberty.

He also said the touch screen machine they submitted was accessible to the blind _ an issue that some voting and disabled advocates consider critical.

The state faces additional deadlines from Sharpe, including replacement of all pull-lever machines by the fall 2009 elections.
Source: newsday.com

Airport red tape leaves disabled man in the lurch

A wheelchair-bound pensioner has spoken of how his holiday ended in " total frustration", after claiming parking restrictions at Belfast International Airport prevented him from being collected at the disabled bay.

Jim Verner (74), from north Belfast, said he had to be wheeled into one of the main airport car parks with his luggage after his taxi driver was prevented from stopping at the disabled parking bay outside the terminal.

Mr Verner, who suffers from blood clots in his legs, said he was lucky the taxi driver and a police officer helped him to the car and carried his luggage.

However the pensioner, who had just returned from Spain on January 19, added that he felt "very, very angry" about the situation. "I phoned my local taxi firm to come and pick me up and take me home," he said.

"I couldn't see any sign of the taxi. So I called the policeman at the airport to ask if he could wheel me to a disabled bay."

Mr Verner finally spotted the taxi driver and asked him what was happening.

"He said, 'We are not allowed to come here any more, Jim. We have to go into a car park'.

"I said, 'How am I going to get round, I am in a wheelchair?' The taxi driver then wheeled me back to the car, and the policeman carried my suitcase."

Mr Verner said he is worried he will face further difficulties with access at the airport as he visits Spain three or four times a year.

An airport spokeswoman said they apologised to Mr Verner for the inconvenience.

"There are disabled parking bays in the short stay car park next to the pick up facility and two bays at the set down," she said. " Although we would encourage all passengers to get picked up in the pick up facility, we are understanding of the needs of disabled passengers and apologise that Mr Verner was prevented from being picked up from one of the two bays in the set down zone.

"However, due to the space constraints, operational and health and safety issues it is hoped that drivers are understanding that parking in the set down zone cannot be tolerated.

"Although understanding the needs of disabled passengers, this applies to the disabled bays in the set down zone as well.

"Parking is monitored sensitively and only drivers parked in the disabled bays for an excessive time period will be asked to move into the pick up facility."

Source: BelfastTelegraph

Carers for disabled people could be protected by discrimination law

he European Court of Justice has been advised to extend protection against disability discrimination to carers and not just those with disabilities. A ruling to that effect could force a change in UK law.

One of the Advocates General to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has produced guidance advising the ECJ to protect Sharon Coleman, a woman who claims she lost her job because she sought time off work to care for her disabled son.

Coleman took her employer, London's Attridge Law, to court claiming she was harassed out of her job. The South London Employment Tribunal asked the ECJ to rule on whether the EU's Equal Treatment Framework Directive protects people associated with the disabled, as well as disabled people themselves.

Some of the laws implementing the Directive in the UK do protect against discrimination by association, for example those dealing with race and sexuality. The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) does not, though. If the ECJ backs the Advocate General's opinion, which it does in around 80% of cases, the DDA may have to be changed.

The case would be sent back to the tribunal which would have to attempt to read the DDA in line with the ECJ's intentions, which in the opinion of the Advocate General should be that protection is given on the grounds of disability, not specifically on the grounds of the employee's disability.

If it could not, the law will have to change, according to Catherine Barker, an employment law specialist at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind OUT-LAW.COM.

"Looking at the DDA, I think it would be very hard to give it a purposive meaning in the direction of the Directive," said Barker. "It talks about protections for 'a disabled person' and behaviour related to 'the disabled person'. It is difficult to see how that could be reconciled with the opinion."

Barker said, though, that public sector workers would not even have to wait for the law to be changed. They can take advantage of EU law changes directly, so would be protected as soon as the ECJ ruled in favour of the Advocate General's opinion, if that is what it does do.

Any ruling following this opinion could have a significant effect on the way that businesses treat staff. They will have to be far more proactive about allowing flexible working requests in order to enable carers to carry out their duties outside the workplace, said Barker.

"This is going to have potentially huge implications for employers who will need to be sensitive to the needs of those with caring responsibilities," she said. "They should be sensitive to all requests for flexible working and ensure that people aren't given the worst jobs or made to feel less valuable simply because they have to leave at a certain time of day. You can't have a culture where one size fits all."

Any ruling could affect large numbers of people. Carers UK represents those who look after disabled people and estimates that the six million carers in the UK today will grow in number to nine million over the next 30 years.

Coleman, a legal secretary, gave birth to a son in 2002 who is disabled, and for whom she is the primary carer. She accepted voluntary redundancy in 2005 and filed a claim for constructive dismissal later that year.

She claimed that she was treated less favourably than people with non-disabled children, that she was barred from taking her old job back when she returned from maternity leave and that she was not allowed the same flexible working arrangements as colleagues with non-disabled children.

Coleman said that her employers called her 'lazy' when she sought time off work to care for her son and said that she was using her 'fucking child' to manipulate her working conditions.

Though the DDA does not give protection to those associated with people with disabilities, Coleman argued that the Act should be read in conjunction with the Equal Treatment Framework Directive, and should be read as affording that protection.

Advocate General Miguel Poiares Maduro agreed. "The four questions referred to the Court by the Employment Tribunal boil down to a single issue of law: does the Directive protect non-disabled people who, in the context of their employment, suffer direct discrimination and/or harassment because they are associated with a disabled person?," he wrote in his opinion.

"Directly targeting a person who has a particular characteristic is not the only way of discriminating against him or her; there are also other, more subtle and less obvious ways of doing so," he wrote. "One way of undermining the dignity and autonomy of people who belong to a certain group is to target not them, but third persons who are closely associated with them and do not themselves belong to the group. A robust conception of equality entails that these subtler forms of discrimination should also be caught by anti-discrimination legislation, as they, too, affect the persons belonging to suspect classifications."

"It is clear that had the claimant been disabled herself the Directive would have been applicable," he ruled. "In the present case, though, the allegation is that it was the disability of the claimant’s son which triggered the discriminatory treatment. Thus, the person who is disabled and the person who is the obvious victim or the object of the discriminatory act are not the same. Does this render the Directive inapplicable? Given my analysis up to this point, I think it does not."

"One can be a victim of unlawful discrimination on the ground of disability under the Directive without being disabled oneself; what is important is that that disability – in this case the disability of Ms Coleman’s son – was used as a reason to treat her less well," he concluded. "If Ms Coleman can prove that she was treated less favourably because of her son’s disability she should be able to rely on the Directive."

Source: out-law.com

Are police equipped to work with disabled people?

A spirited debate took place on The Fence Post over whether local police are properly equipped to deal with people who have disabilities, and how equipped they should be. Fence Post newbie “SusieFila” started it off:

“I was in Pizza Hut today with my deaf niece and there were about 25 different police inside some state, some local. My niece was asking who those people were. My husband went and asked if anyone signed. No one did.

“A female state officer came over and smiled at her and knew the sign for pretty so she told her she was pretty. The gesture was appreciated. However she went on to tell us that only one officer she knew of signed. I informed her that there were six deaf children in my niece’s class and that deaf people are on the rise as premature children have a big impact on this number going up. She said that the department were focusing on teaching officers to speak Spanish ... ”

Among the many responses were this post from “blueangel”:

“I work with a lot of different disabilities in both of my jobs and ... I firmly believe that anyone that works with the public in that fashion such as the police, fire department, ambulance etc. should have people that are trained to spot people with disabilities and have some knowledge in how to communicate with them so that it does not cause further problems or misunderstandings [and] so that no one gets hurt.”

However, other Fence Posters such as “Hawk-64” worried about “more laws, more unfunded mandates, more taxes.”

Other topics discussed on the Fence Post this week included how many people have cars with over 200,000 miles and thoughts on the State of the Union address. To express your thoughts, visit The Fence Post at www.fwdailynews.com/forums/.

Source: KPCNews.net

Transforming short breaks for families with disabled children - 21 local areas announced as pathfind

Education and Care Services Ministers Andrew Adonis and Ivan Lewis, today announced the start of a three-year transformation in short break services for disabled children. Twenty-one local areas will launch the first wave of a £370m investment for local authorities that will extend to all of England from 2009.

This major funding investment from Government will provide many more disabled children with enjoyable and valuable experiences away from their parents and carers. In turn parents and carers will have the well earned chance to take a break from caring.

To meet the needs of families the short breaks will vary in length from just a few hours to a weekend or week, with disabled children and young people being cared for in their own home or given opportunities to access activities and places in the wider community.

Evidence for the 'Aiming High for Disabled Children' review found that short breaks are seen as the highest priority service for families with disabled children. 'Aiming High for Disabled Children' will deliver a total of £430 million plus to local authorities in new investment in disabled children's services during 2008-11 and additional funds to PCTs.

Andrew Adonis said:

"The Government wants all families to have the support they need to bring up their children, including disabled children. At the same time, disabled children and young people deserve the same opportunities as other children and young people to experience life away from their families and grow to their full potential. Short breaks have a vital role to play in this and we are now looking to local authorities and Primary Care Trusts (PCT) to deliver a step change in short break provision."

Health Minister, Ivan Lewis said:

"Substantial new growth funding has been included in PCT allocations from 2008 to enable them to work with local authorities to significantly increase the range and number of short breaks. It is intended that all disabled children will benefit from this investment, including those with complex health needs or life limiting conditions requiring palliative care."

Local authorities will receive £269m revenue and £90m capital funding to improve short breaks services over the next three years (2008-09 to 2010-11) with a further £11m revenue for national delivery. In the first year the majority of funding will be allocated to the 21 pathfinder areas with all other local authorities receiving an average of £50,000 to help them prepare to transform their short break services from 2009. Subject to adequate preparations all local authorities will then receive a share of £76m revenue and £33m capital in 2009-10 and £178m revenue and £52m capital in 2010-11.

In addition to this funding for local authorities, the Department of Health has also provided significant funding to PCTs to improve services for disabled children with complex health needs and those with life limiting conditions which require palliative care, over the same period and has identified short break services as a local priority for NHS services from 2008.

Christine Lenehan, Director of the Council for Disabled Children and Member of the Ministerial Implementation Group for Aiming High for Disabled Children, said:

"These are truly significant sums of money which will give local authorities and their NHS partners every opportunity to provide the support that disabled children and their families need. It is essential that the funding is used to provide high quality breaks that give disabled children access to positive activities, as well as giving their families a break from caring."

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. The 21 pathfinder authorities are:

Bradford, Bolton, Bournemouth-Dorset-Poole (joint pathfinder), Brighton, Dudley, Derbyshire, Enfield, Gloucestershire, Gateshead, Halton, Kent, North Yorkshire, North Tyneside, Nottinghamshire, Norfolk, Sutton, Sunderland, Telford & Wrekin.

2. The pathfinders have been chosen following a rigorous selection process. All pathfinders have been assessed as having the capacity to deliver immediate improvements to the short breaks services that they offer, while at the same time developing and sharing information and best practice in short break service commissioning and provision. All the information from the selection process is being analysed by Capita and will be published in a report to provide shared learning to underpin the short breaks transformation programme.

3. The pathfinder areas also:

* represent a spread across regions and rural and urban locations;

* include areas with a strong BME population base.

4. The Department originally set out revenue allocation of £261m for short breaks in the Local Authority settlement letter on 6 December, with £19m to support national delivery. This has been increased to £269m for Local Authorities, with £11m for national delivery. The Department also announced an additional £90m capital for the short breaks programme as part of the Children's Plan published on 11 December.

Table 1 - which shows funding allocations to pathfinder areas over the next three years.

Table 2 - shows national level funding, with 2009-10 and 2010-11 funding in non-pathfinder areas being contingent on adequate service preparation in 2008- 09

These Tables are available at http://admin.dfes.gov.uk/pns/pressnotices/AdminDisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2008_0007

Source: PR-USA.net

Center Expels Night School for the Disabled

By Park Si-soo, Han Sang-hee

On an especially icy winter's night with the mercury hovering below minus 10 degree Celsius, a large shabby tent is set up in a Seoul public park as a temporary classroom.

Despite the cold, however, the inside of the tent is heated by the enthusiasm of students eager to study.

It may not be easy for them to go and study there as each suffers some form of physical disability. But what they find even more painful they say is that they were recently forced to leave their old classroom in Seoul's Jeongnip Center for Rehabilitation and Independence.

They attend the Nodl Night School, from which more than 170 physically challenged students have graduated since 1993. But the center asked the school to leave at the end of last year, claiming that it had imposed a huge financial burden on the facility.

``It does not make sense in that the facility, initially established to take care of the disabled, expelled us, citing management difficulties,'' Cho Sa-rang, a volunteer teacher at the school, said in an interview with The Korea Times.

Cho, a junior majoring in education for the handicapped, has served as a teacher for three years.

``They alleged that electricity used at night was more expensive than in daytime. But that's nonsense. Jeongnip Center is a very rich organization.''

According to her, the reason was the center was reacting to what they saw as the students' attitudes being too demanding and aggressive.

``The center disliked us because we repeatedly joined in a string of protests calling for the improvement of services for the physically challenged,'' she said.

The night school received a government subsidy of 80 million won last year, according to the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development. But the current law prohibits the government aid from being used to pay the rent for a place to study.

``If the money can be used to pay rent, the number of unqualified night schools could sprout up to wrongly benefit from misuse of the money,'' said Kim Eun-ju, a researcher at the ministry. `` Thus we only approve night schools that already have sufficient funds to maintain their classrooms.''

Window To the Outside World

There are nearly 2.2 million physically disabled people nationwide, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare. But 45 percent, or approximately one million have spent their lives with no basic education such as reading and writing.

Insufficient infrastructure for the disabled has made the situation worse, said Park Kyung-seok, the principal of the night school.

``For some students here, it is the first time they have ever interacted with a different person,'' Park said. ``Korean society gives less attention to the disabled. It is still hard to see convenient facilities such as elevators installed at schools and other public facilities to help physically disabled students. Furthermore, schools specialized in the disabled are mostly focused on the mentally disabled.''

The principal underlined this class is not a place merely to teach disabled adults to pass qualification examinations. ``It's an organization where these people socialize with others for the first time. We are creating the foundation for these people.''

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced on Jan. 17 that it was setting up specialized night classes for the physically challenged at Jeongmin School, renowned as a specialized school for the disabled. The office offered to accept the students from Nodl, but the school rejected the offer, stressing its distinctive role in supporting the disabled.

``Disabled students are choosing night schools because they have more flexibility in time and academic standards,'' the school head said. ``If the office cannot come up with fundamental measures to meet their demands, it should at least try to support the night schools that are actually helping the disabled to be reborn as independent individuals.''

pss@koreatimes.co.kr
sanghee@koreatimes.co.kr
Source: Korea Times

Bid to ratify UN document on disabled’s rights starts

A NATIONAL CAMPAIGN was launched here on Monday for a Philippine ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The new covenant, which was adopted by the UN in 2006, upgrades the civil rights accorded to the world’s disabled people into a universal human right.

Venus Ilagan, immediate past chair of the Disabled Peoples’ International (DPI), a UN lobby group, opened the campaign, citing how the government failed to enforce laws that protect Filipinos with disabilities.

The country had pledged to fill up 5 percent of its labor pool with skilled workers (about 1.7 million of 35.5 million based on a 2005 census) belonging to the people with disabilities sector.

Higher quota

Ilagan said the country’s quota is higher than the quotas of other countries.

But the government could not even hire 1 percent of this potential work force, she said.

Pepito Marao, president of the Katipunan ng Maykapansanan sa Pilipinas Inc. (Kampi), said the government has not been able to fill up its quota.

Ilagan said they have been told that government has hired 5,000 employees from their sector, but this number does not represent the 5 percent hiring quota imposed by local laws involving people with disability.

Ilagan said the government has no updated information on the number of Filipinos with disability, but the sector believes they represent 8.5 million people.

She said about 30 percent of this sector is composed of skilled workers.

Marao said the sector could not demand full compliance because the law merely encourages the hiring of the disabled.

No big deal

“We are also not seeking sanctions [against government or sectors that deal with the disabled]… We don’t want to make this a big deal [on our behalf],” Ilagan said.

She said advocates sometimes mistake the crusade as a fight to help the disabled, when in reality “we want to be independent [and] we want to do things for ourselves.”

Ilagan said the Philippine delegation was vice chair of the country panel that negotiated for the UN covenant.

She said the campaign would be devolved into regional crusades.

Source: Inquirer.net

Firm 'forced out' mother of disabled boy

(By Sarah Womack, Social Affairs Correspondent)

A mother who claimed she was "harassed" into resigning from her job because she had a disabled son has won the first round of a landmark court case that could benefit millions of carers in the United Kingdom.

	Sharon Coleman and son Oliver. She says she suffered ‘discrimination by association’

Sharon Coleman claims the law firm where she worked forced her out by refusing to give her flexible working arrangements to enable her to care for her child, who was born with serious respiratory problems.

She says she suffered "discrimination by association" and, after launching a constructive dismissal case, believes she should be entitled to protection under the same laws that ban discrimination against the disabled.

An employment tribunal asked the Advocate-General of the European Court of Justice to rule on whether EU discrimination laws introduced in 2000 should also cover those who care for disabled people. The Advocate-General has said they should.

Although Ms Coleman must now wait for a full panel of European judges to give a formal ruling later this year, the judges concur with the Advocate-General in about 80 per cent of cases.

If Ms Coleman wins her case she will be entitled to unlimited compensation and will set a precedent that will give far greater legal protection to the 2.5 million carers currently in employment in the United Kingdom.

Ms Coleman was employed as a legal secretary at Attridge Law when she gave birth to Oliver in 2002. He suffers from serious respiratory problems, including apnoeic attacks - where he stops breathing - and has hearing problems.

As primary carer, Ms Coleman wanted flexible working arrangements, but accepted voluntary redundancy in March 2005. She began a claim for constructive dismissal five months later.

She claimed her manager had commented that her son was always sick and had accused her of trying to use his condition to get out of work.

She said: "They knew about my son's problems because I took him into the office, but they wouldn't allow me to work flexibly to make it easier to look after him. Other members of staff were taking time off for hospital appointments or worked from home but my requests were always turned down."

Ms Coleman, from London, alleges discriminatory treatment because her son's condition meant she was treated less favourably than other staff and therefore forced to leave.

She claims she was described as "lazy" at work, and that abusive and insulting comments were made about her and her child.

Ms Coleman said: "I am delighted that we are one step nearer to stopping people with caring responsibilities like me from being badly treated and harrassed at work. It has taken a lot of courage to fight this case, but no one should have to choose between caring for disabled relatives or their job."

A spokesman for the Equality and Human Rights Commission said: "This case will have huge implications."

The case is now set to return to an employment tribunal.

Source: The Telegraph-telegraph.co.uk

Malaysia: More pocket money for disabled

The monthly allowance for the 9,514 disabled persons attending Community Rehabilitation Centres (PDK) nationwide will be increased from RM50 to RM150 with immediate effect.

The allowance paid to 1,479 PDK teachers will also be raised from RM500 to RM800 per month while a monthly allowance of RM1,200 would be given to the newly-created posts of PDK supervisors.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who announced this when launching the Semai Bakti Phase 2 programme at PDK Puteri Gunung, Simpang Ampat here, said: “We want to help alleviate the burden of those with disabled children as well as those who give them care.”

Earlier, he announced an allocation of RM80.1mil this year, including a RM20.95mil grant, for the PDK programme that is run by the Welfare Services Department.

The grant, he said, would be used to build four new PDKs while the budget to buy rehabilitation equipment would also be increased.

Under the new budget, Abdullah said the PDKs would get RM3,000 instead of RM500 a month for rental of premises.

“We have also increased the allocation for programmes at PDKs from RM5,000 to RM30,000 annually.

Handicraft class: Jeanne holding up a bird-shaped ‘bunga telur’ made from paper cups by PDK students as Abdullah looks on at the PDK Puteri Gunung in Simpang Ampat, Penang.

“There will also be a new allocation of RM1,000 a month for utilities expenses at all PDKs,” he said.

The Semai Bakti programme, jointly conducted by Bakti (the Association of Wives of Ministers and Deputy Ministers) and the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, was started by the late Datin Paduka Seri Endon Mahmood in 2005.

Earlier, Bakti president Datin Seri Jeanne Abdullah said Phase I of the Semai Bakti programme was initially conducted in PDKs within Felda schemes.

Under the second phase, she said, the programme would be carried out at all PDKs in the country.

“It is our responsibility as a society to care and accept disabled persons as they are,” she said.

Meanwhile, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil said parents and guardians could now sign up with the Welfare Services Department to get a monthly allowance of RM300 per family.

She said the allowances would be given out from next month.

“All parents and guardians with disabled children are eligible for this aid,” she said at the same function.

She said the Government had allocated RM219mil for welfare aid services under Budget 2008.

Source: Bernama

Malaysia: RM80 Million Allocation For The Disabled

The government today announced an allocation of RM80 million for the management and welfare of the disabled people.

In making the announcement, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said that at the cabinet meeting recently, the government approved an allocation of RM60.1 million for the management of the disabled.

A special allocation of RM20.9 million was also approved for activities jointly with the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) for charitable programmes to help these special people, he said.

Abdullah said the Barisan Nasional (BN) government had the welfare of the people, particularly the disabled group, at heart.

He was launching the "Semai Bakti" phase two charity programme organised jointly by the Welfare Organisation of the Wives of Ministers and Deputy Ministers (Bakti) and the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, here.

Abdullah said the government was making efforts to ease the burden of those who had disabled children by taking into account their daily expenses besides giving various subsidies including the price of petrol and other essential items.

The "Semai Bakti" programme, which is a rehabilitation programme within the community (PDK), aims to assist the disabled group and their families in a particular area.

Abdullah said that because of the numerous subsidies provided by the government, some groups claimed that the people had a 'subsidy mentality', but that was the government's way of easing their burden.

He said that under the allocation, the government had increased the subsidy for rental of PDK premises from RM500 monthly to RM3,000 while the monthly allocation for utilities was RM1,000.

In addition, the government had also raised the allocation for activities for the disabled people from RM5,000 previously to RM30,000 while the special allowance for the disabled was raised from RM50 to RM150 per month.

As for the employees at the PDK, their monthly allowance had been increased from RM500 to RM800 besides creating a special allowance of RM1,200 per month for PDK supervisors.

Each PDK is also given a 'one off' allocation of RM50,000 for the purchase of rehabilitation equipment for use by the disabled people and an allocation of RM2 million for the construction of PDK premises in areas that did not have a permanent PDK building.

Meanwhile, Abdullah said the government would increase the number of enforcement officers to tighten price control on essential goods to ensure that traders did not raise their prices.

In another development, the Prime Minister urged the people to play a role in looking after the safety of their children and home which would contribute towards reducing the crime rate.

He said domestic crime was the responsibility of the people and they should not depend solely on the police to monitor their overall safety.

He also asked the police to rent houses or shophouses in the centre of town to be used as a temporary police station while waiting for the permanent building to be completed because the presence of the police would build up public confidence on the security situation in their area.

-- BERNAMA

Congress and The Disabled -- More Harm Than Help

Do you have less than perfect health? Need contact lenses or eye glasses? Under legislation before Congress, the government would consider you disabled.

It sounds ridiculous. It is. But that rarely stops Congress. The proposed ADA Restoration Act has powerful supporters on Capitol Hill, including the majority leader of the House of Representatives, and it could easily become law.

The bill’s stated purpose is to strengthen protections for disabled Americans provided by the Americans with Disability Act (ADA). Unfortunately it would go far beyond this goal, classifying virtually every American as disabled and weakening the protections the government provides the truly disabled.

Congress passed the Americans with Disability Act in 1990 with the noble goal of ensuring that disabled Americans could participate in public life. The Act prohibits discriminating against the disabled, and it requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for disabled workers.

Intending to help the truly handicapped, Congress defined the disabled as those with “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities.” The act also exempts individuals who take corrective measures that mitigate their impairment, such as prescription lenses for a nearsighted employee.

he ADA has had mixed success. It has helped many disabled workers integrate into the workforce. Unfortunately, because it made employing disabled workers expensive and laying them off difficult, the act has discouraged businesses from hiring handicapped employees in the first place. Studies show that the well-intentioned ADA has actually reduced the number of disabled Americans with jobs.

Now many members of Congress want to expand the scope of the Americans with Disabilities Act to cover almost every American. The ADA Restoration Act would remove the phrase “that substantially limits one or more major life activities” from the legal definition of disability. Anyone with any physical or mental impairment, no matter how minor, would become legally disabled.

Take your pick: Heartburn. Stress. Insomnia. Occasional shortness of breath. Headaches. Tennis elbow. Heck, the flu, for that matter. If the ADA Restoration Act becomes law the government would consider every American with imperfect health — which means almost every American — disabled.

The bill even specifies that if you aren’t suffering from your impairment now, you are nonetheless disabled. It doesn’t matter if you can take steps to mitigate your disability, such as taking medication to reduce your cholesterol level. Under this act, you are still disabled.

Unfortunately, this bill is more than absurd. The ADA Restoration Act would actually undermine the protections afforded to genuinely handicapped Americans.

The original Americans with Disabilities Act was designed to put qualified but disabled workers on a level playing field with everyone else. However, society doesn’t have unlimited resources to accommodate everyone who wants assistance. Expanding the concept of disability to cover everyone will divert resources from those who truly need and deserve assistance.

The ADA, sensibly, only requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for disabled workers. The government doesn’t require businesses to go bankrupt if they cannot accommodate the needs every disabled employee. If every worker qualifies for job reassignments to accommodate their “disability,” then fewer truly disabled individuals will be able to obtain job reassignment as a reasonable accommodation.

The law would not even allow employers to give higher priority to individuals with more pressing disabilities. Instead employers would have to assign accommodations on a first-come, first-served basis, with no regard to the severity of the disabilities.

Consider a manufacturer with two positions on the assembly line where workers can perform their job while sitting down. If one employee claimed disability because of a sore knee, and another because of a sprained ankle, they could insist on those positions as reasonable accommodation to their disability.

If a paraplegic then applied to work, the employer could not legally move one of those employees to a position that required standing, making room for the new applicant. Instead he would have to turn the genuinely handicapped worker away because there would no longer be any reasonable accommodation possible.

If every new hire is legally disabled, it becomes next to impossible to prove that a genuinely disabled worker was discriminated against. Any company could simply point out that it hired a different disabled worker who it also could not discriminate against.

When everyone is special, no one is. Calling all workers disabled once again tilts the playing field against those with genuine handicaps. Washington is filled with absurd ideas, but the ADA Restoration Act goes beyond absurd — to harming the very individuals it’s intended to help.

James Sherk is the Bradley fellow in labor policy at The Heritage Foundation (heritage.org).

Source: Foxnews