Rambling of Disabled Housewife

US signs disabled rights treaty

2009-07-31T18:14:00.001+08:00

UNITED NATIONS — The United States on Thursday signed a U.N. treaty enshrining the rights of the world's 650 million disabled people, saying it symbolized President Barack Obama's commitment to upholding human rights through international agreements.

The signing by U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice marked a dramatic shift from the Bush administration, which refused to take part in negotiations on the treaty, arguing that it would dilute protections for U.S. citizens under the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act.

Obama marked last week's 19th anniversary of the U.S. law barring discrimination against the disabled with the announcement that the U.S. would become the 141st signatory to the convention. "Disability rights aren't just civil rights to be enforced here at home. They are universal rights to be recognized and promoted around the world," the president said.

Rice said Obama will soon submit the treaty to the U.S. Senate for ratification. Once it is ratified, the United States will be bound by its provisions.

"It symbolizes that the United States is recommitting itself to upholding human rights through multilateral institutions," Rice said. "It is symbolic of the president's determination to adhere universally to those principles that he has championed and that the United States stands for domestically."

The treaty is the first new human rights convention of the 21st century. It was approved by the U.N. General Assembly in December 2006 and came into force in May 2008 after 20 countries ratified it.

The 32-page convention is a blueprint aimed at ending discrimination and exclusion of the physically and mentally impaired in education, jobs, and everyday life. It requires countries to guarantee freedom from exploitation and abuse for the disabled, while protecting rights they already have — such as ensuring voting rights for the blind and providing wheelchair-accessible buildings.

It says disabled persons must also enjoy the same right to life, to inherit, to control their financial affairs, and to privacy as the able-bodied. It also advocates keeping the disabled in their communities rather than removing them and educating them separately as many countries do.

According to the U.N., about 10 percent of the world's population, or 650 million people, live with a disability and the number is increasing with population growth. The disabled constitute the world's largest minority, and 80 percent live in developing countries, many in poverty.

"We all still have a great deal more to do at home and abroad," Rice said. "As president Obama has noted, people with disabilities far too often lack the choice to live in communities of their own choosing; their unemployment rate is much higher than those without disabilities; they are much more likely to live in poverty; health care is out of reach for far too many; and too many children with disabilities are denied a world class education."

White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett, who also attended the signing ceremony, announced the creation of a new senior-level post in the State Department to promote the rights of people with disabilities internationally and coordinate government efforts to ratify the treaty.

Several U.S. campaigners for the disabled — two in wheelchairs — attended the signing ceremony in a conference room on the 38th floor of U.N. headquarters and applauded loudly after Rice wrote her name in the treaty book.

Marca Bristo, president and CEO of Access Living, who chairs the U.S. International Council on Disabilities, said the council would be coordinating civil society efforts to ratify the treaty.

William Kennedy Smith, president and founder of the Center for International Rehabilitation, who helped organize activists from around the world to work on drafting the convention, recalled how disappointed U.S. campaigners for the disabled were that the Bush administration refused to participate.

"With the signing today, the U.S. rejoins the arena where they have traditionally set the benchmark in disability rights internationally and I think it's a huge step for people with disabilities and a huge step for our country," he said.

"I think that it represents a profound difference in how the two administrations view international cooperation, international engagement," Smith said.
-The Associated Press

Disabled grandmother shoved, locked out of her house

2009-07-30T20:53:00.000+08:00

A disabled 68-year-old woman was shoved to the ground by her grandson, who later came back, confronted her, physically removed her from her home and locked her out, Bossier City police say.
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Martin Dewayne Brown, 32, of the 1200 block of Estelle Street in Bossier City, is charged with one count each of cruelty to the infirm and simple battery. He is being held in Bossier Minimum Security Facility, where his bond has been set at $25,500.

Brown is accused of shoving his grandmother, who uses a walker due to a physical disability, when she tried to intervene during a fight between him and his adult brother at her home, where Brown’s brother lives, according to Mark Natale, a Bossier City spokesman. She called police; her grandsons fled before they arrived, Natale said.

Bossier City Fire Department personnel treated the woman on the scene.

Brown returned after police left, Natale said. The woman again called authorities after being removed from her house and locked out. Brown was arrested at the residence.
-shreveporttimes.com

Disabled man may have case against NJ restaurant

2009-07-30T20:49:00.000+08:00

TRENTON, N.J. - An Essex County restaurant that refused to seat a disabled man and his guide dog in its main dining room may have violated New Jersey's law against discrimination.

The Division on Civil Rights has made a probable cause finding against 88 Cafe in Livingston and its owner, Johnny Wong. That means there is evidence of a civil rights violation, though the case is ongoing.

Clifford Aaron sought to be seated in the main restaurant with his wife, daughter and golden retriever, Alto, a certified guide dog. The Civil Rights Division says Wong instead offered the family a table near the kitchen, fearing other patrons would object to the presence of the dog.

A woman who answered the phone at 88 Cafe says Wong is off and no one else was available to comment.
-The Associated Press

Alaska police: Taser use on disabled man justified

2009-07-30T20:47:00.001+08:00

MOBILE, Ala. — Officers who used pepper spray and a Taser to remove a man from a store bathroom found out only later he was deaf and mentally disabled and didn't understand they wanted him to open the door, police said Tuesday.

A spokesman for the Mobile Police Department said the officers' actions were justified because the man was armed with a potential weapon — an umbrella.

But relatives of Antonio Love, 37, have asked for a formal investigation and said they plan to sue both the police and the store.

"I want justice," Love's mother, Phyllis Love, said Tuesday.

The woman said her son hears only faintly, has the mental capacity of a 10-year-old and didn't realize that it was the police who were trying enter the bathroom.

"He thought the devil was out there trying to get in to get him," she said.

Antonio Love, in a written statement and in a television interview given in sign language about the confrontation, said he had a badly upset stomach last Friday and went into a Dollar General store to use the restroom.

Police spokesman Christopher Levy said Tuesday store workers called officers complaining that a man had been in the bathroom for more than an hour with the door locked. Officers knocked on the door and identified themselves, but the person didn't respond.

Officers used a tire iron to open the door, but the man pushed back to keep it shut. Officers saw the umbrella and sprayed pepper spray through a crack trying to subdue the man, Levy said. They shot the man with a Taser when they finally got inside, he said.

Officers didn't realize Love was deaf or had mental problems until he showed them a card he carries in his wallet, Levy said. He was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct, but officers released him and took him home after a magistrate refused to issue a warrant.

Levy said officers were justified in using force against Love since he had an umbrella.

"The officers really worked within the limits of our level-of-force policy," he said. "We had no information about who this guy was."

Phyllis Love said her son, who has worked in the garden department at a Lowe's store for several years, was scared when he realized someone was trying to get into the bathroom with him. He put water on his face and on the floor after being hit with pepper spray, she said.

"He didn't know it was a policeman until they busted the door in on him," she said. "He had a knot on his head from where it hit him."

Levy said police wish the confrontation had never occurred. The internal investigation will include a review of Love's complaints that officers laughed at him after realizing he was deaf, he said.

"We'll make whatever efforts we can to resolve this situation, hopefully so this man will be able to trust police in the future so we can help him. Obviously, it's going to be a rough road," he said.

The Associated Press.

Mentally disabled home's workers fired after death

2009-07-19T08:27:00.000+08:00

LUBBOCK, Texas — A Texas state official says six employees at a state-run home for the mentally disabled were fired for their involvement in the June death of a resident.

Laura Albrecht, spokeswoman for the Department of Aging and Disability Services, says the workers were involved in the "physical abuse and neglect of the patient" at the Lubbock State School. Albrecht told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal that the employees worked with mentally disabled residents and were involved in direct patient care.

The school, recently renamed the Lubbock State Supported Living Center, houses about 300 mentally disabled patients. Widespread problems within the 13-school system prompted state lawmakers earlier this year to pass legislation that will increase oversight and security at the facilities.

Lubbock police were called to the school to investigate the death of a 46-year-old male resident who fell in his room after a struggle with staff on June 6. Officials said emergency responders were unable to revive him at the school.

Sgt. Jimmy Pachall said a criminal investigation was closed after the Lubbock County medical examiner concluded the victim did not receive a fatal injury during the struggle.

Pachall said the investigation was turned over to the Texas Attorney General's Office, where officials don't say whether they're looking into cases.- AP Texas News

Disabled, impoverished: For some, losing the $261 a month will be devastating

2009-07-19T08:00:00.000+08:00

More than 800 disabled, impoverished Utahns will lose their monthly state benefits over the next six months, pushing some into homelessness, advocates fear.

They are among the state's most vulnerable: typically unable to work beyond a small number of hours and waiting for Social Security benefits.

Their $261 monthly checks from the General Assistance program, which help them pay rent and afford medication, is often their only income.

"So you're going to have people with severe medical problems in the shelter or on the street," said Bill Tibbitts, an advocate at Crossroads Urban Center.

A coalition of anti-poverty leaders submitted a letter to the outgoing and incoming governors this week protesting changes that will go into effect on Aug. 1. The cuts are a result of a $3 million budget cut made by the Legislature in the past year.

Critics believe changes to the program, which serves about 1,500 disabled people, are too harsh and will have an even larger effect than predicted by Department of Workforce Services officials.

The state concedes that the full consequences of the changes are unclear, particularly how stricter eligibility requirements will affect the number of new participants.

"Until it occurs we don't know," said Helen Thatcher, an assistant director at Department of Workforce Services. "We don't intend to hurt people more than they're already being hurt."

New rules will limit the amount of time someone can receive General Assistance to 12 months instead of two years.

That limit will automatically kick hundreds off the program before they have secured Social Security benefits, advocates worry. But officials say new systems are expected to speed up the Social Security application process.

Tibbitts questions why more than half of the current recipients will lose their benefits -- many on Aug. 1, others in subsequent months -- when the budget was not cut in half. Anti-poverty leaders also are upset that a public comment period and public hearing has not yet taken place.

"Consequently, it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to undo the harm caused to hundreds of homeless and near homeless people if the impacts of these rules are as great as we fear they will be," the letter to the governors states.

The state does plan to monitor the effects of General Assistance cuts. "We don't want to be so strict -- we don't want money left over," Thatcher said.

Madeline Wesson, 58, who lived at the downtown Salt Lake City homeless shelter for 17 months and has struggled with mental illness, relies on a General Assistance check to buy the basics that food stamps don't cover.

"What am I going to do if I don't have toilet tissue?" she said.

For residents like her at Grace Mary Manor, an apartment complex for the formerly homeless, losing their monthly General Assistance checks will typically reduce their rent to $25 per month. With no other income or savings, people often turn to panhandling or plasma donation to come up with the cash. - The Salt Lake Tribune

Advocates for disabled unhappy with Texas state school settlement

2009-07-18T17:32:00.000+08:00

AUSTIN – A settlement Texas officials signed with the U.S. Justice Department to improve conditions at the state schools for the mentally disabled doesn't do enough to move people out of institutions and into the community, advocates for the disabled said Thursday.

The advocates, complaining that they were left out of the negotiations, are asking Gov. Rick Perry to ensure they play a role in the agreement's implementation and monitoring.

"We're not here to impede this settlement," said Dennis Borel, executive director for the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities. "But we are interested in ensuring nobody stays in an institution who is able and wants to get out."

The five-year, $112 million agreement, signed this spring after a four-year federal investigation into civil rights violations at Texas' 13 state schools for the disabled, calls for hiring more than 1,000 new workers, and drastically improving living conditions at the facilities.

It's a response to years of media reports about abuse and neglect inside the facilities, culminating with news this winter that employees orchestrated a "fight club" at the Corpus Christi State School.

But the advocates for the disabled say the measure simply pours millions of dollars into a system that is broken, and will do little to move institutionalized people into more integrated settings.

Officials with the Department of Aging and Disability Services, who oversee the state schools and helped craft the settlement agreement, say advocacy groups had ample time to play a role in the process.

"There were legislative hearings, interim committee hearings, public meetings where input was welcomed and considered," said Laura Albrecht, spokeswoman for the agency.

And they say the agency continues to try to move people who want to live in the community out of the state schools, reporting the facilities' population has dropped by nearly 80 people since February.

But advocates say that pumping more than $100 million into the state schools through the settlement agreement merely delays emptying out the facilities all together.

"We are talking about more than money and bricks and mortar," said Tanya Winters, director of the Texas Advocates Peer To Peer project, which trains people with disabilities to be their own advocates. "We're talking about peoples' lives and happiness." - Dallas Morning News

Iowa bill requires disabled housing registration

2009-04-16T00:19:00.001+08:00

An Iowa House committee on Tuesday approved a measure that would require registration for houses that shelter disabled workers.

The measure is in response to a dilapidated house in Atalissa where 21 mentally disabled Texas men lived while they worked at a nearby turkey processing plant operated by Texas-based Henry's Turkey Service.

The package was recommended by a task force created by Gov. Chet Culver after the men were found living in the run-down house.

Under the measure approved by the committee, other facilities would have to register with the state and subject to inspection.

Officials said the measure will give them a better handle on the number of facilities in the state and who is being housed in them.

"Does it solve all of the problems and close all of the gaps? No," said Rep. Vicky Lensing, D-Iowa City, head of the House Oversight Committee. "This is a first step."

The measure must still be approved by the House Appropriations Committee.

Though the Legislature is getting close to ending this year's session, the measure is likely to emerge because of the discovery of the disabled workers living at the house in eastern Iowa.

The men were employed since the 1970s by Henry's Turkey Service, which contracted for them to work at the meatpacker. They lived in a boarded-up house with only space heaters until a call to a state abuse hot line prompted an investigation and decision by the state to close the house in February and move the men to centers in Waterloo.

Allegations have since surfaced that the men saw little of their earnings and that most had almost no savings despite years of work.

John McCalley, director of the Department of Elder Affairs and chairman of the task force, told the committee that the package takes a series of steps to begin dealing with the issue.

"This bill represents a delicate balancing act," McCalley said.

Other recommended steps in the measure include:

_ Department of Human Services officials conducting assessments of conditions at the facilities.

_ Creating a multi-agency team that would oversee the care and treatment of dependent adults in the state.

_ Tighter scrutiny of special permits that are issued allowing workers with disabilities to take jobs.

Critics said the measure approved Tuesday would do little in the face of a bureaucracy that didn't rise to the occasion.

"For 34 years, 22 agencies have dropped the ball and now we're reacting," said Rep. Clel Baudler, R-Greenfield.

Similar legislation is moving through the Senate, and a criminal investigation in the case is continuing.

Source: Associated Press

How does receiving Disability affect my Social Security benefits later in life?

2009-04-12T11:34:00.000+08:00

Question from: Suzjoy

I started getting Disability in my 50s, and am now 61. I receive just Disability (not SSI), and am wondering what happens at age 65? Do I start receiving regular SS, and does it end earlier than if I hadnever gotten Disability?? Thanks.

Answer from : Little78

If you are receiving Social Security disability benefits when you reach full retirement age, those benefits will be converted to retirement benefits.
Source(s):
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10035...

To add to the above answer, there is no "ending" to Social Security. You get it as long as you live.

Source: Yahoo Answers

What steps does it take to qualify for disability from the state because of anxiety and depression?

2009-04-12T11:20:00.001+08:00

Question from: Mel

I'm on my second leave of absence in the past year....I've worked maybe 3 months in the past year. The disability payments from work will only last so long and I'm not sure if I can go back to work at all after that....everytime I think about it...I get sick (nausea, vomiting, pounding heart, and crying). I know that my employers think that I'm lying which of course makes it worse and I think actually led me wind up going on sick leave the second time. I'm frustrated because I am used to taking care of myself and my kids, but now I feel helpless. All this worrying is not good for me and I know it, but as we all know money makes the world go round and without it we're lost. I feel like I'm turning into a recluse and that's very scary, especially since I have kids...the youngest of which, has no relationship with her father...so of course he's no help at all. I have suffered from anxiety my entire life, but it's gotten progressively worse over the past 10 years.

I'm not looking for a hand-out...I'm looking for help. If I can't out of bed to go to work...what am I supposed to do. Perhaps you think suicide would be a better option...wouldn't want to be a problem for you or society.

Of course I've tried doctors and medication...eventually they stop working and when they do work it's not perfect, otherwise I would be at work.

Your very ignorant to think I want a hand out...I'd rather be working...making a real check like I always have in the past. Yeah I'm real happy since I can't work...ooo hoo free time to sit at home and be miserable, with no one who understands. I sit at home every day...I'm not out partying, meeting with friends or having any fun at all....I'm sick, not lazy. People always invite me out, but they don't get it....my anxiety has me like a prisoner in my own body. I wonder when it will end or just be as bad it was before...at least I could still function.
You can judge me if you like, but I just wanted some help

Answer from: Zen

Please don't give up! Are you on antidepressents? If you are, theyr'e not the right ones for you! I waited till I was in my late forties to even go see a doctor, only then because my days had become so dark, I literally wanted to die rather than live this way. I was so anxious at times, I wanted to drink and just stay in the house with the blinds closed. I had to work, but just the drive had me fighting panic attacks the whole way there. I became so neurotic that I started counting things,.OCD. I lost weight, wanted to sleep all day, couldn't stay asleep at night. I trid meditation, self-help books and tapes, herbal vitamins, shots of Nyquil, u-name-it! I could tell you stories...like getting paranoid at bank & stores, leaving a full grocery cart behind. I had an attack years ago in an intersection in left lane, sooooo..I avoided most ALL left hand turns. I cried, got mad, withdrew, didn't find pleasure in ANYTHING!!!!!.....Then, there came a little med called Paxil. I tried two or three other ones, but they didn't work as well. 6 months later, I have NO panic attacks, my depressed moments are just normal moments. I don't count everything in sight...and I hated math!!!! I rarely cry and haven't thrown a dish across the room in months. You may need a little xanax until the meds "kick in", which takes a couple weeks...But, you'll be so glad you did!!!!!!!!!!ps..u can always e mail me! Hugs to you! oooooooooo oh, And I also considered looking into dissability as the last resort!

Last note from: Mel

Thanks so much for the support. I'm feeling a little better today. I'll see my doc on Tuesday, hopefully we can figure something else out. By the way, I been through most of the things you've been through. It's funny we always feel alone and so many of us are going through the same things.

Source: Yahoo Answers

Looking for toilets

2009-03-10T00:45:00.002+08:00

The search for a model disabled-friendly rest room yielded some interesting results.

I was involved in an unusual assignment a week ago. Together with another gentleman in a wheelchair, accompanied by a team of experts from the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ), our montley crew went out as “roving investigator” in Petaling Jaya.

We went to look at, of all things, toilet. And we were only interested in loos that were user-friendly for disabled and elderly individuals.

The purpose of our trip was a well-known hotel. We oozed and aahed at most of the outfit’s disabled-friendly designs. The most impressive was the entry/exit door of the loo, which was an electronic one.

All a patron in a wheelchair needed to do was press a button with one finger and presto: it would open for him. Once inside he has only to push another button. The door closes, offering him all the privacy he needs.

If only all other hotels in the country would follow the good example of the hotel we visited and provide electronics doors as well, it would make the lives of disabled and elderly persons much easier when they visit such outfits.

Even though posh hotels may have disabled-friendly loos little attention is given to he doors. The doors are often so heavy that we have a hard time trying to open them.

Not everything was smooth sailing during our assignment. Together with the good came the not-so-good.

We had a lesson on how important it was to train everyone to handle an emergency.

When we tried to get into the loo for the first time it suddenly got locked and refused to open untill 20 minutes later. None of the staff knew how to open the door.

They claimed the person in charge was not around. Fortunately, this was not real emergency. We dreaded to think of what could happened if disabled person had fallen inside the loo and needed help.

It was disappointing too that the five-star hotel had a steep ramp at its entrance which disabled guests were forced to use to access the building.

The reserved parking lot for disabled was located far from the entrance to the building.

The management promised to rectify the situation soonest possible.

Our journey also took us to Ikea and Ikano shopping centers in Mutiara Damansara.

No sooner had we arrived when we were greeted by smiling security guards at the generously-size parking lots for the disabled. These people are so serious about their car parks for the handicapped that they clamp any unauthorized cars and make them pay a fine for abusing the facilities.

The money collected is donated to a local charity for disabled.

I was shocked to hear about the reactions of some people who misuse the disabled parking bays. One or two of them even resorted to violence when their cars were clamped, I was told.

The majority, however, apologetic when they realized the errors of their ways.

As for the toilets, especially Ikea’s, I think they have close to the perfect one I’ve seen so far.

The toilet is spacious enough for a helper to accompany a disabled person. There’s an alarm bell (panic button) in case of emergency and a face mirror that leans slightly downwards from a strategic height to allow a wheelchair-user to view his upper body.

We were all touched by the willingness of these two shopping centers to improve on what they were providing for shoppers.

(Articles written by Anthony Thanasayan - athanasayan[at]yahoo.com)

She had her tubes tied so that she could care for disabled child

2009-03-04T09:43:00.002+08:00

THE baby's brain is only 1mm wide.

DEVOTED: Madam Yang and Yurong. PICTURE: GUANG MING DAILY

But her mother's love for her is immeasurable.

Huang Yurong, a 6-month-old Malaysian baby, suffers from hydrocephalus, a condition where fluid accumulates in the cavities of the brain.

Because of this, her brain has shrunk, and her head has ballooned to the size of a football.

Guang Ming Daily reported that she was also born with spinal deformities and her nerves are exposed. The baby also can't move the lower part of her body.

When her mother, Madam Yang Shu Jun, 38, was five months pregnant, she was told that her baby would develop spinal deformities and would be disabled for life.

She was then asked if she wanted to abort the child.

Madam Yang calmly replied: 'I want to keep her. I must give birth to her. Who can abandon their own flesh and blood?'

'I understood what I have to face if I went ahead. But I couldn't give her up. I told myself that it was a trial from heaven which I must accept.'

After Yurong was born, Madam Yang and her husband approached all the private hospitals in Penang to treat Yurong.

But they turned her down.

Eventually a hospital said yes, and it has now become Yurong's second home.

Madam Yang said Yurong, her third child, had already gone through a brain operation, which reduced the size of her head. It was about two times bigger before the surgery.

Yurong frequently waves her little arms to attract her mother's attention. But because she has kidney problems, Madam Yang has to drop by the hospital five times a day to collect her urine through a catheter, often in the middle of the night.

When asked if she was tired from taking care of Yurong, Madam Yang said: 'She's lovely, she never throws any tantrums. She is my child, I have no reason and no right to complain.'

She remembered quarrelling with a doctor after giving birth to Yurong.

She had asked for her Fallopian tubes to be cut, a process called ligation.

'I told the doctor that I wanted the operation so that I couldn't have any more children. I wanted to give Yurong and my two other girls my complete love and care.'

The doctor refused, but eventually gave in.

'I realised my daughter was a fighter. She has a strong will to live and is no normal child. I think my decision to give birth to her was the right one.'

Source: Guang Ming Daily

Disabled worker fails in discrimination plea

2009-03-04T09:37:00.000+08:00

A father-of-four did not face discrimination by bosses at a Bradford job centre because of his disability, an employment tribunal has ruled today.

David Lambert, who uses a wheelchair and is often in severe pain following an industrial accident in 1996, claimed his managers should have taken his disability into account before verbally warning him for missing too many days off work at JobCentre Plus in Bradford.

Mr Lambert, 34, of Walden Drive, Heaton, Bradford, also should have been allowed to work from home occasionally because of sickness caused by a daily dose of painkillers, he told the Leeds Tribunal today.

He said: “All I can do is my best to get into work on a daily basis and what I would expect, especially from a Government department like JobCentre Plus, is that it takes my medical condition into account.”

But giving evidence the centre’s customer operations manager, Tim Dibb, said managers were justified in disciplining Mr Lambert in March, 2008, after he took more than 28 days sick leave in a year.

Because of Mr Lambert’s unpredictable condition, he would often call up the same morning saying he could not come to work, leaving about ten colleagues to deal with 50 extra compulsory interview appointments to find jobs for benefits claimants, he said.

And, if there were already too few staff in the office, job-seekers would have their interviews cancelled and simply turn up to sign on. Mr Lambert had been allowed to start work late when he was feeling ill, had been given a higher desk for his wheelchair and had been found a back office job when he found it difficult to interview job-seekers, Mr Dibb said.

And he told the tribunal there would be a “serious security risk” should Mr Lambert be allowed to take home his work – sensitive documents containing job-seekers’ personal details.

Tribunal judge David Burton sympathised with Mr Lambert but ruled JobCentre Plus managers had taken reasonable steps to account for his disability.

He said: “While this tribunal has considerable admiration for the claimant (Mr Lambert) for the efforts he makes to keep in work, we do not think that his claim is well-grounded and it is as a consequence of that that it is dismissed.”

Source: Bradford Telegraph Argus

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

2008-09-02T20:58:00.000+08:00

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

2008-07-22T23:52:00.002+08:00

Image via Wikipedia

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

2008-07-22T23:47:00.000+08:00

Image via Wikipedia
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

2008-05-18T21:44:00.000+08:00

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

2008-05-18T21:41:00.000+08:00

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

2008-05-18T21:38:00.000+08:00

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

2008-05-18T21:26:00.002+08:00

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

2008-05-18T21:23:00.001+08:00

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

2008-05-18T21:20:00.001+08:00

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

2008-05-18T21:14:00.001+08:00

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

2008-05-18T21:02:00.004+08:00

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

2008-04-20T17:20:00.001+08:00

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

2008-04-20T17:17:00.001+08:00

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

2008-04-20T17:15:00.001+08:00

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

2008-04-20T17:12:00.001+08:00

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

2008-04-20T17:08:00.002+08:00

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

2008-04-20T17:06:00.001+08:00

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

2008-04-20T17:03:00.000+08:00

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

2008-04-20T16:59:00.001+08:00

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

2008-03-30T12:26:00.001+08:00

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.

For 115 years, Cotting School has helped disabled children

2008-03-30T12:19:00.001+08:00

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.

Surprise fair promotes services available to disabled

2008-03-30T12:15:00.000+08:00

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

2008-03-30T12:13:00.000+08:00

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!

2008-03-15T23:42:00.000+08:00

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

2008-03-15T23:27:00.002+08:00

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

Disabled woman assists mother in her dementia

2008-03-15T23:23:00.001+08:00

Whenever you get so tired and exasperated that you feel you can't look after Mom or Dad a moment longer, you might want to think about Pam Hoye. Then, take a deep breath and march back into the fray.

I met Pam through the online caregivers support group at SanDiegoEldercare.com. She adds so much to the discussion that I didn't realize she has cerebral palsy and works very hard to stay in touch with us.

Then one day, she wrote the group:

“What is very interesting and puzzling is seeing how Mom forgets I am disabled, when so much of her life was devoted to my care. She can still feed me, for example, and sometimes she'll want to.

“But we cannot count on her doing this. Chances are she'll forget about me and start eating or drinking herself, especially if she's holding my glass or plate.”

Intrigued, I asked if I could meet with Pam in her San Diego apartment. She suggested we start with e-mail, as her speech disability is quite severe.

So we chatted on the super highway for a while. It wasn't till I met her in person that I realized what a chore typing was. Sitting in a wheelchair, with little control of her muscles, she hit a single letter at a time with a wooden stick held in her mouth.

Though it also seemed that speaking was torturous for her, Pam assured me it wasn't. And in a few minutes, with the help of her live-in assistant, Alicia, we were all communicating pretty well.

Pam, 59, took in her mom for three months last year, after her younger sister, who works full time, ran out of steam. At 83, Mom has dementia. Pam's sister, a three-time cancer survivor living in Sacramento, had been assisting their mother for seven years, assuming full responsibility the last three.

“Put simply, it was time for me to step up to the plate.”

I asked how her sister expected Pam to help when she herself needs assistance with most tasks. Pam lived with her mother half her life before moving out on her own and hiring a team of assistants.

But there's not much Pam shies away from as long as she has the help of the assistants and friends.

So, Pam and Alicia made room for Mom until they found a board-and-care home close by.

“It was just something I had to do. My sister would be dead if she continued caregiving,” Pam says, adding that their mother was becoming angry and hateful. “I love Mom, but I wanted my sister to be alive and well more. ... My sister didn't want to give Mom to me; I had to talk her into it. I have all kinds of help, and my sister is all by herself.”

Now, Pam, a graduate of Fresno State and former magazine writer, and her assistants take Mom to church Sundays and to the park or restaurants Tuesdays and Thursdays. Pam owns a car, which her assistants drive.

She says she's grateful that her sister hung on as long as she did. Not surprisingly, both women still have moments of guilt for not keeping their mother with them. “But she's safe and healthy and sometimes happy.”

Pam says, “I can't imagine what it's like not being able to think; I'm so mental. I consider dementia to be one of the worst conditions possible, both for the person affected and for family. ...

“Sometimes it's like I have stepped into the world of Alice in Wonderland, where nothing is as one would expect.”

I feel similarly after meeting this inspirational woman. But not for the same reason.

Marsha Kay Seff edits the San Diego ElderCare Directory. The 2008 books are available at libraries, senior centers, UT offices and Longs Pharmacies. You can also check out SanDiegoElderCare.com. Contact Seff at marsha.seff@uniontrib.com.

Source: San Diego Union Tribune

Disabled people who want to work can now pay a premium for Medicaid.

2008-03-15T23:17:00.001+08:00

Thousands of Ohioans with chronic medical conditions and disabilities will be able to join the work force and climb out of poverty without losing health care insurance.

Beginning next month, Ohio will join 35 other states that allow disabled workers to "buy in" to Medicaid, the state and federally funded health care insurance program for the poor, elderly and disabled.

Currently, Ohioans with disabilities are discouraged from working because increasing their earnings or assets would make them ineligible for Medicaid. Under the new program that received federal approval this week, people with disabilities who work or want to work can pay a premium for Medicaid. The premium would be based on the worker's income.

Advocates for Ohioans with disabilities have been pushing for the program for seven years, said Dave Zwyer, director of the Ohio Developmental Disabilities Council.

State officials project that 5,800 individuals will enroll by June 2009. The initial cost will be about $25 million a year, with $1.8 million coming from premiums.

Susan Koller, 25, of Washington Twp., said she plans to sign up. Koller is publicity director for Checker Book Publishing Group in West Carrollton, a job she landed seven months ago after earning a master's degree from Wright State University. Already on Medicaid, she has cerebral palsy, uses a power wheelchair and gets help from home health care aides.

"I cannot make any more money than I make now (under current Medicaid rules)," she said. And she can't have more than $1,500 in assets, making it tough to save for a place of her own.

Koller said she loves working.

"It makes me feel like a productive member of society," she said. "If this (new Medicaid program) encourages more people to do that, I can only see benefits of getting more people out in the work force."

Source: The Western Stars

Providing disabled persons equal employment and accessibility to the workplace

2008-03-15T23:14:00.001+08:00

Accessibility is the key to ensuring that disabled persons enjoy the same quality of life as others and that they can expect equal opportunity in employment and the enjoyment of social life.

One accepted definition of a person with disability is : any person whose mobility is reduced due to a physical incapacity (sensory or locomotor), an intellectual deficiency, age, illness or any other cause of disability and whose situation needs special attention and the adaptation to the person’s needs of the services made available to all.

Disabled persons at work

The right to employment is dependant on accessibility and one of the key areas in which the disabled are disadvantaged is employment. There are many societies in which persons with disabilities are more likely to be unemployed than others.

While there may be many reasons for this, one of the most significant factors is negative attitudes towards employing them. The notion that persons with disabilities do not make good employees remains ever-present.

However, the importance of a nation and the international community does not lie in their achievements but in their compassion and understanding.

In the 21st Century there is an increasing shift of focus from traditional concepts of competition to empathy and understanding, and the realization that a person’s contribution to society cannot be adversely affected by an impairment or disability.

The rights of the disabled have been universally acclaimed and recognised. The mere fact that such rights exist proves that the disabled can be discriminated upon, exploited and can be denied what others might consider their entitlements.

A landmark in this regard - The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol - was adopted on December 13, 2006 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, and was opened for signature on 30 March 2007. There were 82 signatories to the Convention. This is the highest number of signatories in history to a UN Convention on its opening day.

It is also the first comprehensive human rights treaty of the 21st century and the first human rights convention to be open for signature by regional integration organisations. It marks a paradigm shift in attitudes and approaches to persons with disabilities.

The Convention is intended to be a human rights instrument with an explicit, social development dimension. It adopts a broad categorization of persons with disabilities and reaffirms that all persons with all types of disabilities must enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The United Nations has formally dedicated the 3rd of December of each year for annual observance of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. With this dedication, the UN aims to promote an understanding of disability issues and mobilize support for the dignity, rights and well-being of persons with disabilities.

It also seeks to increase awareness of gains to be derived from the integration of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life.

Activities on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3 December 2007 which were based on the theme “Decent work for persons with disabilities” included a series of events at United Nations Headquarters that sought to dispel the myth that persons with disabilities are unable to work and contribute to the economy. Speakers effectively demonstrated that persons with disabilities not only make good employees, but that companies benefit from hiring them.

Accessibility

It is encouraging that there is a strong regulatory structure within the United Nations called Enable which has set standards and international accord on accessibility for the disabled.

This is done through the Secretariat for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is the focal point within the United Nations system on matters relating to disability.

It is located in the Division for Social Policy and Development which is responsible for activities related to Social Policy and Development, Poverty Eradication and Employment, Generational Issues and Integration, Inclusive Development, NGO Issues, and Indigenous Issues.

The Division is part of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat New York.

The mandate of the Secretariat for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities includes the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Standard Rules on Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities adopted in 1994, and the World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled Persons adopted in 1982.

In addition, the Secretariat prepares publications and acts as a clearinghouse for information on disability issues; promotes national, regional and international programmes and activities; provides support to Governments and non-governmental organizations; and gives substantial support to technical co-operation projects and activities.

The major objectives of the Secretariat for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities are the following: (i) to support the full and effective participation of persons with disabilities in social life and development; (ii) to advance the rights and protect the dignity of persons with disabilities and; (iii) to promote equal access to employment, education, information, goods and services.

If the disabled were to be employed along the same lines as others, employers would have to provide information and facilities that would enable the disabled employee to access the premises of his employment both within and without.

The first step would involve State responsibility where States should encourage employers both in the public and private sectors to use common definitions for the different categories of persons with disabilities.

In order to achieve this objective, both States and employers (represented by an employers federation or similar body) should consult with the organizations that represent persons with disabilities when developing services and training programmes or when finding solutions for better serving persons with disabilities.

Consequently, States should publish, or encourage employers and interested organisations to publish, general information or guidance material relating to air travel by persons with disabilities.

Such information should, where practicable, be made available in alternative media such as Braille, cassettes, large print or computer diskettes. Employers should provide persons with disabilities who are recruited for employment with all available information concerning access to air services and airport facilities by disabled persons.

All areas in the building that disabled employees use should include facilities designed in such a way that persons with disabilities can reach them and use them without difficulty, in particular: lavatories; restaurants; shops; and communication equipment.

As far as possible, Facilities reserved or designed for persons with disabilities should be appropriately indicated by signs that are in accordance with internationally agreed standards.

All other signs should take account of the needs of persons with disabilities. In addition, and to the extent possible, employers should be encouraged to provide a means of transport between home and the work pace so that persons with disabilities can be transported without having to depend on a congested public transport system. If the employer is unable to provide this service the State could inquire into the feasibility of providing such transportation at subsidized rates.

The building should provide ramps wherever stairs obstruct the free passage of persons, mainly wheelchair users and people with mobility problems. Ideally, the entrance to a ramp should be immediately adjacent to the stairs.

A coloured textural indication at the top and bottom of the ramp should be placed to alert sightless people as to the location of the ramp.

All elevators should have sufficient space to accommodate at least one wheelchair in addition to a regular load of passengers. The floor of the elevator and the area in front of the elevator on each floor should have a non skid resilient surface or a low-pile fixed carpet.

The door opening interval should be no less than five seconds. Re-opening activators should be provided. The elevator should signal arrival at each floor by means of a bell and a light to alert sightless and hearing-impaired passengers simultaneously.

In the work station environment, signage should be positioned so as to avoid shadow areas and glare. Lighting in the work place, except reading and other lighting under the control of the employee, should be directed and controlled to prevent glare or shadows.

Lighting in the passenger cabin should not result in any sharp contrasts in intensity. Stairs should have a uniform riser height, uniform tread depths and a height for the first step on and the last step off that does not exceed the uniform riser height.

Tread surfaces should be firm and non-slippery and should not create glare. The top outer edge of each step should be marked by a contrasting colour strip, and handrails should be provided on both sides.

In terms of rest rooms within the work place, at least one unisex compartment should be accessible to a wheelchair user. Turning circles of 1.50 m diameter are recommended inside the rest room to allow for full-turn manoeuvring of a wheelchair. Accessible rest rooms should be marked with the international symbol of accessibility. No indication is needed if all rest rooms are accessible.

Also within the building, the employer should ensure that lifting systems or any other appropriate devices are made available in order to facilitate the movement of disabled employees.

Measures should also be taken to ensure that the hearing and vision-impaired are able to obtain information particularly in a building complex that houses the work place.

For disabled persons being set down or picked up at a building, reserved points should be located as close as possible to main entrances. To facilitate movement to the various areas of the building, access routes should be free of obstacles.

Conclusion

Accessibility is about improving access to goods, services and facilities for people with disabilities. This includes visual, physical, cognitive, and hearing disabilities. If the measures discussed above are to be implemented, there should inevitably be a legal structure supporting them through enforceable obligations.

There should consequently be, in any society, an obligation to accommodate the disabled by explicitly requiring employers to develop and effectively communicate a written policy and procedures regarding accessibility.

Contemporary aspirations of people living in the 21st century should ideally be based on human kindness and empathy, which are the pre-eminent values of modern day life.

These form the basis of a new list of overarching human rights which are more compelling than most traditional rights that have been considered to be the birthright and natural endowment of the citizen. In the modern context the individual looks for one fundamental right - which is the right not to be wronged.

The question then is, is the disabled person wronged by not being treated at the same level as others and by not being provided with the basics for equal employment such as accessibility. The answer must be yes.

Human rights should be viewed as something more than a concept which acts as a cultural artefact. They transcend fundamental rights, which are essentially political and civil rights, and expand to more basic rights such as the right to be equal to anyone or at least be considered as such.

The bottom line is that human rights are enjoyed by the citizen through good governance. The first conclusion that one can reach is that good governance is no longer assessed by the provision of services by a government or other governing body but rather by the extent to which improvements were made possible to the quality of life of the individual.

The second is that good governance has an international connotation, in that it should be assessed with the assistance and application of international standards.

Those with disabilities have proved time and again that they could do as well or better than others who are more fortunate. It is time for all to join hands with the United Nations in its efforts to ensure that the disabled are not treated as being different

The writer is Coordinator, Air Transport Programmes, International Civil Aviation Organisation, Canada

www.Abeyratne.com

Source: Daily News Sri Lanka

Parents Defend Hysterectomy, Growth-Stunting of Disabled Girl

2008-03-15T23:08:00.000+08:00

Parents of a severely disabled Washington state girl who underwent medical procedures to stunt her growth said the surgeries were the right decision.

The parents, one year after the treatment began, said the procedures -- which included a hysterectomy, breast surgery and drug treatments to keep the girl from growing -- could be used to help other parents care for their severely disabled children, CNN reported Wednesday.

"The 'Ashley treatment' has been successful in every expected way," Ashley's parents said in an e-mail. "It has potential to help many others like it helped our precious daughter."

However, the procedure has been the subject of controversy since it was first revealed to the public. Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle has conceded that state laws were violated and the doctor who treated the girl committed suicide.

"Ashley did not grow in height or weight in the last year, she will always be flat-chested, and she will never suffer any menstrual pain, cramps or bleeding," the parents said.

Source: United Press International

England captain caught parking in disabled space

2008-03-15T23:05:00.000+08:00

The Bentley in the disabled space

ENGLAND football captain John Terry came under fire today after he was spotted illegally parking in a disabled parking space.

The £100,000-a-week Chelsea defender got slapped with a £60 parking fine after pulling into the disabled spot on Esher High Street - metres away from a 50p per hour public car park.

An angry onlooker snapped the footballer’s black Bentley parked in front of Café Piccolo while Terry went to enjoy a long lunch with his family at Pizza Express.

An Esher worker, who asked not to be named, said: "He arrived at around 12.30-ish and was up at Pizza Express. I think it is just arrogance, there is a car park behind the Civic Centre.

Terry drives away from the scene

"But you can park there [in the disabled space] for as long as you need to, it is used regularly.

"Anyone with any sense of morals would say it is convenient to park there but someone could clearly use it more than me.

"A guy who is the England captain, OK he is a great sportsman, but he has the added responsibility of showing an example in everything he does. Playing football comes with wider responsibility."

He added: "If you have a lot of money, you can buy your way out of doing the wrong thing."

Terry refused to comment on why he was parking in a disabled space despite being fit and healthy, but he took time to sign autographs for fans before reversing his car away.

Source: Surrey Advertiser

Disabled friendly bus charts new path

2008-03-15T22:45:00.000+08:00

It looks like any other school bus but it makes a big difference to certain children.

The hydraulic lift system, which helps people with disabilities do what comes easy to most others, is what differentiates it from other buses.

But what's surprising is that while there are thousands of disabled people in Rajasthan, there were practically no facilities for them till this bus rolled around.

''Every time lifting the wheel chair, lifting the child it's really difficult and so often parents don't send their children for outings,'' said Bina Kak, Director, Center for Special Education.

And to make this bus even more special, artists from Jaipur are giving it a dash of colour.

''I have used bright colours to brighten their mood. When they travel or even look at it they should feel happy,'' said Rohini Mandawa, artist.

Naturally, thrilled with the prospect of more outings and excursions, these special children celebrate with an innocence that is uniquely their own.

''We can go for movies and picnics,'' said Ajay, disabled child.

Something as simple as stepping into a bus and going out for a visit to the zoo is something we take for granted, but it can be a Herculean task for these children.

The bus with a hydraulic life system will not only make that much easier it will also give these children access to a normal life and a normal childhood.

Source: NDTV.com

Paterson's Ascension Inspires Disabled

2008-03-15T22:42:00.000+08:00

When David Paterson takes office Monday to become the nation's first legally blind governor to serve more than a few days, among those watching with the greatest interest will be those who cannot see.

Paterson's rise to governor has served as a great source of inspiration to blind Americans, many of whom believe his newfound power will make the country more open-minded about disabilities.

"We don't see a lot of people with disabilities in positions that important," said Suzanne Ressa, marketing and development director at the Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youths and Adults on Long Island. "He could be a great role model to all those individuals who are transitioning into the work world, because he's saying, `Yeah I'm making it happen.' You know, `If I can hold this leadership position, so can other people.'"

Although estimates vary, there are approximately 10 million blind and visually impaired people in the United States, and about 1.3 million of them are legally blind, according to the American Foundation for the Blind.

Paterson, who lost sight in his left eye and much of the sight in his right eye after an infection as an infant, joins a minuscule fraternity of blind politicians to attain high office. Thomas Pryor Gore was totally blind and served as a U.S. senator from Oklahoma from 1907 until 1921 and from 1931 until 1937. Minnesota had a blind congressman and senator, Thomas David Schall, who served from 1915 until his death in 1935.

There has been one other legally blind governor in U.S. history. Bob Cowley Riley, who lost his left eye in WWII and later lost vision in his right eye, served 11 days as governor of Arkansas in 1975. He had been lieutenant governor and finished the term of Dale Bumpers, who moved on to the U.S. Senate.

Paterson succeeds Eliot Spitzer, who resigned Wednesday after being exposed as a client in a high-priced prostitution ring.

The governor-to-be spent Friday meeting privately with state leaders from both political parties as he gets a jump start on building bipartisan support. Paterson said reviving the state's economy is his top priority, with improvements for inner city schools next on his list.

The 53-year-old Paterson is the state's first disabled governor since Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was stricken with polio several years before he was elected in 1928.

Though his sight is limited, Paterson, who spent 20 years in the state Senate before becoming lieutenant governor, walks the halls of the state Capitol unaided. He recognizes people at conversational distance and can memorize whole speeches. He has played pickup basketball games, once ran the New York City Marathon and can read for short periods of time, though aides usually read to him.

Maricar Marquez hopes Paterson's new job will help change people's opinions about disabilities. Marquez, 36, is deaf and blind and communicates with the aid of two interpreters, but still manages to work as an instructor at the Helen Keller center.

"Maybe with this happening the government will be more sensitive to people with disabilities and provide better services for rehabilitation, education and maybe be more willing to be open-minded and understanding of the needs of people with disabilities," she said.

Dr. Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind, said Paterson's ascension to the governor's mansion can only help shatter misconceptions and stereotypes.

"He will serve as constant proof to the citizens of New York and the nation that blind people can perform any task, from an entry-level position to leading one of the largest states in the nation," Maurer said.

Vincent Norbury, a 19-year-old student from Queens who attends the Helen Keller center, had some suggestions for the incoming governor: "I think he should put Braille on more street signs and make some way that people with no vision can tell if the lights are changing in the street."

Tracey Gilbert-Dallow of Port Washington, a Helen Keller instructor who gets around with her guide dog Marley, predicted Paterson "will have a big influence not just on blind people, but everyone."

"He had all these challenges and look where he is today," she said. "Just because you have sight don't mean you can see. You see within yourself."

Source: Associated Press

Mom who killed disabled daughter gets 20 years

2008-03-15T22:37:00.000+08:00

KANE COUNTY - A St. Charles Township woman who stabbed her developmentally disabled daughter to death in 2006 and then tried to drive her car into the Fox River pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Betty C. Whitten, 59, received the term in exchange for her plea of guilty but mentally ill to charges stemming from the stabbing death of her daughter, Nyakiambi Whitten, 34, who had cerebral palsy.

Kane County Judge Philip DiMarzio credited Whitten for almost two years she has spent in the county jail, and she may be paroled in about eight years.

Source: Chicago Tribune

Disabled to be offered alternative to nursing home care

2008-03-15T22:34:00.000+08:00

THE federal and state governments will spend $190 million over the next five years to help move young people with disabilities out of nursing homes and into special accommodation.

Around 6500 people aged under 65 are living in residential aged care facilities around the country, 1000 of whom are under the age of 50.

Most of these people have ended up in residential aged care facilities after acquiring disabilities such as brain injuries, multiple sclerosis, Huntingdon's disease and motor neurone disease.

Isolated socially and emotionally, these residents often miss out on a range of care services, making such accommodation less than ideal.

But according to the Rudd Government's parliamentary secretary for Disabilities and Children's Services, Bill Shorten, help is on the way.

"Many people aren't even aware young people are in aged care, certainly not in the numbers there are," Mr Shorten told The Sunday Age. "When I started this job, I wasn't really aware of this as an issue. Then I found out that a guy I had been at university with was in a nursing home and had been for over a decade. That really shook me and focused my attention on the program."

The main aim of the program — to be rolled out over the next five years in co-operation with state and territory governments — is to move younger people out of nursing homes and into more suitable share accommodation with people of a similar age and who share similar health-care needs.

It also aims to divert younger people who acquire a disability in the future and are at risk of going into a nursing home into more appropriate accommodation.

If younger people who are already in nursing homes want to stay where they are, then the program aims to ensure that they have better services available to them.

"The states and territories are all at different stages, but Victoria's really doing well," Mr Shorten said.

"These people, who have all had tremendous bad luck in their lives, well, society has really failed them if their only option is a bed in a residential aged care facility.

"They deserve better; they deserve the same choices about their lives as every other Australian does.

"I'm really proud that this program is delivering it."

The Young People in Nursing Homes Alliance has led a concerted campaign to offer young Australians with support needs the choice about where they live and how they are supported.

Source: The Age, Australia

Seniors, Disabled Residents Push State Leaders For Expanded Home Care Option

2008-03-05T13:54:00.001+08:00

A stroke left Bob Veillette, the 63-year-old former Waterbury newspaper editor, with locked-in syndrome, a condition in which his mind is working but everything but his eyes are frozen. He can communicate only by moving his eyes up or down for yes and no. After waiting a year, the family was recently accepted into a state program that helps pay for personal care assistants, but it does not cover the cost of all of his care. (BOB CHILD / AP / March 4, 2008)

The stroke that left 63-year-old former Waterbury newspaper editor Bob Veillette almost completely paralyzed is still difficult for his family to accept.

But the fact that Veillette's wife, Bonnie, is going broke and running herself into the ground trying to care for her beloved husband at home makes no sense at all to his children and others who testified at a legislative hearing today.

Speaking before the Human Services Committee, Veillette's son, Greg, said before suffering a massive brain-stem stroke in 2006, his father was a vigorous man who ate right, exercised and played the piano at countless charity events.
"Now, he has been completely abandoned by some of his people,'' said the younger Veillette, a physician in Boston. While Veillette's friends and family have stuck by him, his son said, the state and his insurance company have turned their backs, refusing to pay for the services he needs to avoid spending the rest of his life in a nursing home.

He is one of many with the same concern. Veillette's family was joined in Hartford at a public hearing by a large contingent of senior citizens and disabled residents who want the state to free more people from nursing homes by increasing government reimbursement for home care.

Under current rules, the Medicaid program pays mostly for nursing home care which is generally more expensive -- and often less desirable -- than home care.

Connecticut is among a handful of states in a trial program that allows the state to use Medicaid money to pay for 24-hour home care and other services. The $24.2 million grant-funded program, expected to begin this summer, is designed to allow 700 people now in nursing homes to get care in their family homes or in supported apartments.

Joseph Stango, a Waterbury financial adviser who started lobbying for increasing home care funding in 2006, after a dearth of support forced his disabled mother into a nursing home, said he is grateful for the trial program.

But, he said, it does not go far enough. He is seeking legislation that would immediately expand the home care option - known as money follows the person - to 5,000 people.

He also wants lawmakers to change an eligibility rule that makes the new Medicaid-for-home-care money available only to people who already have been in nursing homes for six months. With that requirement, people like Bob Veillette do not qualify.

With her husband in a wheelchair by her side Tuesday, Bonnie Veillette told committee members that she could have left Veillette in Gaylord Hospital, with the state picking up the $9,000-a-week tab.

Instead, she chose to bring him home to Naugatuck, where until January, friends and family donated about $100,000 to help pay for his care at a cost of several thousand dollars a month.

The stroke left Bob Veillette with locked-in syndrome, a condition in which his mind is working but everything but his eyes are frozen. He can communicate only by moving his eyes up or down for yes and no. After waiting a year, the family was recently accepted into a state program that helps pay for personal care assistants, but it does not cover the cost of all of his care.

Citing a recent UConn study, Stango says the cost of nursing home care can be twice as expensive as home care.

"But it's not about the fiscal, my issue is the moral issue,'' said Stango, whose mother, Dora, died in December at the age of 84. "We've taken a whole population and taken away their civil rights. All we're asking is for people and their families to have a choice, it just so happens that it's less expensive.''

Social Services Commissioner Michael Starkowski supports the trial program for 700 people. But he says the state is not ready to expand the program for 5,000 people, as Stango wants. He said the federal grant would not support additional people and the state simply cannot afford it. Another problem is that there are not enough nurses and home care aides to care for such a huge influx of people returning to private homes.

Stango said he'd like to see the savings from reduced nursing home costs put into a trust fund that would be used to train more nurses and other health care providers who he acknowledges will be needed to provide skilled nursing care in individual homes.

Stango says the expansion of state funding for home care came too late for his mother, and may even elude Bob Veillette and his family. But the issue should be important to everybody as they grow older.

"It's a social contract for those who are coming up to bat,'' Stango says, "which are the baby boomers.''

Author: Hilary Waldman at hwaldman@courant.com

Give disabled people a sporting chance

2008-03-05T13:51:00.001+08:00

Nondisabled people should be aware that those with disabilities have the same interests and aspirations. Jennifer Taylor provides a guide to greater understanding.

MANY people fight some kind of stereotype and disabled people are no exception. But the barriers disabled people face often begin with people's attitudes, which may be rooted in misinformation and misconceptions about living with a disability.

Disabled people are brave and courageous. "Adjusting to a disability requires adapting to a lifestyle, not bravery and courage," says Sheila Flynn, the assistant director of learning and development at Grooms-Shaftesbury. The charity provides residential and nursing care for people with learning and physical disabilities. Fred Hearn, a service user of Grooms-Shaftesbury who uses a wheelchair, points out that he "needs hugs and love the same as anyone else".

All wheelchair users are chronically ill or sickly. The link between wheelchair use and illness may have evolved through wheelchair use in hospitals. People use wheelchairs for various reasons, none of which necessarily relate to illness.

There is nothing one person can do to eliminate the barriers that disabled people face. Accepting disabled people as individuals capable of the same needs and feelings as yourself is a good start. Everyone can contribute to change by understanding the need for making parking, meetings and events accessible and to encourage disabled people to participate. You can also speak up when negative words or phrases are used about disability.

People with disabilities always need help. "Always ask if a person needs help before you act," Hearn says. "Many disabled people are independent and capable of giving help." He says that sometimes he may need help but that he is not stupid and people should address him and not his carer.

Disabled people are more comfortable with their own kind. In the past disabled people were grouped in separate schools and institutions. Today many disabled people take advantage of new opportunities to join mainstream society.

Nondisabled people have an obligation to "take care of" disabled people."Anyone can offer assistance, but most people with disabilities prefer to be responsible for themselves," Flynn says.

Curious children should never ask people about their disabilities. Many children have a natural curiosity. But Flynn says that scolding a child for asking an embarrassing question may make them think that having a disability is wrong or bad. "Most disabled people won't mind answering a child's questions," she says.

The lives of disabled people are totally different from those of people without disabilities.Disabled people go to school, get married, work, have families, shop, laugh, cry, pay taxes, get angry, vote, plan and dream like anyone else. Hearn says: "Disability doesn't mean your life stops, it is just a different sort of life."

Most disabled people cannot have sexual relationships. Disabled people are sexual beings, just like other people, but may have to adapt their sexual activity. Disabled people can also have children, either naturally or through adoption.

Hospitals are equipped to treat disabled people. An urgent review is required, Flynn says. "Resources in hospitals in terms of equipment and clinical knowledge are limited." Clinicians and social care workers should realise that they are not the only experts, Hearn says. Disabled people often know best how their own disability should be managed.

Source: Timesonline

Strategy offers more control for disabled people

2008-03-05T13:48:00.001+08:00

Plans to transform the lives of disabled people have been announced by the government.

The Independent Living Strategy, published by the Office for Disability Issues, aims to give disabled people more choice and control over the support they need and greater access to employment, transport, health and housing opportunities.

It includes £750,000 funding for 12 organisations that are run by disabled people.

Welcoming the strategy, the prime minister, Gordon Brown, said: "We are committed to a vision of equality for all disabled people by 2025. A vision for Britain where all citizens are respected and included as equal members, and where everyone has the opportunity to fulfil their potential.

"This strategy sets out how we will make progress towards achieving that goal. Transferring power to those needing support and joining up services to ensure this happens, changes the way in which support and services are delivered and experienced."

Bringing together initiatives on employment, housing and social care to remove barriers and to improve access to services, the strategy makes a series of new commitments involving six government departments.

These include regional plans to develop independent living opportunities for older disabled people with high levels of support needs, a national strategy to enable people to remain in employment when they acquire an impairment or their condition worsens, an awareness campaign and a new toolkit to assist the development of local independent living strategies for older disabled people.

According to the strategy, 'independent living' means not necessarily doing things for oneself, but having choice over support and equipment, and equal access to public services and opportunities.

James Purnell, the secretary of state for work and pensions, said: "Disabled people should have the same choice and control over how they live their lives as everyone else.

"The strategy is unique as it was developed in partnership with disabled people from the outset, to ensure it reflects their real life experiences and has drawn on their expertise to identify how to address the barriers they face."

Disabled people also will be involved in reviewing the strategy annually for the first five years of its life. If delivery does not happen, says the strategy, new legislation has not been ruled out.

Investment of up to £3m was pledged for the strategy today in addition to previous funding promises for a £460m disability facilities grant over the next three years, £33m to enable an extra 125,000 older people every year to get repairs and adaptations to their home, £520m to help local authorities transform social care services, and investment of £340m to help transform services for disabled children.

In addition, the Department of Health announced grants of £50,000 or £100,000 for 12 organisations led and controlled by disabled people, which help them have more choice and control over their lives.

The health and care services minister, Ivan Lewis, said: "User-led organisations are key to achieving independent living for disabled people. Today's announcement is a step toward a more self-sufficient system for disabled people to lead their own lives, with the availability of advocacy support if it is needed."

The announcements follow the launch of the government's Independent Living Review in July 2006 to find imaginative ways of supporting independent living for disabled people.

Source: Guardian.co.uk

Change to funding for young disabled students

2008-03-05T13:45:00.000+08:00

MEDIA RELEASE FROM CCS DISABILITYACTION
5 March 2008

Change to funding for young disabled students enables choice and independence

CCS Disability Action welcomes the Government's changes to funding criteria that enables young disabled students with very high needs to leave school at 16.

Previously, students with very high needs could not access funding for vocational support services until they were 21, leaving them isolated in a school environment whilst their friends of the same age were able to move on with their lives.

The very high needs funding supports young disabled people in their vocational activities once they leave school.

"CCS Disability Action along with many other disability sector organisations have been working towards this goal with young disabled students, their families and Government for a long time," says National Policy and Strategy Manager Paul Gibson.

CCS Disability Action is one of the largest providers of disability services in New Zealand and works to ensure the rights of disabled people are acknowledged and included in all aspects of life.

Schools and training organisations will now have the freedom to work with students to make successful transitions and choices at an important stage of their lives.

"This change will enable students to make their own choices about their career or study paths at the same time as their brothers, sisters and friends in mainstream education," he continues.

"This is a massive step towards giving very high needs students true independence. The next step should be a review of the funding, which for many students and families is still insufficient," adds Paul Gibson.

Source: Independent News New Zealand

Disabled woman left to freeze by Scottish Gas overcharging

2008-03-05T13:43:00.001+08:00

A DISABLED grandmother told yesterday how she was forced to go to bed early to keep warm for two years, after being overcharged on her gas bills.

Linda Garden, 52, had to turn off the gas fire completely in her sitting-room and turn down the central heating system in her two-bedroom home in Buckie after being charged £1,200 a year for her gas.

And she revealed yesterday she had been offered only £20 as a goodwill gesture by Scottish Gas after the company admitted it had been charging her by the cubic foot instead of per cubic metre.

Mrs Garden, who has been paralysed from the neck down since she fell off a wall when she was 14, said the problems with her gas bill started after a new meter was installed in March 2006.

She said she had originally assumed that her bills had increased because her daughter, Laura, had just given birth to her granddaughter, Sadie, who will be two in April.

"My daughter was staying with me at the time and, because my granddaughter had been born, I blamed the high bills for putting on more heating for the baby," she said.

"But it was costing me £1,200 a year just to heat the house and get hot water. I was going to bed early because I was frightened of the bills coming in.

"I never had the gas fire on and I was putting the radiators off in the sitting room if I wasn't in the room. I had the central heating coming on less in the morning and less in the evening.

"I checked with a neighbour who has the same type of house as me but one bedroom more and she was paying only a third of what I was paying. I thought it couldn't possibly be right.

"I was being told by my doctor to keep my body at an even temperature and then told on the phone to turn everything down and check my meter in a week's time.

"I spent hours on the telephone to Scottish Gas trying to get an explanation as to why my heating bill was so high.

"I finally got a letter from Scottish Gas today in which they said they had been charging me by cubic feet instead of cubic metre and that they will re-bill me for the two years from March 2006. Hopefully I'll get some money back.

"It's frightening to think how much I have overpaid.

I am a vulnerable person and yet I was expected to trust they had this right.

"It's disgraceful to think of how much profit they made last year yet they cannot get their billing system correct. I should hate to think this was happening to anyone else".

Mrs Garden added: "All I have been offered until now is £20 as goodwill gesture. I think that's a bit of an insult."

CASE TAKEN UP BY COUNCILLOR

LINDA Garden, of Letterfourie Road, Buckie, finally won her case after it was taken up by her local councillor, Anne McKay, the independent Moray councillor for Buckie.

Ms McKay said: "They (Scottish Gas] have put her (Mrs Garden] through so much stress over the past two years.

"She told me the amount they have offered her and I thought it would have been more, so I'm inquiring into that.

"I just feel it is a dreadful situation and I'm hoping to hear back from trading standards about this."

A Scottish Gas spokeswoman said: "Customer services have been working with her to refund credit and to work out a payment plan.

"She is happy with the outcome. We apologise for any inconvenience caused."

Source: Scotsman News

Teens Accused of Beating Disabled Woman

2008-02-27T13:35:00.001+08:00

Two teenagers hid overnight in a house and spent more than six hours torturing a disabled woman after her mother left in the morning, authorities said.

Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said the teenage boy and girl tied up the 18-year-old woman, clubbed her, kicked her, shaved her head and soaked her with water before making her walk barefoot outside in the snow.

They also ignored pleas from the woman, who had undergone brain surgery, not to hit her in the head, investigators said.

"This is one of the worst crimes I've ever seen," Jones said Monday. "They are sick animals, apparently just doing this for kicks and no other reason."

Cheyenne Blanton, 17, and Joseph Nagle, 16, both of Hamilton, were arraigned Monday on juvenile delinquency charges that include aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, kidnapping, felonious assault and vandalism, according to juvenile court officials.

They were ordered held in the county's juvenile detention center pending a court appearance later this week. Neither entered a plea, and both requested court-appointed attorneys. Those attorneys had not been named Monday.

The teens are accused of physically abusing Ashley Clark, 18, for more than six hours Friday at her home in Hanover Township, about 35 miles northwest of Cincinnati.

Both Jones and the woman's mother, Sheila Clark, want the teenagers tried as adults, and Jones said the two could get 75 years to life in prison if tried and convicted as adults.

"I want full justice for my daughter," Clark said Monday. "Those two never need to walk the streets again."

Clark would not comment on details of the case or provide specifics on her daughter's disabilities or injuries, other than to say that her daughter was doing as well as possible.

"I can't understand how anyone could do this to anyone, but especially to someone with such a beautiful, loving heart," Sheila Clark said.

Messages seeking comment on whether adult charges would be pursued were left at the prosecutor's office Monday. There was no answer at telephone listing for a Joseph Nagel in Hamilton. There was no listing for Cheyenne Blanton.

Jones said the teenagers hid overnight in the basement of the Clark home, intending to steal the car and leave town before an upcoming juvenile court appearance date for one of the suspects.

They apparently missed their chance to get the car when Sheila Clark left the house in it Friday morning, and they went into the kitchen to get something to eat before going upstairs and waking her daughter, Jones said. The pair then spent the next six to eight hours torturing Ashley Clark, he said.

The mother realized something had happened when she came home, saw the house ransacked and called 911. A neighbor also called the sheriff's department to report two juveniles in the neighbor's yard.

Detectives apprehended the teenagers a few minutes later in nearby woods after following their footprints in the snow, Jones said

Source: The Associated Press

CACI Program Helps Disabled Veterans Start New Careers

2008-02-25T20:28:00.000+08:00

Suffering from his third back injury, Army Cpl. Mayo Van Dyck was walking through Walter Reed Army Medical Center last year feeling he couldn't give the service his all anymore. But he didn't want to stop supporting the government.

So the 10-year serviceman, a satellite communications specialist who had served in Kosovo, was happy to hear an announcement that Arlington government contractor CACI International had a new program targeting service-disabled veterans. He attended a CACI briefing at Walter Reed and soon after joined the company. He is now a quality assurance manager on a classified project.

"People think we don't have a skill set that translates well," said Van Dyck, 37, who suffers bouts of numbness and pain in his back, arms and legs. "My primary job was to work as a communications soldier. My secondary job was to carry a gun."

Disabled veterans in recent years have faced increasing barriers to employment. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 14.8 percent of service-disabled veterans discharged from 2002 to 2005 are unemployed, compared with 9.8 percent of veterans without a disability. That's far above the same categories from the 1990s.

The CACI program, "Deployed Talent, Creating Careers," looks for service-disabled veterans at job fairs, on message boards and in military hospitals. Less than a year since starting the effort, it has hired 18 service-disabled veterans -- some with a lost limb, others with hearing loss, almost all working directly with clients.

The program is the brain child of Paul Cofoni, who took over as CACI's chief executive last summer. He became interested in the issues of the disabled when he was head of the federal unit at Computer Sciences Corp. There, he urged the human resources department to hire 30 disabled people in one year -- a small number, he thought, since CSC had 90,000 employees. "They looked at me startled," he said, and it took a year and a half.

"I ended up directing the program," Cofoni said. "There's a fear [by the recruiters] that they're taking a risk that if it doesn't work out it could be hard to release them."

Upon becoming CACI's chief, Cofoni immediately instituted a program to hire disabled vets. He said he was mindful of the lack of resources many Vietnam veterans suffered when they returned from the war.

"If we all do our bit here, we won't have another generation of displaced veterans out there in the society," Cofoni said.

-- Zachary A. Goldfarb

Advocate of disabled sees ways city can improve access

2008-02-25T20:21:00.002+08:00

Emma Aguirre lives in the 5100 block of Blue Ridge Drive in Northeast El Paso. She has worked with city officials to improve access to sidewalks and better street lights. Any glitch in the sidewalk could send wheelchair users out into the street. (Rudy Gutierrez / El Paso Times)

Like many El Pasoans active in the community, Northeast resident Emma Aguirre hits the streets to talk to her neighbors about their concerns, and has gone as far as collecting signatures from those wanting more street lights, better sidewalks and police patrols.

But unlike some El Pasoans, Aguirre, who is paralyzed on the left side of her body, uses a motorized wheelchair, and has counted about 15 other residents who are also disabled and require a wheelchair to get around.

"Until you're in a wheelchair, you can't understand the needs of our community," said Aguirre, who has used a wheelchair for about six years. "We have a lot of needs in this area."

Aguirre has reached out to city officials like West-Central city Rep. Susie Byrd and Northeast city Rep. Melina Castro, and representatives from the city's Streets Department, to get curb cuts, or sidewalk ramps, installed along Blue Ridge Drive, where Aguirre has lived for about 30 years. Although the curb cuts have made it easier for Aguirre to travel through her neighborhood, she said a lot more still needs to be done before she can feel safe navigating her motorized wheelchair through the streets.

"I travel 12 blocks to pick up my medicines from Walgreens (near Diana Drive and Dyer Street), and sometimes I have to use driveways to go from one sidewalk to another, or sometimes the cars are blocking the sidewalk and I have to go into the street," Aguirre said.

After complaining about the lack of curb cuts to city officials, Aguirre took Byrd and a streets engineer on a tour through the neighborhood.

"When you begin to look at it, you realize how many barriers and hurdles there are," Byrd said. "The sidewalks in this neighborhood are really narrow. Even with one glitch you have to move onto the grass, which is hard to do, or out into the street."

Sometimes Aguirre has to travel after sundown by herself since her husband isn't able to drive after dark. Because of this, Aguirre has noticed a lack of street lighting in the area, which is dangerous, especially when she has to maneuver onto Diana Drive, a busy thoroughfare.

"I risk getting hit by cars," Aguirre said. "It's very dark along that street."

Castro said she has spoken to Aguirre about her concerns involving portions of Castro's district, including an entrance to the Northpark Mall parking lot that is in bad condition. Castro said that sidewalk accessibility and fixing the city-owned portion of the mall entrance will be addressed by the end of the year.

Some disabled residents feel that the city isn't doing enough to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act, which was passed July 26, 1990.

"The city is supposed to have already complied with it, but they've been very behind in making the city accessible," said Luis Enrique Chew, executive director for the Volar Center for Independent Living, which advocates for the rights of people with disabilities.

Chew, who has used a wheelchair for 27 years, said the city has an ADA coordinator who has to compete with other community organizations for Community Development Block Grant funds, and that, sometimes, people with disabilities have to wait until funding is available before accessibility improvements can be made.

"I believe that the city should have a line item in the budget to comply with the ADA, because right now we're competing with funding for other purposes," Chew said.

However, accessibility around the city has improved over the past two decades, said Central resident Michael Rodriguez, 52, who has used a wheelchair for 27 years.

"In my area, they (the city) fixed it up real nice with bike lanes and curb cuts, so it's easier for me," said Rodriguez, who is active at Volar. "We're getting there. Compared to 25 years ago, things are a lot better now."

Adriana M. Chávez may be reached at achavez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6117.

More information
For information on the Volar Center for Independent Living, located at 1220 Golden Key Circle, visit www.volarcil. org or call 591-0800.

Programs to Aid Mentally Disabled Could Receive a Boost in Funding

2008-02-22T10:08:00.001+08:00

The Virginia General Assembly is considering a sharp increase in funding for community living programs for people with mental disabilities, continuing the state's efforts to reverse long-standing gaps in care.

The increase is being led largely by Republican budget writers in the House of Delegates, who announced a plan yesterday to increase state spending by $38.1 million over two years for programs for people with mental disabilities. The money would allow 800 people with such conditions as Down syndrome to live in group homes close to their families, or receive in-home nursing or other local services, instead of being placed in state institutions that are predominantly in the southern and western parts of the state.

The House plan rivals more modest proposals by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) and the state Senate; both have offered enough money in their budgets for 150 additional people to receive vouchers that pay for their care through Medicaid, the federal-state program for the poor and the disabled. Members of both chambers will review the plans and negotiate a compromise, which must be approved by Kaine.

"We felt we had to continue our investment to these families," said Del. Phillip A. Hamilton (R-Newport News), who helped develop the plan. "We've taken some time to address our waiting list, and we wanted to continue the progress we've made."

Until several years ago, Virginia moved slowly in providing community placements and services, which generally are about half the cost of institutional care. In 2002, a national study found that about one in four Virginians with mental or developmental disabilities lived in institutions, twice the national rate.

Over the past four years, however, the state has added more than 1,350 group-home slots to address what many lawmakers acknowledged was the state's poor track record.

But the state still has a waiting list of 4,056 people, about half of whom are considered in urgent situations, such as an elderly parent taking care of an adult child. Advocates said that in a tight budget year, the potential for hundreds of additional slots shows a change in how the state is addressing issues of people with mental disabilities.

"This does show how far we've come," said Nancy Mercer, executive director of the Arc of Northern Virginia, which advocates on behalf of people with mental disabilities.

The differences in the three proposals are significant. If the House plan were to pass, for instance, Fairfax County and the city of Falls Church could help 93 people obtain community placements and services. If Kaine's or the Senate plan were to pass, the county and city would receive five slots.

Source: Washington Post

TURN Community Services Assists Disabled Citizens

2008-02-21T09:06:00.001+08:00

This workroom is used to provide on-site employment sponsored by Smead to TURN clients.

By: Cathy Wentz
Residents with disabilities in the Cedar City area have a wide variety of services available to them through TURN Community Services.
Susan Johnson, director of operations for TURN in Southern Utah, said the agency provides any service that allows an individual with disabilities to remain integrated in the community where they live. Those services include family support services for a young child living at home as well as transition services for students in the schools and employment.
There are services for adults who live with their families, residential services and day programs, in individual or group settings, to assist disabled citizens who are unable to work. One of those programs is a day care program for situations where disabled citizens require daytime supervision such as someone suffering from age-related Alzheimer's Disease as well as other problems.
"We really try to tailor it to what the state offers and what we can offer," Johnson said.
She said TURN owns a small building next to its main office in Cedar City with some residents living there. However, their residential areas are all over the city, with many of the people that TURN helps renting their own apartments, and the agency goes to them.
Johnson said it is easier for TURN to own the property for some of its group homes because they can be maintained better for those who require 24-hour service.
"And we can do rent control and keep them low-cost," Johnson said.
She also said they work very closely with local housing authorities to make sure the people they serve qualify for available housing subsidies, and that their homes fit into those categories.
Linda Reeves is Director of Program Services for TURN, and she runs the rural program that provides services to disabled people at their homes in areas such Panguitch, Kanab and Beaver. Reeves also runs the day program in Cedar City.
She said the day program brings in individuals that do not have work skills to come in and learn skills and have a safe place to participate in activities rather than just sitting at home.
"They can be with their friends and visit," Reeves said.
She also said TURN tries to place individuals in jobs in the community if possible to see how they do.
"If they are able to work in an outside job, then that's our goal," Reeves said.
There is also a workroom on the premises where TURN clients can be employed making file folders for Smead, a local company.
Johnson said TURN got its start in 1973 when a group of parents from the Salt Lake City area had children with disabilities and wanted them to receive services in their own communities rather than having to be placed in institutions. Those parents got the program started in the Salt Lake area.
Johnson said TURN has merged with other non-profit organizations in Southern Utah and has grown that way. She said one of the organizations with which TURN merged in Cedar City was Iron Parke Corporation. That happened in 2001.
She said TURN has also merged the Association for Retarded Citizens of Washington County, which is located in St. George. She said that ARC is doing advocacy work, but not providing services at this time. TURN took over the provision of services in the Washington County area.
Johnson said TURN had an acronym a long time ago when the organization first began. She said the group continues to use the word TURN because they like the idea that people can turn a corner, turn their lives around and turn dreams into reality.
Although Johnson said she does not know the specifics about the first federal aid TURN received, the group that started TURN wanted to get more community-based programs and the government provided some funding for that. She said she believes they found a program that would help them get started, incorporated as a non-profit organization, and have been expanding ever since.
Johnson said most of the funding for TURN is through Medicaid-sponsored programs. The organization has contracts with the Department of Services for People with Disabilities through the state's human services department. She said the state provides funding directly to individuals who choose TURN, which is contracted as a Medicaid service provider, to assist them with the services they require.
Johnson said TURN has a contract with Five-County Area Aging, and receives grants for some of its programs such as housing.
"We also have some really nice donors in the business world who have helped with some of our programs," Johnson said. "In a non-profit (organization) you pretty much run by the skin of your teeth, and then try to get people to help you with donations."
Johnson said as a non-profit company, TURN is always faced with the fact that it will be looking for funding. She said although the SPD is wonderful resource for funding, they provide only the minimal amount needed, and not everyone served fits into that category.
She said the organization does its best to stay consistent with the growing economy in the area and provide good wages and health benefits for the staff.
"That's always a challenge," Johnson said.
TURN Community Services is located at 295 S. 300 East in Cedar City, and can be reached by phone at 586-1128.

Source: Cedar City Review

Disabled day care centre to close

2008-02-21T09:02:00.001+08:00

A day care centre for disabled adults in Gwynedd is to close despite a protest by supporters.

Canolfan Segontium in Caernarfon is attended by 24 adults, many with severe disabilities.

Protestors said the care at the centre was exceptional and there was concern about what would happen to the people who used it if it closed.

Councillor Dai Rees Jones said the closure was not to save money but to improve the care of individuals.

Will and Dilys Parry Williams travelled to the meeting at Caernarfon from their home at Tregarth near Bangor.

Their daughter Rhian Mai, 37, has attended the centre since she was 18.

I can say, hand on heart, that this decision has not been taken to save money

Dai Rees Jones, councillor

Mr Parry Williams said he was very disappointed the council was not looking at building a new centre, but rather at finding places for those who attended at various other locations in the county.

"My daughter has had the same carer, Karen Owen, since she started at Segontium, and we consider her part of our family," he said.

"Our daughter has a severe disability and although I have great respect for the other establishments within the county I don't think they have the facilities to care for her.

"What those attending the centre need is continuity of specialist care."

Cheryl Williams from Bethesda has a sister, Sharon, 49, who attends the centre.

"I don't think the council has thought through the closure properly.

"I accept the building where they are is unsuitable but what we need is another centre."

Elizabeth Pitts, from Llanberis has two daughters who attend the centre - Linda, 34 and Janet , 33.

'Individual care'

"There is no-where else where they can go," she said.

Social Services portfolio holder councillor Dai Rees Jones said the decision was taken so that the level of care could be improved - on the basis of individual need.

He said the council had not contacted families beforehand because there had not been anything concrete to say.

There was, he said, some money available if alternative care could not be organised for those attending the centre, and another centre needed to be built.

"I can say, hand on heart, that this decision has not been taken to save money," he added.

Source: BBC News

Hundreds of Disabled and Seniors at Capitol to Protest California Budget Cuts to Life Sustaining Services and Income

2008-02-21T09:00:00.001+08:00

By Jovan Agee

After the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office today released its report on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed 2008-09 state budget, hundreds of Californians—all people who use or advocate for the state's In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program—criticized the unnecessary and drastic proposal for 18 percent cuts in vital domestic services. Those cuts would mean that low-income people with disabilities and seniors lose precious hours of help with meal preparation, clean-up, housekeeping, laundry, and food shopping, all of which make it possible for them to avoid or delay costly and unnecessary institutional care.

"Which day of the week should I go without my meals, Mr. Governor? That's what you and other lawmakers are asking me to decide if you go forward with these cuts," said Herb Meyer, 76, a disabled consumer of IHSS services in Marin County.

Individuals eligible for IHSS services have disabilities, are 65 or older, or blind, and are unable to live safely at home without help. The IHSS program uses state, county and federal funding to enable IHSS consumers to hire a caregiver. Most of the people who use IHSS also rely on federal funds called Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and state funds called State Supplementary Payments (SSP). They are among the 1.2 million blind, aged and disabled Californians who, who rely on this income for all of their living expenses; they cannot afford to pay for the home care services the state is proposing to cut.

People who rely on IHSS for home care and SSI/SSP are the targets of multiple cuts in the proposed state budget: the IHSS cut, no Cost of Living Adjustment for SSI; elimination of crucial Medi-Cal services; and cuts to other services and programs they rely on, including Adult Day Health Centers, and Adult Protective Services, among others.

Budget system must change to protect the poor

The coalition of home care supporters who rallied today at the state Capitol spoke out against the domino effect of multiple cuts and the unfair targeting of the poorest Californians.
"We need a fair balancing of this avoidable deficit crisis with a combination approach that includes raising revenue," said Frances Gracechild, Co-Chair of the Quality Homecare Coalition and Executive Director of Resources for Independent Living. "These across-the-board cuts are callous. When it comes to valuable programs like IHSS, state officials should stop blaming it on overspending. Increases in IHSS are largely pushed by demographic changes – California is growing and more people are living longer."

"For all those lawmakers who preach about performance-based budgeting, take a look at the IHSS program," said Joan Lee, Gray Panthers Statewide Liaison. "It saves the state money. It is not only a program that fits with what Californians expect for the most vulnerable residents of our state, but is responsibly managed and a good deal."

"Some of the tax relief that was prematurely given during the early Schwarzenegger administration should be returned by Californians who can afford yachts and expensive, luxury cars," said Bill Powers, Vice President of the California Alliance of Retired Americans.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger cut taxes when he first came into office by what is now nearly $5 billion annually, and has never made up the revenue lost. Reinstating the "car tax" at the center of the Governor's first election in 2003 would have produced more than $20 billion for the state coffers by 2008.

Previous attempts to cut IHSS failed

Since elected in 2003, Schwarzenegger has made other proposals to cut funding to the state's IHSS program, all of which lawmakers have rejected. IHSS routinely earns bipartisan support because of the savings it produces—keeping people safely in their homes and avoiding costly institutional care. The Legislative Analyst has estimated in past years that the annual average IHSS cost per person is $9,924, whereas the annual average cost of nursing home care is about $60,000.

"The IHSS program has always received bipartisan support, and is widely praised as a model state program for helping the elderly and disabled live independently," said Tyrone Freeman, President of SEIU United Long-term care Workers Union and Chair of the California Homecare Council. "So why attack the funding for this program now? Lawmakers should lead state residents to understand why raising revenue would uphold our nation's and California's values? It makes no sense."

Violation of landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision
The cuts to IHSS and Medi-Cal and SSI/SSP also undermine California's compliance with the 1999 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Olmstead, in which the Court told the states that unnecessary institutionalization of people with disabilities violates the Americans with Disabilities Act.

"How can the governor say he upholds the state's responsibilities to comply with Olmstead and at the same time cut the services which are at the very heart of any compliance?" said Deborah Doctor, Legislative Advocate at Protection and Advocacy, Inc. (PAI).

The cuts also harm workers who provide home care.
"We object to the Administration's prediction that IHSS providers will continue to provide these for free," said Senior Assembly Member Lola Young. "Home care is work and deserves to be compensated. We'll see a higher rate of worker turnover, a loss of services, and a reduction in their quality of life. Workers in the IHSS program already live in poverty and many are eligible for food stamps. Few have access now to health insurance."

"The Governor believes that family providers will continue to do the work for free," said Laura Reyes, President of United Domestic Workers/AFSCME. "I have two problems with that assumption: First, almost half of all providers in this state are not family providers, but they too will be uncompensated for their work. Second, family providers help the state achieve savings through the IHSS program just like non-family providers so why is the Governor trying to target this group of workers. If there were no family and non-family providers the IHSS program would fail to exist and we would see budget deficits like the one this year every year because you would have over 400,000 elderly and disabled people receiving care at a much high cost."

"The cut in IHSS hours means consumers will have a more limited supply of home care providers, making it difficult to remain safely in their homes and possibly forcing them into institutions such as nursing homes," said Gary Passmore, Executive Director of the Congress of California Seniors.

The 2005 report, 'Living Wages and Retention of Homecare Workers in San Francisco' by Candace Howes, shows that wages and especially benefits have a significant impact on the retention of providers. In San Francisco, when wages increased to $9 per hour and comprehensive health insurance was added in 1999, the one-year retention rate for new providers increased from 33 percent to 61 percent between 1998 and 2003.

Because of the Governor's cuts, some IHSS providers will lose their crucial health benefits; the cut in just a few hours of work could put them below the eligibility limits set by the Public Authorities to qualify for health benefits (San Francisco requires 25 hours of service per month and Marin requires 85 hours of service per month).

Background on IHSS

County social workers assess people for IHSS and can authorize up to 283 hours per month of services. Services include housecleaning, meal preparation, laundry, grocery shopping, personal care services (such as bowel and bladder care, bathing, grooming, paramedical services, accompaniment to medical appointments, and protective supervision for individuals whose mental status or cognitive functioning poses a threat to their safety and well-being). IHSS is the largest publicly funded nonmedical program in the nation designed to help impoverished people with disabilities, the elderly, and blind live safely at home.

The proposed cut is a double-hit on consumers in shared living arrangements who have already had their hours reduced. When IHSS consumers live with a roommate or attendant, the assessment of need for domestic and related services related to their safety is pro-rated and reduces the number of hours approved under the program.

Many consumers receive the maximum number of hours authorized for domestic and related services through the IHSS program:

Meal Preparation 8.68 hours/week
Meal Cleanup 1.75 hours/week
Laundry 2.50 hours /week
Shopping For Food 1.00 hours/week
Other Shopping Errands 0.50 hours/week
Total Hours per Week 14.43 hours/week
Total Hours per Week Cut at 18% Equals -- 2.60 hours/week

"The growth occurring in the IHSS program while partially due to changing demographics, is a positive indication that more people are receiving services in the community instead of being placed in nursing homes," said Ed Andreas, Chair, Nevada Sierra Regional IHSS Governing Board.

Proposed cuts contradict state's expensive IHSS Quality Assurance initiative; endanger safety
The Administration's IHSS Quality Assurance Initiative required the State Department of Social Services to develop Hourly Task Guidelines (HTGs), a standard guide and tool for county social workers to accurately and consistently assess service authorizations on a statewide basis and authorize services and time more equitably throughout the state. The HTGs established a normal range of time for certain tasks and a guide for granting time inside and outside the guidelines as appropriate to meet the unique needs of IHSS recipients.

The proposed cuts contradict those Quality Assurance Hourly Task Guidelines

"This proposed 18 percent cut to domestic and related services completely undermines the entire concept of conducting individual assessments to provide sufficient hours to—as the law requires—'ensure the health, safety, and independence of the recipient,'" said John Wilkins, an IHSS consumer in Fresno County and Co-Chair of the Quality Homecare Coalition.

Jovan Agee is the political and legislative director for the United Domestic Workers of America in Sacramento.

Source: California Progress Report

Disabled passengers face long wait

2008-02-20T14:23:00.001+08:00

Disabled rail passengers in Kingston could be facing a seven-year wait to use two of the busiest stations in the borough, despite the Government granting money to improve access at the sites earlier this month.

New Malden and Worcester Park stations have been granted a slice of £370million from the Department for Transport, rumoured to be over £1million, to make the platforms step-free, but upgrades are not scheduled for completion until 2012 at the earliest.

An 18-month feasibility study will take place at the stations to determine what changes are required to allow less mobile rail passengers such as wheelchair users, older people and parents with pushchairs better access to the platforms.

Ann Macfarlane, vice-president of the disability charity Kingston Centre for Independent Living, said she was currently unable to use either station because of her wheelchair and said speed was of the essence.

She said: "It's important that the sooner before 2015 this can be put into place the better, as it means we might be able to go to work, meet our friends and do all the things that people expect to be able to do.

"The design will need looking at because a lot of stations are being made step-free so you can get on to the platform but not necessarily on to the train, so you can go and wave someone off but can't actually travel.

"It's a real inconvenience at the moment because you have to think very carefully in advance about planning your route."

The money was successfully bid for by station owner South West Trains and will also be used to provide facilities such as hearing induction loops, passenger information screens and improved lighting.

A spokesman said: "It's not ideal - it's a long time but we realise that it can't happen overnight and it's something that is worth doing properly.

"Lots of stations were built years ago, when the needs of disabled people weren't thought about so much in society, but it's time to bring these stations into the 21st century."

Source: Wimbledon Guardian

Special Ed. Activists Complain Lincoln High Not Suitable for Disabled Students

2008-02-20T13:59:00.001+08:00

Special education activists say the new Lincoln High School in South San Diego does not meet the needs of physically disabled students. They say the situation is causing a separate but unequal learning environment. KPBS Reporter Ana Tintocalis has the story.

Lincoln High is San Diego's newest and most expensive campus. It's divided in half by a steep bank of concrete stairs. As a result, physically disabled students go through a cumbersome process every day. That process includes having another person unlock a series of gates and a long trip around the baseball field.

Doreen Dias Pesta is a special education worker. She says at least one student was denied a class because of the access issue.

Pesta: From the hassle of having to get her up there, she did not get that class. And that is not right because our children's education should not be tailored around access.

Dias Pesta says adding a ramp would solve the problem.

San Diego school officials say the campus is not violating any federal laws because there are still ways for the students to get around on campus.

Ana Tintocalis, KPBS News.

Expo to focus on serving disabled

2008-02-20T13:56:00.001+08:00

More than 100 organizations that provide services and products for people with disabilities will answer questions and distribute information at the Arizona Disabilities Expo.

Among the groups are the Arizona Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the Arizona Spinal Cord Association, Happy Tails Assistance Dogs and Wheelchair Getaways.

Doug Goddard, director of a Florida-based fishing program for kids and adults with disabilities, will speak at the event.

Details: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday at Phoenix Convention Center, Hall G, 33 S. Third St. Free. Susan DeNova, 602-470-1802, ext. 114, or www.azdx.com.

Man pleads to beating mentally disabled 15-year-old son

2008-02-20T13:52:00.001+08:00

A Nageezi man pleaded guilty in district court Monday to beating his 15-year-old son with extension cords and jumper cables because the mentally disabled teen would touch himself in public.

Darrell Dennison, 39, pleaded no contest to two counts of second-degree attempt to abuse a child, and could face up to 18 years in prison.

Dennison initially had been charged with first-degree child abuse, which carries a mandatory sentence of 18 years in prison if convicted, so prosecutors offered the plea bargain to give the man the chance of having the sentence reduced by the judge.

"The question is whether we can prove great bodily harm, which gets us to the first-degree (charge)," Chief Deputy District Attorney Dustin O'Brien said. "If you don't have great bodily harm you go straight to a third-degree. It's kind of a compromise."

Prior to the plea, the case was set to be decided by a jury Thursday.

"With the plea he's still at 18 years, but none of it's mandatory," said attorney Terry Walker, representing Dennison. "That from a legal standpoint is clearly in his best interest — that allows us the chance to present what I believe are mitigating circumstances to get him less than the 18 years."

Walker declined to comment on what those mitigating circumstances are.

Following the "spanking" incident Dennison, who is a single parent, was arrested in August 2007, after police found his teenaged son had welts and bruises all over his back and face.

After talking to the teen, police learned the man had his son pull down his pants during the beatings so he could also whip his bare body.

"(The victim) said he tried everything to make his father happy, but his father was still angry," arrest documents state.

When questioned on the beatings by police, the man admitted to hitting his son, according to police reports that quote him saying, "I went too far and took my frustrations out on him ... I deserve what I deserve."

"As we understand the facts of the case, we're talking about a single parent, raising a mentally disabled child, who was having parental difficulties more difficult than what a normal parent might encounter — however, that does not excuse his behavior," Prosecutor Eric Morrow said.

A sentencing hearing is set for March 3.

"There are some very specific things going on with his son," Walker said. "It was because of the sum total of the circumstances that had been going on for many, many, many years. I do not believe that he is a predator in the way we usually think of a predator."

Source: The Daily Times Farmington, New Mwxico

UK Government: Disabled people reap the rewards of the Disability Discrimination Act

2008-02-20T13:45:00.001+08:00

RDATE:19022008

Public knowledge of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) increased significantly between 1996 and 2006, and according to new research released today, the Act has improved the lives of disabled people across the board - from their access to public transport to shopping at their local grocer.

The research uses data from the Disability Module of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Omnibus Survey between 1996 and 2006 which looked at awareness of the Act, access to goods and services, access to transport (2005, 2006) and renting or buying a home.

It shows that over 70% of people are now aware of the Act by name, compared to only 40% in 1996, a year after DDA was first introduced.

Other key findings of the research are:

* 77% of disabled people reported that they did not have any problems using public transport

* 79% of disabled people in paid work said they had no trouble accessing goods and services compared to 59% of those not in paid work

* 80% of disabled people had no difficulties when shopping

* Less than 1% said they had been refused the sale or rental of a property because they were disabled.

* Awareness of the Act was higher among the wider population than among disabled people

* Those over 65 years old were less likely to know about the Act.

Minister for Disabled People, Anne McGuire, said:

"It is reassuring that awareness of DDA increased considerably between 1996 and 2006, as it plays an important part in protecting disabled people from discrimination in all areas of their lives. I'm particularly pleased to see the Act making a real difference to the everyday lives of disabled people - whether it's getting on a bus or going to the corner shop.

"The Government has shown its commitment to enforcing the civil rights of disabled people by significantly improving the original Act in 2005. It means that those with long term illnesses such as cancer, multiple sclerosis and HIV infection, are now protected from discrimination. Public bodies also now have to actively promote the equal rights of disabled people.

"It is unacceptable that anyone is discriminated against or is excluded from using a service because of their impairment. We will continue to champion the rights of disabled people as we move towards giving them the same choice and control over their lives as the rest of the population."

Notes to Editors

1. The Disability Discrimination Act

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) was passed in 1995 and aims to end the discrimination that many disabled people face. It protects disabled people in a range of circumstances, including employment, education, transport and the provision of goods, facilities, services and premises. Only those defined as disabled under the Act are entitled to its protection. Some provisions became law for employers in December 1996 while others have been added over time. The DDA 2005 amended the 1995 Act to place a duty on public bodies to promote equality of opportunity for disabled people. The Disability Equality Duty came into force on 5th December 2006.

2. ONS Omnibus Survey

The Omnibus Survey is conducted monthly by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). It asks approximately 1,500 to 2,000 adults questions on a number of different topics that vary from month to month. Data for the ONS Omnibus survey is collected by face-to-face interview, from a stratified random sample of individuals aged 16 years and over, living in private households in Great Britain.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) funds a module on the ONS Omnibus survey that asks questions regarding the self-reported health and disability status of respondents. The main aim of the disability module on the ONS Omnibus Survey is to provide details of the experiences of disabled people in their day-to day lives and of the level of awareness across the whole population of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA 1995).

3. Definition of disability used in the report

For the purposes of this analysis the definition used for a disabled person is someone who is likely to be covered by the DDA, which is calculated in the dataset by individuals' responses to the first six questions in the disability module of the ONS Omnibus Survey. This figure is not to be considered as a measure of prevalence of disability but instead it identifies a population that are likely to be covered by the DDA.

Office for Disability Issues Research Report 001 - The Disability Discrimination Act:

Analysis of Data for the ONS Omnibus Survey 1996-2006 is published on 19 February 2008. The reports are available on the ODI website http://www.officefordisability.gov.uk

CONTACT: Department for Work And Pensions WWW: http://www.dwp.gov.uk

((M2 Communications Ltd disclaims all liability for information provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data supplied by named party/parties. Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at http://www.presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to info@m2.com)).

This is a news service of Thomson Business Intelligence Service ©2006. This content is for your personal use only, subject to Terms and Conditions. No redistribution allowed.

List of five well known and famous people who use and used wheelchairs

2008-02-19T09:19:00.001+08:00

Stephen Hawking - Professor Stephen Hawking is a well-known example of a person with MND, and has lived for more than 40 years with the disease. Stephen Hawking: The internationally renowned Physicist, has defied time and doctor?s pronouncements that he would not live 2-years beyond his 21 years of age when he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS); also known as Lou Gehrig?s disease. The symptoms are very similar to those of CP, Hawking cannot walk, talk, breathe easy, swallow and has difficulty in holding up his head. Hawking, 51, was told 30 years ago, when he was a not-very-remarkable college student.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 ? April 12, 1945), He was the 32nd President of the United States. Elected to four terms in office, he served from 1933 to 1945, and is the only U.S. president to have served more than two terms of office. In August 1921, while the Roosevelts were vacationing at Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Roosevelt contracted an illness, at the time believed to be polio, which resulted in Roosevelt's total and permanent paralysis from the waist down. Roosevelt refused to accept that he was permanently paralyzed. He tried a wide range of therapies, including hydrotherapy. Fitting his hips and legs with iron braces, he laboriously taught himself to walk a short distance by swiveling his torso while supporting himself with a cane. In private, he used a wheelchair, but he was careful never to be seen in it in public. In 2003, a peer-reviewed study found that it was more likely that Roosevelt's paralytic illness was actually Guillain-Barr�yndrome, not poliomyelitis.

Theodore DeReese Pendergrass, Sr. (born March 26, 1950 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). Pendergrass' career began when he was a drummer for The Cadillacs, which soon merged with Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. Melvin invited Pendergrass to become the lead singer after he jumped from the rear of a stage and started singing his heart out. On March 18, 1982, in Philadelphia, Pendergrass was involved in an automobile accident when the brakes failed on his Rolls Royce and he hit a tree, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down with a spinal cord injury. After completing six months in rehabilitation, he returned to the studio to record the album Love Language, featuring the 1984 ballad "Hold Me", a duet with a then-unknown Whitney Houston.

Christopher Reeve - Christopher D'Olier Reeve (September 25, 1952 ? October 10, 2004) was an American actor, director, producer, and writer. He portrayed Superman - Kal-El - Clark Kent in four films, from 1978 to 1987. In the 1980s, he also starred in several films, including Somewhere in Time (1980), Deathtrap (1982), The Bostonians (1984), and Street Smart (1987). In May 1995, Christopher Reeve was paralyzed in an accident during an equestrian competition. He was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He lobbied on behalf of people with spinal cord injuries, and for human embryonic stem cell research after this accident. He founded the Christopher Reeve Foundation and co-founded the Reeve-Irvine Research Center. Reeve died at age 52 on October 10, 2004 from cardiac arrest caused by a systemic infection

Itzhak Perlman - (born August 31, 1945) is an Israeli-American violinist, conductor, and pedagogue. He is one of the most distinguished violinists of the late 20th century. Perlman contracted polio at the age of four. He made a good recovery, learning to walk with the use of crutches. Today he uses a wheelchair or walks with the aid of crutches on his arms and plays the violin while seated. Critics say it is not the music alone that makes his playing so special. They say he is able to communicate the joy he feels in playing, and the emotions that great music can deliver.

Source: Disabled World

Caution: Some soft drinks may seriously harm your health

2008-02-18T10:17:00.001+08:00

Expert links additive to cell damage. (May 27, 2007)

A new health scare erupted over soft drinks last night amid evidence they may cause serious cell damage. Research from a British university suggests a common preservative found in drinks such as Fanta and Pepsi Max has the ability to switch off vital parts of DNA.

The problem - more usually associated with ageing and alcohol abuse - can eventually lead to cirrhosis of the liver and degenerative diseases such as Parkinson's.

The findings could have serious consequences for the hundreds of millions of people worldwide who consume fizzy drinks. They will also intensify the controversy about food additives, which have been linked to hyperactivity in children.

Concerns centre on the safety of E211, known as sodium benzoate, a preservative used for decades by the £74bn global carbonated drinks industry. Sodium benzoate derives from benzoic acid. It occurs naturally in berries, but is used in large quantities to prevent mould in soft drinks such as Sprite, Oasis and Dr Pepper. It is also added to pickles and sauces.

Sodium benzoate has already been the subject of concern about cancer because when mixed with the additive vitamin C in soft drinks, it causes benzene, a carcinogenic substance. A Food Standards Agency survey of benzene in drinks last year found high levels in four brands which were removed from sale.

Now, an expert in ageing at Sheffield University, who has been working on sodium benzoate since publishing a research paper in 1999, has decided to speak out about another danger. Professor Peter Piper, a professor of molecular biology and biotechnology, tested the impact of sodium benzoate on living yeast cells in his laboratory. What he found alarmed him: the benzoate was damaging an important area of DNA in the "power station" of cells known as the mitochondria.

He told The Independent on Sunday: "These chemicals have the ability to cause severe damage to DNA in the mitochondria to the point that they totally inactivate it: they knock it out altogether.

"The mitochondria consumes the oxygen to give you energy and if you damage it - as happens in a number if diseased states - then the cell starts to malfunction very seriously. And there is a whole array of diseases that are now being tied to damage to this DNA - Parkinson's and quite a lot of neuro-degenerative diseases, but above all the whole process of ageing."

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) backs the use of sodium benzoate in the UK and it has been approved by the European Union but last night, MPs called for it to investigate urgently.

Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat chair of Parliament's all-party environment group said: "Many additives are relatively new and their long-term impact cannot be certain. This preservative clearly needs to be investigated further by the FSA."

A review of sodium benzoate by the World Health Organisation in 2000 concluded that it was safe, but it noted that the available science supporting its safety was "limited".

Professor Piper, whose work has been funded by a government research council, said tests conducted by the US Food and Drug Administration were out of date.

"The food industry will say these compounds have been tested and they are complete safe," he said. "By the criteria of modern safety testing, the safety tests were inadequate. Like all things, safety testing moves forward and you can conduct a much more rigorous safety test than you could 50 years ago."

He advised parents to think carefully about buying drinks with preservatives until the quantities in products were proved safe by new tests. "My concern is for children who are drinking large amounts," he said.

Coca-Cola and Britvic's Pepsi Max and Diet Pepsi all contain sodium benzoate. Their makers and the British Soft Drinks Association said they entrusted the safety of additives to the Government..

source: The Independent

York unveils new public toilets for disabled people

2008-02-17T06:17:00.001+08:00

FOUR special toilets and changing facilities for people with disabilities are to be opened in the city.

City of York Council has approved plans to develop the new facilities, called Changing Places, as part of a drive to become an "accessible city" for people with disabilities,.

The first Changing Places will open on Friday at the new Explore Centre in Acomb.

Further facilities will open in Walmgate, Silver Street and Hungate Civic Centre.

The news comes as York's infamous Splash Palace prepares to close its doors.

Bill Hodson, the council's director of housing and adult social services, said that suitable toileting and changing areas were needed throughout the city and the council was committed to delivering these for the people who needed them.

He said: "This is a very positive start in meeting people's very specific needs to help them access the city.

"Proper toileting facilities are extremely important and will help more people enjoy York's many amenities.

"It is our aim to have a Changing Places available within a ten-minute walk around the city centre."

Changing Places are toilet facilities for people whose needs are not met by a standard disabled toilet.

They include a tracking hoist system, a height adjustable changing bench and adequate space in the changing area for the disabled person and up to two carers. They also have a centrally placed toilet with room either side for the carers and a screen or curtain to allow the disabled person and carer some privacy.

Coun Sue Galloway, Liberal Democrat executive member for adult social services, said she was delighted that better disabled facilities were finally put in place.

She said: "It has been a long-held wish of mine that we could find a way to provide changing facilities for the disabled in York ever since a resident from Wallsend, Northumberland, wrote to me in 2005.

"At the time she said that she loved visiting York with her disabled daughter and would like to spend more time here but was unable to do so because of the lack of toileting and changing rooms. I shall now be writing to update her on our progress."

The decision comes after the planned demolition of the Splash Palace next year.

The building, at the south end of Parliament Street, opened amid a blaze of controversy in 1992 as part of a wider revamp of the city centre.

But it drew much criticism from locals and tourists, and the state of the toilets there has been a constant source of dismay.

The toilets are to be replaced by a new block which is to be provided in Silver Street, off Newgate Market.

Source: York Press

Deputy Arrested For Dumping Disabled Man

2008-02-17T06:13:00.001+08:00

The deputy accused of dumping a man out of his wheelchair was arrested Saturday morning.The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office issued an arrest arrant for Charlette Marshall-Jones after a video showed Jones tipping a paralyzed man, Brian Sterner, out of his wheelchair during booking at a jailhouse.Jones turned herself in to the Orient Road Jail at 5 a.m. Saturday morning. She bonded out at 6:18 a.m.

Jones faces charges of abuse of a disabled person, a third-degree felony. If convicted, she could be sent to prison for five years.

Source: Welsh Orlando

Calculating Social Security for Disabled Children

2008-02-17T06:03:00.000+08:00

We have two daughters who are autistic. I understand that when they turn 18 they will be eligible for Social Security payments at a rate of half of my anticipated benefit. Since there are two children involved, will they reduce each other's benefit or my future retirement benefit? I am 50 years old.

My wife hasn't worked for pay for many years. Would the benefit calculations for our children be increased, decreased or unchanged if both parents had paid into the system?

Steve Lester
Winter Park, Fla.

Social Security payments to your family may be impacted because of limits on family payments, but your retirement benefits would be intact, according to Mickie Douglas, a spokeswoman for the Social Security Administration in Baltimore.

Actually, your children may be eligible for benefits today, depending on your financial situation. From birth to age 18, children may receive monthly payments under the Supplemental Security Income program, or SSI, if they have impairments that meet Social Security's definition of disability for children, and if your family's income falls within certain limits.

If your daughters aren't eligible for SSI currently because you and your wife have too much income, they may become eligible for SSI at age 18. At that point, your income will no longer be counted in the financial limits. To qualify, your children can't do what Social Security calls "substantial" work, meaning they are unable to earn more than $940 a month. (There are different limits for people who are disabled because of blindness.)

At age 18, your daughters also may qualify for a benefit based on your work record. But they will have to wait until you start collecting Social Security retirement benefits to qualify for those payments. Under the Social Security Disability Insurance program, or SSDI, adult children age 18 or older may receive monthly payments if they meet three conditions:

The impairment or combination of impairments meets Social Security's disability definition.

The disability began before age 22.

One of the parents worked long enough to be insured under Social Security and either is receiving retirement or disability benefits or has died.

Even though the rule of thumb is that dependents get half the worker's retirement or disability-benefit amount, the actual amount depends on three factors: the worker's earnings record; the timing of the worker's retirement-benefit claim; and the number of dependents. If you start collecting Social Security retirement payments before your "full retirement age," which you can look up at ssa.gov under "Plan Your Retirement," you permanently lower your monthly benefit amount.

If your family includes more than one dependent, as yours would, the benefits paid to you and your dependents would be combined into a "family benefit amount." That amount could be less than the payments the worker and separate dependents would receive if the benefits were paid separately. Your family could get as much as 180% of the retired worker's benefits, but the exact amount depends on a complex Social Security formula. The worker's benefit wouldn't be reduced, but the dependents' benefits could be reduced proportionately if your family's total benefit exceeds the limit.

And, as you suspected, if your wife went back to work, she might be eligible for a larger benefit: The maximum family benefit doesn't apply to spouses when each spouse is collecting retirement benefits based on his or her own work record.

But again, your dependents' benefits could be affected depending on the individual situation, so it's a good idea to check with your local Social Security office (which you can locate at www.ssa.gov) for information specific to your situation.

For more general information, go to Social Security's Web site, ssa.gov, and look up "Benefits for Children" (Publication No. 05-10085), "Benefits for Children with Disabilities" (Publication No. 05-10026), "Supplemental Security Income (SSI)" (Publication No. 05-11000) and "Disability Benefits" (Publication No. 05-10029).

Source: Wall Street Journal

Disabled Iraqi children get wheelchairs, big smiles

2008-02-16T09:10:00.001+08:00

Mothers cradle children in their arms. Fathers smile softly at the helpless bodies they hold. Other parents are bent over from the weight of their teenage kids whose legs fall limp, almost touching the ground. In the absence of basic medical equipment, these parents do this every day.
The wheelchair distribution was the vision of Brad Blauser, center.

Khaled is a father of three. On this day, his young daughter, Mariam, is getting fitted for her new wheelchair. Her arms and legs are painfully thin, little more than skin and bone. She's 7 years old, but looks barely half that. She and both her siblings, a sister and brother, suffer from varying degrees of polio. None of them can walk.

Asked how he and his family cope, Khaled chokes up, fighting back tears.

"I am sick of life -- what can I say to you?" he says after a long pause.

One man, Brad Blauser, has vowed to try to make life a little easier for these families by organizing the distribution of wheelchairs, donated and paid for by his charity, Wheelchairs for Iraqi Kids. He first came to Iraq in 2004 as a civilian contractor. Struck by the abject chaos surrounding him and seeing helpless children scooting along the ground, he pledged to find a way to help. Video Watch dads, moms carry kids; tears flow when wheelchairs arrive »

His first step was to consult an Army medic to find out what hospitals really needed. "He surprised me with his answer about pediatric wheelchairs. We've got so many children out in the city that the ones who can get around are following their friends by dragging themselves around on the ground, which is heartbreaking to see," he says.

"I was surprised. It took me aback."

Enlisting the help of generous supporters and an Iraqi humanitarian group, "Wheelchairs for Iraqi Kids" was born in August of 2005. Thirty days later, its first 31 chairs were delivered. To date, more than 250 Iraqi families have received the wheelchairs.

Blauser has partnered with a nonprofit group called Reach Out and Care Wheels, which sells him the chairs at a manufacturing price of about $300.

The chairs are made by prisoners at the South Dakota State Penitentiary and ultimately delivered in Iraq by the U.S. military.

"Getting these prisoners involved, it just means the world to them," said Andrew Babcock, the executive director of Reach Out and Care Wheels. "Even the prisoners, I've been there and visited, and they're so excited. They come up with different design ideas and ways to make things better for the kids. They want to know where the chairs are going and what kids we're helping."

Blauser said it's unbelievable to be there when the chairs are delivered.

"The most affecting thing about this whole wheelchairs for children is when the parents realize the gift that is being given to their children and they reach out to hug you." he said. "The tears are running from their eyes and they say, 'We never thought that you could do this.' "

Blauser is helped on the Iraqi missions by the civil affairs division of the U.S. military, which helps organize the safe transport of the families to the distribution point and adjustment of the wheelchairs to fit each child.

He said it gives "the troops something when they go home, something good to remember where they know they have contributed, they know they have done a good thing."

Army Sgt. 1st Class Jason Jurack agrees. "It brings a smile to your face. It really gives a different image to the Army as a whole -- helping people out, putting a smile on local nationals' faces, little kids that need our help."

It's a sentiment that is echoed by Samira Al-Ali, the head of the Iraqi group that finds the children in need. On this day, she tells the soldiers she hopes that this humanitarian act will give them a different image of Iraq, not one of a gun and war, she says. Her words are simple but effective.

"I wish the world would see with their own eyes the children of Iraq and help the children of Iraq, because the children of Iraq have been deprived of everything," she said. "Even a normal child has been deprived of their childhood; a disabled child and their family is dealing with so much more."

The children also show gratitude, even those who can scarcely move. Blauser remembers one boy's father who dressed him in a three-piece suit, with the trousers hanging off his motionless legs.

"He couldn't move his legs or his arms. But when we sat him in his chair, he gave us the thumbs up."

Iraqi parents will go to any lengths to improve the quality of their children's lives. Blauser points to one of his favorite photographs, of a father carrying his son in his arms, an endless desert road behind him. He had carried his son more than 6 miles to get a wheelchair.

"In August 2006 we had a distribution in northern Iraq," Blauser remembered. "We watched him [the father] come forward, and people rushed to take the boy from his arms. And he said, 'No, I've been carrying this child all my life. I can carry him the last 100 yards to receive his wheelchair.'

Source: CNN

Court-appointed guardian gets jailed for preying on disabled vet

2008-02-16T09:07:00.000+08:00

A court-appointed guardian is going to jail for stealing from a disabled military veteran under her care.

Anne L. Chavis must also pay $92,000 in restitution to eight clients, but the amount is only a fraction of the money the conservator may have pilfered.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Horwitz sentenced the 74-year-old woman on Wednesday to a year in jail and he placed Chavis on three years' probation.

Chavis pleaded guilty to forging documents and lying to the court in order to steal from a disabled veteran. Theft charges involving seven other clients were dropped.

Chavis was appointed by probate court and Veterans' Affairs officials to oversee the lives of more than four dozen vulnerable residents.

Source: AP Los Angeles

Walgreens Embraces Disabled Employees

2008-02-16T08:50:00.001+08:00

The Walgreens Distribution Center in Anderson, S.C. is making a difference and setting an example.

"I'm happy. I'm contented," said employee Julia Turner. "I've got people all around me who are the best friends I've ever had in the whole world."

Julia and more than 40 percent of the 700 workers there are disabled.

She has Down's Syndrome.

A co-worker of hers is mentally disabled. Another is wheelchair bound.

And the person who recruited most of them, Angela Mackey, has Cerebral Palsy.

"I hope that from my work and from this program I'm showing that disability or not, we all have potential. We all have value," she said.

Disabled workers and those without disabilities do many of the same jobs and earn the same pay.

"Corporate america thinks they need to give someone with a disability an easier job," Luann Bannister, another Walgreens employee, said. "Everyone here is on equal ground."

Walgreens executive Randy Lewis is behind the difference.

Lewis has a 19-year-old son with autism.

"As a parent I saw the future and so the question is, given our position, maybe we could be an example, maybe we could use our position of leadership to try to change the work environment," he explained.

Lewis added that the Anderson Center just as productive as other distribution centers.

"People come to me and ask, 'can this work in my environment?'" he began. "Absolutely, It's not only a good thing to do, it's the right thing to do."

Source: CBNNews

Man shot disabled son out of concern

2008-02-16T08:47:00.001+08:00

A court has heard that an elderly man shot his intellectually-disabled son out of concern for what his life could become after the father died.

Frank Harton, 75, has faced the Magistrates Court at Mount Barker in the Adelaide hills charged with attempted murder.

Harton is alleged to have shot his son Craig, 47, at a shack at Walker Flat early yesterday.

The son has a gunshot wound to the face and is in a serious but stable condition in hospital in Adelaide.

The court heard the accused had been his son's carer for 39 years and was worried about what would happen to him once he was gone.

The prosecution opposed bail saying Harton had vowed to shoot his son, then possibly himself, and there were now concerns for the older man's safety.

Magistrate Clynt Johansen described the case as a family tragedy.

Harton has been remanded in custody pending the completion of a psychiatric report.

Source: ABC News Australia

RollerAid Knee Walker a Safe Alternative to Crutches?

2008-02-15T17:23:00.001+08:00

The RollerAid Knee Walker, or otherwise known as just a knee walker, is fast becoming a replacement for traditional crutches.

Knee Walkers are "scooter-like" devices that allow you to rest your hurt leg while allowing you to roll around with speeds not reached with normal crutches. In fact, with a knee walker you will actually move faster than you did before you were injured.

You can even buy or rent these devices and your insurance may cover some or all of it.

There are many types of walkers but the RollerAid Turning Knee Walker seems to be the most popular and widely used.

Some benefits to using a device like a knee walker vs. regular crutches are:

Eliminates tripping or falling associated with crutches
Has an incredible number of adjustments for customizing the unit to your body size for ultimate comfort and maneuverability
Can be used as a bench or foot stool during rest
Improves circulation in affected leg
Provides the needed exercise for you while keeping your injury completely still for faster healing
Frees up hands with a removable basket so you can accomplish more
Allows you to move faster than you ever could on crutches
Features an easy rolling caster system which means less fatigue and conserved energy
Is ultra portable so you go wherever you need to go without hassle

These are just a few of the benefits to using a RollerAid or knee walker.

Individuals who are most likely to use this device are people who have an injury below the knee and they need to be mobile. Another benefit to using this or another knee walker is that most people experience more relaxation and faster healing than if they were to use traditional crutches.

All these added benefits have attracted thousands of people to try knee walkers and will continue to provide increased mobility for injured people.

To buy or rent a RollerAid or other knee walker please visit http://www.crutchalternatives.com right now for more free information.

How To Sell Your Used Electric Wheelchair

2008-02-15T17:16:00.001+08:00

Wheelchairs are a boon to the physically disabled people who cannot walk or move. With the help of these wheelchairs they can move around anywhere and everywhere. They are free to go wherever they want with the support of wheelchairs. The wheelchair is a chair like thing with wheels under it which helps the movement of the chair when the gear is moved. But today the movement of wheelchairs has been made easier by the manufacturing of electric wheelchairs. These electric wheelchairs are powered by electricity and hydraulic power and have a power button. By pressing the power button one can move around easily.

Electric wheelchairs can be purchased from any showroom selling such wheelchairs. Electric wheelchairs also come with a wheelchair lift which is also powered with the similar mechanism as the wheelchair itself. This wheelchair lift allows the disabled person to rise above the surface of the ground. The person places the wheelchair on the platform of the wheelchair lift and then by pressing the power button raises the wheelchair above the surface. This is very helpful in going up in elevated places. The only factor about the electric wheelchair which acts as a negative point is that is far too costly and most of the people are unable to afford it.

Electric wheelchair might cost up to a few thousands of dollars. So it is not so easy for a middle class man to buy the electric wheelchair which is otherwise so much advantageous. But a solution to this problem is purchasing used electric wheelchairs. There are showrooms which sell used electric wheelchair but in good condition.

It is seen that used electric wheelchairs are bought to save money; similarly used electric wheelchair can be sold to have a money return. People can sell their electric wheelchairs once they have finished with the use of it. Electric wheelchairs cost more so to get back at least the half price of the wheelchair will be enough. If the electric wheelchair is almost new and is in a very good condition then the price given may rise up. There are many showrooms and places where they buy the electric wheelchairs. The condition for selling these used wheelchairs is that it must be in excellent condition to be most of the showrooms do not buy wheelchairs which are more than three years old. But the prices given by different showrooms vary; the prices also vary on the condition in which the wheelchair is.

To sell the wheelchair one must take few steps. To initiate the selling process the person concerned might give advertisements in the classified pages of a daily newspaper or at the bulletin boards of a supermarket. One might also try the website for featuring the advertisement, but these unprofessional methods must be avoided as much as possible because these companies seldom match the proper equipment with the user.

The reliable resources for selling used wheelchairs are the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) which will match the equipment with the needy through newsletters, word of mouth or notices. The state rehabilitation department can be contacted to see whether they can connect the seller with a therapist who can help him finding a new user.

www.Electricpowerwheelchair.com offers a wide range of electric powered wheelchair, folding electric wheelchair and also Gel Foam Soft Touch Wheelchair Cushions. Please visit us today.

Excellent Form of Physical Exercise for the Wheelchair Bound

2008-02-15T17:13:00.001+08:00

There are many benefits of yoga. It helps strengthen your muscles, increases your body's flexibility, improves mobility, increases stamina, and is advantageous for the working of all your vital organs. Moreover, regular yoga promotes positive thinking, a stress free and disease free existence and a happier life whether you are a normal person or confined to a wheelchair.

In fact, sitting in a wheelchair all day can be extremely taxing for the muscles over the long haul. But wheelchair yoga can help you strengthen your muscles and allow you to feel healthier and fitter. Typically, yoga is an ancient Indian form of meditation, but it has seen dramatic rise in popularity in the United States within the last 10-15 years. Known for its flexibility in style, yoga incorporates breathing techniques with bodily contortions and stretches. Nowadays, wheelchair yoga has become quite popular and specifically designed yogic exercises are helping wheelchair users to make the best of their physical limitations and begin to lead to a fuller life.

Wheelchair yoga is designed keeping in mind the physical limitations of people confined to the wheelchair, while helping them to carry out these exercises any time and any place they choose. There are many benefits to practicing wheelchair yoga. Not only will you start feeling stronger, healthier but your muscles, joints, and tendons as well as your vital organs will start functioning better and with more vitality.

Wheelchair yoga also helps you to gain spiritual, physical, and mental benefits. If you are depressed about your physical condition, you will begin to feel calmer, more in control of your life and generally begin to experience a sense of well-being that will aid you in overcoming day to day limitations.

When practicing wheelchair yoga, you will not feel stiff or lack of energy. In fact, some of the more positive effects of wheelchair yoga include increased muscle and mental strength, decreased levels of anxiety, nervousness, and stress. You will sleep better, feel stronger and experience a surge in confidence and self-esteem levels.

The exercise postures and movements are selected carefully during wheelchair yoga sessions and the emphasis is on comfort, ease, and simple poses for every wheelchair bound individual. More and more physiotherapists recommend yoga as a supplementary physical therapy to patients who are disabled, thereby helping them to connect and respond to their own body better.

Wheelchair yoga exercises are even designed for participation of caregivers and are organized in comfortable room where a group of wheelchair yoga enthusiasts can relax and have fun while exercising. And depending on your requirements, wheelchair yoga can be practiced in several different positions including sitting, standing or lying on the floor.

The Internet offers much information on wheelchair yoga and both studio and private lessons are available for you. The cost of a typical lesson could be anywhere from $20 to $50. Let wheelchair yoga help you take charge of your life and general well-being and you'll be glad you did!

The "Daycare Diva", Christine G. Groth, is the creator of "The Guide to Instant Daycare Profits". To learn more about this step-by-step program and to sign-up for her FREE "How to Start a Daycare" tips and articles, visit http://www.ExpertsatDaycare.com

Rolling Walker and Their Benefits (Thomas Howard)

2008-02-15T12:56:00.001+08:00

Arthritis can cause inflammation, swelling, stiffness, and pain primarily in the joints, or in worse cases, may include the bones and muscles. Chronic arthritis is only one of the several causes of lost independence and mobility to certain individuals.

For these physically unfortunate people, mobility aids will somehow bring back the hopeful smiles on their faces. Mobility aids, such as rolling walkers, can offer supplemental support to make up for the person's lost strength, and thus helps him/her remain active despite the physical inadequacies.

Rolling walkers are beneficial in several ways. Aside from increasing one's autonomy and keeping him/her physically mobile, such mobility assistance devices are available in stylish designs and colors so you can nicely use them outdoors.

Walkers with rolling wheels work best on flat surfaces and living facilities. Because of their customized trendy designs, they make preferable mobility aids when strolling in the parks or shopping in the malls.

Some individuals opt for a three-wheeled lightweight and easily maneuvered walker. However for greater stability, rolling walkers generally feature four wheels (a.k.a. rollators) with hand brakes for stopping or slowing down the walker. More luxurious (and of course, much expensive) types of rolling walkers include baskets and padded seats.

Leading manufacturers of mobility assistance devices, such as Nova, Guardian, and Invacare, give you the option to have your rolling walker customized according to your preferences. You may have some additional accessories included in your walker, such as cup holder, tray, tote bag, dangling walker bag, or travel bag. Indeed, such features and its attractive design make a wheeled walker one chic mobility aid.

When finding for a wheeled walker, go for one that is steel-made or is made of another strong metal to withstand a relatively huge amount of weight. Comfort grips must also be carefully considered. At the base of the rolling walker, rubber grips are available to ensure a secure and easy use of walker on carpets and tiles. Certain walkers feature built-in folded seats that are useful when the person can no longer walk any farther. He may opt to sit on the walker and use it like that of a wheelchair.

Learning to move around with a wheeled walker may be difficult at first. But after some practice, one will be able to walk around pretty easily with the walker. With a wheeled walker as a mobility aid, the person gains more freedom, and his general health and mood will also be improved. The individual will no longer feel too dependent, adding more self-confidence, and allowing him to socialize more with other persons around and go out of the house more often than before.

Individuals who are steady on their feet and are still able to move about but have a little difficulty with balance are the ones who should especially consider using these mobility walkers with wheels. Whether a rolling or a standard traditional walker, choose one mobility aid that will most suit your lifestyle. Also, a healthcare professional should be consulted in using a walker, whether a conventional walker or a rolling walker.

Visit www.usmedicalsupplies.com for a complete selection of rolling walkers and other home medical equipment.

Social workers provide assistance for physically disabled

2008-02-10T01:42:00.000+08:00

THE challenges of health care in Cuba are increasingly moving beyond experts in the field, becoming part of the duties shouldered by the country’s social workers.

Providing services for the disabled has been the goal of these young people, who serve as mediators between individuals fighting to live their lives and the agencies that provide for their medical needs.

Little Zedenia Pérez has childhood cerebral palsy (CCP). She does not speak, walk, or see; she is not hyperactive, nor is she developing normally. She is confined to bed from which she has to satisfy her bodily needs. She seems to live solely through the sounds or smells that she can easily identify when her mother, Odalys Carreras, or her father hold her in their arms or sit her up in her wheelchair. Her greatest entertainment is music, which brings the most joy into her 10-year-old life.

Although she is not her birth mother, Odalys has taken care of Zedenia since she was two-and-a-half years old, when she and the child’s father became a couple. It has been a titanic challenge for her to take on the situation and a great example of understanding and love. Talking to this reporter, she explained that the little girl’s situation was due to a complication at birth, when a hydrocephalus occurred and the umbilical cord was tangled around her neck. Shortly after the girl’s birth, her mother killed herself.

"When I found myself in this situation, I began going to all possible resources, because I didn’t know anything about the world of this illness," Odalys said. "I didn’t know that such a world existed for children. It was something completely new to me, because the treatment has been difficult and I’ve had to learn new things. My husband has taught me how to handle her. You face reality, but it’s difficult. I needed support from my neighbors and relatives, and finally I approached the social workers. They introduced me to Liannys Acosta, the young woman who has been attending to us since then, and who helps me as much as she can."

The attention that social workers provide for these types of cases began after a psychological/clinical genetic study of disabled people was carried out in 2001. The results showed that the then still-new social workers program should be responsible for this social group from 2003, with the social workers acting as catalysts in ensuring their needs are met.

One of the first things Liannys did was to learn about Zedenia’s condition and treatment, whether she needed a special diet and any other needs she had. She became part of the family.

"From a social point of view, we have become quite integrated into the families," she says. "From an economic point of view, we have tried to deal with all the red tape of meeting their needs, as much as we can, because social workers are mediators between families and institutions or agencies. We have given what we have. One example is the wheelchair that she needed for moving around, so that she wouldn’t be in bed for so much time. She now is on a special diet, because she is an underweight child, and she gets financial help from us."

"It’s difficult to work with disabled people, not because they’re different, but because they’re sensitive," Liannys noted. "She can’t see me, but she knows who I am. And that is a really big and gratifying achievement. She knows that I’m one of the people among her family members. She can’t talk, but she recognizes me when I talk. I’ve been involved now for seven years, and it goes beyond my job; this is my everyday life. Right now, it’s my full-time job."

Zedenia receives treatment at the Medical-Surgical Research Center (CIMEQ), and has physical therapy that allows her to control rigidity in her body and exercise her joints.

Problems at birth can affect people for the rest of their lives.

Twenty-year-old Jorge Pedro Merino Martínez is another physically disabled person who receives attention through the social workers program. Because of a delay during his birth, he suffered respiratory failure that left him disabled, and his health has been affected to the point of suffering heart problems and having organs that are not in place. He cannot express himself easily, although he can understand. He experiences convulsions and must take heavy doses of medicine.

Given this type of situation, sometimes mothers become desperate and abandon their children to their fate, and the possibility that someone else might care for them.

Hilda Rey, the woman who takes care of him, loves Jorge like one of her own children, and has done everything within her power to ensure that he lives the healthiest life possible.

"My husband and I get along very well, and I told him that with my help, maybe Jorge can get better someday, or develop like other human beings," she says. "I used to work in a laboratory and I had to leave my job."

According to Hilda, social workers have been "a blessing," because despite the attention she has always received from the Ministry of Public Health, these young people are more closely involved with their cases, and can mobilize themselves to make sure the person’s needs are met, even the most basic ones, given the current circumstances in the country.

The social worker who directly attends to Jorge, Yuneisy Pérez Moreno, says that it has not been easy for her, given that she had just graduated when she began having responsibility for these cases, doing a door-to-door survey for the Ministry of Public Health and then beginning systematic visits and care.

"I had never seen anything like it," she commented. "He really impressed me, and I had a lot of affection for him right away."

The labors of the social workers in this particular case have not only been of help to Jorge, but also for Hilda’s other children.

"I have two kids and with the help of the social workers, I was able to make sure the older one gets his lunch at school, and the younger one attends a childcare center during the day. It wasn’t the best thing to have him at home all day."

Becoming involved with a family dealing with these types of situations is a vocation. One must be very humane to be able to take on these realities. Becoming integrated as part of the family or a very good friend, instead of social workers who are just doing their job, is a talent. It is like being an ally of life. As Hilda says, "it’s not something you do just for the sake of it. It’s a question of what you have inside.

Source: Granma International, Cuba

Bleak future for disabled seniors

2008-02-10T01:36:00.000+08:00

Disabled Alberta seniors can't survive many more years under a government that refuses to help fund non-profit care centres, an advocacy group for the disabled said yesterday.

"We're turning over between 40% and 65% at care facilities every year because we don't have the money to pay them," said Wally Mulder, spokesman for the Alberta Council of Disability Services.

"An employee in this economy isn't going to keep a $15 per hour job when they can leave the sector and make twice that."

His group released a report yesterday that says government must increase funding for community services by at least $182 million, lest the doors of Alberta's disabled care centres start closing.

The province currently has about 300 such senior centres.

"We're at the breaking point. If we don't get this money, these facilities will have to close their doors. They simply don't have the staff to provide the service they've been contracted to give," Mulder said.

The ACDS report compared salaries in the disabled services sector to jobs in other sectors requiring similar levels of training, critical thinking and responsibility.

Results showed disabled service staffers average between $14 and $18 per hour, compared to hourly ranges of $21 to $30 in other sectors.

"We just can't compete. We're burning out our people and losing staff who have eight years of experience in this field," Mulder said.

The funding crisis is also causing enrolment numbers to drop in college rehabilitation programs, such as MacEwan, Grande Prairie, Red Deer and Lethbridge, Mulder said.

"No one will go into a program if the job it gets them pays poorly.

"We're challenging government to step up. If they don't, more than 25% of care centres for seniors will eventually be forced to close."

ACDS estimates 9,000 disabled Alberta seniors currently receive care at non-profit facilities, which employ about 14,000 people.

Source: Edmonton Sun, Canada

Josie lifts trophy for disabled fans

2008-02-10T01:32:00.000+08:00

TOWN fan Josie Cichockyj got her hands on the FA Cup – and is now hoping the club can follow in her footsteps.

Josie, who is a member of Huddersfield Town Disabled Club, went to Wembley for the FA’s National Disability Equality Seminar.

It was held to discuss facilities for disabled supporters at grounds across the country.

She said: “The staff at Wembley brought the FA Cup down from the stand in the royal box, so I could rub some Town luck on the trophy. Come on the Town!”

The seminar was part of a major consultation exercise by the FA for the Level Playing Fields campaign, run by the National Association of Disabled Supporters (NADS).

Josie, who now lives in Stockport but is originally from Marsh and is a former Paralympian, said: “It’s based on the idea that disabled supporters should have exactly the same rights and facilities as able-bodied people.

“Some clubs have disabled supporters clubs and those that do generally tend to be better at dealing with disabled people.

“Town is one of the better ones, but some have been absolutely slated.”

She criticised Chelsea, who Town play next Saturday in the FA Cup fifth round.

“They will only be offering disabled Town supporters five wheelchair places, and they have already been taken,” she said.

“I’m absolutely gutted, because I didn’t get a ticket. Hopefully, we can get them back to the Galpharm and beat them there.”

Source: theexaminer.co.uk

DISABLED FEAR ACCESS CRISIS AT POST OFFICE

2008-02-10T01:25:00.000+08:00

Members of Cheltenham Disability Forum have hit out at the decision to move the post office in the town centre.There was outrage when news broke last year that the service was to be moved from the lower High Street to the upstairs of WHSmith.

The post office will still offer the same services but the public will need to get to the first floor.

Members of the disability forum believe the move, which could take place in April, would be a problem.

Chairman Hilary James said it was crucial to address the issue.

She added: "This will cause a problem, not only for our members, but for older people as well.

"Bosses at WH Smith have said they will comply with disability legislation, but surely it would be easier if they just didn't move the service, full stop.

"Even if we complain they will go ahead. We are just fighting so the needs of local disabled people are addressed."

Wendy Stoner from the forum said the relocation would cause difficulty for its 100 members.

She said: "A lot of the members have walking difficulties, and could not cope with escalators.

"In WHSmith people will be forced to travel to the back of the store and use the lift to the first floor.

"This is a lot of effort for someone who is disabled, or even for mothers with pushchairs.

"Where the post office is now is easily accessible for people in wheelchairs or others with walking sticks. Why do they need to move it?"

Nationwide, 76 branches are set to move to WH Smith.

Lyn Simpson, the county's representative for the Communication Workers Union said in other areas where services have been moved upstairs, vulnerable people have had problems, such as queuing down escalators and difficulties with stairs.

A spokesperson for WH Smith said they are working with the forum and other community groups to address their concerns.

She said that the lift in the store will be fitted with a handrail to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act.

Members of the forum are now calling for others opposed to the relocation to go to a meeting with WH Smith bosses on February 15.

Everyone is welcome to attend the meeting, which starts at 2pm at the store.

Source: thisisgloucestershire.co.uk

Disabled get a break

2008-02-08T12:13:00.000+08:00

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

2008-02-08T12:10:00.000+08:00

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

2008-02-08T12:08:00.000+08:00

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

2008-02-06T22:52:00.000+08:00

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

2008-02-06T22:50:00.000+08:00

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

2008-02-06T22:45:00.000+08:00

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

2008-02-06T22:42:00.000+08:00

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

2008-02-06T22:40:00.000+08:00

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

2008-02-06T22:37:00.000+08:00

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

2008-02-06T22:30:00.000+08:00

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

2008-02-06T22:28:00.000+08:00

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

2008-02-06T07:03:00.000+08:00

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

2008-02-06T07:00:00.000+08:00

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

2008-02-06T06:56:00.000+08:00

Disabled angry over sterilisation

2008-02-06T06:50:00.000+08:00

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’

2008-02-06T06:44:00.000+08:00

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

2008-02-05T06:56:00.000+08:00

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

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

2008-02-05T06:52:00.000+08:00

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

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