Disability History In USA - Recently Updated Pages

VISUAL IMPAIRMENT

atrinkler822 — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:44:29 CDT

There are more than 35 million people in the world are blind, and another 15 million are consider to have a visual impairment. when discussing blindness or visual impairment, many different terms are used to describe varying degrees of vision loss. according to the national information center for children and youth with a disability , low vision and legal blindness can be define in the following ways:

1. low vision refer to a severe visual impairment, not necessary limited to distance vision. low vision applies to all individual with sight who are unable to read the newspaper at a normal viewing distance, even with the aid of eyeglasses or contact lenses

2. legally blind indicates that a person has less than 20/20 vision in the better eye or very limited field of vision

3. visual impairment is the condition of having some usable vision. people withe severe visual impairment cannot read newspaper with glasses, visual impairment also include conditions such as tunnel vision and color blindness. people who have congenital blindness have been without sight early child hood or birth. people who have adventitious blindness lost their sight later in life.

Suggestion To Improve Access And Positive Interaction

1. To guide a person with who is blind let him or her take your arm. i\f you encounter steps, curbs or other obstacles identify them and pause briefly before proceeding

2. Speak directly-to that person in a normal tone and speed

3. Do not pet or play with a working guide or service dog

4. When entering or leaving the room say so

5 W,hen a person who have a visual impairment is meeting many people, introduce them individual

6. Promote displays or other objects, avoid clutter, use large letters signs, raise low hanging signs or lights

7. Use alternative formats written materials
8. Use dark colors on white paper when writing anything down for someone who has trouble seeing. I know this helps me to see something on paper. Especially Black Markers.

The Purpose of Disability Movement

Anonymous — Fri, 29 May 2009 12:27:01 CDT

The disability rights movement asserts that people with disabilities are human beings with inalienable rights and that these rights can only be secured through collective political action. It arises out of the realization that, as historian Paul Longmore has written, "whatever the social setting and whatever the disability, people with disabilities share a common experience of social oppression."

People with disabilities throughout history have been defined as objects of shame, fear, pity, or ridicule. Americans with disabilities have been incarcerated, sometimes for life, in state institutions and nursing homes. As recently as 1979 it was legal for some state governments to sterilize disabled persons against their will. Other laws prohibited people with certain disabilities from marrying, or even from appearing in public.

Social prejudice kept disabled children out of the public schools, and sanctioned discrimination against disabled adults in employment, housing, and public accommodations. This prejudice has been exacerbated for people of color, women, and for members of ethnic and sexual minorities. Although groups and individuals have since the nineteenth century advocated for an end to this oppression, large scale, cross-disability rights activism, encouraged by the examples of the African-American civil rights and women’s rights movements, did not begin until the late 1960s.

The independent living movement has been an important part of this broader movement for disability rights. It is based on the premise that people with even the most severe disabilities should have the choice of living in the community. This can be accomplished through the creation of personal assistance services allowing an individual to manage his or her personal care, to keep a home, to have a job, go to school, worship, and otherwise participate in the life of the community. The independent living movement also advocates for the removal of architectural and transportation barriers that prevent people with disabilities from sharing fully in all aspects of our society. Although there were earlier experiments with this concept, it wasn’t until 1972 that the first Center for Independent Living was founded by disability activists in Berkeley, California. By the turn of the century there were hundreds of such centers all across the United States, and throughout much of the rest of the world. In the meantime, a series of landmark court decisions, along with sustained advocacy by people with disabilities for legislation such as the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1975, and most notably the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, have secured for disabled Americans unprecedented access to their civil rights, and thus to the society around them.
These victories, as significant as they are, have not ended the discrimination or the prejudice. Indeed, the first years of the twenty-first century have seen several high court decisions which have limited the expected scope and effectiveness of disability rights law, while millions of disabled Americans remain locked in poverty, consigned to nursing homes, and frozen out of society. Even so, it is impossible to deny that the disability rights and independent living movements have transformed American society, and any history of American social and political life of the late twentieth century must include reference to the contributions of disability rights and independent living activists.
UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library, through its Regional Oral History Office, has recorded and continues to record the stories of individuals who have made significant contributions to the origins and achievements of these movements. The Bancroft Library also collects, preserves, and provides access to the papers of organizations and individuals of importance to the struggles for disability rights and independent living. The collection highlights the broad range of strategies and tactics employed, the diverse experience of the activists involved, and the intersection of disability in America with the issues of race, ethnicity, class, and gender.

ADAPT Wants Alphonso Jackson, Secretary of HUD

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:20:11 CST

(Nashville) ADAPT delivered a message to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) office in Tennessee that ADAPT demands the federal housing department make housing vouchers available to get people out of Nursing Homes. Gathering two miles north, however, ADAPT’s presence in the city caused the Capitol to be closed to the public. “We are going to pursue Alphonso Jackson everyplace he goes and find him wherever he is,” said Cassie James of ADAPT. “For sixty-seven hundred in Tennessee and thousands upon thousands around the country who cannot get out of institutions lets make April a month that Alphonso Jackson will never forget.” Before gathering at the HUD office, the ADAPT activists marched to the front door of the TennCare Bureau on Great Circle Road and were greeted at the entrance by a line of state troopers

. Activists from Tennessee led the group up to the officers but stopped short of passing through the line. The ADAPT line continued past the entrance, leaving the Tennessee group facing off with the State Troopers. A large cardboard sign pushed right up to the officers that read: “Dear Steve Hopper: 6,700 disabled people want out of nursing homes. Support Money Follows the Person, -ADAPT.” The Tennessee group that led the procession confronted the officers for about ten minutes as the long line of activists passed, rejoining the end of the column and leaving the note at the StateTroopers feet. Although ADAPT was nowhere near the Tennessee State Capitol today, the complex was shutdown to all but scheduled business. The move was likely to make the offices less of a target for ADAPT but the extreme measure shows the extent of the governor’s fear of light being shined on the typically veiled plight of people in institutions. The state of Tennessee has chosen to fund almost exclusively expensive and undesirable facilities to provide long-term care. The costly state dependence on inefficient and immoral long-term service delivery clashes with Governor Bredesen’s self-proclaimed reformer status. “For the safety of the people who are there and safety of the public in general, we've got it closed at this time," said Col. Mike Walker, commander of the Tennessee Highway Patrol. At the HUD office ADAPT gathered at the entrance but did not block access. The group packed the small concrete apron outside the door and chanted “our homes not nursing homes.” Just before 2:00 pm, Cassie James spoke to the crowd, and asked to speak with the Director of the HUD office. “For the people of Tennessee it has taken a long time,” said Deborah Cunningham, Executive Director of the Memphis Center for Independent Living. “For the past twenty-years we have been working to get people out of nursing homes and into affordable, accessible, integrated housing. Today proves we are serious an d that we are committed to this struggle for however long it may take.” Following the speeches and a MacDonald’s lunch, Deborah Cunningham, Cassie James and Sher Stewart of ADAPT, went into the office to speak with the local HUD director. In less than ten minutes they returned and announced that William H. Dirl had agreed to all the demands and would like to address ADAPT. “I came down here to listen to you, I will hear what you have to say. I have been given a letter that I assure you that will get to Secretary Jackson.” Said Mr. Dirl. “I understand that the major concern as it relates to HUD is vouchers. That is a concern that we are worried about also. We will certainly make sure that your wishes and your concerns make it to the highest levels, which is Secretary Jackson.” “He agreed with us and was very concerned about the vouchers,” said Ms. Cunningham. “I believe that he understands the need.”

Disability Symbols

Anonymous — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 05:41:41 CST

Access (Other Than Print or Braille) for Individuals Who Are Blind or Have Low Vision

This symbol may be used to indicate access for people who are blind or have low vision, including: a guided tour, a path to a nature trail or a scent garden in a park; and a tactile tour or a museum exhibition that may be touched. File names:

Symbol for Accessibility

The wheelchair symbol should only be used to indicate access for individuals with limited mobility including wheelchair users. For example, the symbol is used to indicate an accessible entrance, bathroom or that a phone is lowered for wheelchair users. Remember that a ramped entrance is not completely accessible if there are no curb cuts, and an elevator is not accessible if it can only be reached via steps.

Audio Description

A service for persons who are blind or have low vision that makes the performing arts, visual arts, television, video, and film more accessible. Description of visual elements is provided by a trained Audio Describer through the Secondary Audio Program (SAP) of televisions and monitors equipped with stereo sound. An adapter for non-stereo TVs is available through the American Foundation for the Blind, (800) 829-0500. For live Audio Description, a trained Audio Describer offers live commentary or narration (via headphones and a small transmitter) consisting of concise, objective descriptions of visual elements: i.e., a theater performance or a visual arts exhibition.

Telephone Typewriter (TTY)

This device is also known as a text telephone (TT), or telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD). TTY indicates a device used with the telephone for communication with and between deaf, hard of hearing, speech impaired and/or hearing persons.

Volume Control Telephone

This symbol indicates the location of telephones that have handsets with amplified sound and/or adjustable volume controls.

Assistive Listening Systems

These systems transmit amplified sound via hearing aids, headsets or other devices. They include infrared, loop and FM systems. Portable systems may be available from the same audiovisual equipment suppliers that service conferences and meetings.

Sign Language Interpretation

The symbol indicates that Sign Language Interpretation is provided for a lecture, tour, film, performance, conference or other program.

Accessible Print (18 pt. or Larger)

The symbol for large print is "Large Print" printed in 18 pt. or larger text. In addition to indicating that large print versions of books, pamphlets, museum guides and theater programs are available, you may use the symbol on conference or membership forms to indicate that print materials may be provided in large print. Sans serif or modified serif print with good contrast is important, and special attention should be paid to letter and word spacing.

The Information Symbol

The most valuable commodity of today's society is information; to a person with a disability it is essential. For example, the symbol may be used on signage or on a floor plan to indicate the location of the information or security desk, where there is more specific information or materials concerning access accommodations and services such as "LARGE PRINT" materials, audio cassette recordings of materials, or sign interpreted tours.

Closed Captioning (CC)

This symbol indicates a choice for whether or not to display captions for a television program or videotape. TV sets that have a built-in or a separate decoder are equipped to display dialogue for programs that are captioned when selected by the viewer. The Television Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990 requires TV sets (with screens 13" or larger) to have built-in decoders as of July, 1993. Also, videos that are part of exhibitions may be closed captioned using the symbol with instruction to press a button for captioning.

Opened Captioning (OC)

This symbol indicates that captions, which translates dialogue and other sounds in print, are always displayed on the videotape, movie or television program. Open Captioning is preferred by many including deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, and people whose second language is English. In addition, it is helpful in teaching children how to read and in keeping sound levels to a minimum in museums and restaurants.

Braille Symbol

This symbol indicates that printed material is available in Braille, including exhibition labeling, publications and signage.

Special thanks to the National Endowment for the Arts
Graphic design assistance by the Society of Environmental Graphic Design
Consultant: Jacqueline Ann Clipsham
© copyright 1995 - 2002, Graphic Artists Guild
Page updated 03/07/2007 03:32:19

Disability Statistics In America

Anonymous — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:14:00 CST

51.2 million
Number of people who have some level of disability. They represent 18 percent of the population.

32.5 million
Number of people with a severe disability. They represent 12 percent of the population.

11%
Percentage of children ages 6 to 14 who have a disability. This amounts to 4 million children.

72%
Percentage of people 80 and older with disabilities, the highest of any age group.

20%
Percentage of females with a disability, higher than the 17 percent of males. On the other hand, among children under 15, boys were more likely than girls to have a disability (11 percent versus 6 percent).

Using or Needing Assistance

10.7 million
Number of people age 6 and older who need personal assistance with one or more activities of daily living (such as taking a bath or shower) or instrumental activities of daily living (such as using the telephone). This group amounts to 4 percent of people in this age category.

2.7 million
Number of people age 15 and older who use a wheelchair. Another 9.1 million use an ambulatory aid such as a cane, crutches or walker.

Specific Disabilities

1.8 million
Number of people age 15 and older who report being unable to see.

1 million
Number of people age 15 and older who report being unable to hear.

2.6 million
Number of people age 15 and older who have some difficulty having their speech understood by others. Of this number, 610,000 were unable to have their speech understood at all.

14.3 million
Number of people with limitations in cognitive functioning or a mental or emotional illness that interferes with their daily activities. This includes those with Alzheimer’s disease, depression and mental retardation. This group comprises 6 percent of the population.

On the Job

11.8 million
Number of 16- to 64-year-olds who reported the presence of a medical condition that makes it difficult to find a job or remain employed. They comprise 6 percent of the population.

56%
Percentage of people ages 21 to 64 having some type of disability and also employed in the last year. The rate ranged from 82 percent of those with a nonsevere disability to 43 percent with a severe disability. For those without a disability, the rate is 88 percent.

44%
Percentage of people with a nonsevere disability who work full time, year-round. This compares to 53 percent without a disability and 13 percent with a severe disability.

Perceived Health Status

33%
Percentage of people ages 25 to 64 who have a nonsevere disability and report their health as being "very good" or "excellent." This compares with 13 percent of those with a severe disability and 73 percent of those without a disability.

Income and Poverty

$22,000
Median earnings for people with a nonsevere disability. This compares to $25,000 for those with no disability and $12,800 for those with a severe disability.

18%
Percentage of people with a nonsevere disability and household incomes of $80,000 or more. By comparison, 26 percent of people without a disability had household incomes of $80,000 or more with the same being true of 9 percent of those with a severe one.

11%
The poverty rate for people ages 25 to 64 with a nonsevere disability. This compares to 26 percent for those with a severe disability and 8 percent of those without a disability.

Living Arrangements

60%
Percentage of people ages 25 to 64 with a nonsevere disability who live in married-couple families. The corresponding rates are 68 percent for those without disabilities and 50 percent for people with severe disabilities.

23%
Percentage of people with a nonsevere disability who live alone or with nonrelatives. This compares with 28 percent of those with a severe disability and 19 percent without a disability.

Education

33%
The percentage of people ages 25 to 64 who had a nonsevere disability and were college graduates. This compares with 43 percent with no disability and 22 percent with a severe disability.

Closing Of Lincoln Developmental Center

creamcandycane — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:34:19 CST

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

Exceptional Parent Magazine Speaks Out

creamcandycane — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 12:44:22 CDT

By: Candice Clark
March 6th, 2007

In its thirty-six year history, EP magazine has rarely taken a position in areas of controversy or differences of opinion. We prefer, as a matter of journalistic principle, to present objectively all sides to a given argument and debate, adhering to our mission of providing credible information for and on behalf of those involved in the care and development of children and adults with disabilities and special needs.
We have, however, taken a rather strong stance on issues such as:extending the benefits of the Orphan Drug Act, condemning a policythat endorses the use of restraints, and supporting the expansion of newborn screening utilizing tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS).We thought long and hard about taking stands on these issues, and we did what we felt was the right thing. Now we find ourselves met with yet another great challenge the very essence of human life and dignity and our conscience dictates we do the right thing once again.
In January, the story of Ashley and her “treatment” burst out in the national news. Ashley, who is now nine years old and has significant and lifelong disabilities, was given “growth attenuation” surgery and medication when she was six years old to keep her from growing to a full adult size. Her parents, in a decision that they say in their website “was not difficult,” found physicians willing to surgically remove Ashley’s breast buds, her appendix (even though nothing was wrong with it), and her uterus. She was then treated with high doses of estrogen to stunt her growth. These procedures were performed without either court or ethics committee approval. Indeed, the institutional ethics committee that the family and physicians consulted prior to placing Ashley under the knife, decided to leave the decision in the parents’ hands, rather than engaging in the comprehensive, ethical debate the procedure deserved. As one might expect, the story of the “Ashley Treatment,” the name the parents themselves coined for the procedure, generated brief but bitter debate. Things have now quieted down again.
Barely three weeks after Ashley’s story hit the press, Switzerland’s Supreme Court, to virtually no groundswell of public outcry and very little public notice, ruled that it is now permissible in Switzerland to allow assisted suicide for persons with serious mental illness, even if their condition is not otherwise terminal. Switzerland already permitted assisted suicide for people with terminal illnesses at the time this decision was announced.
The “Ashley Treatment” and Swiss assisted suicide stories came along about 15 months after a Netherlands facility announced the creation and implementation of the “Groningen Protocol.” The Groningen Protocol, named for the pediatric hospital at which it was devised, described a five-step process physicians are encouraged to follow to sanction the euthanizing of infants who are born with serious, potentially life-threatening disabilities. The end step in the Groningen Protocol is that the physicians inject medication to kill the infants, rather than letting the infants pass away as a result of their disease or defect running its course. The Groningen Protocol physicians, at the time of announcing the Protocol, also announced that they had implemented the Protocol to euthanize four infants even before the Protocol was announced. One of those was a child with Down syndrome. Despite the implications of what the Groningen physicians call “a deliberate, life-ending procedure,” the story received no substantive coverage in America outside of the medical community.
The deafening silence now accompanying the not-so-subtle threats that people with disabilities face because of procedures like “Ashley’s Treatment,” mental illness based assisted suicide and infant euthanasia is appalling. Ashley’s story emerged three years after the major part of her surgery had been completed. Four infants were euthanized using the “Groningen Protocol” before the public even knew the protocol existed. How and why does this happen? And why does the Ashley story suddenly surface?
History has shown us that children with disabilities have been victims of involuntary sterilization, institutionalization, and widespread abuse, neglect, and death. Historically, society had little or no expectations for children with disabilities, and their families frequently felt shame. In the last 50 years, parents and professionals have united to reject these inhuman practices and to insist that our children have the same opportunity for lives of dignity and achievement that we expect for ourselves. EP magazine has been a leader in fighting to preserve the human dignity of life itself a life we all share, regardless of the existence or degree of disability we might encounter individually.
These dramatic news stories do not represent isolated instances of hard choices in hard times. Each story represents a conscious attempt to expand the number of life-ending or life-altering procedures available to physicians and parents who would choose to use them and, in so doing, rob the child of her or his human dignity. The creators of these procedures want them to be adopted and used by physicians and families throughout the world. The utilitarianism they promote in the name of compassion is nothing other than new language and new ideas designed to encourage the systematic denigration of those with disabilities, stripping them of the basic human right to life and dignity. Over sixty years ago, millions died to rid the world of people who perpetrated these same shameful acts in the name of bogus science. Have we now ignored that sacrifice and the lessons they taught us?
It is an outrage that no court or ethics committee engaged in the soul-searching debate a procedure like “Ashley’s Treatment” should have generated. It is an outrage that society should countenance extreme surgical procedures and hormone injections as a solution to the challenges of caring for a six year old with complex disabilities. It is a shame and an affront to the human dignity of every one of us to permit these procedures on even one child. We need to make it right and make sure it never happens again.
We are heartened that so many organizations within the disability rights movement in America have acted swiftly to condemn “Ashley’s Treatment.” Their actions are justified on several fronts. But we all must become more zealous in our efforts to expose and condemn all similar affronts to human dignity posed by practices like the Groningen Protocol and the use of assisted suicide to address serious mental illness.
We see “Ashley’s Treatment,” the “Groningen Protocol,” and the Swiss assisted suicide decision as thinly veiled attempts to objectify and desensitize the value of human dignity. It should never be acceptable in America for a care-providing parent or guardian to authorize and procure “Ashley’s Treatment” for a child and have the decision be “not difficult.” The difficult action, and the action we at EP choose to take, is to fight for the human dignity we all have the right to possess. Taking that away should not just be difficult; it should be impossible. And it should make us all angry that these efforts to strip human dignity are happening all around us in relative secrecy. We cannot let these
stories fade away or our dignity fades away with them. We need to be ever mindful of the words “all that is needed for evil to prosper is for good men to stand by and do nothing.”
Please, for our children’s sake, their children and generations to come, let us not stand idly by. Let us do something. We urge the following:
* EP calls upon all professional medical, dental, and other health
care related organizations, associations, and societies to come
forward with a statement denouncing these treatments and
sanctioning those who take part in it.
* EP asks private foundations as well as federal and state
agencies and departments to consider cutting off all grants to
those hospitals or institutions that allow such procedures to
take place.
* EP calls upon all of science and medicine to denounce publicly
the Groningen Protocol, Ashley Treatment, and the Swiss decision
on assisted suicide.
* EP encourages all disability organizations that have not yet
issued statements to join with us in this effort.
And what will we, EP magazine, do as a publishing and
communications company? We will do what we do best, publish and
communicate. And what form will this take, specifically?
* EP will continue to offer articles in its print publication and
on it website that inform and educate parents and professionals
about resources and best practices. The operative words are
inform and educate. We are not in the business of inciting.
* EP will explore hosting an EPLiveOnLine seminar series
http://www.epliveonline.org which will explore topics
such as:
- the history of human rights and medical abuses perpetrated
against those with disabilities
- the protocol and principles employed by modern day ethics
boards and committees
- a review of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human
Rights
* EP will re-dedicate itself to constantly scanning the disability
landscape, nationally and internationally, for murmurs of abuses
such as the Ashley Treatment, the Groningen Protocol, and the
Swiss assisted suicide issue. When found, EP will bring these
issues to the fore, endeavoring to keep them from slipping
beneath the public radar screen.
* EP will encourage, through verbal and written communiquis, the
primary care physicians, pediatric and adult neurologists,
psychiatrists, occupational and physical therapists,
developmental disability nurses, physical medicine and
rehabilitation specialists and other allied health care
professionals with whom we have relationships and contacts to
take every opportunity available when they teach and present to
mention the “slippery slope” phenomena discussed in this
article.
* EP will develop and provide, upon request, a brief PowerPoint
presentation that presents modern day issues that are too
reminiscent of past abuses and horrors.
* EP pledges to provide comprehensive, written materials and
specific informational pieces on how to access relevant
community supports and services and how to navigate federal and
state special education law. These will also be made available
on the EP website.
* In its continuing effort to be open and responsive to its
readers’ most pressing and prevalent questions and needs, EP
will set up a special channel on its website where readers can
pose questions on how to access community supports and services.
* EP will give voice to advocates by providing an abbreviated
version of this Position Statement on its website and allowing
website visitors the opportunity to express their support by
signing their names to this statement online.

DUANE READE CASE SETTLED!

creamcandycane — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 12:41:45 CDT

After almost five years of litigation, Disabled In Action's access lawsuit against the Duane Reade drugstore chain has been settled, and it affirms our civil right to shop by being able to do such things as pass through store aisles, reach counters and credit card swipe machines, and communicate privately with pharmacists. We are looking forward to the improvements that Duane Reade has promised to make

Obama to meet with Illinois veterans on disability pay, other issues

creamcandycane — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 12:33:25 CDT

.S. Sen. Barack Obama on Wednesday said the Department of Veterans Affairs needs to ensure that disability payments for Illinois veterans are on par with what veterans in other states receive and not among the lowest in the nation.
"I'll hold their feet to the fire until this gets fixed," Obama said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
Illinois veterans received an average of $6,802 in disability pay in 2003, putting the state 50th among 52 states and territories, according to an investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times. Veterans in some states and Puerto Rico have collected nearly double what Illinois veterans have received in recent years, the paper reported.
As a member of the Veterans Affairs Committee, Obama said he will review the department's budgets and policies.
"I'm not going to be predisposed to working on the administration's priorities if they're not interested in helping out Illinois veterans," Obama said.
The freshman Democrat plans to hold town hall-style meetings with veterans in Evergreen Park on Friday and Springfield on Saturday to prepare for confirmation hearings for Jim Nicholson, the U.S. ambassador to the Vatican who was recently nominated by President Bush to be secretary of the Veterans Affairs Department.
"Part of what I want to do is hear directly from veterans regarding the most important concerns that they're experiencing right now and be able to communicate those concerns to the ambassador and ask him questions," Obama said.
Nicholson, a decorated Vietnam veteran, met with Obama and U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., earlier this month and said that he will investigate the disability payment issue.
"We said it was simply unacceptable that a veteran who had lost his or her leg and lived in Illinois should somehow get lower benefits than a veteran who had lost his or her leg and lives in Puerto Rico," Obama said. "Ambassador Nicholson had no good reasons that he could offer for this discrepancy."
Nicholson told Obama and Durbin that he would visit Illinois after he is confirmed and after the VA inspector general has concluded an investigation into the issue.
Anthony Principi, the outgoing secretary of Veterans Affairs, has ordered the department's inspector general to review how disability claims are rated.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert and the rest of the Illinois congressional delegation also asked the VA to produce a study that would show why disability pay varies so much from state to state and recommend a system that's more equitable.
"What we want to make certain of is that there's not just some study done somewhere that doesn't result in actual change," Obama said.
A spokesman for the Department of Veterans Affairs did not immediately return calls for comment.
Disability pay isn't the only concern at issue. Adequate funding for veterans outpatient clinics tops the list of concerns for the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Illinois, legislative director Fred Albers said. The clinics and the size of their staff should be increased so that more veterans can be treated, he said.
"We want to ask him if it's possible that the overflow at these clinics could be treated at a local hospital," he said.
Albers, who said his group has not taken a position on the disability pay issue, welcomed the meetings with Obama.
"We've got a direct line from Illinois to Washington now through him and he seems to really be taking an interest in this," Albers said.
January 19, 2005 07:06 PM EST

Disabled protest in Chennai airport against offloading NGO activist

creamcandycane — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 12:22:37 CDT

CHENNAI: About 100 physically challenged persons on Wednesday formed a human chain in front of the domestic airport here in protest of refusal by a private airline's to allow a cerebral palsy victim to board the aircraft without an escort.

Holding placards, the disabled, most of them in wheelchairs, held a peaceful protest by forming the human chain for nearly 90 minutes.

They demanded equal rights and urged the Government to put an end to discrimination against the disabled.

"We've been facing discrimination from various airlines and Monday's incident was the height of it. It not only violated human rights, but also the International Civil Aviation rules," said Smitha, Assistant Coordinator - Vidyasagar, an NGO which organised the agitation.

"We want to make this issue a national movement against discrimination on the grounds

of disability and are also planning to file a Public Interest Litigation against the Civil Aviation Ministry," she said.

Physically challenged persons from NGOs like Banyan and Ability Foundation also took part in the human chain protest.

Air Sahara officials on Monday refused to take on board 34-year-old wheelchair-borne Rajiv Rajan without an escort, triggering a nationwide debate on the need to sensitise private airlines to the rights of the disabled.

Despite Rajan's plea that he was a frequent flier and was fit enough to travel alone, the airline staff tried to push him out of their office and even called in police to show him the way out.

80 arrested at ADAPT Protest

creamcandycane — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 12:09:47 CDT

80 ADAPT Disability Activists Arrested Attacking Segregation in Chicago

Chicago, IL--- More than 500 ADAPT activists from around the country
converged in Chicago September 8th-13th to take action against a
crisis in Illinois that is the poster child for a larger national
problem. The crisis is directly caused by a record of bad decisions
made by Illinois state officials, and the institutional bias built
into the way the nations long term care (LTC) system is funded.

Today activists made house calls to the American Medical
Association (AMA). Thus far, 80 have been arrested. Their demands are as
follows:

Demands are to

1. Endorse Community Choice Act and actively promote its passage (e.g.
include on AMA website and on advocacy agenda);

2. Work with ADAPT to develop an action plan to assure that people with
disabilities and seniors get REAL CHOICE in services/supports and are
able to live in most integrated setting. Provide membership with
continuing medical education programs about community-based
alternatives to institutionalization;

3. Require that AMA Board of Trustees and leadership divest
themselves of all financial interests in nursing facilities, etc.;

4. Develop AMA ethics policy that all AMA member MDs must full
disclose their financial interests in any facilities to their
patients when discussing issues, and not refer any patient to an LTC
facility in which they have any financial interest

ADAPT will assure that Gov. Blagojevich knows that his plans to
reopen a state institution for persons with developmental
disabilities and his lack of support for Money Follows the Person
legislation are actions of segregation and in violation of the U.S.
Supreme Courts Olmstead decision. ADAPT will also challenge the
Illinois Congressional delegation to take a leadership role
nationally in eliminating the institutional bias so people with
disabilities and older Americans can live at home with dignity.

Currently, Illinois ranks 41st in the nation for providing the
community-based services that will allow disabled and older citizens
to stay in their own homes. Illinois long record of being in the
bottom ten states puts it among the worst when it comes to human
rights in general and disability rights in particular.

It turns my stomach to know that my state, historically a home of
civil rights in America for people of color, is the same state that
is one of the worst civil rights performers in regard to people with
disabilities, said Chicago native Larry Biondi, an organizer with
Chicago ADAPT

While in Chicago, ADAPT held a national housing forum that will
be attended by HUD Fair Housing Assistant Secretary Kim Kendrick, and
state and local officials. At the forum, ADAPT presented its
national housing agenda; took testimony from people across the
country who have had difficulty finding affordable, accessible,
integrated housing; and distribute information on pending
visitability legislation, and the redirection of HUDs 811 Supportive
Housing program funds to projects that are integrated. Currently, the
811 program primarily funds segregated housing situations for people
with disabilities.

As we have begun to make progress in getting people out of
institutions, and preventing people from being forced into
institutions, the lack of affordable, accessible, integrated housing
in typical neighborhoods has become glaringly apparent, said Beto
Berrera, a member of Chicago ADAPT and a Chicago housing expert. We
are hosting this national housing forum so that federal officials can
hear just how bad the situation is, and to gain their support in
working with us to right this wrong

Over 120 Arrested When ADAPT Refuses to Sign Statement Supporting Institutions

creamcandycane — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 12:01:38 CDT

Chicago--- Today ADAPT confronted Council 31 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) on their support of reopening the state’s Lincoln Developmental Center institution, and AFSCME’s refusal to endorse any legislation supporting home and community-based services for people with disabilities. AFSCME responded by asking ADAPT to sign a statement supporting institutions authored by AFSCME director Henry Bayer, and when that didn’t happen, Bayer had over 120 people arrested for blocking the doors, elevators and parking lot of the AFSCME building.

“It’s impossible to negotiate human and civil rights issues with people whose only concern is their own pockets…no matter how many people are warehoused and deprived of their liberty as a result,” said Mike Oxford, Kansas ADAPT Organizer. “They typed up a statement supporting institutions and asking for money, and then couldn’t understand why we didn’t want to sign it.”

ADAPT has met repeatedly with AFSCME leadership, receiving a commitment from Gerald McEntee, the union’s president, to sign on to legislation that supports home and community-based services and supports for people with disabilities and the elderly. That promise was never kept, and was one of the reasons ADAPT visited the Council 31 offices.

“For an organization that has its roots in the civil rights movement, their treatment of people with disabilities is even more despicable,” said Randy Alexander, Memphis ADAPT Organizer. “The union and its members make a lot of money by advocating to keep people with disabilities and older folks stuck in nursing homes and other institutions instead of being able to live in their own homes like other people. It’s unconscionable that the union fights for workers’ rights at the expense of our rights. In ADAPT, we know that you can’t have one without the other.”

The arrests at AFSCME concluded the week of ADAPT action in Chicago. The week began with a national Affordable, Accessible, Integrated Housing Forum, attended by federal officials who heard testimony from people with disabilities about the lack of adequate housing, and the discrimination they have experienced when trying to secure housing. The forum was followed by three days of action on the streets that included gaining a commitment from Governor Blagojevich for permanent closure of the Lincoln Developmental Center, and assuring ADAPT a seat at the table as Illinois enacts its Money Follow the Person demonstration. The next ADAPT action will be in Washington, D.C. April 26-May 2, 2008 when ADAPT celebrates its 25th anniversary.

Manchin Singns Bill For Disabled

creamcandycane — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 10:59:03 CDT

Gov. Joe Manchin on Wednesday signed West Virginia's Olmstead PLan and pledged support to disabled West Virginians, but he would not promise money to carry out goals of the plan.
The plan is in response to the 1999 U.S. Supreme Court's Olmstead decision that, based on the Americans with Disabilities Act, requires states to care for elderly and disabled people in the community, not institutions, whenever possible.
About 10,000 West Virginias live in nursing homes. Federal surveys indicate at least 2,000 of those people would rather live in the community, said Ken Ervin, who organized the West Virginia chapter of Americans with Disabilities for Attendant Programs Today and is a member of the state's Olmstead Advisory Council.
Ervin and other advocates want Manchin to add $500,000 to his budget to carry out the Olmstead Plan.
Manchin said he and his staff were to begin working on their budget proposal Wednesday evening. "We will be looking at everything," is all he would commit to.
The money would help an existing network of social service agencies identify individuals who want to move out of nursing homes, eplain their options and provide grants to help them with the transition. Grants would pay for things like wheelchair ramps, security deposits on apartments and furniture.
"You gave somebody $700 or $800 and it changes their life," Ervin said.
"A lot of times when they become institutionalized they do lose everything," TinaMaher, the Olmstead coordinator in the Department of Health and Human Resources, said Wednesday in a meeting with Brian Kastick, Manchin's public policy director.
She asked for the money in next year's budget. Her DHHR superiors say there already is money in the department's budget and additional funding is not needed.
Maher and Ervin met with Kastick to explain that existing money can be used only to help certain groups of people, like those in state psychiatric hospitals, and there are others who cannot tap those funds.
Manchin said the state has a moral obligation to help people as the Olmstead Plan envisions and he is commited to carrying it out.
Ervin told Manchin, "We can't honor people's rights without resources... I hope you really do keep the promise and people's civil rights are respected."

West Virginia Governor Approves Olmstead Plan and Appropriates Funds

creamcandycane — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 10:52:35 CDT

Last month, West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin signed a state plan to comply with the 1999 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Olmstead v. L.C. and E.W. that requires states to support Americans with disabilities in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs. Since then, states
accelerated efforts to move individuals out of institutions who wanted to leave and settled them into real homes in the community. The signing was a formal ceremony commemorating Governor Manchin's executive order issued in October to implement the Olmstead Plan. Right now, nearly 10,000 West Virginian elders and others with disabilities live in nursing homes; around 600 of them have developmental disabilities. About 18-20 percent of these nursing home residents said "yes" when asked if they'd prefer to live in community settings, said Tina Maher, Olmstead Coordinator for the state's Office of the Ombudsman for Behavioral Health. Much credit goes to self-advocates and other stakeholders for "keeping the pressure up to get the West Virginia Olmstead plan completed and signed by the governor," said Mountain State People's Alliance staff member Scott
Miller. (Mountain State People's Alliance is a new project funded by the West Virginia Developmental Disabilities Council.)
While the governor said he supports West Virginians with disabilities, he did not commit any funds to carry out the goals of the new Olmstead Plan. As soon as they heard about the official signing of the plan slated for December, "[b]oth the ADAPT coordinator [of West Virginia] and myself
started contacting our list of self-advocates and family members to start calling the Governor's office asking that funds be attached to the plan, "Miller said, "so it could be implemented and not just sit on a desk looking pretty."
In their phone calls, self-advocates throughout the state reminded the governor of his verbal commitments made in previous meetings with them to finance community-based services and supports. "It's a matter of being vigilant," said self-advocate Ken Ervin, "and reminding [the governor] of his own words."
Shortly before the ceremony, five self-advocates including Ervin, the state Olmstead Coordinator Tina Maher, two Independent Living staff and Miller, sat down with Brian Kastick, the Governor's Director of Public Policy and Federal Affairs, to discuss the possibility of including $500,000 in the
upcoming budget for Olmstead implementation. "Although he was aware of the request," Miller explained, The governor "had no information about it due to the fact that the Department of Health and Human Services had not made the budget request. It was our efforts that put this issue on the
governor's radar."
About 40 people attended the official signing ceremony; three in wheelchairs sat at the front of the room each holding a placard that together read, "We the people." Self-advocates wanted to make sure "the governor understood he was signing a document that was about real people and their lives in the community," Miller said. "Although we did not get a firm [financial] commitment at the meeting, we were left feeling relatively hopeful."
Then, in early January, Governor Manchin announced he was allocating $250,000 in his proposed 2007 fiscal year budget for the Office of Behavioral Health Services to implement the Olmstead Plan. The state is also receiving more than four million dollars through federal systems change grants to implement the Olmstead Plan.
The Plan. The Olmstead Advisory Council, whose members include self-advocates, family members, providers, and state agency representatives, prepared the state's Olmstead Plan.
"The West Virginia Olmstead Plan addresses several components of West Virginia's service delivery system for people with all disabilities, including developmental disabilities," said Frank Kirkland, Director of the state's Division of Developmental Disabilities.
"The plan looks at strengthening the community supports we have and identifying and assessing people with disabilities' desire to reside in the community who may now be in more restrictive settings such as nursing homes [or intermediate care facilities for mental retardation (ICFs/MR),] or
those who may need community supports to prevent them from going into more restrictive settings. It also looks at our wait lists for community-based programs such as the MR/DD and AD [aged and disabled] waivers.
In total, the plan spells out 189 specific activities or tasks that need to be fulfilled in order to implement the Olmstead decision in West Virginia. Of these tasks, 52 percent (99) can be put into action without fiscal impact and/or regulatory change; 30 percent (56) necessitate moderate
fiscal impact or regulatory change; and 18 percent (34) are major activities that would require legislative action for funding or changes in the laws.
These major activities and specific tasks are divided into 10 categories:
1) Informed Choice
Includes such goals as developing a resource guide and an interactive Website to educate individuals on making informed choices and finding community-based supports, resources, and providers.
2) Identification One task in this category is to require state-operated facilities, nursing homes, ICFs/MR, and assisted living residences to maintain a list of individuals who want to return to the community.
3) Transition
Transition tasks include developing a person-centered process to help individuals transition into the most integrated settings in the community.
4) Diversion
This primary goal for this category of tasks is to prevent or divert individuals from being institutionalized or segregated.
5) Reasonable Pace
Tasks include establishing policies so no one has to wait more than 90 days to receive home and community-based services once eligibility is determined.
6) Eliminating Institutional Bias
In order to provide community-based supports and services, institutional bias in funding long-term supports must be eliminated. Steps to accomplish this include analyzing alternative uses for nursing facilities and ICFs/MR as well as to educate mental health commissioners about the Olmstead
decision and alternatives to institutionalization.
7) Self-Direction
Providing individuals with choice and control over their services and supports underlies all self-direction tasks such as revising policies for licensing requirements to provide self-direction in all waiver programs.
8) Rights Protection
Goals for rights protection include amending child custody laws so that parents do not have to give up custody of their children to the state in order for the children to receive services.
9) Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement: QA/QI activities include preparing an annual Olmstead Plan implementation report for the governor and the general public.
10) Community-Based Services, Programs, and Activities: Tasks involved to develop, enhance, and maintain varied community-based self-directed supports include amending the Nurse Practice Act, seeking funds for programs that support un-served or under-served individuals, and implementing appropriate housing options in the community.
Next Steps. Now that the plan is approved, one of the first goals to tackle is to identify individuals in institutional settings and get some good data on their basic needs and which ones want to move back into the community, Maher said. The Olmstead Advisory Council will take on new roles by
advising Maher about fulfilling the Olmstead Plan; making recommendations for long-term care institutional and community-based support systems; issuing position papers to identify and resolve systemic issues; and monitoring, revising, and updating the Olmstead Plan and related work
plans.

New Two-percent Policy under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Strikes Concern

creamcandycane — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 09:08:00 CDT

with Disabilities (CCD), including The Arc of the United States and United Cerebral Palsy, are seriously concerned about the new two-percent policy under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) for assessing certain special education students. The CCD expressed its concern in a letter issued to Education Secretary Margaret Spellings and requested a meeting with the Secretary in anticipation of a proposed rulemaking on this policy

End the 24-Month Medicare Coverage Waiting Period

creamcandycane — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 09:06:59 CDT

Currently, Americans with disabilities who apply for Medicare must wait 24 months after having their disability diagnosed before they are eligible to receive Medicare benefits. Senate bill 1217, introduced last June by Senators Bingaman and Dewine, would effectively phase out the two-year waiting period for disability Medicare coverage. Please join with United Cerebral Palsy and ask your state’s Senators to co-sponsor the Bingaman-DeWine bill which will improve the lives of millions of Americans.
You can e-mail your local Senator below. Then, and this is essential, e-mail your co-workers, family and friends about this important issue. rently, Americans with disabilities who apply for Medicare must wait 24 months after having their disability

Missing Names, Stolen Lives

creamcandycane — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 08:12:12 CDT

There are thousands of graves like this around the United States. Through the efforts of activists who are former hospital patients, anonymous markers at Faribault and other sites are being replaced with proper markers.

, this cast-concrete marker with the number 7 was placed on her grave.
There are thousands of graves like this around the United States. Through the efforts of activists who are former hospital patients, anonymous markers at Faribault and other sites are being replaced with proper markers.

Japan Disability Protest

creamcandycane — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 09:59:26 CST

Disability Protest
This group is from the southernmost island chain of Okinawa / Ryukyus. The straw hats are traditional to the Ryukyu Islands. The group decorated their hats with slogans protesting the government's changes. People with severe disabilities require one or two care attendants ("guide helpers" or "home helpers" in Japanese). The able-bodied peop le you see in the photoessays are staff or supporters at the various centers for independent living (CILs). As a rule, CILs are run by people with disabilities themselves in both management and board positions.

ADAPT Youth Appalled at Parents Surgically Keeping Disabled Daughter

creamcandycane — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 09:50:37 CST

Youth members of the national disability rights organization, ADAPT, today
expressed shock and outrage on behalf of the entire national membership of
ADAPT at the news of nine-year-old Ashley from Seattle, whose parents had
her uterus, appendix and breast buds removed, in addition to having her
undergo hormone injections in order to minimize her height and weight as
she grows older.

In their blog, Ashley's parents have rationalized these drastic measures
to manipulate Ashley's size and physical maturity by saying it will be
easier for them to care for her and involve her in family activities. "As
a young woman with a disability, I am extremely disturbed on multiple
levels by Ashley's situation," said Amber Smock of Chicago, Illinois. "I
am angry that Ashley's parents, the medical establishment and society at
large think it is acceptable to surgically and hormonally manipulate
Ashley because the reality of her adulthood as a person with a disability
is too "grotesque" for them. With these drastic measures, her parents and
doctors are physically reinforcing the disrespectful attitude held by many
that people with disabilities are all "childlike," and can be treated like
property or science experiments." Ashley has now become a modern day
symbol of the long and dishonorable tradition of sterilizing people with
disabilities. In 1927 the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Buck vs. Bell
upheld that tradition as a way to "eliminate defectives from the gene
pool." Today, parents and others rationalize sterilization by saying it
will prevent any possibility of pregnancy from abuse. Ashley has not been
reported to be at risk of either abuse or pregnancy, and her parents say
that her only caretakers are themselves and her grandmother. Ashley's
parents also say in their blog that removal of her uterus will prevent her
from having periods. For over two decades there have been far less
invasive means of suppressing menstruation in women when medically
indicated. It is not known why Ashley's parents resorted to the much more
invasive procedure of a hysterectomy. "Perhaps even more distressing to
those of us with disabilities," said Smock, "is that a medical ethics
committee supports treating Ashley not as a human being, but as a
"problem" to be managed in a way they wouldn't consider or allow for other
children. We have enough difficulty with the medical establishment's
power over our lives, and its lack of recognition of disability as a
social status and not a medical problem that must either be "cured" or
"killed." "This case opens the door for other people with disabilities to
be subject to mutilation and chemical castration, simply because we have a
disability. The severity of Ashley's disability does not mean that it's
okay to treat her as less than a full human being," continued Smock. "The
impact of Ashley's situation is not limited to just her and her family.
Ashley's mutilation has started us down a slippery slope where her case
could very well be used as a precedent to damage one person with a
disability after another. Instead of mutilating children, we need to put
our energy into assuring that people with disabilities and their families
have the support they need to age naturally and live lives of quality in
their own homes and communities."

On behalf of ADAPT, Youth ADAPT members encourage the Seattle Childrens
Hospital ethics committee that approved the invasive procedures to issue a
statement acknowledging the socially and other harmful aspects of what
Ashley's parents are now touting as the "Ashley treatment."

And The Steps Came Tumbling Down - ADAPT's battle with the HBA

creamcandycane — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 13:08:10 CDT

Thursday, March 2nd, 2000, as the Home Builders Association was
having their Home Solutions 2000 Expo at Denverâ€™s Currigan Hall, ADAPT
held its own Home Solutions Expo out front on its first of four days of
protest against the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Denver.
ADAPT had tried to work with the HBA for about a year trying to get them
to comply with the Fair Housing law and build homes with access.
Meetings, letters and committee work were to no avail. It is apparent that
the HBA does not want their members building homes with access. The HBA
actually wants the Fair Housing Law repealed! They feel that access
should be provided on an as-needed basis, and feel that single-family
detached homes, town homes, and condos should continue to be exempted from accessibility requirements. Something had to be done.
That is why about 80 ADAPT members from Colorado and Kansas were
at Currigan Hall on that cold Thursday evening, sending the HBA a strong
message. We had great exhibits of our own to show. There was an
accessible Barbie dollhouse, complete with an elevator. We had two doorways:
one accessible, and the other inaccessible, which we went through to
demonstrate the usefulness of one, and uselessness of the other. There
were pictures of the buildings that Atlantis Community had bought and
remodeled for access, as well as educational materials on accessibility. We
even had petitions and flyers with ADAPTâ€™s demands--30% of all new
homes to be accessible, 30% of all new homes to be visitable, meaning a
no-step entrance and an accessible bath on the first floor, and clear
enforcement mechanisms in Coloradoâ€™s Fair Housing Law. We marched,
sang, and chanted and several ADAPT members spoke of the need for
accessible homes and told stories of being forced to buy inaccessible homes, or even to move out of state due to the lack of accessible housing. The
cops came around trying to get us to leave, but there wasnâ€™t much they
could do since we were on the sidewalk for the most part.

Friday, we were back with more awesome ADAPT stuff, including some
gorgeous Styrofoam steps that Pat King, our wheelchair repair guy had
made. After Dawn Russellâ€™s rousing speech, everyone had a chance to
tear down the steps with a wooden mallet. Afterwards, we formed a
gauntlet in front of the steps to the front doors and passed out flyers. Later
we made a human chain chanting â€œThe People United Will Never Be
Defeatedâ€.
On Saturday, back again, we saw that the cops had put up
barricades, which we quickly removed and got down to the business of letting the HBA know that they werenâ€™t going to â€˜turn us aroundâ€™. Joe Ehman, an ADAPT member who is on the AIA committee, did a cool mock up of
Roger Reinhardt, the HBA vice-president who had insulted ADAPT in a meeting
a few weeks earlier by calling us simple-minded. Several of us gave
interviews with the press, some of us paid to get inside the exhibit to
speak with the various builders and contractors about access and pass out
a couple of flyers, if we could. Only one small exhibit out of hundreds
had anything remotely to do with access. This time, the cops sent out a
trained negotiator, Sgt. Daniel O'Shea, to tell us the police wanted
ADAPT to stay in this â€˜areaâ€™ that they had designated by the
barricades. We told him that if he brought Roger Reinhardt out to speak to us,
that we would leave. A few minutes later, he brought Roger out, but he
had nothing to offer us but the same tired old discriminatory solutions
that ADAPT would not accept. We kept our word, though, and left with a
warning from the police that if we came back tomorrow, and did not stay
within the barricades, that we would be arrested. Little did they
know...

On Sunday, we swept in, meaning nothing but business. We quickly sped
up the ramps and began blocking and handcuffing ourselves to doors. The
cops were there, but not quick enough to stop us. They began yelling
out warnings, and soon, the arrests began. When the dust cleared, 17
ADAPT members were arrested and charged with blocking, and refusing to obey a lawful order.

The Home Builders Association's Tour of Homes was another target
of protests in July. After ignoring ADAPTâ€™s call for an accessible
house in the Tour of Homes, for which the home builders built a series of
NEW homes, this showcase became an action packed showcase. Crawling
into homes, picketing outside and eventually committing civil
disobedience, Colorado ADAPT members sent the Home Builders Association a message that access can no longer be blown off. Challenging the Home Builders Association to stop ignoring access to housing for people with
disabilities, ADAPT continues our drive to end the excuses.