Inspiration and Intervention

ADHD and Stress

2010-01-11T07:25:00.001-08:00

Parents, is your child suffering from undo stress? Does he or she struggle with fear, anxiety, nervousness or anxiety?

Today, more and more children are exhibiting considerable signs of stress, particularly with respect to education. For many children, this higher level of stress seems to be directly interfering with their ability to learn.

In addition, children predisposed to conditions like ADD or ADHD are especially susceptible to the effects of stress. These children are twice as likely to abuse alcohol and drugs and four times likely to get in trouble with law enforcement.

Of even greater concern is that these higher levels of stress seem to be occurring at earlier and earlier ages. Many children as young as 5 or 6 years old are exhibiting the effects of higher levels of stress. Under the “No Child Left Behind Act” and the mistaken belief that learning earlier is better, more children are being forced to accept greater academic responsibilities, even as early as 3 and 4 years old.

Girl's wish: N.J. study of reading disorders

2010-01-10T07:15:00.000-08:00

The stuff on Samantha Ravelli's holiday wish list was pretty much standard fare for a 12-year-old. A digital camera, a watch, a laptop.

Her number-one wish, however, was in a class of its own.

She wants Gov. Corzine to sign her bill. "I want to help other children," she said.

The Ocean City, N.J., seventh grader and her mother, Beth, have been working the last few years to pass a law that would create a task force to better ensure that reading-disabled children like Samantha get the help they need.

Working on a dream to live on his own

2010-01-09T07:00:00.000-08:00

Tim Cirillo was 17 when he learned that he'd never grow old.

He was born with a muscle-wasting disease called Duchenne muscular dystrophy. As a young boy, the genetic condition made it increasingly difficult for him to walk and forced him into a wheelchair for good at age 10.

Initially devastated, he tried to accept his disability, not realizing the full implications of his disease.

At 17, though, the hard facts of his life were difficult to bear.

He graduated from Central Regional High School in Berkeley in 2002, got his associate degree from Ocean County College in Toms River and continued taking classes at OCC toward a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Kean University.

By early 2008, with his college courses winding down, Tim had decided he wanted to strike out on his own. Though he knew he would always be reliant on other people for his daily care, he needed to wrest whatever independence he could from the constraints of his condition.

Searching the Web, Tim learned about a nonprofit organization based in Ocean Township called the LADACIN Network. The acronym stands for Lifetime Assistance for Developmental and Challenging Individual Needs.

Kim Peek, Inspiration for ‘Rain Man,’ Dies at 58

2010-01-08T06:52:00.000-08:00

In 1988, the film “Rain Man,” about an autistic savant played by Dustin Hoffman, shed a humane light on the travails of autism while revealing the extraordinary powers of memory that a small number of otherwise mentally disabled people possess, ostensibly as a side effect of their disability.

The film won four Oscars, including best picture, best actor and, for Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass, best original screenplay. But it never would have been made if Mr. Morrow had not had a chance meeting with Kim Peek, who inspired him to write the film.

Mr. Peek was not autistic — not all savants are autistic and not all autistics are savants — but he was born with severe brain abnormalities that impaired his physical coordination and made ordinary reasoning difficult. He could not dress himself or brush his teeth without help. He found metaphoric language incomprehensible and conceptualization baffling.

But with an astonishing skill that allowed him to read facing pages of a book at once — one with each eye — he read as many as 12,000 volumes. Even more remarkable, he could remember what he had read.

Teacher has years of insight

2010-01-07T06:44:00.000-08:00

Denise Schweizer looks at the white Labrador retriever at her feet. Little Cheba loves belly rubs and ear squeezes.

"I've tried being blind with no help, and with a cane's help and with a dog's help," she says, laughing. "Believe me, the dog is better."

The 47-year-old woman teaches mentally disabled children at Hebron Elementary School in Evansville. She has two sighted assistants who help with the boys and girls who range in ages from kindergarten to fifth grade.

Ducks' coach finds inspiration in friendship

2010-01-06T06:35:00.000-08:00

An hour deep into the Oregon Ducks' December awards banquet, just after cornerback Walter Thurmond and defensive end Will Tukuafu walk off with the most-inspirational trophies, Coach Chip Kelly returns to the podium at the Eugene Hilton and says, "We're going off the script on this one."

In most elite football programs, that's the cue for Daddy Gamebucks, the school's most prominent booster, to rise at the AD's table and raise one meaty paw to a crowd that will never know just how much he does for the program.

But Kelly has someone else in mind. He looks into the crowd. "Come on, Sethie, come on up here."

He is almost 29 now, this oldest child of Bob and Sybil Ford, and his love of sports -- especially his love of the Ducks -- is familial in its intensity. For the longest time, he tried to express that passion on the playing field, if only to keep up with his younger siblings: Paige, who won two state titles in the high hurdles at Eugene's Sheldon High School, and Joel, who remembers, ever so humbly, being known as the school's "JV All-Star."

Student with disabilities wins fight to live in college dorm

2010-01-05T06:29:00.000-08:00

Oakland University violated federal law by excluding him, judge rules

From the Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, Oakland [MI] Press:

A federal judge has ruled that Michigan’s Oakland University has violated the federal Rehabilitation Act by failing to allow a student with a cognitive impairment to live in a campus dorm. An Oakland spokesman said the university will appeal the ruling, but will allow the young man to live on campus during the process.

U.S. District Judge Patrick J. Duggan ordered Oakland to make a room available to 25-year-old Micah Fialka-Feldman, who has been taking classes in the school’s OPTIONS program. Fialka-Feldman pays a fee equal to full tuition but doesn’t earn grades in the program, which is designed for students with cognitive disabilities who would not otherwise be able to meet the university’s admissions requirements.

The university has maintained that Fialka-Feldman, who takes buses two hours a day to get to class from his parents’ home, is not eligible for a dorm room because he’s not enrolled in a degree-granting program.

Duggan said the university’s assumption that the young man would be unable to follow housing rules “appears to be grounded on prejudice, stereotypes and/or unfounded fear.”

Historic first for musicians from Ohio State School for the Blind

2010-01-04T06:27:00.000-08:00

The 32-member marching band is the first all-blind group to participate in the Rose Parade

From the Los Angeles Times, Pasadena Star-News:

“We’re normal people living a normal life,” said 19-year-old Chris Harrington, who plays the tuba. “This just happens to be something we’re good at.”

Each white-uniformed student musician is accompanied by an assistant along the parade route.

The red-coated assistants guide the musicians either by placing their hands on their shoulders or by using straps on the lower backs of the musicians’ uniforms.

Said one assistant: “They don’t want to be known as the blind band. They want to be the talent band.”

Photos of the band and a performance video are here.

Texting opens up new world for teen with autism

2010-01-03T05:10:00.000-08:00

From the [Wichita Falls, TX] Times Record News:

A mother in Texas says text messaging via cellphone has allowed her 15-year-old son with autism to communicate effectively for the first time.

Vera Word said she and her son, Jonathon, had tried all the conventional therapies and devices used to facilitate communication. She said he is now texting with a Verizon Blitz phone, which works better than anything else he has tried and helps him fit in with other teenage boys with cellphones.

What the season is all about: "Warm hearts respond to sixth-grader's plea for orphan who has Down syndrome"

2009-12-23T05:16:00.000-08:00

FRANKLIN, Tennessee — Home-schooled sixth-grader Lydia Hollis already has received her Christmas miracle.The story of that miracle is probably one of the most extraordinary I've come across all year. It's the story of how an 11-year-old girl raised $26,000 in eight days with the help of her generous Chestnut Bend neighbors. And I especially wanted to share it right before Christmas, at a time when we're often reminded of the love of our family members — biological and adopted.

But more importantly, a 1½-year-old Ukrainian girl named Darya who has never known the gentle touch of a mother, the protective hug of a father or the strength of a sibling bond will soon have all that and more right here in Franklin.

In addition to Lydia, waiting for baby Darya are hopeful parents, Melanie and Chappy Hollis, as well as siblings Caleb, 14, Natalie, 11, Hope, 3, and Charlie, 1. Just like Darya, little Hope and Charlie have Down syndrome.

"It's just in her heart. Lydia has a real passion for orphans, especially those with Down syndrome," Lydia's mother said.

Several years ago, the family had decided to do things for others instead of giving gifts to each other. The Hollis family set forth this year to raise money for Darya's care through Reece's Rainbow, an international Down syndrome orphan ministry. Something about this child's photo and story on the organization's Web site really spoke to this Franklin family. They've never met her and have only a few pictures of the redheaded girl.

So family members started baking cookies to sell and washing cars for donations.

When a family friend who had adopted a Ukrainian boy facilitated by Reece's Rainbow found out that Darya, the benefactor of the family's contributions, was in the same orphanage as their new son, they couldn't believe it. The family friend had seen this same child in a crib stuck way in the back when they were there to pick up the boy.

She was leading a sad, lonely life, the friend reported. She was not held during the day, no one came by to play with her and even when Darya was fed, she was given a bottle and left in her bed.

When Lydia heard this, she knew that what Darya needed more than money was a family to love and care for her. She then asked her mother if she could raise $20,000 — the typical cost to adopt from Ukraine — by Thanksgiving, which was then only eight days away, could they adopt Darya?

Melanie Hollis was a little taken aback by Lydia's question. But then thought a little more about it. Natalie was adopted from Russia. Charlie came into the family through a domestic adoption. If by some miracle it was possible, this surely was a sign a new family member was meant to be. She agreed.

That's when Lydia wrote a heartfelt letter to every household in her more than 150-home subdivision.

"I want you to know that Darya can't help it that she was born with an extra chromosome. And she can't help it that no one wants her. She wants a family and wants to be loved," Lydia said in her letter asking for a $100 donation from each of her neighbors.

"She had her goal and project set pretty firmly in her mind. Someone — an adult — told her she'd never do it and that she was too young. That discouraged her for a moment. She said, 'Mom, maybe I should have made my goal for Christmas. Maybe I haven't given God enough time,' " Melanie Hollis said.

But shortly after the letter was distributed, the family would come home to see multiple checks taped to their front door, envelopes stuffed in their mailbox and donations hidden under their doormat.

A $19.29 contribution was from a 6-year-old girl. "I was saveing [sic] for a digital camera, but I wanted to help Darya instead," the attached message read.

And Lydia's letter traveled much farther than Chestnut Bend or even Franklin. Money started pouring in from all 50 states and four countries as well.

When Thanksgiving dawned, not only had Lydia made her goal, she exceeded it by $6,000. A promise made was a promise kept.

Right now, the family is filling out the paperwork to bring Darya home to Franklin. If all goes well, Darya's new, happy life in the United States could become a reality in the spring.

Even if you missed the first fundraising drive, you still can contribute to other activities the Hollis family is involved with. With contributions still trickling in, Lydia has raised about $30,000. Excess money will go to help another family — the Hooks — adopt from Russia.

If nothing else, you can read more about this amazing family on their blog at http://www.the30dayjourneyforhope.blogspot.com/. Or you can contribute directly to help other children with Down syndrome find permanent homes through Reece's Rainbow at http://www.reecesrainbow.com/.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20091222/WILLIAMSON0702/912220307/Franklin+11-year-old+raises++26+000+in+eight+days

Speech-generating iPhone app ranks in Apple’s top 30

2009-12-23T05:08:00.000-08:00

From the [UK] Independent:

Proloquo2Go, a speech-generating program that gives a voice to people who have difficulty speaking, is among Apple’s 30 top-selling applications for the year 2009. The program comes in at number 23 — ahead of ESPN, CNN and Family Guy.

The program retails at $189.99, making it an affordable alternative to conventional speech-generating systems that can cost thousands of dollars, and is used by people with autism, cerebral palsy, Lou Gehrig’s disease and many other conditions. The technology turns an iPhone into a voice-output communication device, and allows children to integrate more seamlessly with their peers.

Medicare and private insurers have resisted paying for the system, limiting coverage to bulky, expensive proprietary equipment.

Here’s a list of other text-to-speech products that are on the market.

So Proud! Tim (by brother in-law) is in Africa!!

2009-12-21T09:29:00.000-08:00

(Tim's on the left!)

Experiencing Healthcare Delivery in Africa

"We are four MIT graduate students working with Warmbaths Hospital in Bela Bela, South Africa – a 133-bed hospital located about one hour outside of Johannesburg.

For three weeks, we will travel to South Africa to work onsite at the hospital, helping hospital leaders implement potential solutions to address one of their main challenges.

The primary services rendered by clinics are for infectious disease testing and treatment (mostly HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Typhoid), and women’s and children’s needs (mostly pre- and postnatal care).

We hope to do our small piece of improving healthcare delivery in Bela Bela, South Africa."

http://gsc.mit.edu/blog/?p=1233

Girl with impaired vision is ‘Miracle Worker’ understudy

2009-12-20T09:18:00.000-08:00

From the New York Times:

Producers have cast a 10-year-old with a vision impairment as the understudy for the role of Helen Keller in the upcoming production of “The Miracle Worker” on Broadway. The production had drawn criticism last month for casting a non-disabled star actress, Abigail Breslin, in the role.

In response to advocates’ protests, lead producer David Richenthal launched a nationwide search to find a deaf or blind actress to work as Breslin’s understudy. With the help of the Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts, he found Kyra Ynez Siegel of Eugene, Ore., who lost most of the vision in her right eye after an accident.

Mr. Richenthal has also decided to offer audio and caption devices, known as D-Scriptive and I-Caption, free to blind, low-vision, deaf or hard-of-hearing audience members. The technology, which cost the production about $30,000, is in line with an effort by some Broadway producers to start offering such help to audience members.

Companies say autism can be valuable asset in the workplace

2009-12-19T06:25:00.000-08:00

From MSNBC:
Some revolutionary companies around the globe are leading a new movement to transform the unique attributes of high-functioning autism into sought-after job skills.

Companies like Specialisterne in Denmark and the non-profit Aspiritech in Chicago train people with autism to be software testers, data entry personnel and assembly workers. Such positions, which might be boring and monotonous for many, can capitalize on the detail orientation and repetitive nature that are often displayed by people with autism.

“My career would not have existed at all without the autism,” says Ron Brix (above), a longtime computer systems developer for Wrigley.

Robert Austin, a professor at Copenhagen Business School, wrote about Specialisterne for the Harvard Business School and says, “there’s no reason this couldn’t work in the United States.” He says that redefining conditions like autism as differences, rather than disabilities, is important for a developed economy.

… Austin says we need to recognize special abilities in people, realize that these may come with challenges to working in a traditional workplace, and find a way to minimize disabilities and take advantage of differences.

Judy Woodruff: Looking for ways to talk about disability

2009-12-18T06:23:00.000-08:00

Journalist Judy Woodruff jumps into the new PBS NewsHour blog, “The Rundown,” listing some topics she’s eager to talk about. Among her top five: Disability.

An excerpt:
Our older son has serious physical disabilities that have opened our entire family’s eyes to the plight of those who wake up each day with the equivalent of a mountain to climb, simply to get ready for the day. As advanced as our nation is, we have a very long way to go to even the playing field, much less give them the opportunities they deserve, to be the contributing members of society they want to be. I am always on the lookout for stories and developments that relate to their lives.

Commentary: Open doors to actors with disabilities

2009-12-17T06:20:00.000-08:00

Writing in the Huffington Post, Lennard Davis takes Hollywood and Broadway to task for regularly casting actors without disabilities to portray characters with disabilities, as when Abigail Breslin was selected to play Helen Keller in the upcoming revival of “The Miracle Worker.”

An excerpt:
The media helps to shape and define how society at large thinks about disability. The more that television, films, theater, and other forms of performance reflect a world filled with diverse peoples and bodies live, the more egalitarian and fair our society will be.
The one way to achieve this goal is have not just characters with disabilities appear regularly in the media but to know that people with disabilities play them.

Study: Early intervention makes a big difference

2009-12-16T07:03:00.000-08:00

From U.S. News & World Report, CNN, UPI:

A study published online in Pediatrics found that very early intervention programs for children with autism raise IQ scores, reinforcing the idea that earlier treatment is better.

The study, which involved 48 children ages 18 months to 30 months at the Early Start Denver program, found that intensive therapy increased the IQ of the children by 18 points, compared with 7 IQ points in children who got more standard therapy. The intensive therapy included 20 hours a week at home with a trained therapist and additional time working with parents.

Experts say the study reinforces the notion that it’s important for children to undergo routine evaluations between 18 and 24 months and for parents to get them treated right away.

UN recruits pop icon to improve life for those with disabilities

2009-12-15T07:01:00.000-08:00

From Associated Press/USA Today and Reuters:

The United Nations has appointed musician Stevie Wonder as a United Nations Messenger of Peace. He will will focus on helping to improve life for the estimated 650 million people with disabilities — about 10% of the world’s population.

UN representatives said the singer-songwriter, who has won 25 Grammy awards, is being recognized for his philanthropic work with the U.S. President’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities, the Children’s Diabetes Foundation and Junior Blind of America.
Wonder was born in Saginaw, Michigan, in 1950 and became blind shortly after birth.

UPDATE from AP:
Referring to the 650 million people with disabilities, Wonder said, “It is beyond my ability to fathom that 10 percent of the people of this world don’t matter to the other 90 percent of the people in the world.”

“I would hope that every single human being, and every single world leader, will commit themselves to making this world a better place and accessible for every single human being on this planet,” he said.

UN says huge obstacles remain for people with disabilities

2009-12-14T06:59:00.000-08:00

From the Voice of America:
Kicking off the celebration of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the United Nations has issued a statement saying that hundreds of millions of people with disabilities around the world continue to face overwhelming obstacles in their efforts to lead a meaningful life.

An excerpt:
Globally, almost one in ten people is a person living with a disability and recent studies indicate that persons with disabilities constitute up to 20 per cent of the population living in poverty in developing countries.

Many persons with disabilities continue to face barriers to their participation in their communities and are often forced to live on the margins of society. They often face stigma and discrimination and are routinely denied basic rights such as food, education, employment, access to health and reproductive health services.

Many persons with disabilities are also forced into institutions, a direct breach of the rights to freedom of movement and to live in their communities.

‘Kids with DS stretch their abilities in Toledo Ballet’s program’

2009-12-13T06:58:00.000-08:00

From the Toledo Blade:
The Toledo Ballet has launched an adaptive ballet program to help children with Down syndrome enjoy the benefits of dance.

Ann Heckler (left, with student Caitlin McFerron) started the class after visiting an adaptive dance program started by the Boston Ballet and the Department of Physical Therapy at Children’s Hospital in Boston.

The Toledo program aims for improvement in the children’s social and physical skills and emotional well-being, but parents say it gives their children something else: the opportunity to enjoy themselves. “She really glows when I say it’s time for dance,” one mom said of her daughter. “This is just for her, just for fun.”

More students with disabilities study for bar and bat mitzvahs

2009-12-12T06:57:00.000-08:00

From the Chicago Tribune:
A growing number of Jewish children with developmental disabilities are preparing for their bar or bat mitzvahs with the help of synagogues and religious schools that are adapting curriculum for their needs.

The rite of passage allows these young people to take their places as full members of the Jewish community.

Religious leaders say the presence of a disability should not bar a person from participating in the mainstream of Jewish life. “We don’t say ‘no,’ we say ‘how,’” said one.

Models with disabilities seek acceptance on reality show

2009-12-11T06:56:00.000-08:00

By Alessandra Stanley in the New York Times:
The fashion world may be the last bastion of prejudice, a field that overtly discriminates against people because of their looks. So there is something both bold and troubling about “Britain’s Missing Top Model,” a reality show that begins on Tuesday on BBC America that pits disabled women against one another to compete for a photo spread in the U.K. edition of Marie Claire magazine.

… This series comes with a paradoxical premise: it’s a contest designed to raise the profile and confidence of disabled women but makes a spectacle of their hunger for acceptance. “Missing Top Model” tries to bolster self-esteem yet revels in the piquancy of physically imperfect women competing in a profession that demands physical perfection.

Rock band’s goal: Worldwide fame

2009-12-10T06:55:00.000-08:00

From ABC Good Morning America: (with video)
Flame, a rock group from upstate New York, is believed to be the only touring rock group in the world that is composed solely of people with disabilities. Among the band members are people with conditions that include Down syndrome, cognitive delays, autism, cerebral palsy and blindness. Lead singer Michelle King (above) has autism. Member David LaGrange grew up in an institution.

The group was formed six years ago in Gloversville, NY, after an area talent contest turned up several accomplished musicians with intellectual disabilities. It has since blossomed, with CDs, t-shirts, a tour bus, a world tour, and a performance at Eunice Kennedy Shriver’s funeral last summer.

The musicians’ goal is have their music played on radio stations everywhere and to demonstrate what the disabled can do if they’re given the opportunity.

“Our disability will not stop us,” LaGrange said. “We keep going and the more we keep going, we want more people to see what we do.”

MIT prof’s prosthetic limbs blur the boundaries of disability

2009-12-09T06:53:00.000-08:00

From Forbes Magazine:
Hugh Herr, director of the biomechatronics group at MIT’s Media Lab, has spent the past 27 years revolutionizing technology for people with prosthetic limbs, His goal: to build artificial limbs that are superior to natural ones. Both of Herr’s legs were amputated below the knee when he was 17 after a rock climbing expedition left him with severe frostbite.

Next year, Herr’s company iWalk is planning to release the PowerFoot One, the world’s most advanced robotic ankle and foot. “I like to say that there are no disabled people,” says Herr, 45. “Only disabled technology.”

“The fact that I’m missing lower limbs is an opportunity,” he says. “Between my residual limb and the ground, I can create anything I want. The only limits are physical laws and my imagination.”

“… Disabled people today are the test pilots for technology that will someday be pervasive,” Herr explains. “Eliminating disability and blurring man and machine will be one of the great stories of this century.”

Prestigious disability jobs program struggles to stay afloat

2009-12-08T06:50:00.000-08:00

From the Wall Street Journal:
A Toledo employment program that works with automakers to train and employ adults with developmental disabilities like Robert Ertle (left) is in danger of becoming a casualty of the recession.

Lott Industries, which employs 1,200 workers, is said to be the only program of its kind to have earned the auto industry’s prestigious Quality One supplier award. Now it’s lost more than 80 percent of its business since the Ford Motor Co. closed a nearby stamping plant in 2007 and business with General Motors and Honda dried up. Lott has reduced wages and benefits for its employees to avoid layoffs.

For many, the realities of the downturn are tough to process. Lott’s employees don’t understand why their work went away or that broader remote forces — like oil prices and imports — have been partly to blame. They thought they had done something wrong. Many refused to do other work, less out of stubbornness than bewilderment. “I do Ford. I make those cars,” they would tell Gail Little, the Lott supervisor who was the customer liaison with Ford. “I would say, ‘Honey, Ford isn’t here.”

Some had been with Lott since high school. Now middle aged, they had come to rely on Lott for a livelihood and self esteem that is often elusive for those with disabilities.

Op-ed: U.S. should stop using the word ‘retarded’

2009-12-07T06:48:00.000-08:00

Writing in the Baltimore Sun, Peter V. Berns calls for the passage of “Rosa’s Law,” a bipartisan bill that would replace the terms “mental retardation” and “mentally retarded” with “intellectual disability ” and “individual with an intellectual disability” in federal health, education and labor policy statutes.

Berns says the bill is very important for Americans with intellectual disabilities, who have endured a long history of oppression, mistreatment, and abuse, including imprisonment in institutions, forced sterilizations, and exclusion from schools, the workplace and society at large.

An excerpt:
Sadly, the same general enlightenment that now mostly spares racial and ethnic minorities from the cruelty of pejorative words has not yet been attained as it relates to people with intellectual disabilities. It is no longer socially acceptable to mock people of African-American, Latino or Asian descent, for example. But the words “retard” and “retarded” are still widely used and accepted as an insult in our homes and schoolyards and on our movie and TV screens.

Maybe people are simply unaware that intellectual disabilities result from genetics, prenatal alcohol exposure, poor nutrition, injury, illness and other unknown causes. Or could the public at large be so callous that they don’t care that people with intellectual disabilities are hurt and shamed by demeaning references?

… We must stand up for our citizens with intellectual disabilities. Senator [Barbara] Mikulski’s bill is a necessary step to help stop the use of degrading terminology. By introducing the word “disability” into the parlance, perhaps the global society will begin to understand the legitimacy of the condition and treat those living with it in a just and humane manner.

A chat with Howie Mandel, author of 'Don't Touch Me'

2009-11-29T08:18:00.000-08:00

Though he has gone public about his lifelong struggle with obsessive-compulsive disorder and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, Howie Mandel fills in more details in his new book, Here's the Deal: Don't Touch Me, arriving in stores Tuesday. USA TODAY talked with the comedian and host of Deal or No Deal.

Q: Why a book, why now?
A: At this point in my life I have more notoriety than I've ever had. I was thinking I had funny, entertaining stories to tell. But I sat down to write and I thought I'd just be honest. It was a surprise to me.

Q: How long have you had OCD and ADHD?
A: I've been dealing with issues my entire life, and I feel like I'm very lucky and blessed in my life and career. But at the same time, I'm constantly tortured with my issues.

Google to caption YouTube videos, improving accessibility

2009-11-28T08:20:00.000-08:00

From the San Francisco Chronicle (with video), New York Times, BBC:

Google has announced a plan to use speech recognition technology to automatically bring text captions to millions of YouTube videos, making them accessible to people with hearing impairments and making them more searchable.

Analysts expect the change to open the videos to a wider foreign market and potentially make them more profitable.

Engineer Ken Harrenstein, who helped develop the translation system, said it was imperfect but “will continue to improve with time.” Harrenstein, who is deaf, said in a Google blog that the majority of user-generated content on Youtube has been inaccessible to “people like me.’

The American Spirit: Jaylen Arnold Doesn't Let Tourette's Syndrome Slow Him Down

2009-11-27T09:37:00.000-08:00

(CBS) Jaylen Arnold knows how it feels to be different. He's had Tourette's Syndrome for most of his nine years. As CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella reports, it makes his body twitch even though his brain is telling it to be still.

Most times Jaylen can handle it. Last February Jaylen's twitches got worse, much worse. It started when the kids at a new school began to bully him. "What did they say," Cobiella asked Jaylen. "You're a weird kid," he said. "You should just go back to where you came from." "How did that make you feel?" "Really sad, like real sad."

But Jaylen did not run and hide. "I made a Web site called Jaylen's Challenge.org. It's about stopping bullying and so far it's working," he said.

Students urge lawmakers to act on bullying

2009-11-26T09:32:00.000-08:00

Students, teachers, and specialists on aggressive behavior filled a State House hearing room yesterday with personal stories about bullying at school and in cyberspace and offered opinions on several antibullying bills under consideration by lawmakers.

A female student who attended Swampscott public schools said a boy taunted her relentlessly at school, to the point where she feared going back. As a result, the girl told about a dozen members of the Joint Committee on Education, her grades and her relationships with other students suffered. She ultimately left the district to attend another school.

“I was pushed out of the town I spent my whole life in,’’ the girl testified. “I found a school that I feel comfortable in, but I wonder if the school had reacted in an appropriate way, would I still be a student in Swampscott schools.’’

Spirits uplift in Iraq school for the blind as aid arrives

2009-11-25T09:25:00.000-08:00

Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- Kids in school rarely smile so much, or sing so loudly. But at Baghdad's Al-Noor School for the Blind, there was reason to celebrate, as much-needed Braille learning materials from the U.S. had finally arrived.

It was the second batch of supplies donated from the Perkins School for the Blind since CNN's Kyra Phillips first visited and profiled the Al-Noor School last year. Because getting this aid from the US to Iraq isn't easy, Perkins partnered with International Relief & Development for the special delivery.

Ernest Leonardo, Chief of Party for International Relief and Development in Baghdad, explained how gratifying it is to witness the school kids receive these supplies.

"When you see service, or in this case equipment delivered to children who are looking to understand how the world is and their thirst for knowledge, and they're sitting at these tables and looking at this equipment and wondering, what comes next, how do we see the world? And that's just fascinating for us -- it's a good project," said Leonardo.

Axelrods hunt a cure for epilepsy

2009-11-24T09:21:00.000-08:00

From 60 Minutes, AP, Chicago Sun-Times:

Senior presidential adviser David Axelrod and his wife Susan appeared on 60 Minutes yesterday to talk about their family’s 28-year struggle with epilepsy.

Daughter Lauren is one of three million Americans living with the disease. — more than the number of Americans who have Parkinson’s, cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis combined. About a third of them don’t respond to treatment.

“Epilepsy is like terrorism of the brain. You don’t know when it’s going to strike, where you’re going to be,” David Axelrod told correspondent Katie Couric.

Axelrod and his wife are part of a movement that is trying to jumpstart research to find a cure. They say the disease is not getting the attention it deserves

Bay State boy with Down syndrome scores big

2009-11-23T09:20:00.000-08:00

WEST ROXBURY, Mass. -- A young Bay State football player scored big in a flag football game over the weekend. In addition to tackling Down syndrome, Brayden, 4, is also competing on the football field. Brayden's dad, Boston police officer Jared Gero, started a flag football league that hundreds of kids enjoy. His son looks forward to every game. "His main joy is just coming down to the field with the kids, being part of the team. Up until the last game there, hiking the football was his biggest accomplishment," Gero said.

Artist with autism dazzles with realistic drawing of NY skyline

2009-11-22T09:20:00.000-08:00

From CBS News (with video) and the CBS Early Show (with video and blog):

Artist Stephen Wiltshire, 35, is drawing a detailed panorama of New York’s Manhattan skyline from memory. He has autism.

Wiltshire flew over New York City in a helicopter on Friday. That 20-minute viewing from the air provided the memory for a 20-foot panorama of the city that he is drawing throughout this week at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute

Glee ‘Wheels’ episode is Hulu’s 3rd most popular video

2009-11-21T09:13:00.000-08:00

From Examiner.com:
This week’s episode of the Fox series Glee, which chronicled a high school team’s effort to raise money for an accessible bus, ranked as the third most popular video on Hulu.com. The ‘Wheels’ episode explored questions about human diversity, and featured Kevin McHale’s character Artie Abrams, who uses a wheelchair on the show, and Lauren Potter and Robin Trocki, two actresses with Down syndrome.

The full episode is available on Hulu.com here.

‘Rosa’s law’ would end use of term ‘mentally retarded’

2009-11-20T09:10:00.000-08:00

From ABC News:
Rosa Marcellino, an eight-year-old from Edgewater, Maryland, is at the center of the discussion of a bill in Congress that would strike the term “mentally retarded” from the federal lexicon.

Her older brother Nick used Rosa’s experience to convince the legislature in their home state to make the change earlier this year. Rosa, who has Down syndrome, regularly hears her peers insult each other with comments such as “You’re such a retard.”

“The word retarded is slang to call someone stupid, and we know Rosa is not stupid at all,” Nick told ABCNews.com. “Words are important.”

Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski (above with a photo of Rosa) introduced the bill on Tuesday. She said the measure was motivated by a desire to assist “this little girl and all the children … who are labeled, stigmatized, and bear a burden for the rest of their lives because of the language we use in the lawbooks.”

Student with Down syndrome inducted into National Honor Society

2009-11-19T09:07:00.000-08:00

From the Kansas City Star:

Friends and teachers say they are not surprised that 17-year-old Sarah Sherman from Overland Park, Kansas, was inducted into Blue Valley North High School’s chapter of the National Honor Society. They say she blends right into the group, even though she is the only one who has Down syndrome.

Her family says Sarah has constantly exceeded expectations and does not see limitations. To earn the award, she maintained a 3.75 grade point average and contributed 40 hours of community service by volunteering with Meals on Wheels, at her grandparents’ church, and at a nursing home doing sign language with a resident who has a hearing impairment.

“People would look at us like, ‘She can’t be doing that,’ ” said her mother, Pam Sherman. “She can. She did.” … “I learned from experience hard work does pay off,” Sarah said. “I feel if I persevere, the work will get done, and hard work does pay off.”

Books: Music critic finds relief in Asperger’s diagnosis

2009-11-13T06:52:00.000-08:00

From “Fresh Air” on National Public Radio:

Music critic Tim Page didn’t find out that he had Asperger’s syndrome until he was 45, three years after winning the Pulitzer Prize. He writes in his new memoir, “Parallel Play: Life As An Outsider,” that the diagnosis helped him to accept parts of his nature that were “not very changeable.”

Page says he acted out when he was young and constantly struggled to understand social norms. He found a refuge in the repeating patterns in music.

“I have this theory that Asperger’s syndrome has been hugely important for me with music, because it was the first world that made any sense to me. I didn’t really understand what was going on around me, I didn’t understand what people really wanted me to do. I was a very lost little kid. But my mom had this record player ….

“It allowed me passage into a world where everything made sense and where I felt this profound sense of being at home in the world.”

Cheerleaders with disabilities perform with varsity squad

2009-11-12T06:50:00.000-08:00

From ABC News (with Person of the Week video by Charles Gibson):

Varsity cheerleaders at Pleasant Valley High School in Bettendorf, Iowa, expanded their team by inviting athletes with disabilities to join them.

The Sparkles Squad now practices and performs at games with the varsity girls. The squad is comprised of ten girls aged 8 to 15 with conditions ranging from autism to Down syndrome.

“The big thing is that when we started we thought we’d be teaching them cheers,” said [Sarah] Herr. “But we didn’t think they’d be teaching us. They’ve taught us so many things about life and it’s really amazing.”

… “I think that it’s really given them a feeling of belonging and acceptance. Usually when someone has a disability, society can only see what they can’t do, but through the sparkle effect, we’ve really exposed what they can do,” said [Sarah] Cronk.

Glenn Close, family confront stigma of mental illness

2009-11-11T06:46:00.000-08:00

From ABC News (with video):
Actress Glenn Close and her sister, Jessie Close, are appearing in a national ad campaign aimed at countering stima and providing support to people with mental illness. Jessie Close has bipolar disorder.

In the ad for the nonprofit BringChange2Mind, Jessie Close wears a t-shirt that says “bipolar;” Glenn Close’s shirt says “sister.”

… “Mental illness is just part of the human condition,” the actress said on “Good Morning America,” adding that her family hopes that the sisters’ campaign will help foster a dialogue about a condition that we should “talk about as openly as cancer or diabetes.”

An excerpt:
What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor, more unashamed conversation about illnesses that affect not only individuals, but their families as well. Our society ought to understand that many people with mental illness, given the right treatment, can be full participants in our society

Fencing on wheels

2009-11-10T08:09:00.000-08:00

From the New York Times, with video:

A fencing club in New Jersey has opened a new program, reportedly the first of its kind in the Northeast, to teach wheelchair fencing to young people with physical disabilities.

The club’s first six fencers have conditions like spina bifida, cerebral palsy and spinal cord injuries. With only 27 wheelchair athletes represented in the United States Fencing Association, club staffers are hopeful that their new athletes could reach national-level competitions and even the Paralympic Games.

Fencing club president George Janto says the sport requires very few modifications to accommodate people with disabilities. Fencing coach Mickey Zeljkovic, a five-time Serbian national fencing champion, says it requires participants to think ahead — “like physical chess.”

Parents say the program brings unexpected benefits to the new duelers. “They have a lot more confidence in themselves, that they can do what other children can do,” said Colleen Mooney, whose 15-year-old son attends weekly. “They may have their own special way of doing it, but they can [do it] like anyone else.”

Supporters say Gaffney shows ‘Never-say-die’ attitude

2009-11-09T08:07:00.000-08:00

From NBC 7 News in Boston (with video), WBZ 38 (with video), and the Boston Herald:

Fans praised Karen Gaffney’s grit and athleticism as she swam across Boston Harbor amid four-foot waves to raise awareness for Down syndrome.

Said boat coordinator John Forgione, “I’m so impressed with this young lady. She’s really made me aware, well aware, of how people with disabilities can accomplish a real lot of good things, and she’s done it.”

Gaffney completes frigid Boston swim to raise DS awareness

2009-11-08T08:05:00.000-08:00

From the Boston Globe, Fox News, KATU-TV, Portland, Oregon:

Battling high waves and frigid temperatures, 31-year-old Karen Gaffney swam five miles across Boston Harbor to demonstrate that people with Down syndrome have “tremendous capabilities.”

Gaffney swam across Lake Tahoe two years ago on a similar mission to raise awareness and acceptance for people who, like her, have the genetic condition. Previously, she had been a member of a relay team that swam the English Channel.

“I did this swim to show people what people like me can do,” Gaffney said …

… The swim was a fundraiser for the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress, whose executive director Maureen Gallagher, said, “We want our young people with Down Syndrome to have every opportunity for a full and productive life. And we know they can.”

Helen Keller statue unveiled at U.S. Capitol

2009-11-07T07:58:00.000-08:00

From CNN, USA Today On Politics blog:
A bronze statue of Helen Keller was unveiled in the U.S. Capitol as lawmakers praised her as an inspiration and a reminder of the value of people with disabilities.

The statue depicts Keller, who lost her sight and hearing to illness as an infant, standing at a water pump as a 7-year-old. It is meant to signify the moment when Keller deciphered meaning in language, when teacher Anne Sullivan spelled “W-A-T-E-R” into one of the child’s hands as she held the other under the pump.

Keller went on to earn a degree from Radcliffe College and the women’s branch of Harvard University, and became a celebrated author and champion of causes including women’s suffrage.

The statue, said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, will “always remind us that people must be respected for what they can do rather than judged for what they cannot.”
Alabama Gov. Bob Riley said the statue carries the message that “all of us, regardless of any disability, have a mind that can be educated, a hand that can be trained, a life that will have meaning.”

Online British documentary follows young adults with disabilities

2009-11-06T07:57:00.000-08:00

From the [UK] Guardian:
A British “docusoap” is following the humor and drama of five young adults living together in Brighton. Sounds like a typical teen reality show, but it has a catch: all five housemates have genetically-based learning disabilities.

The online series, “The Specials,” features Lucy, Lewis, Sam, Megan and Hilly, ages 19-23, who have known each other since childhood and are living as independently as possible with support. Four have Down syndrome; one has Williams syndrome.

Learning disabilities charity Mencap believes the docusoap will help people to understand what it is like to be a young person with a learning disability. Lorainne Bellamy, a Mencap spokeswoman who has a learning disability, says: “People with a learning disability have hopes and dreams for the future just like anyone else. We hope that people watch the series and get to know these five individuals, sharing their ups and downs.”

Firm sells warm feeling along with dog treats

2009-11-05T05:22:00.000-08:00

From the New York Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, with Youtube video of the commercial ‘It’s Good To Give Milk-Bone’:

A new $10 million ad campaign for Milk-Bone dog treats underscores a popular tactic in consumer advertising, in which companies seek to do well by doing good.
Del Monte Foods, owner of the Milk-Bone brand, is using cause marketing in an effort to give consumers a warm fuzzy feeling when they support a company that supports a worthy charity. The company is giving “a portion of the proceeds” from sales of the dog snacks to Canine Assistants, a Georgia charity that trains and provides service dogs to people with disabilities.

The television commercial features Jake Jeter, above, a law student who uses a wheelchair. Other aspects of the ad campaign are featured in newspaper ads, as well as on the Milk-Bone web site and in social media like Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and Youtube.

Project SEARCH opens doors to employment

2009-11-04T05:18:00.000-08:00

From the Nashua Telegraph:

In Nashua, New Hampshire, Project SEARCH is helping students with cognitive and physical disabilities find jobs. The program boosts employment for people with disabilities by offering a total immersion school-to-work program.

All five of the graduates this year, including 21-year-old Noelle Hogan (left), are now working in the medical field. Hogan cleans and sterilizes patient rooms, makes copies, assembles packets of forms, and is preparing to use her photography skills for wound documentation.

“We keep adding more and more responsibilities because she’s extremely focused,” said Dinny D’Anjou, a podiatry nurse who supervises Hogan. “Our motto is that she doesn’t have disabilities. She has different abilities. I don’t know what I’d do without her.”

Across the state, only 43 percent of working age people with disabilities were working in 2007, compared with 84 percent of their peers without disabilities.

http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/svc/alpha/p/search/

Advice for Madonna: Lose the ‘r-word’

2009-11-03T05:16:00.000-08:00

New York Magazine’s Daily Intel column writes a letter to Madonna advising the pop icon to excise the term “retarded” from her vocabulary. She used it a while back in a description of her ex-husband Guy Ritchie, then dropped it again several times in an interview in the current Rolling Stone.

Says Daily Intel, “doesn’t make you sound hip and young, it makes you sound old and out of touch.”

An excerpt:
Not to get all preachy and PC on you, but we think maybe it’s time for you to stop using the word “retarded” so much. We know, we know, you don’t mean to malign developmentally disabled people. It’s just an expression! But really, at the end of the day, it’s just not that cool of an expression …

… your kids Lourdes, Guy, David, and Mercy James are probably hearing the word at home, and might go on to use it in school — which is where, if they were normal kids, they might run into other children who are actually developmentally disabled, whose feelings might be hurt, which is one of the main reasons there’s a backlash against that word. Thankfully for your kids and those kids, the Ritchie-Ciccone brood doesn’t go to public school …

Blind Boy, 7, Uses Ears to See

2009-11-02T08:25:00.000-08:00

Blind Lucas Murray has been nicknamed "Batboy" after learning to "see" using his ears.

The 7-year-old is believed to be the first in Britain to use echoes to visualize his surroundings.

He clicks his tongue on the roof of his mouth and discovers where objects are based on how the sound bounces back.

The amazing technique allows him to run around his playground, play basketball and even go rock climbing.

"I really like the clicking system, but it was quite hard to learn," said Lucas, who was born blind. "I love basketball. I can use my click to find out where the hoop is myself and throw the ball through."

The echolocation technique is similar to that used by bats and dolphins.

Lucas can work out how far away an object is by the time it takes the echo to return. Its intensity tells him the object's size, and which ear the sound reaches first tells him its position.
He can even work out movement through pitch - with the echo lower if the object is moving away and higher if it is getting closer.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,560124,00.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1218291/Blind-boy-7-Briton-able-ears.html

Paraplegic Climber Summits Kilimanjaro

2009-11-01T08:21:00.000-08:00

41-year-old Chris Waddell climbed to the tallest peak in Africa, without the use of his legs. He was a competitive skier at Middlebury College when an accident on the slopes in 1988 left him paralyzed from the waist down.

Waddell triumphed over Mt. Kilimanjaro using a custom four-wheel bike and help from a team who used tracks and winches. It took seven days to scale the more than 19-thousand foot mountain.

"That people look at the next person with a disability and that they see it's not a matter of 'oh that's too bad, look at what you've lost,' it's well, 'what are you going to do?' That people look at it and say 'OK, you can do whatever you want,' is what I am saying," said Waddell.

Disabled man conquers the Roof of Africa

Paraplegic Climber Summits Kilimanjaro

Paralympic champ summits Mt. Kilimanjaro

Disabled Middlebury Alum Climbs Mt. Kilimanjaro

Paralympic Champion Chris Waddell becomes the first paraplegic to ...

Bridgewater-Raynham students meet Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz

2009-10-31T08:15:00.000-07:00

BRIDGEWATER —
Seventeen special needs students from Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School were treated to a private face-to-face meeting with Cruise and Diaz in a movie tent in the cornfield off Curve Street on the night of Sept. 24, hours before filming began.

http://www.enterprisenews.com/news/x2060103440/B-R-students-meet-Tom-Cruise-and-Cameron-Diaz

John Travolta finally admits his son Jett was autistic.

2009-10-30T07:06:00.000-07:00

John Travolta finally revealed in a Bahamian courtroom what he was never able to say publicly when his son, Jett, was alive. "He was autistic," Travolta told the court during the extortion trial. "He suffered from a seizure disorder."

Travolta said Jett suffered seizures every five to 10 days and that each seizure lasted around 45 seconds. Jett would often sleep for 12 hours after an episode. Earlier today, the actor described the events on Jan. 2, the day of his son’s death. Jett's nanny awakened Travolta and Kelly Preston at roughly 10:15 a.m., the actor said, telling them Jett was unconscious in his bathroom.

Actor with Down syndrome wins top Spanish film award

2009-10-29T06:54:00.000-07:00

From Agence France Press:
Pablo Pineda, a Spanish actor with Down syndrome, has been awarded the best actor prize at the San Sebastian Film Festival for his performance in the film “Yo, Tambien” (”Me Too”).
Pineda plays a 34-year-old man with Down syndrome who, like Pineda himself, earns a university degree. His character then goes on to start his first job in regional social services and fall in love with a colleague. Pineda has a university degree in special education.

To play Sanz with a range of emotions from joy to disappointment and sadness “called for a lot of introspection, I had to relive some very difficult moments,” said Pineda after the feature-length film by directors Antonio Naharro and Alvaro Pastor was screened at the festival.

See also:
Pablo Pineda: ‘Soy realista: yo no soy un actor’ — El Mundo (Spain) — An excerpt:

“El problema”, abundó Pineda, “es que hay gente que ni siquiera tiene una oportunidad en la vida como la que yo he tenido. He hecho esta película por ellos. Siempre me he considerado el portavoz, el que lleva la bandera del colectivo Down, porque no tienen voz. Alguien tiene que tenerla y me ha tocado a mí”.

Unofficial translation:
“The problem,” explained Pineda, “is that there are people who have not even had the opportunity in life like the one I have had. I have made this film on their behalf. I have always considered myself the spokesman, the one to carry the flag for the Down syndrome community, because they don’t have a voice. Somebody must have it, and it has fallen to me.”

Pablo Pineda: ‘Hoy parezco Brad Pitt’ — El Mundo

Pablo Pineda: “No habría sido lo mismo si no se lo hubieran dado a Lola” — Estrella Digital

‘Yo, también’, las personas con síndrome de Down también se enamoran — Galiciaé

Surfer Clay Marzo defies labels

2009-10-28T06:52:00.000-07:00

From USA Today (with video):
Competitive surfer Clay Marzo is widely regarded as being among the world’s best. He’s also got Asperger’s syndrome.

His surfing peers marvel at his skills, but also are baffled by his many quirks and mannerisms, which include lots of hand-rubbing, hair-twisting and voracious eating habits.

Marzo’s impact on the sport has been so significant that major sponsors and contest directors now are changing the structure and judging of new surfing competitions to focus on the creative and expressive aspects that the goofy-footed (surf lingo for right-foot forward) surfer is bringing to the sport.

Cheerleaders welcome new member of the squad

2009-10-27T06:48:00.000-07:00

Adam Crisp writes in the Chattanooga Times Free Press (with video) that Anna Frierson, 12, who has Down syndrome, has been embraced as a member of the cheerleading squad at Red Bank Middle School in Lookout Mountain, Tennessee.

“When we first heard that she wanted to be a cheerleader, we were so excited,” said head team captain Hanna Holmes, 13. “She came to our first practice, and she was so sweet. We loved her. She was doing all the cheers, and then she said ‘I’m a cheerleader!’”

Later, the girls voted unanimously to have Anna as a permanent part of the team.

… “This group of girls has the biggest hearts of any girls I’ve seen,” [coach Kimberly Elbakidze] said. “They embrace everyone. They are gentle and kind. They try to coach her to her maximum ability, but they don’t push or and they don’t get frustrated. It works beautifully because they are very understanding and embracing of differences.”

Quote of the day

2009-10-26T06:17:00.000-07:00

"Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done." - Louis D. Brandeis

Need a gift: "Passion Works"

2009-10-25T06:10:00.000-07:00

Passion Works Studio supports collaborations between artists with and without developmental disabilities.

Since 1998 the studio has created one-of-a-kind art pieces and translated artwork into items such as jewelry, ornaments, flowers, and greeting cards.

Production of these pieces create employment for people with and without developmental disabilities and generates a renewable funding stream to continue arts programming.

Check it out: http://www.passionworks.org/products/index.html

A Boxer In Training

2009-10-24T09:55:00.000-07:00

Ian Cannon’s body is slight and uncooperative, unmoving legs and spasmodic arms, hands, and fingers permanently ensconced in a wheelchair made of blue tubular steel with a black cushioned seat that includes a pillar to keep his legs separated, and black mag wheels with hard gray rubber tires.

Cannon, 16, lives in Glastonbury and has had cerebral palsy since birth. He has had a lifetime of physical therapy, which he says, “is not the most fun workout experience you can ever do.”

Boy's films confront Down's syndrome stigma in Serbia

2009-10-23T09:46:00.000-07:00

ALEKSANDROVAC, Serbia — Like many boys his age, 14-year-old Aksentije wanted to become a secret agent, at least on the big screen like his idol Antonio Banderas.

Despite a gloomy prognosis at birth when doctors gave him only a year to live then growing up with Down's syndrome in a country where such disabilities carry an unshakeable social stigma, Aksentije has achieved his dream.

For several years he and his cousin Aleksandra, a drama student, have been making short films including the touching and optimistic "The Story", which won a special prize at a film festival in the northern city of Novi Sad.

"I have always wanted to be an actor, this is why we made this film," he said proudly.

"We worked a lot, every day we had to repeat (scenes), but that was not difficult at all," the boy, whose nickname is Aca, told AFP.

"The Story" relates not only to Aksentije's own struggle but to that of disabled Serbians whose aspirations are often thwarted by social prejudice or shame.

Susan Reinhardt: Mountain Heritage homecoming queen is one of a kind

2009-10-22T09:42:00.000-07:00

The crowd went wild, roaring and cheering as the announcer called out Jan Ray’s name as a homecoming queen nominee.

Ten senior girls, all students at Mountain Heritage High School, had ridden up to the sidelines in golf carts and glittering gowns. There were the usual suspects: blue-eyed blondes in sequins and seductive gowns.

Then there was Jan Ray, who wore a modest green formal and matching shawl, escorted by her friend Isaac Styles.

Something else was different about Jan. She was the only nominee with special needs, having been born with Down syndrome.

Deaf athletes increasingly compete in college sports

2009-10-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

From USA Today:
The number of college athletes with hearing impairments has risen steadily since the approval of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which mandates interpreters for students with hearing loss at universities and protects students against disability discrimination.

According to Deaf Digest Magazine, 76 deaf and hard-of-hearing students played NCAA and NAIA sports last year, and 39 played in Division I.

Some of those competitive players include: Towson University football player Ryan Bonheyo; Emily Cressy, a soccer player at the University of Kansas; and Purdue’s Felicia Schroeder, who helped the U.S. women’s soccer team win a gold medal in the Deaflympics in Taiwan.

More people, like Heigl, adopting kids with disabilities

2009-10-20T09:36:00.000-07:00

Rosemary Black writes in the New York Daily News that celebrity couple Katherine Heigl and Josh Kelley are among a growing number of parents who choose to adopt children with disabilities rather than wait for a healthy baby. Their 10-month-old daughter Naleigh was born in South Korea.

Cory Barron, foundation director at the St. Louis-based Children’s Hope International adoption agency, says that this year so far, 62 percent of the children placed by that agency have special needs, as compared to 13 percent in 2005. It’s due, he says, to the fact that the wait for healthy children grows ever longer.

… While it can seem like a wonderful idea to give a home to a special needs child, experts warn that it’s not a decision to make lightly. Some of the children’s medical issues, like heart disease and cerebral palsy, can require lifelong care and drain a family’s financial and emotional resources.

‘Team Lucy’ aims to stamp out stigma

2009-10-19T11:23:00.000-07:00

From the Canton, Massachusetts, Citizen:

Boston Globe columnist Beverly Beckham says her daughter received a postnatal diagnosis of Down syndrome from a doctor who was neither supportive nor sensitive. The experience drives Beckham and her daughter, Boston Herald columnist Lauren Falcone, to participate in the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress’ annual Buddy Walk.

“It’s about raising money, but it’s also about raising awareness,” said Beverly, who noted that “for years, people with Down syndrome were not just segregated, but dismissed.”

Even more disturbing, she said, is that more babies with Down syndrome are aborted than are born each year — a fact that she attributes at least in part to the misinformation that many expectant parents receive, some of which comes from the medical community

Coaches collaborate, allow touchdown by player with DS

2009-10-18T11:12:00.000-07:00

From the Kansas City Star (with video):

Freshman football player Matt Ziesel, who has Down syndrome, ran in a touchdown in the last seconds of a Benton High School game in St. Joseph, Missouri, this week

His team was down 46-0 with 10 seconds left on the clock when coach Dan McCamy asked the opposing coach for a favor: forfeit a shutout and give running back Ziesel the opportunity to make a touchdown. McCamy asked the players to avoid physical contact with Ziesel but to make it as real as possible for him.

“It’s just amazing how one play can mean so much to one kid and then to a team and then to a community,” McCamy said

… “It was just a good thing to see people realize that the value of winning is not (as) important as it is to participate and enjoy the game,” said Mike Ziesel (Matt’s dad, a longtime high school coach and the athletic director at Benton).

Illustrator Keeps Artistic Vision Despite Eye Injury

2009-10-17T08:26:00.000-07:00

Alice Tangerini got her job illustrating plants for the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History straight out of college in 1972. Her boss, botanist Warren Wagner, thinks she's now the best botanical illustrator in the U.S. — even with just one good eye.

Listen: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112515247

A Blind Man Sees Red, White And Blue Again

2009-10-16T08:17:00.000-07:00

Groucho Marx once said, "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."

For the past decade, I have been inside the dog.

I was born legally blind in the 1950s. But some 10 years ago, I developed cataracts. Almost overnight I was transformed from being able to spot things up close to what ophthalmologists describe as seeing "hand motion only." I couldn't count fingers. My world was devoid of light. Color was more and more a distant memory.

Read More: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106037590

A Baseball Fan Who Knows His Signs

2009-10-15T08:11:00.000-07:00

Robert Panara has been "deaf as a post," he says, since he contracted spinal meningitis when he was 10.

Back in 1931, his father thought he might have a solution to his son's deafness. It involved Babe Ruth.

"He wrote to the Yankees, and he asked if I could possibly meet the Bambino," Panara, now 89, tells his friend Greg Livadas. The Pinstripes came through.

On game day, Panara says, "We sat about 10 rows from the field. And before the game, my father gives the letter from the Yankees to the usher, usher goes down to the dugout, comes back with the Babe. Big fellow, huge. He says, 'Hi kid! How you doing?' "

Taking Wheelchair Tai Chi To China

2009-10-14T08:09:00.000-07:00

Wheelchair athletes have been racing the pavement -- and basketball, rugby, and tennis courts -- for years. NPR's Joe Shapiro says that when you spend a little time with these jocks, as he has for a number of stories, your image of life in the chair changes fast.'

"Think about what it takes to propel a manual wheelchair around all day," Shapiro says. "A gym membership and hours of dumbbell curls couldn't get you a ripped body any better."

Some colleges, he says, now offer athletic scholarships for players of "quad rugby," the full contact sport immortalized in the 2005 movie "Murderball."

U.S. Seeks Senate Help On U.N. Disability Rules

2009-10-13T08:06:00.000-07:00

NPR: The United States had refused to sign a new U.N. convention to protect the human rights of people with disabilities. President Obama is about to reverse that policy, but he'll need to get the Senate to go along.

Listen to this story: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106989042

Cyber Scout Puts Autism Studies On Faster Track

2009-10-12T08:03:00.000-07:00

Scientists researching autism are getting help from a friend in cyberspace: IAN.

IAN, which stands for Interactive Autism Network, is a research-oriented Web site created two years ago by the Kennedy Krieger Institute, a top-flight research center in Baltimore, with funding from Autism Speaks, a major nonprofit advocacy group

Since then, more than 10,000 families have registered with the site, and IAN has just added a provision that allows adults with autism to enroll. This growing Web-based community is helping researchers in the field with one of their biggest problems: recruiting.

Scientists haven't been able to find enough people with autism who want to participate in their studies, delaying projects for months or even years. But now when recruitment bogs down designs for large studies, IAN steps up.

Ponyo: A Role Model For Kids With Autism?

2009-10-11T08:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I took my 3-year-old daughter, Kayleigh, to see her first movie, Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo. I was probably as nervous as I was excited; my wife and I had contemplated bringing Kayleigh to a movie theater for months but could never commit to it. For us, it wasn't just the potential embarrassment of a toddler crying or having a tantrum. Instead, it was fear of not knowing how a child with an autism spectrum disorder would react to a movie, and how the audience in turn would react to her.

Four months ago, Kayleigh was diagnosed with a condition known as pervasive development disorder not otherwise specified, or PDD-NOS. One of the vaguest and most maddening titles ever conceived for a medical condition, PDD-NOS is shorthand for saying someone is on the autism spectrum, but with varying developmental delays. For Kayleigh it means repeating verbatim what people say to her, using words out of context, having problems following basic instructions and difficulties socializing with peers. The symptoms can be so subtle that many parents (including us for a time) don't realize there's a problem.

Rethinking 'Retarded': Should It Leave The Lexicon?

2009-10-10T07:59:00.000-07:00

"Retarded" used to be a garden-variety insult, but it may be the next candidate for prime-time bleeping.

E. Duff Wrobbel never gave the word much thought — until his daughter was born with Down syndrome. When she was just a baby, Wrobbel was driving with her when another car cut them off.

"And I actually said that word," says Wrobbel, who is a professor of speech communications. "And then I stopped my car and got teary. And I thought, 'Oh my gosh, I can't believe I just said that.' "

Now, Wrobbel has joined other activists who campaign against the word "retard." To them, it's not a hilarious put-down; it's hate speech. (The word has been retired by medical and social service organizations, which prefer the term "intellectual disabilities" instead.) They petition TV networks and comedians, and organize against movies like last summer's hit film Tropic Thunder, which coined the term "full retard" to describe a certain kind of unsuccessful Oscar-baiting role.

Abercrombie and Fitch fined for discrimination against girl with autism

2009-10-09T07:55:00.000-07:00

St. Paul, Minn. — Abercrombie and Fitch has been fined $115,264 for discrimination, four years after employees at the Mall of America store refused to allow a family member to accompany an autistic girl into a fitting room.

Judge Kathleen Sheehy, an administrative law judge, found that the retailer had discriminated against the 14-year-old girl, in violation of state statutes. Sheehy ordered the fine this month, after the retailer repeatedly refused to respond to the daughter's mother's request for an apology and denied engaging in discriminatory practices.

The retailer has appealed, charging that the fine is excessive.

The judge found that the girl, whose name has not been identified, suffered mental anguish as a result of the incident.

A psychologist who interviewed the autistic girl said she reported feeling "bad," "scared," and "nervous." The girl told the psychologist, "It's all my fault. I hate autism." She added, "I am a misfit at Abercrombie."

Parents celebrate their son’s life — all 99 days

2009-10-07T07:43:00.000-07:00

They lofted 99 balloons at funeral of baby born with deadly genetic defect.

At the funeral, they released 99 balloons, one for each day of Eliot Mooney’s life. “How beautiful it was to watch,” Eliot’s father, Matt Mooney, said on a video of the event. “How quickly they were gone.”

To many, the short life of Eliot Mooney might have been a tragedy. To his parents, Matt and Ginny Mooney, it was a triumphant miracle.They had been told Eliot might die before he was born. Instead, he lived for 99 days. And every one of those days was chronicled by his father and compiled into a loving video that has touched the hearts of thousands who have watched it on the Internet.

Red flags in speech development: when to worry

2009-10-06T09:41:00.000-07:00

Urban legend claims speech delay is not serious. The legend also says,"boys talk later" and "most all" kids will "catch up" naturally. The fact is MOST kids don't just catch up naturally. Never let these urban legends stop you from seeking help. What if you allowed denial to keep your child from the gift of early intervention? What is it turned out to be nothing? What is the worst that can happen? You have a child that speaks well and you can stop speech therapy! There is no loser in seeking help early. Denial, and delay can lead to a tremendous amount of personal guilt as windows of opportunity may never be regained.

Many people still believe children who are speech delayed because of poor parenting skills. This is not the case, unless the parents has been very negligent or abusive. Thanks to the latest research as demonstrated in the documentary, The New Science of Learning, MRI's now show that at 6 months, they can predict which babies will have speech issues. If your baby shows any delays, do not hesitate to contact your pediatrician. Ask your pediatrician for a referral to a speech and language therapist or a developmental pediatrician for an evaluation as soon as possible. If you child is under age 3, you can call your local regional center for a free appointment to have them evaluate your baby. Regional centers will evaluate and offer intervention services at no cost. If your child is age 3 or over, call your local school district to ask for an evaluation. If the school district finds your pre-schooler eligible, they will offer speech therapy and possibly other services, if needed.

What is school anxiety and how prevalent is it?

2009-10-05T07:47:00.000-07:00

Q: What is school anxiety and how prevalent is it?

There is no formal disorder known as ``school anxiety disorder'' or ``school phobia.'' Rather, as many as 5 percent of school-age children exhibit severe anxiety relating to school, including refusal to attend school. (The prevalence of any anxiety disorder is about 10 percent among children and adolescents.) For many children, the reasons relate to different aspects of the school environment such as needing to separate from parents, encountering new classmates or teachers or perhaps more generalized worry. For example, with all the attention paid this summer to H1N1, I would not be surprised if we see more children showing anxiety about attending school due to worries about catching the flu.

Q: What are the symptoms of ``school anxiety''?

A: The most common signs will be outright refusal to go to school. This might mean the child screams, kicks, cries or refuses to get out of bed. They may also refuse to leave the house or leave the car upon arrival at school. Other signs can be more subtle. Children might begin complaining of headaches, stomach aches or other somatic [physical] problems the night before or the morning of school. It is not unusual for children to vomit the night before or the morning of school. Once in school, the child might be so disruptive or report such distressing problems that the parent may be forced to take the child home. A child also might begin expressing worrisome thoughts such as how much he is going to miss the parent, whether or not the teacher will like him, whether he will know anyone in his class or concern about the work being too difficult.

Selective Mutism

2009-10-04T07:40:00.000-07:00

What is Selective Mutism?
Selective Mutism is an uncommon and complex childhood anxiety disorder characterized by a child’s inability to speak and communicate effectively in select social settings, such as school. These children speak and communicate in settings where they are comfortable, secure and relaxed.

The term Selective Mutism distinguishes individuals who demonstrate selectivity with whom they speak and are comfortable with, from individuals who speak to no one.

These children understand spoken language and have the ability to speak normally. In typical cases, they speak to their parents and a few selected others. Sometimes, they do not speak to certain individuals in the home. Most are unable to speak in school, and in other major social situations. Generally, most function normally in other ways, learning age-appropriate skills and academics.

These children may respond, or make their needs known, by nodding their heads, pointing, or by remaining expressionless or motionless until someone correctly guesses what they want. The majority of these children express a great desire to speak in all settings, but are simply unable to due to anxiety, fear, shyness and embarrassment.

What are characteristics of Selective Mutism?
Children with Selective Mutism often have tremendous difficulty initiating communication and often hesitate to respond, even nonverbally, in specific situations and places.

More than 90% of children with Selective Mutism also have social phobia or social anxiety.

These anxiety disorders are quite debilitating and painful to the child. Children and adolescents with Selective Mutism have an actual fear of speaking and of social interactions where there is an expectation to speak and communicate.

Children with Selective Mutism do not speak in specific situations, such as the school, although they do speak in other settings. Often in the settings where they choose not to speak, they communicate by gesturing, pulling, or pushing or, in some instances, by using restricted speech consisting of single words. A small percentage of children with Selective Mutism do not seem to be the least bit shy.

It is common for many children with Selective Mutism to have a blank facial expression and never seem to smile. Many have stiff or awkward body language when in a social setting and seem very uncomfortable or unhappy. Some will turn their heads, chew or twirl their hair, avoid eye contact, or withdraw into a corner or away from the group, seemingly more interested in playing alone.

It is important to realize that the majority of children with Selective Mutism are as normal and are as socially appropriate as any other child when in a comfortable environment. Parents will often comment how boisterous, social, funny, inquisitive, extremely verbal, and even bossy and stubborn these children are at home!

Learn More:

http://www.nasponline.org/educators/selectivemutism_ho.pdf
http://anxietynetwork.com/spsm.html
http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/SelectiveMutism.htm
http://www.selectivemutism.org/smg/HelpingOurTeachers.htm
http://www.selectivemutismfoundation.org/about.shtml
http://selectivemutismcenter.org/NYTimes.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/26/AR2007082601410.html?hpid=topnews

An argument for the continued teaching of ASL to deaf children

2009-10-03T16:10:00.000-07:00

This is an interesting commentary on the need for deaf children to be bilingual. The video is presented in ASL, so I've included the transcript below:

Hi! I would like to share about the article written by Francois Grosjean who provided his perspective by researching Deaf children. The article mentioned that ASL should be the primary language of a Deaf child. Despite the use of various technological aids ( i.e. cochlear implants), sign language is mandatory period. Why? I will explain the reasons for you to think about it.

http://www.examiner.com/x-18638-Adams-County-Special-Needs-Kids-Examiner~y2009m8d29-An-argument-for-the-continued-teaching-of-ASL-to-deaf-children

Autism - Sleeping and the importance of routines

2009-10-02T16:07:00.000-07:00

If you speak with other parents that have a child with autism, one thing that comes up is if your child is "sleeping through the night?", or not. There doesn't seem to be a normal pattern that fits most children with an ASD, just that usually there are some issues with proper rest and the time of the day that it occurs.

http://www.examiner.com/x-17410-Toledo-Autism--Parenting-Examiner~y2009m8d29-Autism--Sleeping-and-the-importance-of-routines

What America might be like without the Kennedys - Part 1:Medicare & the A.D.A.

2009-10-01T16:00:00.000-07:00

For more than half a century, the Kennedy’s brought the fight for the working class and the disabled into the lime light. With the principals of fairness and equality, which is the thread of their family's political and personal legacy, their contributions to American society gave a powerful voice to millions who would have otherwise remained in the shadows.

http://www.examiner.com/x-17299-Hernando-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner~y2009m8d28-What-America-might-be-like-without-the-Kennedys--Part-1Medicare--the-ADA

Kennedy's Top 10 Legislative Battles

2009-09-30T15:56:00.000-07:00

Americans with Disabilities Act

One of Kennedy's marquee legislative accomplishments, the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990, prohibiting workplace discrimination against and requiring public accommodations for disabled Americans. Kennedy, who introduced the bill in the Senate, said on the 17th anniversary of its passing that the ADA succeeded in its goal of ensuring the "promise of a new and better life for every disabled citizen, in which their disabilities would no longer put an end to their dreams."

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1918873_1918869_1918865,00.html

Watch It! "Through Deaf Eyes"

2009-09-29T15:35:00.000-07:00

THROUGH DEAF EYES is a two-hour HDTV documentary that explores 200 years of Deaf life in America. The film includes interviews with prominent members of the Deaf community, including actress Marlee Matlin and Gallaudet University president emeritus I. King Jordan.

Interwoven throughout the film are six short documentaries produced by Deaf media artists and filmmakers. Poignant, sometimes humorous, these commissioned stories bring a personalized sense of Deaf life in America to the film. Through first person accounts and the film as a whole, THROUGH DEAF EYES tells the story of conflicts, prejudice and affirmation that ultimately reaches the heart of what it means to be human.

http://www.pbs.org/weta/throughdeafeyes/index.html

Surfing, Asperger’s a powerful mix

2009-09-28T12:16:00.000-07:00

From ESPN’s E: 60 –
Surfing phenom Clay Marzo may be one of the most gifted athletes in his sport. Recently diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, the 20-year-old Marzo has earned national surfing titles and international admiration for his aerial skills, speed and daring. But he struggles with basic social interactions, and has difficulty with the demands that come with being an elite pro athlete.

Some say the Asperger’s syndrome allows Marzo to focus and concentrate in ways his competitors can’t.

“When he’s out of the water, he’s in that state of confusion, you know, he’s unsure of a lot of what’s going on around him,” says his dad. “If he can’t get in the water, he’s crawling out of his skin.”

Video here.

Marzo is the subject of the recent documentary “Just Add Water.”

Special ed pioneer is honored

2009-09-27T12:13:00.000-07:00

From the Contra Costa [CA] Times:
Mary Crosby, the director of an elementary education program at a California’s Dominican University, has been honored for creating a curriculum to train teachers to teach children with disabilities in inclusive classrooms.

The Marin Community Foundation recognized Crosby’s 36 years at Dominican with an achievement award and $10,000.

Crosby said that when she came to Dominican in 1972, few elementary students with physical or mental disabilities were permitted to attend classes with their peers; some school districts would not accept students with disabilities at all.

Column: College autism program expands hope for jobs

2009-09-26T12:10:00.000-07:00

Michael Bernick writes in the San Francisco Chronicle that California State University’s East Bay campus in Hayward is launching a college experiment for people with autism, beginning this fall.

Bernick says it is hoped that the program will help people with autism find productive work. Presently, an estimated 70 percent of adults with autism in California are unemployed.

Imagine Raymond Babbitt of “Rain Man” in college. Might it not be a better alternative for him, and much less expensive for society, than institutionalization or the SSI/SSDI government system? Might he even bring unusual skills that can enrich university life for others?

Michael Bernick, former director of the California Employment Development Department, is the chair of the advisory board of the CSU East Bay autism center.

Best-selling author and character share a diagnosis

2009-09-25T12:08:00.000-07:00

From USA Today:
Stephen White, the best-selling author behind 16 psychological thrillers, says in an interview that he lives with multiple sclerosis (MS), like one of the key characters in many of his novels.

… though White has never kept the fact that he has MS a secret, until now he has been reluctant to talk publicly about it and how it affects his life and informs his writing.

Of Lauren Crowder, his character with MS, White says:
“I had a very specific reason for giving her MS in the first story. It had to do with giving her a reason to be a reluctant participant in a romance,” he says. Crowder doesn’t appear in the latest novel, much of which takes place in New Haven, Conn.

If he had it to do again, White says he wouldn’t have burdened one of his continuing characters with a chronic illness. “It really limits. In a long series, you want to have as many degrees of freedom for your characters as possible. Lauren’s degrees of freedom are somewhat limited. She can’t suddenly get better or not have this illness.”

However, White says he has aimed to make her experience with MS realistic to help readers understand the condition, and a large portion of his mail is related to her and MS.

Kids with disabilities have their own summer camps

2009-09-24T12:06:00.000-07:00

From ABC News:
Because summer camps traditionally don’t serve kids with disabilities, specialty camps designed specifically for them are cropping up around the country.

“Summer camp is just part of Americana, and if you’ve got children with particular special needs it’s just very difficult for them to readily fit into a mainstream setting,” said Sean Nienow, the director of the National Camp Association. “Camps are set up with a lot of physical activity and are not set up to cater special needs.”

ABC profiles some specialty camps:
Camp Twitch and Shout (outside Atlanta) for children with Tourette’s syndrome;
Adventure Amputee Camp (Bryson, N.C.) for children with amputations;
Cap I-Thonka-Chi (Meridian, TX) for children with traumatic burns;
Camp Sunshine (outside Atlanta) for children with cancer;
Camp Heartland (Minneapolis) for children who are infected with HIV/AIDs or have family members who are; and
Camp Celiac (North Scituate, R.I.) for children with celiac disease.
… One boy at the Adventure Amputee Camp spoke for all the special needs campers when he was asked what he liked best about camp: “No one is staring, asking what’s wrong with you or criticizing your faults.”

Cambodia cancels ‘Miss Landmine’ beauty pageant

2009-09-23T12:02:00.000-07:00

From the [UK] Guardian, BBC:
A beauty pageant for victims of Cambodia’s millions of landmines has been canceled after the government denounced the event as an insult to disabled people.

Khieu Khanarith, a government spokesman, said that the Miss Landmine contest, which was to have taken place this Friday, would “make a mockery of Cambodia’s landmine victims. The government does not support this contest.”

… Last week the country’s ministry of social affairs warned the organizers that the event would damage “the dignity and honour of our disabled, especially women”.

The winner of the contest was to be selected via Internet voting, and would have received a high-tech prosthetic limb. Organizers said the contest was designed to raise awareness of the dangers of unexploded landmines and to enhance participants’ self-esteem. It is estimated that up to 6 million unexploded landmines remain in Cambodia.

Teen with autism unlocks inner voice

2009-09-22T11:59:00.000-07:00

From ABC News (with videos):
Carly Fleischmann, a 14-year-old with autism who does not speak, is able to communicate by typing, according to her family and therapists.

Her message:
“I am autistic but that is not who I am. Take time to know me, before you judge me. I am cute, funny and like to have fun.”

Carly has received intensive early intervention therapy from the age of three. Her family and therapists say she experienced a breakthrough at the age of 11, when she began to type independently. She has written that she feels like a normal person trapped in a body she cannot control.

She has her own internet blog and twitters regularly, answering questions about her experience with autism. She is also writing a novel.

Her family says no one is physically directing her or prompting what she should type. Experts caution that Carly’s abilities are extremely rare and that her case should not raise false hope.

Haitian parents increasingly abandon kids with disabilities

2009-09-21T11:51:00.000-07:00

From the Miami Herald (with video):
A growing number of children with disabilities are being abandoned in Haiti by parents who cannot cope, advocates say. The children are being left for dead along roadsides, hospital courtyards and sewers.

In this grindingly poor country, disabled children seem to disappear, hidden away as burdens in a culture where parents count on their children to someday provide for them.

… The problem with unwanted disabled children in Haiti stems from a society that stigmatizes parents who give birth to imperfectly formed children, in a place where few women get prenatal care amid an exploding birth rate.

Advocates say the Haitian government’s Institute of Social Welfare and Research is not equipped or funded well enough to care for children with disabilities. They are pushing the Haitian government to make children with disabilities a priority.

Shriver helped bring Down syndrome out of society's shadows

2009-09-20T11:46:00.000-07:00

From the St. Petersburg [FL] Times:
Parents who raised their children with Down syndrome at home at a time when doctors recommended institutionalization offer praise for Eunice Kennedy Shriver. They say she brought people with intellectual disabilities out of the shadows and helped society see new possibilities.

When some parents began to reject the notion of institutionalization in the 1950s and ’60s, they were largely left to fend for themselves.

“I’ve thought about this so often. Who were these families who made these decisions initially?” said Madeleine Will, vice president of public policy for the National Down Syndrome Society. “They were choosing not to institutionalize their children at a time when there was no support and even confronting rejection and hostility.”

In 1968, the Special Olympics ignited a new commitment to diversity and acceptance. Soon, people with intellectual disabilities began to benefit from increased funding and legislation that helped them push past boundaries, but advocates say the fight for justice continues for people with disabilities.

Society still has a long way to go, said Dr. Brian Skotko, a fellow in genetics at Children’s Hospital Boston. Many families endure long waits for help from the government and community organizations; disabled people are still housed in institutions; popular movies still disparagingly use what Skotko called “the R word.”

“Not all of the ghosts have left the banquet table,” he said.

UK woman wins disability case against Abercrombie

2009-09-19T11:43:00.000-07:00

From the [UK] Times, BBC News, Associated Press, and AFP;
Riam Dean, 22, was awarded £9,000 by an employment tribunal after alleging that she was harassed and dismissed by the Abercrombie & Fitch clothing chain for reasons related to her disability.

Dean sued the clothing giant for discrimination, saying the firm’s London store banished her to the stockroom because her prosthetic arm didn’t meet the company’s “look policy,” then dismissed her over the disagreement. Dean, a law student, was born without a left forearm.

The Central London Employment Tribunal ruled that Dean was “unlawfully harassed for a reason that related to her disability” under the Disability Discrimination Act. The tribunal also found that the firm “failed to comply with its duty to make reasonable adjustments” for her disability.

‘Lose the Training Wheels’ sets kids in motion

2009-09-18T11:41:00.000-07:00

From the Boston Globe:
Lose the Training Wheels bike camps helped kids with disabilities across the nation learn to ride two-wheeled bicycles this summer.

The program boasts an 85 percent success rate in teaching young people with disabilities how to ride a bike.

“We take a huge ‘I can’t’ and turn it into a huge ‘I can,’ ’’ said Tom Hamilton, executive director of Lose the Training Wheels, who also served as bike mechanic … “Most parents discover that the success their children find here infuses them with confidence.’’

Commentary: ‘Eunice the Formidable’

2009-09-17T11:38:00.000-07:00

An excerpt of a reminiscence by Scott Stossel, Sargent Shriver’s biographer, in the Atlantic:

She could be difficult, and she could be fearsome; though I grew fond of her, and she stopped actively making my life miserable, she never stopped terrifying me. She was, quite simply, the most formidable woman I have ever met. Her legacy is profound and inspiring.

Blind drivers take the wheel

2009-09-16T13:17:00.000-07:00

From the Washington Post (with video) and ABC News:
Technology developed by engineers at Virginia Tech put 20 blind drivers behind the wheel at the summer science academy organized by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB).

Virginia Tech developed the technology in response to a 2004 challenge from NFB for a vehicle to give more independence to people who are blind.

Pioneering driver Wesley Majerus from the National Federation of the Blind said, “At first, I was kind of nervous … But once I got the hang of how it all worked, it was liberating.”

The all-terrain vehicle is equipped with laser sensors, voice-command software, and multi-sensory signals, but engineers say the technology is still crude and needs further development.
[Dennis Hong, an associate professor at Virginia Tech who directs the robotics lab] predicts a safe, stable technology for blind motorists will arrive “within the next three years. The problem is not the technology. The problem is public perception and legal issues.”

Researchers: Riding a bike can offer lasting benefits

2009-09-14T13:07:00.000-07:00

From the Detroit News:

Researchers at the University of Michigan say children with autism and Down syndrome who learn to ride two-wheeled bikes are more likely to stay physically active, leading to many health benefits.

The research, which focuses on a five-day bike camp, is funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Lead researcher Dale Ulrich said preliminary results show that learning to ride a bike also helps the children become more social, verbal and independent. Ulrich is director of U-M’s Center for Physical Activity & Health in Pediatric Disabilities.

iPods may help kids with Asperger’s fit in

2009-09-13T13:02:00.000-07:00

From the [Minneapolis-St. Paul] Star Tribune:

Psychologist Sue Pederson says she and her colleagues at the Fraser Child & Family Center in Minneapolis may have found a new way to reach students with Asperger’s: iPods that cue them on navigating in society.

The devices may carry videos with scripts known as “social stories” that are used to teach basic social skills. Other useful information: “To-do” lists, suggested conversation-starters, and slide shows about acceptable behavior.

Experts say the iPod programs work well because many kids with Asperger’s are more comfortable with electronic gadgets than with people, and because the devices are inconspicuous. Researchers are developing similar software for cellphones, pocket organizers and other devices.

Exploring history through the lens of disability

2009-09-12T12:58:00.000-07:00

Editor Carl R Weinberg introduces the Magazine of History’s disability history issue with the observation that the concept of disability offers a “new way to look at history.”

Weinberg says many adults today grew up with a minimal consciousness of the rights and perspectives of people with disabilities. He urges teachers to incorporate an awareness of disability into a wide range of historical topics.

Even with our expanded awareness of disability rights today, it is still a revelation and not an easy one to grapple with that at least some activists for disability rights find offense in the common expression of denigration, “That’s so lame.” But the very difficulty we may have in considering “lame” offensive also conveys an important historical lesson: social change is difficult, painful, and contentious.

U.S. launches new disability website

2009-09-11T12:56:00.000-07:00

Press release from the Department of Labor:

The federal government has launched a new website called Disability.gov, offering comprehensive information about programs and services geared to the more than 50 million Americans who have disabilities.

The new website aggregates information from 22 federal agencies and contains thousands of links. It was unveiled in conjunction with the 19th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Formerly known as Disabilityinfo.gov, the site includes mechanisms for encouraging interaction and feedback, and new ways to organize, share and receive information. It is organized into 10 subject areas: benefits, civil rights, community life, education, emergency preparedness, employment, health, housing, technology and transportation.

Critical praise for ‘Adam’

2009-09-10T12:53:00.000-07:00

The newly released film ‘Adam,‘ starring Hugh Dancy and Rose Byrne, is the tale of a young man with Asperger’s whose life is changed when a beautiful woman moves into his New York apartment building.

Excerpts from some reviews:
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
Subtlety and nuance mark both the film’s dialogue and performances. It’s hard to see how Dancy and Byrne could be any better … “Adam” is a most welcome summer treat.

Rick Warner, Bloomberg
The film succeeds largely because Dancy pulls it off with grace and virtually none of the crowd-pleasing gimmickry that marred Dustin Hoffman’s performance as an autistic savant in “Rain Man.”

Rex Reed, New York Observer:
Far from just another exotic Disease of the Week, Asperger’s is an incurable neurological disorder similar to autism that turns outwardly normal-looking people into high-class idiot savants. I know at least two people with Asperger’s. They are incapable of thinking of anyone or anything outside of themselves.