FRIDA feminist-disability links #5

News and views to catch up with:

It's reported here that a woman in a deep coma woke up after doctors removed her life support. After having a pacemaker implanted for her heart condition and spending time in rehabilitation, she describes her post coma condition as pretty great.

It is reported here that women with disabilities have fewer clinical breast exams and fewer mannograms than nondisabled women. One national study found an 11 percent gap.

Australian euthanasia advocates have modified an ordinary coffee pot which they say will enable the terminally ill to concoct a banned suicide drug in their own kitchens. For more details, including an overview of a five-minute video about the procedure, go here.

Globe correspondent Erin Conroy reports here on the controversy that has resurfaced over the use of skin shock treatment and aversive therapy at Judge Rotenberg Educational Center. As reported by Conroy, an article about the Canton-based insitution, dubbed the "school of shock," has reignited efforts to pass legislation limiting the facility from giving children electric shocks as a form of treatment.

Here is a link to a the details about a new talk show on Disability News Radio for parents and caregivers of children/adults with special needs. The show will be broadcast every Wednesday at 1.30pm ET.

On Wednesday last week, transplant surgeon Hootan C. Roozroh pleaded not guilty to two felony charges related to his unsuccesful attempt to harvest Ruben Navarro's organs last year at Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center. He was charged in July with three felonies: dependent-adult abuse, administering a harmful substance (Betadine) and unlawful prescribing of a controlled substance (morphine). Read More...

Via Lawrence Carter-Long, Director of Advocacy Disabilities Network of NYC, a link to the findings of a report about the self-representations and expectations of youth with disabilities, how they differ across disability categories and demographic groups, and how they compare with youth in the general population. The study, funded by IES, was initiated in 2001 and has a nationally representative sample of more than 11,000 students with disabilities.This report presents findings drawn primarily from telephone interviews or self-administered mail surveys collected from youth when they were ages 15 through 19.

A guest columnist in The Minnesota Daily describes how her perspectives about people with disabilities were transformed after becoming a personal care attendant. Read her column, called Disability: A Social Construct, here.

This story from NPR, by Joseph Shapiro, reports on the inaccessibility o f medical care to people with disabilites. It includes advice on what people with disabilties can do to to get proper access to health care.

In this article from the New York Times, Frank Brunin reflects on the unwelcoming nature of certain "accessible" restaurants in New York City.