According to UPI, a British man who went to Canada on 2001 and became a paraplegic the same year after a trucking accident was deported to England over the weekend after his work permit expired. According to Chris Mason, immigration officials said he should not be able to stay in the country without a work persmit because he was a burden on Canada and its resources. In this Winnepeg Sun report, Winnepeg MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis says the allows that allowed his deportation are discriminatory and intolerable and must change.
A study by the British Medical Journal has found that people caring for family members with dementia commonly abuse them with behavior such as swearing and shouting. A third of family caregivers said their abuse of the person they were looking after was significant, including frequent insulting or swearing, and half said they occasionally screamed or yelled at the person. Full story here ...
From Oregon Live.com - Wendy Booker, aged 54, will will strive to become the first person with multiple sclerosis to climb the highest mountain on each of the world's seven continents when she attempts Everest this spring.
From the BBC (UK): A confidential inquiry to investigate premature deaths of people with learning disabilities in England is to be set up by the Department of Health. It comes in response to an independent inquiry, published in July 2008, into the deaths of vulnerable National Health Service patients highlighted by Mencap. Cases include Martin Ryan, 43, who went 26 days without food before he died after staff did not fit a feeding tube.
The Obama Administration has posted its agenda on disability. The agenda is here.The NY Times reported the death at age 91 of painter Andrew Wyeth, who was well-known for his painting of a disabled woman in "Christina's World."
The New York Times carried this review of Temple Grandin's new book Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals, which explores how animals make us human.
The Chicago Tribune reports the death on January 20 of disability activist and advocate Anne Marie Hopkins of complications from spinal muscular atrophy. Ms Hopkins, who was 24, was a graduate student in the disability studies masters program at University of Illinois at Chicago. Ms. Hopkins also formed a marketing company, 3E Love, to provide promotional items such as pins, buttons and T-shirts to special-education organizations. Printed on the items is a logo she designed of a wheelchair formed with a heart. "Embrace diversity. Educate your community. Empower each other." The Web site for 3E Love is www.3elove.com.
