Things to read #6
Announces 2009 NY Budget Proposal
- Researchers and critics say many children with developmental disabilities and autism have been injured or traumatized by being placed in school "seclusion rooms". Teachers say they are educating many more students with disabilities now than ever before, and are not equipped to handle the crush of demands on their time and attention, according to this report from CNN. nill rn Police Search for Robber
- According to Fox News, Richard LaPoint, aged 60, from Epping, New Hamphire, died last week when the power to his oxygen tank was cut off during an ice storm.

- A woman from Derry in Northern Ireland is campaigning for a Bill of Rights that meets the needs of everyone. As reported in the Derry Journal, Elizabeth Zammit, who uses a wheelchair, says "I want to see a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland that will look after me and other people living with a disability. I need to be able to count on basic services like accessible transport, but right now it's too difficult and often not worth the hassle and humiliation. The Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland should set out, in a clear and understandable way, the rights that I am entitled to. Some of the barriers I face every day could be solved by a Bill of Rights – and I'm not alone. One in five people in Northern Ireland has a disability."

- To check out part 5 and 6 of Kay Olsen's "When Wheels Make the Man" series see here and here.

- A woman in Waco Texas has been placed on probation for 10 years after she unintentionally allowed a man with developmental disabilities she was caring for sleep the night outdoors on a fire-ant mound, the Associated Press reports.

- This article from the LA times reports on a Cleveland woman who has recently had a face transplant. It’s the most extensive such operation ever performed and the first in the U.S.

- A 54-year-old Minnesota man is being subjected to electro-convulsive therapy against his will, and is going before a judge in St Paul on December 16 to try and stop the court-ordered procedure. According to this report from Minnesota Public Radio, Ray Sandford has been getting ECT every week or two since May. For more information about Ray, see this post by Kay over at Gimp Parade, and MindFreedom International.

Things to read #5

- A report by a disabililty rights group finds that Wisconsin continues to use physical restraints on children even after the practice led to the death of a 7-yer-old girl at a treatment facilitytwo ears ago, the Milwaukee [WI] Journal Sentinel reported. The girl died from asphyxiation in 2006, a day after being wrestled to the ground and held down face first in a chokehold for over an hour by caregivers at the Rice Lake Day Treatment Center.

- A blind woman was turned away from a Indian restaurant in Exeter, Britain, for having a guide dog because it was deemed a health and safety hazard. Emma Donnelly, 20, was told that her dog Yasmin was a health and safety hazard and was not even allowed in the door of the restaurant. She was turned away even though she carries a card issued by the environmental health department certifying she and Yasmin are allowed into any premises. Ms Donnelly has now complained to the disability rights commission and the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association which is supporting her case. Full details here ...

- A trial started for an Illinois teacher accused of physically abusing three autistic students, the Chicago Tribune reported. According to prosecutors the 32-year-old male teacher dragged students around his classroom and once slammed a child's head into a cabinet after he overturned a desk. He also allegedly forced a student to wear a weighted vest and bounce on a trampoline for 40 minutes.

- Bint Alshamsa over a My Private Casbah wrote this post titled "That's right, Caledon! Screw the Disabled Kid, right?" about a three-year-old boy with cerebral palsy who has been asked by the Caledon town committee to give up his miniature pony after a neighbour complained about the smell.

- Canada's paralympian Chantal Petitclerc has been named winner of the 2008 Lou Marsh Award. The award, named fter a longtime Toronto Star sports editor, goes to Canada's top athlete, either professional or amateur, as judged by a panel of journalists and sports figures. Petitclerc won five gold medals and set three world records at the Beijing Paralympics. More details here ...

- Check out the latest Review of Disability Studies blog entries here. Topics include "Moving Disability Studies Forward", "Normals and Crazies", and "Youth Suicide."

- Thaddeus Pope from the blogspot Medical Futility wrote a post about a February 2009 symposium to be held by the Georgia State University Law Review The 25th Anniversary of the Baby Doe Rules: Perspectives from the Fields of Law, Health Care, Ethics, and Disability Policy. Nationally-prominent experts in the fields of neonatal medicine, law, ethics, and disability policy will explore controversial issues involved in treatment decisions for premature and other medically at-risk infants. Speakers include Mark Mercurio, Burke Balch, Sadath Sayeed, Tom Mayo, Mary Crossley, Loretta Kopelman, Robert Truog, Ellen Waldman, and William Winslade. A highly publicized and controversial case involving the withholding of medical treatment from a “Baby Doe” with Down syndrome gave rise in 1984 to the federal law known as the Baby Doe Rules, which went into effect the following year.

Things to read #4

Disaboom has a post about a new UK film, Special People, which stars disabled actors and has caused a controversy because the British film classification board has given it a 12A rating warning people that it "contains disability themes." See also this post by the blogger over at Hoyden About Town and this report by the BBC.

Oconomowoc, Wisconsin - The ABC reports on the rejection of 8-year-old Magi Klages, who has autism, from the Girl Scouts special-needs troop, because, her parents were told, she was a "danger" to the group's other children who all have physical disabilities. (h/t to Media dis&dat)

The Los Angeles Times has this review of a new film, The Black Balloon, which revolves around the relationship between a 16-year-old teenager, Thomas, and his older brother, Charlie, who is autistic, has ADHD and is mute. The film, which opens this Friday (Dec 5), is directed by Australian filmmaker Elissa Down, whose youngest brother is autistic.

The Australian Center for Sexual Assault has recently released a report which identifies, amongst other things, the additional difficulties women with disabilities in Australia face in disclosing sexual crimes. The entire report is here.

Disabled? Watch this and you won't think so - The title of a thoughtful post over at What Sorts of People that reflects on a popular YouTube video featuring a dance piece by Chinese dancers Ma Li (spelling?), who lost her arm in a car accident, and Jai Shau Wai (spelling?), who lost his leg while still a child.

The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld a ruling requiring airlines to provide an extra seat to obese and disabled passengers. More here at Body Politic.

Things to read #3

This story from ABC in Los Angeles - Larae Ransom, a 25 year old woman with paraplegia, claims that a Greyhound bus driver repeatedly refused to lower the bus lift to allow her to use a restroom for six hours on a trip to Las Vegas. Another witness appears on a news tape supporting the fact that the driver failed to lower the lift for Ms Ransom. H/t to Ruth over at Wheelchair Catholic.

Dear ADA generation - Ms Crip Chick considers arguments both in support of and against Micah Fialka-Feldman's fight to live on his university's campus in the context of the ada generation and disability activism/solidarity.

Woman in wheelchair sued after being hit by a truck - it's reported that the woman, who was hit by a landscaper's pick-up truck while crossing an intersection, is being sued for damages to the truck.

Mother wants to limit voting for people with developmental disabilities - the woman, who unsuccessfully challenged her son's ballot, wants to change the law so people with developmental disabilities can't vote with supervision.

A British teen has won the right to refuse a heart transplant - via the BBC.