FRIDA feminist-disability news links

03/28/2008 - 04/04/2008

The Tennessee Department of Human Services is investigating allegations of abuse at a Johnson City home for intellectually impaired adults.

A British Conservative councillor has resigned after suggesting euthanasia as a way to cut the cost of caring for special needs children. He was already suspended over the remark made last week.

A nursing assistant was charged with abusing two intellectually impaired adults at the Gulf Coast Center of Fort Myers. It is alleged that she kicked the residents for not complying with her directions.

Seven Florida nursing home residents have filed a class-action lawsuit against the state of Florida under the Americans with Disabilities Act. They say the state’s Medicaid program is biased toward institutional placements, and want the right to determine where they live.

Police have charged an Edmontan man with assaulting a woman with cerebral palsy. The woman, a city playwright and scholar, who uses a wheelchair, underwent surgery for stab wounds to her shoulder and also suffered broken bones.

Women's shelters in Ottawa (Canada) are so full they are turning women away. Women with disabilities are having a particularly hard time finding a shelter that can accommodate their needs.

An employee of Patton State Hospital has been arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a mentally ill female patient in late January. Hospital officials declined to place the man on leave pending the outcome, opting instead to move him where he can't interact with patients.

Jemma Leech, a ten-year-old student at Mark Twain Elementary School in Houston, has won first place in the 16-and-under category of the prestigious "Write Up Your Street" competition. Jemma, who has cerebral palsy, beat more than 1,600 entrants in the essay writing contest.

From the Chicago Tribune, a major profile of the violin prodigy Rachel Barton Pine. Pine, who is acclaimed as "one of the most accomplished violinists of her generation,” is performing regularly again following an accident in 1995 that severed one of her legs and shattered the other.