Paul K. Longmore : Sara Palin's policy proposals are vague and unspecific

via PatriciaEBauer

Guest commentary

By Paul K. Longmore

On Friday, Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin delivered a talk on “special needs children” that’s being described as her “first major policy speech.” (“Palin’s Speech on Children with Special Needs,” October 24, 2008.)

As someone who grew up with a significant disability and faced bias and discrimination, I commend her for affirming the value of disabled children’s lives. Unfortunately she also indulges in a sentimentalism that undermines disability rights advocacy. But what’s most significant in this speech is her discussion of public policies. This is important to examine because, according to NBC News, some parents of kids with disabilities are “flocking” to her campaign events. Desperate to get politicians to pay attention to their difficult family situations, they are looking to her to be, as she promises, “a friend and advocate” tasked by John McCain to make “special needs children” one of her primary “missions.” Those parents—not to mention tens of millions of other voters with and without disabilities who are concerned about disability issues—want to know what policies a McCain-Palin or an Obama-Biden administration would pursue. So, what policies is Palin proposing, and what is her track record as an advocate?

In her speech, Palin said she would discuss “three policy proposals.” Her explanations of them turned out to be vague and unspecific.

I’ll take the third one first. It is the vaguest. She promised to “reform and refocus” the Vocational Rehabilitation Act, “modernizing” it so that “we can better serve students with disabilities in our high schools and community colleges.” What this means specifically is anybody’s guess.

Her first proposal has gotten the most attention: a McCain-Palin administration would give parents “choices” about what schools, whether public or private, they want to send their disabled children to. Apparently their administration would establish a voucher program.

Finally, she pledged full funding of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the federal law that guarantees children with disabilities the right to go to public schools just like nondisabled children. Congress adopted that law in 1975 after years of lobbying by parents of disabled children. (Joe Biden was one of the original sponsors.) Before 1975, most such children were barred from public schools and got little or no education. Nowadays most go to school and graduate. But a major difficulty with IDEA all along has been that although Congress promised to provide up to 40% of the funding it has never fully appropriated those monies. Criticizing IDEA as a classic “unfunded mandate,” some districts have resisted parents of disabled children. Senators Obama and Biden have all along favored “full funding.” Sen. McCain nowadays says he does too, though in past years he repeatedly voted against it.

Read the rest of Professor Longmore's commentary here ....

Paul K. Longmore is a professor of history and director, Institute on Disability, at San Francisco State University. He also wrote a commentary “Open letter to the disability rights constituency” that appeared exclusively at PatriciaEBauer last month.

British woman loses her appeal for clarification on assisted suicide laws

London: UK - Reuters UK reported yesterday that 45-year-old Debbie Purdy has lost her High Court case to clarify the law on assisted suicide. For readers not familiar with the case, Ms Purdy, who was diagnosed with primary progressive MS in 1995 and can no longer walk, is considering going to a clinic in Switzerland to end her life, but fears her husband may be charged on his return to the UK. She had wanted a guarantee from the High Court that her husband, Omar Puente, would not be prosecuted if he helped her to commit suicide abroad. Details of the High Court ruling are here. Ms Purdy, speaking outside the court, said she was "really disappointed" with the ruling and would take her case to the Court of Appeal.

Australia - Doctor refused visa because of his son's disability

From the Age (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia):

The immigration department has defended its decision to deny residency to a German doctor because his son is disabled.

Bernhard Moeller moved with his family to rural Horsham in Victoria two years ago to help fill a doctor shortage.

Dr Moeller has a temporary 457 visa which is valid until 2010, but has been denied permanent residency because his 13-year-old son, Lukas, has Down Syndrome.

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) said Dr Moeller's application had been refused because Lukas did not meet the health requirement.

"A medical officer of the commonwealth assessed that his son's existing medical condition was likely to result in a significant and ongoing cost to the Australian community," a departmental spokesman said.

"Decisions by these medical officers are legally binding. The department must follow them." The department stressed the decision was not discriminatory.

"A disability in itself is not grounds for failing the health requirement - it is a question of the cost implications to the community."

The health requirement contains spending on health and community services, he said.

"If we did not have a health requirement, the costs to the community and health system would not be sustainable."

Dr Moeller intends to appeal the decision to the Migration Review Tribunal.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans has no power to intervene in the case until such time as the tribunal or a court affirms the department's decision.

Fall 2008 Issue of Disability Studies Quarterly is out now

The latest issue of Disability Studies Quarterly (the journal of the Society of Disability Studies) is out now, and it's now on-line and completely open-access (no passwords required). This issue includes a special feature on "Disability Studies in the Undergraduate Classroom," co-edited by Dr. Cynthia Lewiecki-Wilson (Miami University of Ohio), Dr. Margaret Price (Spelman College), and Dr. Amy Vidali (University of Colorado-Denver). Here is the table of contents:

Editors' Introduction <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139966#>

Scot Danforth and Brenda Brueggemann

Calls for Papers and Announcements <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139967#>

Peer-Reviewed Articles

How Will the Changeover to Digital Broadcasting in 2009 Influence the Accessibility of TV for Americans With Disabilities? <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139968#>

Robert Pedlow

Disability, Citizenship, and Uncivilized Society: The Smooth and Nomadic Qualities of Self-advocacy <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139969#>

Griet Roets and Dan Goodley

'I Don't Think I'm the Right Person For That': Theoretical and Institutional Questions about a Combined Credential Program <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139970#>

Kathryn Young

Cultural Commentary Cultural Commentary: Trig or Treat? The 2008 Election, Sarah Palin, and Teaching Disability <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139971#>

Laura Mauldin

Creative Writing Excerpts from Cripple Poetics: A Love Story <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139972#>

Petra Kuppers and Neil Marcus

Two Poems <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139973#>

Daniel Simpson

Two <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139974#>

Catherine Cole

Book & Film Reviews

Tobin Siebers, Disability Theory <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139975#>

Michael Davidson

Fleshing out the Field: The University of Michigan's Corporealities Series <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139976#>

Krista Paradiso, Nicholas Hetrick, Alina Bennett, and Tiffany Anderson

Agent Orange: A Personal Requiem <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139977#>

Sarah Boslaugh

Carol Poore, Disability in Twentieth-Century German Culture <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139978#>

Justin J.W. Powell

Special Topic: Disability Studies in the Undergraduate Classroom, Part One: Introduction Introduction: Disability Studies in the Undergraduate Classroom <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139979#>

Amy Vidali, Margaret Price, and Cynthia Lewiecki-Wilson

Special Topic: Disability Studies in the Undergraduate Classroom, Part Two: Disability Studies as Agent of Change Vision, Passion, and Action: Reflections on Learning to Do Disability Studies in the Classroom and Beyond <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139980#>

Jennifer Paterson, Jessica Hogan, and Heather Willis

The Mobius Strip: Team Teachers Reflecting on Disability Studies and Critical Thinking <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139981#>

Joy Cypher and Deb Martin

Questioning Representations of Disability in Adolescent Literature: Reader Response Meets Disability Studies <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139982#>

Valerie Struthers Walker, Tara Mileski, Dana Greaves, and Lisa Patterson

Special Topic: Disability Studies in the Undergraduate Classroom, Part Three: Reflections on Disability "Before and After," "Self Inventory," and "Self Reflection" <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139983#>

Erin Lower and Diane Driedger

Reflections on Sociology of Disability Course <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139984#>

Kathryn Burris and Sharon Dale Stone

Special Topic: Disability Studies in the Undergraduate Classroom, Part Four: Researching and Writing a Disability Perspective Globalization and the Black Market Organ Trade: When Even a Kidney Can't Pay the Bills <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139985#>

Karen Hudson and Elizabeth A. Wheeler

The Nature of Risk: HIV/AIDS and the Deaf Community in the United States <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139986#>

Margot Moinester, Steve Gulley, and Samantha Watson

What Makes Mr. Hyde So Scary?: Disability as a Result of Evil and Cause of Fear <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139987#>

Sami Schalk and Kerry Powell

Special Topic: Disability Studies in the Undergraduate Classroom, Part Five: Writing Autism in the College Curriculum Autistic Acceptance, the College Campus, and Technology: Growth of Neurodiversity in Society and Academia <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139988#>

Scott Michael Robertson and Ari Daniel Ne'eman

Inclusion vs. Seclusion: A Review of Looking After Louis by Lesley Ely <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139989#>

Hila Hirad and Amy Vidali

Autism: The Lived Experience <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139990#>

Kerry Bowen and Chris Foss

Special Topic: Disability Studies in the Undergraduate Classroom, Part Six: Intersections with Gender and Sexuality Disability and Gender in Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139991#>

Caroline Leach and Stuart Murray

Resistance Training: Re-reading Fat Embodiment at a Women's Gym <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139992#>

Margaret Shalma and Rod Michalko

Let's Talk About Sex ... And Disability Baby! <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139993#>

Megan Albertz and Cynthia Lewiecki-Wilson

Threads of Commonality in Transgender and Disability Studies <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139994#>

Ashley Mog and Amanda Swarr

Special Topic: Disability Studies in the Undergraduate Classroom, Part Seven: Disability Autobiography and Representation Drawn Out of Dejection <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139995#>

Timile Brown and Margaret Price

Heading to the Big Show: The Story of a Disabled College Undergraduate <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139996#>

Anthony Jackson

Three Legs of a Bedroom Life <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139997#>

Alan L. Samry

A Disability Awareness Poster Contest at Bronx Community College of The City University of New York (CUNY) and Caraballo's poster ("Not Fragile") (JPG image) <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139998#>

Julia Rodas and Carmen Caraballo

Special Topic: Disability Studies in the Undergraduate Classroom, Part Eight: Accessing Spaces and Histories Opening the Door to Higher Education: The Rights of the Intellectually Different to Access and Peace <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225139999#>

Steve Sunderland

Participatory Research on Universal Design and Accessible Space at the University of Arizona <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225140000#>

Nick Rattray, Sarah Raskin, and Jackie Cimino

Snapshots in Review <http://www.dsq-sds.org/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Dissem inate&view=body&content-type=html_1&handle=osul.dsq/1225140001#>

A 14-year-old girl allegely raped on a bus by a sex offender

Knox County, Tennessee - According to Knox News, a $3 million civil rights lawsuit has been filed against the Knox County School District in connection with the alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl with Asperger’s Syndrome by an alleged sex offender who, according to the report, had been deemed “too dangerous” by his court-appointed guardian to be unsupervised. The 18-year-old boy “was being transported to a sex offender treatment program at Halls High School when the alleged rape occurred.” Remarkably, the bus driver had warned school officials not to leave the girl alone on the bus but it seems that noone listened:

According to the lawsuit, bus owner Stanley Rudder had warned Knox County school officials the girl, identified only as Jane Doe in the lawsuit, "would not make it two days" on a special education bus crammed with "rowdy" troubled boys.

His prediction proved correct, with the girl immediately being subjected to sexual harassment on the bus, the lawsuit alleged. Her mother complained to school officials to no avail, Isaacs wrote.

Meanwhile, Knox County Juvenile Court officials were worried about the supervision of an 18-year-old boy who was being transported on the bus to attend sex offender treatment classes at Halls High School, and his guardian warned against leaving the teenager alone with other students, according to the lawsuit.

"The 18-year-old male student was in therapy for a sex crime related matter and has been characterized as a sexual predator," Isaacs wrote.

The teenager is identified only as John Doe. Police records indicate the teenager's alleged sexual assault of the autistic girl is under criminal probe, but a spokesman for the Knox County District Attorney's Office was not immediately available for comment Monday afternoon.

According to the lawsuit, the alleged sexual predator plotted an attack on the girl, taking advantage of her autism and inability to recognize deception."

In a calculated manner, the male student pretended to have an earpiece that enabled him to communicate with the persons in the other vehicle in order to deceive and frighten the autistic (girl)," the lawsuit stated. "The 18-year-old male student terrified (the girl) into believing that she would be harmed by the persons in the other vehicle if she did not let the male student fondle her and sexually assault and batter her person."

Hat tip to Autism Vox.

Fatal fire in Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California - Fox News reports that a 38-year-old disabled woman has died in a fire in a converted garage in the San Fernando Valley. According to a fire department spokeswoman, firefighters searched the garage after the blaze was out and found the woman in a bathroom already killed by the fire. Sadly, it appears the woman was unable to reach her wheelchair.

More details are here ....

Study shows that women with disabilities are more likely to experience intimate partner violence

From Reuters 27 October:

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new study shows that women with a disability are far more likely to experience a physical assault by a spouse or other intimate partner than those without a disability.

Intimate partner violence is "an understudied issue in much need of attention," Dr. Brian Armor, who led the study, told Reuters Health. "We need to ensure that prevention initiatives designed to reduce intimate partner violence explicitly include the needs of adults with disabilities (e.g. ensuring shelters are accessible).

To estimate disability prevalence and differences in intimate partner abuse among women with and without a disability, Armor and his colleagues from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, analyzed data from the CDC's 2006 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System -- a large annual telephone survey of Americans designed to monitor the prevalence of key health behaviors.

They found that women with a disability were significantly more likely than women without a disability to report experiencing some from of intimate partner violence in their lifetime (37.3 percent versus 20.6 percent).

Women with a disability were more likely to report ever being threatened with violence (28.5 percent vs 15.4 percent) and hit, slapped, pushed, kicked or physically hurt (30.6 percent vs. 15.7 percent) by an intimate partner.

Women with a disability were also much more apt to report a history of unwanted sex by an intimate partner (19.7 percent vs 8.2 percent).

"Future work is needed to get at why" this is so, said Armor, who reported the findings today at the American Public Health Association's annual meeting in San Diego.

"Perhaps, women with disabilities are vulnerable to intimate partner violence because their disability might limit mobility and prevent escape; shelters might not be available or accessible to women with disabilities; the disability might adversely affect communication and thus the ability to alert others or the perpetrator might control or restrict the victim's ability to alert others to the problem."

Fear is another possibility, Armor said. "That is, a catch-22, stemming from reliance on the perpetrator for caregiving needs that might go unmet or lead to some form of undesirable placement if they tell authorities."

He concluded, "Since intimate partner violence is a public help problem, we need to ensure that prevention strategies for people with disabilities are widely adopted."

Loveland, Colorado: a woman dies after her wheelchair is struck by a car

From Fox Colorado:

LOVELAND – A 54-year-old woman died Monday after she was struck by a vehicle while crossing a busy road in a motorized wheelchair.

Authorities in Loveland say the woman was attempting to cross Highway 287 near 62nd Street -where there is no crosswalk or signal- at about 10:30 a.m. She was hit by a 39-year-old woman driving southbound on 287, causing massive injuries.

The victim, identified as Deborah McCoul of Loveland, was transported to McKee Medical Center and pronounced dead later in the afternoon.

Loveland Police say there is no indication drugs or alcohol were involved and the driver was not arrested.

Feminism and Bioethics conference 11/14/08 at Stony Brook Manhattan

via email from David Clinton Wills, co-managing editor of International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics (IJFAB):

Readers who will be in New York on November 14 might be interested in attending this conference at Stony Brook Manhattan, which includes a section on disability studies.

It will be an intellectually invigorating time, with talks from Professors Eva Feder Kittay, Jackie Leach Scully, Lisa Diedrich, Lisa Eckenweiler, Ruth Macklin, and James V. Nelson. We have a vibrant day planned with a free catered continental breakfast in the morning and a free catered reception/open bar at the close at the Black Duck.

The conference starts at 9:00 a.m. (and ends at 6 p.m.) and our all inclusive registration is free! Stony Brook Manhattan is located in the heart of Manhattan on 401 Park Ave South (between 27th and 28th streets)

Here is a link that provides added details and the free online
registration: http://www.ijfab.org/IJFAB_conference.html

Speakers

DISABILITY STUDIES

Eva Feder Kittay – The Personal is Philosophical
Stony Brook University

Jackie Leach Scully – Hidden Labour: Disability and the Negotiation of Autonomy
Newcastle University

Response by Lisa Diedrich

WOMEN AND HEALTH IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT

Lisa Eckenweiler – Caregiving in the Context of Globalization: Towards
Transnational Justice
George Mason University

Ruth Macklin – Global Gender Justice: Health Disparities in Women in
Developing Countries
Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Response by James V. Nelson

Adult day care program supervisor arrested for sexual abuse

Tallahassee, Florida - A 30-year old man employed as a direct care staff member at ARC Gateway was arrested yesterday in connection with sexually abusing three women with developmental disabilities; according to Foster Folly News, the man, Mark Harris, was employed as a supervisor and mentor to the three women, whose ages range between 24 and 36. Harris has been charged with two counts of lewd or lascivious battery of a disabled person, six counts of lewd or lascivious molestation of a disabled person, and two counts of lewd or lascivious behaviour in the presence of a disabled person. If convicted of all charges, he faces up to 70 years in prison and up to $60,000 in fines.

Two men charged with break-in and burglary at home of disabled woman

Buffalo, New York - Two men were charged on Wednesday with first-degree robbery and burglary stemming from a break in and enter at the home of an 80-year-old woman who uses a wheelchair. According to the Buffalo News, the men allegedly put a gun to the woman's head before making off with an undisclosed amount of money and personal papers. The men, 25-year-old Brandon King and 19-year-old Christopher Beyer remain in jail (King, on $150,000 bail, and Byer, $15,000) and will appear in court on Monday.

A man with disabilities dies before receiving the DC help he needed and was qualified for because of a "fatal focus on paperwork protocol"

The Washington Post reports that the District of Columbia Mayor Adrian M. Fenty admitted at a news conference on Tuesday that the city had mishandled the case of the man, known as "Mr Johnson," and that a city investigation is planned. Here is an excerpt that goes someway towards describing the details surrounding the case:

Mr. Johnson, the pseudonym used by lawyers who took up the man's case in recent years, was hit by a bus when he was a toddler, in the 1940s. Doctors concluded that he was left mentally disabled, and for decades he remained at home under his mother's care.

When the mother died 15 years ago, the man's well-being fell to a volunteer who cleaned, shopped and tried to arrange medical care from the city's agency for the mentally disabled. But the volunteer's efforts could not keep the man from living in squalor, hurting himself, skipping his medication and ultimately dying in a diabetic coma.

Mr. Johnson was caught in a bureaucratic loop. Because his childhood care was provided by his mother, he was not part of the government system and therefore was denied services as an adult, according to a report released by University Legal Services last week.

Instead of getting the services the man needed and qualified for, "he was rejected," Mayor Adrian M. Fenty said at a news conference he called yesterday in response to The Washington Post's questions about the case. "The Department of Disabilities Services, upon review of the records, mishandled the case on two occasions."

The legal advocacy group said it wrote the report to shine a light on a bureaucracy's fatal focus on paperwork protocol that kept a person in need from getting help.

"We have other clients like him who have been waiting around for services, and they are denied services simply because they don't have the right records, usually documents from D.C. public schools," said Mary Nell Clark, managing attorney for University Legal Services.

Palin opposes Colorado Ballot Initiative that raises sales tax to help people with developmental disabilities

From 9News.com, Colorado, October 21 (via Justice For All Blog)

DENVER - Republican Vice Presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) is speaking against a Colorado ballot initiative designed to help the state's developmentally disabled population by raising the sales tax.

Palin made the comments Monday in Colorado against Amendment 51 which seeks to raise the sales tax by one cent on every $10 spent in each of the next two years.

The money would go to help the roughly 12,000 kids and adults in Colorado who currently are on a wait list to receive state services such as home nursing care and job training. They suffer from autism, Down syndrome and mental retardation. Palin's son has Down syndrome and she has campaigned as an advocate for special needs families.

"There's got to be an alternative to raising taxes," Palin said, while answering a question submitted by former Colorado First Lady Frances Owens, who describes herself as a "fiscal conservative," a supporter of the McCain-Palin ticket and as one of the spokespeople in favor of Amendment 51. "It's a matter of prioritizing the dollars that are already there in government. What I did as governor in Alaska is prioritize for a great increase in funding for students with special needs up there and I think Colorado can do that also.

"It doesn't necessarily mean increasing taxes to meet those needs. It's all a matter of prioritization," said Palin.

Supporters of the amendment have said there is no "extra money" sitting around state government to help people who deserve it. Owens says compassionate conservatives should support helping people with developmental disabilities because it's a moral issue as much as it is a fiscal one.

"If they cannot get services that will help them get into the workforce then they are relegated to staying at home and they will never prosper in their own lives," said Owens in an interview the day after Palin spoke. "So, I think it's more of a human rights issue that we're just trying to help people that can't always help themselves."

A group called End Colorado's Wait List is promoting the measure (http://endcoloradowaitlist.org/). There is no organized opposition to Amendment 51 although Colorado critics have articulated the point Palin made; that there has to be money available in state government to divert toward those with developmental disabilities.

Read more about Amendment 51 here.

Fort Myers, Florida - Nine-year-old girl with mental illness arrested at school

Wink News (Lee County, Fla.), News Press, and First Coast News report that a nine year girl with a mental illness was arrested last Tuesday at Royal Palm School, a school for special needs students, and is now facing charges for battery on an education employee. According to First Coast News, "the girl went from a timeout room to a criminal holding cell Tuesday, and faces two counts of felony battery against her teachers." Lots of questions, not addressed in these reports, about the medical treatment, if any, she was receiving for schizophrenia (it appears that her mother was unable to get her treatment at a core health care centre), support for her mother (who has another child with a mental illness), use of time-out rooms and restraints, the involvement of the Department of Children and Families (it appears that teachers tried to address the issue on their own -why didn't they contact DCF?), of using jail as the means for dealing with social problems. Here is an excerpt from News Press:

Williams [her mother] said after her daughter was prescribed several medications with no success, doctors began suggesting experimental drugs. Williams didn't agree to that, so treatment ended and the family moved to Lehigh Acres. Williams said she tried to get help from the Ruth Cooper campus of Lee Mental Health, but couldn't get an appointment.

John Gervickas, children's mental health specialist with DCF, spoke with Williams twice Wednesday after The News-Press inquired about the case. He said an appointment for an assessment is being made. While there was DCF involvement with the family before for a claim of neglect, the girl's mental state was never at issue.

Michael McNally, vice president of community relations at Lee Mental Health, said he could not speak specifically on this case, but "given the history and everything else, that would be very surprising to me," McNally said of the girl not receiving help at the agency.

Lee Mental Health serves more adults than children and, while the number of adult patients admitted has increased with the population, he said, treating all children who come hasn't been an issue.

His agency would have had to accept the girl had officer Nicholson chosen to forcibly admit her for mental health care under a law called the Baker Act. But interim Fort Myers Police Chief Doug Baker said there are many stipulations for a Baker Act, especially for children.

Congratulations, Anne Jennings

Seventeen-year-old Anne Jennings was selected homecoming queen by her classmates at Libertyville High School, Chicago, earlier this month. There are fabulous photos of Ms Jennings, who has Down syndrome, and her "magical homecoming" here, and a story by the Chicago Tribune here:

Now that she's royalty, Anne Jennings dances down the hallways, bursts into excited giggles and hugs her BFFs, or "best friends forever," without warning. Of course, she did pretty much all those things before being named homecoming queen at Libertyville High School, but somehow, life has become more magical.

As a 17-year-old with Down syndrome, the senior "has been walking on air" since being crowned this month."Before, I was just plain me," said Jennings, selected by student vote out of 17 nominated girls. "When I was queen, it changed. It's amazing. Everyone loves me. I love me.

"Her mother's videotape of the Oct. 3 school assembly when her daughter was crowned says it all. After Jennings learned that she was among the top five members of the court, the video images began shaking. By the time the crown was placed on Jennings' head, the background noise boomed with the sounds of students cheering wildly.

See also Aledo High seniors pick classmate with Down syndrome as homecoming queen, which reports on the recent selection of Kristen Pass as Aledo High (Dallas, Texas) homecoming queen.

Norwalk, Conneticut - charges of sexual assault by a former sex offender

A 61-year-old resident of Marathon Healthcare Centre, who, remarkably, has a prior conviction for sexual assault, has been charged with sexually assaulting a fellow female patient with developmental disabilities, Newsday reports. According to police, Windell Jordan entered the woman's room and touched her without her permission on several ocassions in recent weeks. Jordan, who was placed on the state's Sex Offender Registray after a 1989 conviction for second degree sexual assault, has been charged with fourth-degree sexual assault, and is being held on $100,000 bond. He will appear in court on October 24.

Tacoma Goodwill fined for safety violations in connection with the death of man with developmental disabilities

From Seattle PI News Source:

Tacoma, WA - The state fined Tacoma Goodwill Industries nearly $50,000 for safety violations that contributed to the death of a developmentally disabled worker.

The 27-year-old man, Nick Miller, was crushed April 15 by a machine that lifts trash into a compactor.

The Tacoma News Tribune reports the Department of Labor and Industries found that Goodwill failed to properly train and supervise disabled workers and failed to make sure the trash-tipping machine had emergency stop controls.

Tacoma Goodwill CEO Terry Hayes disputes the findings and says it will appeal. She says Goodwill has worked with the department in the past and inspectors did not find problems with the trash machine or ask for special accident prevention training for disabled workers.

See also Goodwill fined in death of developmentally disabled worker

Time out rooms may be harmful for students with disabilities

Some educators say time-out rooms are being used more often to discipline children with disabilities and that the isolation might be harmful: for children with autism, it might be particularly counterproductive, according to this story from the Associated Press. Here is an excerpt:

After failing to finish a reading assigment, 8-year-old Isabel Loeffler was sent to the school's time-out room - a converted storage area under a staircase - where she was left alone for three hours.

The autistic Iowa girl wet herself before she was finally allowed to leave.

Appalled, her parents removed her from the school district and filed a lawsuit.

Some educators say time-out rooms are being used with increased frequency to discipline children with behavioral disorders. And the time outs are probably doing more harm that good, they add.

"It really is a form of abuse," said Ken Merrell, head of the Department for Special Education and Clinical Sciences at the University of Oregon. "It's going to do nothing to change the behavior. You're using it as an isolation booth."

Loreen Arbus scholarship opportunity for a woman studying film, television or communications

via Mik Danger over at Coffee and Gender

Through the generosity of Loreen Arbus, New York Women in Film & Television is offering a $2,500 scholarship for a woman with a physical disability who is studying film, television or communications in the Tri-State area. Students enrolled in an established technical program, community college, college or university are eligible. Students enrolled in graduate programs are also eligible.

The funds may be used for tuition and fees or for production costs for a student film or video project. The deadline for application is Friday, October 17, 2008.

To apply for the scholarship, send a resume and a written 2-4-page description of your current work and goals as a filmmaker. If funds will be used for a film or video project, and a work-in-progress is available, a DVD should be included.

Applications should be sent to:
New York Women in Film & Television
Loreen Arbus Scholarship
6 East 39th Street, Suite 1200New York, NY 10016

The deadline for application is Friday, October 17, 2008. If you have any questions, please call Sue Marcoux at 212-679-0870, ext. 25.

National Symposium on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

Readers who will be in Winnepeg, Manitoba, Ca, on October 24 and 25 might be interested in attending this symposium on euthanasia and assisted suicide at the Victorial Inn Hotel and Conference Centre. Speakers include Diane Coleman and Stephen Drake of NOT DEAD YET, Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, and others. The registration fee is $99CA, with a reduced rate for students and disabled people. For more information, visit the conference website: http://www.euthanasiaprevention.on.ca/NationalSymposium2008.htm

h/t to what sorts of people