CAMDEN, N.J. - The state is investigating the death of a 28-year-old woman who had dwindled to 48 pounds in a state-licensed home for developmentally disabled adults, officials said Nov. 25.
The Division of Developmental Disabilities caseworker responsible for keeping tabs on the woman has been suspended, the home's license has been revoked and state workers are checking on the well-being of all 1,255 residents of similar homes, the officials said.
"This death is unacceptable on many levels, and we're doing all we can to scrutinize every aspect and prevent tragedies such as this from occurring again," said Jennifer Velez, the state Human Services commissioner. The Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office is also conducting a criminal investigation.
Three lawmakers have asked for an even broader state probe.
"There's something wrong in this one instance," said Rep. Declan O'Scanlon, a Republican from Little Silver. "There also could be a systemic problem."
Relatives say a state caseworker failed to protect O'Leary.
"I do believe she was starved," said Eileen Devlin, a cousin. Tara O'Leary was born in 1980 with brain deformities, scoliosis and a number of other medical problems so severe that she was in the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for two years, Devlin said. She could speak, but not carry on a conversation, and could get around with the help of a walker.
As a girl, she loved children's music, Devlin said. By the time she was 18, she was living in a state-licensed community care residence in Hunterdon County. Eventually, three women with developmental disabilities lived in the home, which was one of about 600 licensed in the state.
Until he died of cancer in 2005, Tara's father, Kevin O'Leary, was her legal guardian. Her family later learned that after her father's death, Tara did not have a legal guardian _ though they believed his widow was legally responsible for her. After her father's death, relatives said, they were able to visit Tara only sporadically. They said they were never allowed to see her in the home where she was living -- or even to know exactly where it was. That may have been in violation of state policy.
Pam Ronan, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services, said the rules are clear.
"The family should be allowed to visit at any time," she said. "It should be allowed to visit in the home where she's living."
Devlin said her cousin's medical records showed she weighed 95 pounds at a doctor's visit in September 2007 -- a bit thin, but not alarming for a woman only 4 foot 10. When an aunt, Patricia O'Leary, saw Tara in August 2008, however, she was gaunt, with unwashed hair and shoes on the wrong feet. The aunt was alarmed enough that she asked to be made Tara's legal guardian.
By early September, Tara and the two other women living in the home were removed. At least one other had also lost a dangerous amount of weight and was
hospitalized for a time, O'Scanlon said. The other two are alive and healthy now, Ronan said. Ronan said the home's license has been revoked.
DHS would not identify the caseworker or operator of the home, saying that they are the subject of an ongoing investigation.
Tara O'Leary lived in an institution for a little over a week before she was taken to Hunterdon Medical Center suffering from dehydration, malnutrition and bedsores and septic shock. She weighed just 48 pounds at check-in.
Devlin said that with a feeding tube, her cousin's weight rose to more than 70 pounds by November, but her overall medical condition did not improve.
With intervention from lawmakers and the state Attorney General's Office, Patricia O'Leary, Devlin and another cousin, Maureen Faletti, became her legal guardians on Nov. 6. A day later, they decided to take her off life support.
She died Nov. 10.
Family members said they learned that Tara had attended day programs at the ARC of Hunterdon County -- where she was supposed to go three times a week -- a total of only 45 times in 2005 and 2006 and not at all since then.Jeff Mattison, executive director of the ARC of Hunterdon County, said it was his agency that notified prosecutors. "This is a horrific tragedy, one that points to some of the frailties within the system for foster or sponsor-type programs for people with developmental disabilities."
The case is similar to one in 2003, when four children weighing less than 45 pounds each were removed from a state-run foster home in Collingswood. The boys all survived, but the case brought deep disgrace to the state Department of Human Services and its Division of Children and Family Services.
Major reforms for the child-welfare system were put in place in the months after the boys were found.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
NJ lawmakers ask for checks on group homes statewide after developmentally disabled woman dies
British mother makes successful legal claim about disability "discrimination by association"
Millions of people trying to combine work with caring for disabled or elderly relatives will have the right to claim against employers who discriminate against them in refusing to offer flexible working, following a ruling Nov. 27 by the Employment Tribunal.
Sharon Coleman, a legal secretary who was forced to resign because she wanted more time to care for her disabled son, was told she would be able to claim before the English courts that she suffered "discrimination by association".
Coleman worked for Attridge Law in London when she gave birth to Oliver, who is deaf and suffers from serious respiratory problems, including apnoeic attacks in which his breathing involuntarily stops.
Earlier this year, Coleman told the European court of justice that treatment she says she received from the firm, such as comments that her child was "always fucking sick" and she was "lazy" when she sought time off to care for him, was covered by disability discrimination law.Coleman says she received less favourable treatment because of her son's condition, whereas others were allowed time off to care for their non-disabled children.
The European court found that Coleman's case amounted to discrimination by association, paving the way for claims by carers who say they are discriminated against not because of their own disability, but because of their role in caring for another person.
The tribunal's ruling yesterday, which follows on from the European decision, has clarified the law in England and Wales. Anti-discrimination law is not "restricted to disabled people only", the tribunal said, rejecting arguments made by Attridge Law that to allow carers to be protected would distort the law's meaning.
As a result of the ruling, an estimated 2.5 million people in Britain who maintain jobs as well as caring for sick or disabled family members will be entitled to the same treatment as other staff."Employers will have to think more carefully about the way they respond to requests for flexible working from carers," said Lucy McLynn, the lawyer who represented Coleman.
Despite its previous support for protecting the disabled from discrimination, the government has so far opposed Coleman's case, a position described as "completely ridiculous" by McLynn.
"It has taken someone with Sharon's determination to take the case to Luxembourg to establish something the government should have done five years ago."
California 11-year-old with CP trains for marathon
From Maria C. Smith's column in the Orange County Register:IRVINE, Calif. -- It takes all of Bridget Beresford's strength – all 4 feet, 5 inches and 55 pounds of this skinny, blue-eyed, blond-haired, Hannah Montana-loving, 11-year-old girl – to crank the pedals on the stationary bike and make the wheel go once around.
She did it. With her tongue poking out the side of her shy, toothy smile. With her slender hands wrapped so tightly around the handlebars that her fingertips turned white. With her ramrod arms and legs tugging and pushing and her breath strained. With her parents watching.
"It's going. I'm training for my run," she says proudly of her latest triumph, which is how her parents see everything their little girl sets her heart out to do and does.
She wants to run a 5K in the next Orange County marathon – a big dream built from each day's tiny victories. Simple things – tying her own sneakers' shoelaces, writing B-R-I-D-G-E-T on notebook paper, walking without falling or pedaling a bike – make every day a Thanksgiving.
Bridget has cerebral palsy, the non-progressive disability that explains why she limps when she walks, why she loses her balance and trips and often catches herself a dozen times a day, why her speech is difficult and why homework takes a few hours more for her.
When Bridget was nine months old, doctors gave Grant and Linda Beresford varying diagnoses about their second child's condition. Specialists told the parents that their daughter would have seizures, never walk, never talk, never be – this is a word neither of them says easily – normal.
"And look at her today," says Grant Beresford, 47, glowing and glancing at Bridget who is seated at the kitchen table, stringing together beaded jewelry with her schoolmate, Kelly Seidler. "She's always doing something."
A holiday like Thanksgiving is always one of Bridget's happiest moments because her extended family gets together. This Thanksgiving her parents, brother Sam, 13, and Bridget are spending the day with their grandparents in Mission Viejo.
"I'm making apple crisp for dessert," Bridget says, smiling, showing more than one sweet tooth. "Everyone will be there."
Her story is a lesson about being grateful about what you have and not begrudging what you're living without. Bridget, all of 11 years young, sees her world glittered, gift-wrapped and bowed, embracing a life of Cans instead of Can'ts.
Being born with cerebral palsy – she's starting to realize – has dealt her a life with some limits. She knows she has to work harder than other 11-year-old girls to run across the playground, try harder than other sixth-graders to do a math problem and take longer than most people do to most things.
She had to quit playing soccer and tee-ball because the games were getting too competitive, the other kids getting faster and stronger and Bridget lagging too far behind. So she goes to watch and cheer on her brother, Sam, two years older and ahead in so many other ways.
"Just seeing how she goes at life gives me inspiration every day," her father says.
"Once she puts her mind to doing something, she does it," her mother says.
Bridget has a motto on a bedroom poster and she's happy to recite it, "Never, never, never give up," she says, slapping her hands against her lap. She found a hero and a friend from a Register article her mother read to her about Bonner Paddock, the Ducks' senior director of corporate partnerships, who has cerebral palsy and, in September climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for the Orange County chapter of United Cerebral Palsy.
"When I met Bonner," Bridget says, "he was so nice, and I wanted to help him climb his mountain."
She and her friends started a charity, Acts of Kindness, opened a lemonade stand last summer outside her Northwood community home and raised $750 in donations toward Paddock's fundraising goal.
"She saw what Bonner was doing and wanted to find her own mountain to climb," Linda recalls. "So she decided to run the 5K in the 2009 Orange County marathon and started training."
"Well," the sassy Bridget jumps in, "I'm going to run or walk it. But I'll try to run as far as I can."She started her own running team, Team S.M.I.L.E. (Strength, Motivation, Inspiration and Limitless Enthusiasm), and set out to raise $100,000 for UCP-Orange County. With slow, jagged steps, she ran for stretches around a park as her parents followed. Her friend, Shaina Rosenberg, has jogged beside her on some Saturdays, encouraging her at each turn.
"I can do this," she says about the run, nodding her head confidently. "I like to do a lot of things."Like walk her two dogs: Knuckles, a beefy, tan and white Cavalier King Charles Spaniel; and Hershey, a chocolate-kiss colored Yorkie Poo puppy. And swim in her backyard pool. And play tag in the sand with her cousins. And ride a chestnut mare named Sedona.
At Canyon View Elementary, she goes to classes with other sixth-graders. They talk about "Hannah Montana" and "High School Musical" and have, as her parents call it, "sixth-grade drama." On Halloween, she went trick-or-treating with her friends. "I was soda pop can, Cherry 7-up, and we, my friends, were a six pack," she remembers, giggling.
Each day, she can appreciate a bright day and how the sunshine glints off her long, fine blond hair that bends into a curl below her shoulders. She can feel the rain drizzle on her freckled cheeks. She can laugh. She can smile.
And she's thankful for the life she can live.
Research in mice shows that doctors may be able to treat Down syndrome symptoms in the womb
From BBC News in the UK:An experiment in mice has raised hopes of halting some of the effects of Down's syndrome before birth, New Scientist magazine reports.
Down's starves developing nerve cells of two key proteins, leading to problems with mental development.
But when US researchers injected the proteins into mice pregnant with "Down's" pups, the offspring seemed free of these problems.
However, experts warned success in mice was no guarantee of the same in humans.
Down's syndrome in humans is caused in children who inherit an extra copy of one of the body's chromosomes - bundles of genetic material which help control how we develop and live.Children with Down's can suffer from higher rates of heart and developmental problems, as well as learning difficulties to different degrees.
Statistics in the UK suggest that more children than in recent years are being born with the condition, with some parents encouraged by the fact that life expectancy is higher than in previous decades.
However, the research carried out at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, hints at the possibility of preventing some of the damage the extra chromosome causes.
One of the problems detected by earlier research is a malfunction in a type of brain cell which causes them to produce less of two proteins - NAP and SAL.
Normally these body chemicals help regulate the development of nerve cells.
The US researchers used mice pregnant with pups who also had a extra copy of a segment of one of their chromosomes.These pups also show signs of developmental delay in their early months.
The mothers were injected with NAP and SAL, and when the pups were born, the speed with which they reached their "developmental milestones" - such as grasping a rod, righting themselves and responding to touch - matched that of normal mice.The brains of the treated mice showed normal levels of another protein which is under-produced by Down's-affected brain cells.
The US team published its findings in the journal Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and is now following the mice further into childhood to see if the effects are long-lasting, or even permanent.
However, other US experts warned that experiments in mice did not necessarily mean that the treatment would be effective in humans.
Carol Boys, the chief executive of the Down's Syndrome Association, said: "We welcome research that may have a positive impact on people with Down's syndrome.
"However, it must be recognised that this research doesn't herald a 'cure' or 'treatment' for Down's syndrome. We'll be following how it develops with great interest."
Gallaudet University to host first WORLDEAF Cinema Festival in 2009
From a Gallaudet University press release:In recognition of excellence in deaf filmmaking, Gallaudet will hold its first WORLDEAF Cinema Festival from November 4 to 7, 2009, in Washington, D.C.
The festival will include professional and student film competitions, with cash awards and a Hollywood-style awards show. Other events will celebrate past and present accomplishments as well as promote interaction among industry representatives, filmmakers, and audience participants.
"The WORLDEAF Cinema festival provides a way to celebrate the men and women, both deaf and hearing, who have captured in film the essence of the deaf experience,
and I am thrilled to be a part of it," said the festival's honorary chair, Marlee Matlin, an Academy Award-winning actress and a Gallaudet trustee. Matlin will also receive the first WORLDEAF Cinema Festival's Lifetime Achievement Award.
The festival will spotlight the international dimension of deaf cinema and the diversity of the world's deaf and hard of hearing communities. It will also promote interaction between industry representatives and the festival registrants through keynote speakers, panel discussions, film screenings, and community forums."Gallaudet University is honored to serve as host to the WORLDEAF Cinema Festival and to share in the excitement and acclaim it will bring to this medium,” said President Davila. “This festival will highlight the depth and breadth of the achievements that have been made in the industry, and the profound impact they have made on the lives of deaf and hard of hearing people throughout the world."
The event will kick off with a keynote speech by Dr. Carol Padden, an associate dean at the University of California, San Diego, and an internationally renowned scholar. Festival attendees can view classic and new productions in deaf cinema, browse
industry-related exhibits, and learn about vlogging. The festival will close with a red carpet, star-studded WORLDEAF Cinema Awards ceremony that will pay homage to cinematic innovators, past and present, with WORLDEAF Awards for Excellence, as well as outstanding achievement.
Conference organizers are soliciting new work from both professional and student filmmakers (entries must have been created after 2006). Juried cash awards will be
presented for outstanding feature, documentary, and short films. In keeping with the ground-breaking nature of the WORLDEAF Cinema Festival, submissions are also invited from creators of vlogs.
"We are excited to be able to stimulate new work by offering substantial cash awards," says Dr. Jane Norman, festival producer and director, and a professor in the Department of Communication Studies. "The festival will also promote opportunities in deaf cinema because registrants will be able to network and pursue distribution
opportunities in the mainstream film industry."
Some in Canadian town want 3-year-old with CP to get rid of his therapy pony
From the UPI Nov. 28. Another story on CBC in Canada gives the background on the ongoing story.CALEDON, Ontario -- Offers of help are pouring in to a Canadian woman whose disabled son may have to give up his therapy pony because of zoning laws in a small Ontario town.
Antonia Spiteri was told a neighbor had complained to the town council about the horse odor coming from her property in Caledon, a small agricultural town northwest of Toronto.
Her 3-year-old son Sam has a form of quadriplegic cerebral palsy and rides the pony named Emily as physical and emotional therapy on the family's 1.2 acre property, the Canwest News Service reported.
The pony is the only farm animal on the property, which isn't zoned for livestock use. In order to keep the pony, Spiteri will have to pay the town $800 to consider rezoning the land, and if approved, another $340 for an exception application to the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, the report said.
Since the story broke, Spiteri said her phone has been ringing off the hook with messages of support and e-mails are flooding in.
"It's been very overwhelming. We never expected this kind of outpouring from the community," she said.
Professor can't access classroom due to malfunctioning door
Professor Darlene Eckert has had trouble getting into her classroom this term. Eckert, who teaches the course Genders and Disabilities, requires the use of a motorized wheelchair and relies on the electric door to her classroom in Shattuck Hall, room 211, to work properly.
According to Ann Mussey, chair of the department of Women's Studies, the door has been problematic for Eckert throughout the term. And now, the door is non-operational, requiring someone to open the door for Eckert to gain access to the classroom. A work order was placed with Facilities, but after the door did not get fixed, the department contacted several campus agencies for assistance.
Kari Smit, Women's Studies office coordinator, said that the Disability Resource Center, Affirmative Action, and Scheduling department were contacted to advocate for the door being fixed, but they also were not able to get a response from Facilities.
Mussey was told there was a dispute about who should fix the door.
"PSU maintains that the contractor needs to fix the door, but the contractor says it is PSU's responsibility," Mussey said.
Howard S. Wright Contractors completed the recent renovations to Shattuck Hall. According to Dan Perlissier of Howard S. Wright, the company was unaware of the problematic door.
Perlissier added that any maintenance issues with the electronic door system would be the responsibility of PSU. PSU Facilities and Planning did not return calls from the Vanguard in regards to the door by press time.
However, in an e-mail from Smit to the Vanguard, she verified that Facilities had contacted her after the Vanguard inquiry was made, and was informed the door will be fixed on Dec. 2.
Smit said that the Women's Studies department never had the intention of making the issue be about one person.
"[Eckert] should not be the face of the problem. The door should just work," Smit said.
Smit added there have been a number of issues regarding accessibility for people with disabilities during the campus construction projects that have occurred this term. During the construction of the walkway between Smith and Neuberger Hall, Smit said that people requiring the use of a wheelchair had trouble accessing the elevators at certain times of the day.
"There has been a consistent lack of consideration for people with disabilities," Smit said.
San Antonio forgets ADA compliance in Main Plaza restoration
From KSAT-TV in San Antonio, Texas:Even though the Main Plaza construction and restoration project is already over budget, the city will have to spend about $250,000 for overall enhancements, including bringing the park to federal disability standards.
Some of the mobility problems at Main Plaza include gravel preventing full wheelchair access (pictured), paving width, sidewalk slope and staircase handrail adjustments for the visually impaired, said Judy Babbitt, the city's disability access officer.
Babbitt said despite repeated e-mails from her to various city staff, she was not consulted in the planning of the Main Plaza construction. Babbitt, a wheelchair-user, said she could have pointed out the various design problems.
About 10 percent of the estimated $250,000 bill will be necessary to bring Main Plaza into compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act, Babbitt said, while the remainder would go to include gravel and flagstone paving to allow for easier mobility for the disabled and mobility-impaired.
Various city officials, including city engineer Mike Frisbie, said city officials failed to include Babbitt in the planning.
Scottish teen sets sights on medal at Down syndrome world swimming championships
From BBC News in the UK:A teenager from south west Scotland is setting off with the Great Britain team in pursuit of a medal at the Down's Syndrome world swimming championships.
Sam Pattinson, 17, of Gretna, (pictured) is one of four Scots participating in the event in Albufeira in Portugal.
He qualified for the GB squad after taking part in trials held in Reading last year.
His mother, Carol, said it was "amazing" to see how well he had done in the sport.
Sam started swimming ten years ago but only entered his first competition in 2006.
Disability development officer Laura Vickers, of Annandale and Eskdale Sports Trust, said he progressed rapidly after that.
"His first major one was the GB Down's Syndrome swimming championships in Reading last year," she said.
"From there he was chosen to be part of the GB squad and it has just progressed from there."It is brilliant to see where he has come from and how he has progressed so quickly in such a short time - he has worked really hard to get there."
Sam's mother said there were a lot of benefits to be drawn from the sport.
"He enjoys meeting people, he is very sociable," she said, "And he enjoys the actual competitions."You have a bit of complaint when you say he has to go to practice but he goes and he does enjoy it."
She added that he was unfazed by taking part in the world championships.
"He takes it in his stride, I don't think he realises the importance of them," she said.
"I think it should be brought to everybody's attention what people with disabilities can achieve at sport and be recognised for it.
"It is quite humbling - the first competition I went to, I was in tears seeing these people reach the end and turn round and look at their team and say: 'I've won!'."
The world championships in Portugal get under way on Saturday with Sam competing in the front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke.
Asked what he enjoys most about the sport, his message is straightforward: "Winning - all the time."
School for children with disabilities in Botswana faces possible closure
While Botswana were marking The day of People Living with Disabilities Nov. 24, students at the 'I AM Special Education Society' in Tlokweng were facing uncertainty about their school's future.
The school was threatened with closure last week when their water was disconnected for failure to pay rates and it was feared that the electricity would be cut next year.
Yesterday, a third of the students did not turn up at school because the parents were not aware that a parent rescued the school.
Teachers have not received their salaries since October and the coordinator of the school, Sifelane Sibanda, said that they were still there because of their commitment to the pupils.
"It is not the first time that teachers have not been paid. This has happened several times. It is only that the teachers here are committed and if it were for the money we would not be here. It would be unfair to deny these children an education because of money," Sibanda said.
He admitted that the school has run out of funds. He revealed that the school has been awarded a plot by the Tlokweng Land Board, which must be developed in 24 months but the way things are it might as well be another dream that will never be realised.
According to Sibanda, the school was registered as a society by parents of children schooling there after the founder abandoned it in 2001, because they could not take their children to public schools.
"There is no specific donor that we depend on. We depend only on donors and individuals but they come and go... which is problematic. Now we just depend on the parents of children who continue to contribute to the day to day running of the school. "We appeal to the public to donate or support us in any way so that we keep the school running," he said.
The school is a centre for children with special needs, more especially those with mental retardation, Down syndrome, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, autism and dyslexia. It currently has three qualified specialists in mental retardation including the coordinator who is also the head teacher.
The students are trained to do domestic chores. There is also academics training. "We teach them live skills so that they can take care of themselves and we have seen a change in their behavior," Sibanda said.
He indicated that some children show improved capabilities and this year they registered a student for the Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE) who passed all the subjects with a third grade, which is a tremendous achievement for the whole school. The school has a bus which collects children to and from their homes, and an Auditory Integration Training machine which activates children's brains to receive sounds. First National Bank (FNB), who also sent the coordinator and one teacher for training in South Africa donated the combi and the machine.
"We have seen changes in children who could not talk before using the machine who now can take instructions and talk," Sibanda said.
However, his regret is that the Botswana centre always excludes them during the commemoration of The Day of People Living with Disabilities.
New tool converts blog text to audio for podcasts
From Mashable.com. The site has a 10-step method on how to convert text to speech.Bloggers can now add text-to-speech capabilities to their site with new tools such as Odiogo, allowing readers to actually listen to blog posts on the website, and even on iTunes (as well as iPods and iPhones) as a podcast.
While this is a cool feature for readers, it could be a very valuable tool for the visually impaired. These tools also provide benefits to readers with learning disabilities like Dyslexia.
As a demonstration of how easy it is to setup this text-to-speech technology, we’ve actually gone ahead and helped Rachel from Why Not Rachel setup Odiogo for her blog. Why Rachel? Well, she’s legally blind and truly needed something like this so she and many of her subscribers could experience her posts in an audible manner. This means less strain and fatigue for the eyes and more accessibility as the posts can now be heard from mobile devices.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Author of "The Miracle Worker" dies at 94
From The New York Times Nov. 27:William Gibson, a playwright who had a gift for creating strong, popular female characters and wrote “The Miracle Worker,” died on Nov. 25 in Stockbridge, Mass. He was 94.
His agent, Mary Ann Anderson, confirmed his death.
First written for television, “The Miracle Worker,” which portrayed the relationship between the young blind and deaf Helen Keller and her teacher, Annie Sullivan, was adapted for Broadway in 1959 and won the 1960 Tony Award for best play. Nearly half a century later, it is still performed at regional theaters around the country.
Over the course of a writing career that lasted seven decades, Mr. Gibson wrote many poems, short stories and plays, but none achieved the breakout fame and popular acclaim of “The Miracle Worker,” which won five other Tony awards.
The 1962 film version earned Oscar nominations for Mr. Gibson for his adaptation, and for the director, Arthur Penn. Anne Bancroft, who won a Tony for her portrayal of Sullivan, won a best actress Oscar, and Patty Duke, who also replayed her role as Keller from the Broadway production, won another for best supporting actress. (The two are pictured above in the film.)
Mr. Gibson’s other works include “Two for the Seesaw,” which opened on Broadway in 1958; the book for a musical adaptation of “Golden Boy” by Clifford Odets; and “Golda” and “Golda’s Balcony,” two productions about the life of Prime Minister Golda Meir of Israel, the first starring Ms. Bancroft, the second Tovah Feldshuh. “The Monday After the Miracle,” a sequel to “The Miracle Worker” had a brief run on Broadway in 1982.
For many years as a young man in Topeka, Kan., Mr. Gibson labored over various writing projects for meager pay. But after he and his wife, Margaret, moved to Stockbridge in the early 1950s, where Margaret took a job as a psychoanalyst, he wrote a novel, “The Cobweb,” which was sold to MGM and made into a movie in 1955. After that, Mr. Gibson could have had a lucrative career as a screenwriter, but he decided to remain a playwright so he could own his work and not just be a gun for hire.
He finished one play in 1958 — “Two for the Seesaw” — and began working on another — “The Miracle Worker.” “The Miracle Worker” was first mounted as a teleplay, with Mr. Penn directing, and then became a Broadway hit. Mr. Penn won
a Tony for his direction of the play.“He was working on ‘Two for the Seesaw’ and he told me he needed money,” said Mr. Penn in an interview. “I asked him what he was working on and he said something he called a kind of a dance narrative between Helen Keller and her teacher. I could not even begin to visualize what he was talking about.
“It was a huge hit, of course,” added Mr. Penn, who went on to become lifelong friends with Mr. Gibson. “In both of those plays and later, ‘Golda’s Balcony,’ I think that Bill had a particular love for a kind of gallantry in women.”
Mr. Gibson, who was in his 50s by the time he experienced success as a writer, told Mr. Penn, “ ‘Good things come to those who wait ... far too long.’ ”
Mr. Penn added that “Bill was a remarkable man, perfectly brilliant, but he had a very ironic relationship with his success.”
His wife, Margaret Brenman Gibson, died in 2004. Mr. Gibson is survived by his sons Daniel, who lives in Cambridge, Mass., and Thomas, who lives in Stockbridge.
Even into his 90s, Mr. Gibson continued to write as if his life depended on it, perhaps because it did.
“Writers go bad when the angels desert them,” he told The Hartford Courant in 2005, “Dylan Thomas was a marvelous poet and drank himself to death. Somewhere along the way, the angel left him. An angel has left me too, but the writing angel is still with me. And that’s the thing where I feel most alive — at least while I’m doing it. I started out to be a writer and I’m still a writer. Not bad.”
Florida high school puts on "West Side Story" in sign language
From ABC News. In the picture, Giovanna Vazquez plays the lead role in West Side Story, and she's deaf. The Miami Herald and CBS local news also have stories about the production.It was showtime at South Plantation High School. Backstage, students squeezed into costumes, dabbed one another with makeup and warmed up their voices.
But this was no ordinary high school musical.
South Plantation's production of the Broadway musical 'West Side Story" had a special twist. The school is Broward County's main high school for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, so when auditions for the production were held in August, 120 students turned out for 50 coveted spots. Among them, a handful of deaf and hard-of-hearing students.
Drama teacher Jason Zembuch had done musicals with singers performing American Sign Language before, but he took a very different approach for "West Side Story."
"What's inherent in the script is that we have a clash of two cultures," Zembuch said. "The original production is a clash between the Puerto Ricans and the Americans. In this production, we have a clash of not only the Puerto Ricans and the Americans but also the deaf and the hearing."
Zembuch adapted the story: The Jets are hearing and most of the Sharks are deaf, including Maria. Initially, the love struck couple -- Maria and Tony -- can't communicate until Tony learns to sign.
There are actually two Maria's: the lead played by Giovanna Vazquez, 16, who is deaf, and her voice, played by Kellie Smith, 16.
Both appeared onstage at the same time in the same costumes. Zembuch artfully weaved the two Marias together with elaborate choreography. During the famous balcony scene, Tony visits Maria at her home and the two, seemingly interconnected Marias appear onstage; Giovanna in the balcony signing her words as Kellie looks on from the darkness below singing the familiar song.
"I want the audience to think that we are one person," said Giovanna, speaking through a sign language interpreter.
Giovanna (pictured) is a high school junior who played the deaf Maria. "Because the two of us, as you see, we try to move the same," she said of the performance, which ended Sunday.
Kellie, a junior who sang and spoke Maria's lines, said, "I feel the same way. I feel like she is the actual Maria that everyone can see, but I'm like a facet of her personality. I'm there to support her, and I'm there to help her, and I'm just an inner-dimension of herself."
It was an ambitious interpretation, but it was remarkably effective.
Giovanna performed without her hearing aid because the orchestra's music was too loud. The only sound she made during the production was her scream when her love, Tony, dies.
And deafness became part of the drama. Maria's brother Bernardo was played by Frank Gonzalez, 18, a senior who can hear. But drama teacher Zembuch thought it would work better dramatically if Bernardo were deaf, like his sister. So Gonzalez learned to sign his part while another Shark spoke his lines for him.
In one early scene, Rif, a Jet, and Bernardo, a Shark, were arguing. Rif grabbed Bernardo's hand, stopping him from signing and leaving the character voiceless. "Now that he's grabbed my hand," Gonzalez said. "He's basically put a hand over my mouth and not let me talk. He's basically cut off my communication. In return, after I shake him off, I tell my interpreter not to say anything. And I sign something myself."
It became a battle of communication.
The entire production was signed for deaf audience members but not in a conventional way. Hearing students, who acted as sign language interpreters, became part of the elaborate choreography. They had to learn their signing parts.
It was clear this production took enormous time and dedication. But is also took a lot of money: $43,000. None of it came from the school board, the county or the state, so the students had to raise every penny of it.
"When presented with an obstacle, you have two choices," Zembuch said. "You either allow it to stop you or you find a way around it and we at South [Plantation High] chose to not let it stop us. We try to teach our kids every single day you're going to hit many different road blocks, you're going to hit many different situations in which you're being told you can't accomplish things."
With candy sales, car washes, program sponsors and ticket sales, the money was raised. The cast -- hearing and deaf -- bonded.
"It's exposed me to open my mind more to the fact that everyone is different and you can't judge someone because they're deaf," Gonzalez said. "Because of this program, after high school, I'm planning to become an interpreter for sign language because I feel passionate about the language."
Zembuch said, "It's an examination of cultural differences between nationalities and ethnicities already. We just began to further explore cultural differences between the deaf and hard-of-hearing community and the hearing community."
By aiming high, this ambitious production found a way to add new meaning to a familiar, old story.
Blind Japanese holistic health practioner finally receives accommodation for California licensing exam
From the San Diego Weekly Reader in California:Hiro Iwamoto (pictured) loves to sail. Not so unusual — except for one apparent drawback. He is blind. Before moving from Japan to San Diego two years ago, Iwamoto led a Tokyo team to the Blind Sailing National Championship in Newport, Rhode Island. “It isn’t strange,” he tells me. “We go up on the bow and climb the mast like all sailors do. Someone who is sighted comes with us, and we just say, ‘Tell us what you see.’ ”
When it comes to his vocation, however, Iwamoto hardly needs the help. For 20 years, he has practiced manual therapies, a traditional career path for the blind in Japan. And he taught at the Tsukuba University School of Acupuncture and Manual Therapy for the Visually Impaired north of Tokyo for 14 years. So it’s a shame that he has experienced so much difficulty continuing his work in San Diego.
Iwamoto has lived in the United States once before. In his early 20s, he studied at San Francisco State University. There he majored in special education as a complement to a bachelor’s degree in counseling he had already earned in Japan.
When Iwamoto returned to Japan, he took a conversation class to keep up his English. Through the class, he met an American woman whom he later married.“We first got to know each other by hiking together,” he says. “And she is a sailor too.” Three years ago, the couple had a daughter, and they decided that San Diego would be a better place to raise her than Tokyo.
In the transition from Japan to San Diego, there were some hurdles to jump in the alternative healing arts. But Iwamoto figured that, given his background, he could easily start out as a holistic health practitioner. The license, granted by the San Diego Police Department, requires the applicant to pass a national exam in anatomy, physiology, nutrition, and acupressure.
Iwamoto long ago passed a similar exam in Japan. It was based on four years of training. A national board, not a city police department, grants manual therapy licenses in Japan. Most observers believe that San Diego’s police, rather than, say, the county health department, play the licensing role here on account of the city’s long experience with massage parlor prostitution.
I ask Iwamoto if there is a similar problem in Japan. “There may be prostitution among those who do not train,” he says. “But the long training required of manual therapists eliminates those who would be likely to do it.”
Iwamoto passed the American exam with flying colors. It was getting the chance to take the test that was a problem. He sent in an application a year ago. When he didn’t hear back, he called to check what had happened. The national testing center said they never received the application and that he should send in a new one. Shortly after sending it, the center returned his original application with the explanation that it had no way to test a blind person.
But accommodations were eventually made, and Iwamoto was allowed assistance to take the exam. A reader called out the question, and Iwamoto answered. The reader then typed the answers into a computer and sent them in. It worked well enough, except that pronunciation of terminology made for rough communication between test taker and reader.
At the end of August, Iwamoto received his holistic health practitioner’s license. He will now prepare to take an acupuncturist’s exam required to practice in the state of California. And eventually, in order to open a clinic in Oriental medicine, Iwamoto will have to master Chinese herbal medicine, a field he has yet to study.
In the meantime, Iwamoto has been teaching at the Meridian International School of Health Sciences on Morena Boulevard. He has also built up a client base around San Diego. Upon his arrival in town, Iwamoto obtained a massage technician’s license to give manual therapy, which includes traditional massage. He says his preferred technique is called Jin Shin Jyutsu, a combination of acupressure, shiatsu, and anma, techniques that manipulate pressure points. Jin Shin Jyutsu lightly touches two pressure points at once, holding the connection for a short time as though allowing electricity to jump from one to the other.
Without a clinic, Iwamoto is forced to visit his clients in their homes or offices. How does he get there? “I take the bus and trolley everywhere,” he says. “I go from Chula Vista to Rancho Bernardo. I’m sure I ride more miles on the bus than any other visually impaired person in the city.”
It helps that Iwamoto lives in Kearny Mesa, a central area. But buses present huge obstacles to the visually impaired. Take just one problem. Iwamoto explains how it unfolds at the southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and Broadway. “I am looking for a certain numbered bus to take me east on Broadway, and I can hear that a bus has pulled up,” he says. “I ask people nearby if that is my bus. No, they say, and as they get on, my bus pulls up behind the first one. Then, instead of pulling up to the stop, my bus just drives away behind the first one, and I’m left standing there without realizing until later what happened.”
Walking across wide streets is of course a greater hazard. “The U.S. is recognized as being the friendliest nation to the disabled,” Iwamoto tells me. "But not to the visually impaired. In Tokyo, there is beeping at every signal. Only some have beepers here.”
While waiting in Kearny Mesa to meet Iwamoto, I witnessed what he meant. He had to cross two streets, one a wide section of Mercury Street, at an intersection that had no beepers. “I can only listen to the traffic flow,” he says after he arrives and we introduce ourselves. “I used to have only a cane. But soon after I came here, I had several close calls and realized that I needed a guide dog, which they don’t use in Japan. Now I have Tawny,” says Iwamoto, pointing to the female blond lab at his feet. “At intersections, I have to give her commands because she doesn’t see the red and green lights. But she is trained to be disobedient, too, if she can see traffic that would make it dangerous to cross.”
Iwamoto shows me his laptop computer, which has a strip at its keyboard base for reading braille. It has software that translates email messages and other text into either sound or braille. “Before email, think what I had to do to write a love letter,” he says with a laugh.
The intrepid battles Iwamoto wages with San Diego transportation testify to what he calls his mission. He wants to teach people manual therapies and Oriental medicine. He got the notion after he realized he had to develop a positive attitude about his blindness.
Were you blind from birth? I ask.
“No, it happened suddenly when I was an adolescent. Even though my sight had been weak, nobody could explain why it happened. Although I am a Christian, my mother is Buddhist. Every week she still goes to the temple five times to pray. It’s to overcome bad things she thinks our ancestors must have done to cause my blindness.
“And shortly before my dad died a few years ago, he wanted to set me up so that I would never have to work again. But I had learned to be grateful for my blindness. It has enabled me to develop sensitive fingers for manual therapy and other techniques that sighted people do not always understand.” An example would be the way Oriental practitioners take the pulse so delicately that they can detect trouble in the liver or the kidneys.
How do you explain the advantage of Oriental medicine?
“We look at the whole person, the body as its own universe, and by making the ch’i, or vital energy, flow better along meridians all through the body, we help people feel better. We also focus on prevention. Western medicine tends to divide the body into parts. But it has its strengths. Some of my colleagues used to tell me that sending patients to a doctor will kill them. But if I am palpating and I detect there might be a tumor, I refer patients to a doctor. I don’t diagnose cancer and other diseases. The doctor does that with MRIs or other techniques. At the same time, there is a doctor who sends me patients. She wants me to help control their pain. Oriental and Western medicine can cooperate.”
But many Western doctors dismiss Oriental medicine as palliative only. Iwamoto would like to help them understand. He reminds me again of the sensitivity in his fingers. And he begins thinking of sailing, his other passion. For the doctors, he says, “It could be the reverse of our blind situation on the boats. The doctors could say, ‘Tell us what you feel.’ ”
Disabled people in Britain face bullying at work
Disabled people are much more likely than the able-bodied to be hit, injured, bullied and humiliated at work, groundbreaking research for the Equality and Human Rights Commission will reveal today.
In the first comprehensive survey of discrimination in the workplace, the commission found 11.6% of employees with a disability or long-term illness experienced physical violence at work, compared with 5.5% of other employees.
It said 8.8% of disabled people sustained an injury as a result of violence or aggression at work, compared with 4.7% of able-bodied people.
The survey of 4,000 employees raised doubts about whether the government can achieve the goal of getting more disabled people into employment without tackling the discrimination they encounter in the workplace. It found 25% of people with a disability or long-term illness said someone was continually checking up on their work, compared with 19.4% of other workers. One in five disabled people said they were pressurised to work below their level of competence, compared with 13.5% of other workers.
People with a disability were almost twice as likely to believe that their performance at work was unfairly criticised (22.5%) or that they had been humiliated or ridiculed (13.4%.)
Employers, line managers and supervisors were responsible for nearly half the ill-treatment. Employees with learning disabilities or psychological problems are more likely to be abused than people with visual or hearing impairment.The commission said: "Negative treatment at work may frustrate government policy by deterring people with disabilities or long-term illnesses from accessing or remaining in employment."
