In Canada, robots aid children with disabilities

From The Toronto Sun:

EDMONTON, Canada - Researchers at the University of Alberta are striving to help students with disabilities such as cerebral palsy with the aid of robots.

"We are trying to give children an opportunity to experience discovery and manipulation. Children who are born with cerebral palsy often have difficulty using their hands so they miss out on all the things that children do with their hands - explore objects, play with objects and manipulate them," said Al Cook, professor of speech pathology and audiology at the University of Alberta.

"They don't get to participate or play in those activities so what we're doing is using robots to help children discover and play and participate rather than just observe."

Chelsea Hagen (pictured), 14, of Edmonton is a student with cerebral palsy. She uses a wheelchair to get around and has extremely limited use of her hands.

In a study conducted by Cook and Kim Adams, assistant professor of assistive technology at the U of A faculty, it was found that the robots, along with a communicative device attached to Hagen's wheelchair, have helped her learn immensely in school especially learning math.

"It has helped me to do my reading," Hagen typed into her device.

Hagen said thanks to the device, she is dong "great" in school and loves all her subjects.

The robot is controlled by a device connected to Hagen's wheelchair - she moves her head to select actions and answers to the communicative device and the robot.

The robot allows her to move objects and measure them - the technology is being called Rehab Dialogue.

"She's done really well with it and it's helped her to be included in the class and with her friends," said mom Debbie Hagen. "She can do camps and have after school activities now and join in with the rest of the (kids)."

Cook said it's important people know these devices are out there for families to inquire about and that they can really change the life of someone with a disability.

"Every child that has used them has changed the perception about themselves to the people around them," said Cook. "It changes how people look at them and their perception of their competence.

"It gives these children an opportunity to succeed."

Cook also said that similar robots are used in school for science demonstrations that incorporating the robots for students with disabilities to learn with be "evolutionary and not revolutionary," and develop gradually.

Montana teens educate others about mental illness

From The Billings Gazette. In the picture, Helena High students Brianna Boje, left, and Kelsey Antcliff speak about mental illness.

The trio of young women clasped their hands, bowed their heads and prayed before taking center stage as one of the closing acts of the three-day Montana State Conference on Mental Illness in Billings.

One is a 17-year-old flutist in the Helena High School Band and member of the National Honor Society.

One is a 16-year-old singer, dancer and cheerleader.

One is a 17-year-old rock climber and No. 1 doubles varsity tennis player.

And, each has a mental illness.

“When you look at us you would not think of us as mentally ill,” said Kelsey Antcliff, a senior at Helena High School. “The stereotypes people have in their minds of mental illness are scary. The toilet is our therapist at school because we have no place to go. Kids like us feel so alone.”

Each of their specific diagnoses is not important. Suffice it to say that among them they are being professionally treated for clinical depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The motivation behind their multimedia presentation Friday to an estimated 300 people was to help erase the stigma attached to mental illness and help eliminate bullying. Their plea to parents, coaches, social workers and classmates is to care, to listen and to ask questions.

“My depression started to get worse and I felt no one cared,” Antcliff said. “Support us and love us no matter what.”

One in 10 youths is reported to have a severe mental illness, according to the National Alliance for Mental Health. One in four is reported to have a general mental illness.

Some of the girls have attempted suicide; some have turned to self-injury, specifically cutting their bodies to the point of bleeding. The goal was to stop the pain, which sometimes stemmed from being called retarded, psycho and crazy at school.

“That hurts us, too,” said Alex Bostrom, a senior at Helena High School. “We’re the kids who don’t get noticed. We put on a happy face during the day at school then go home at night and cry ourselves to sleep.”

Kandis Franklin, family liaison for the Children’s Mental Health Bureau, said the teens were doing what would terrify some adults — talking candidly about their mental illness. She then acknowledged that Kelsey Antcliff is her daughter.

“It makes my heart glow watching her,” Franklin said.

Mental health problems are real, painful and can be severe, said Brianna Boje, a junior at Helena High School. The most hurtful thing you can say to someone with a mental illness is to “get over it,” she said. “So many people think I can just snap out of it. You don’t choose this life. If I could get rid of this mental illness I would in the blink of an eye.”

Mental illness can lead to failure in school, loss of friends and family conflict. If you are a parent or other caregiver of a teenager, pay attention if your teen often:

• Is angry, cries a lot, or overreacts.

• Expresses feeling of worthlessness or guilt.

• Seems more anxious or worried than other young people.

• Grieves for a long time after a loss or death.

• Is frequently fearful or has unexplained fears.

• Is constantly concerned about physical problems or appearance.

• Seems frightened that his or her mind is controlled or is out of control.

“Don’t be ashamed of your mental illness,” said Boje. “I’m not ashamed of my mental illness. I’m very open about it. It’s a piece of me. It doesn’t define me but it’s a huge part of me and my life.”

Texas couple still trying to get daughter with Down syndrome back, after she was taken away because they wouldn't OK meds

From The 33 News. Here's an earlier story about their case.

ARLINGTON, Texas — Chila and Frank Covington (pictured) have spent the last few weeks getting their daughter's room for her return. The Arlington couple hoped to bring 39-year old Ceci, who has Down Syndrome, home to stay.

"She really wants to come back and we want her back," Chila Covington, said.

But that homecoming won't happen for a while, or maybe not at all. A hearing to determine guardianship was set for this week in a Tarrant County Probate court, but the Covington's say it was abruptly cancelled.

"I don't think these judges have any feeling for anything except their own agenda," Frank Covington, said.

Last year, a judge found the Covington's unfit and stripped custody of Ceci in a secret trial called an ex parte hearing. Even though the court stands behind that decision, the couple hoped to get the ruling reversed. Court officials have questions about the family, but the Covington's son says the allegations of abuse and neglect are false.

"It is just a complete shock that my parents could be called cruel," Franko Covington, said.

Covington says he travelled from London just for his sister's hearing and is disappointed it won't happen.

"It is really, really unfortunate."

The Covington's say they suspect the postponement has something to do with next week's elections. They think the judge on the case doesn't want anymore publicity with another probate judge up for re-election.

Judge Steve King says he is prohibited from talking about the case or why it was pushed off. Another court official indicated there was no political reason for the delay.

Mental well-being of veterans linked to ability to find jobs

From The Tribune-Review in Pittsburgh, Pa.:

The mental well-being of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is linked to their ability to find jobs later, according to two veterans who spoke at the Mental Health America of Westmoreland County breakfast Oct. 29.

The two veterans said they believe employers are sometimes reluctant to hire recent combat veterans.

Sean Zielinski, a Iraq war veteran who is a disabled-veterans employment representative for PA Career Links Westmoreland County, said even those with post-traumatic stress disorder can be "good employees."

At times, "they may need time to walk away" from the job, Zielinski said, but they should be given an opportunity to work.

Zielinski pointed to many veterans who go on interviews but get turned down. The result is "more anger and frustration" and a rising level of "fear that they are not going to be able to take care of their families."

Jason Brosk, an Iraq war veteran and a readjustment therapist at the Veterans Center in McKeesport, said he felt isolated and alone when he left the Army.

"I felt I had no purpose. All the wind had been taken out of my sails," he said.

After returning from a seven-month deployment in 2003, Brosk said he went through a series of job interviews that got him nowhere. While in the service, he was told civilian employers would be eager to hire veterans, he said. But Brosk said he discovered the opposite.

Brosk said he believes many employers were "turned off" by his "aggressive" background of "shooting rifles and blowing things up" in the Army. He recalled one career counselor that said he should "demilitarize" his job resume.

Brosk said he found work after a year of job-hunting.

"The best therapy (for a veteran) is a good, meaningful job," Brosk said. "It brings back a purpose in life."

Anne Merical, a behavioral-health therapist at Westmoreland VA Primary Care Center, said that for female veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, post-traumatic stress disorder stems in large measure from "military sexual trauma" or "rape."

Scientists make advance in determining the cause facioscapulohumeral dystrophy

From ANI:

Scientists have made a second critical advance in determining the cause of a common form of muscular dystrophy known as facioscapulohumeral dystrophy, or FSHD.

In August 2010, an international team of researchers led by an investigator from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center published a landmark study that established a new and unifying model for the cause of FSHD.

Their current work shows that the disease is caused by the inefficient suppression of a gene that is normally expressed only in early development. The work will lead to new approaches for therapy and new insights into human evolution.

The disease-causing gene, called DUX4, previously had been thought to be a completely inactive gene in humans. DUX4 belongs to a special class of genes called retrogenes, which usually represent unused byproducts of evolution that have no remaining biological function, sometimes called "dead genes."

In contrast, the researchers discovered that the DUX4 protein is abundantly expressed in human germ-line cells, the cells that form the sperm and eggs, which indicates a necessary function early in development. Normally, the DUX4 gene is suppressed in all other cells of the body. However, the mutation that causes FSHD makes this suppression less efficient.

"The result is that the DUX4 gene occasionally escapes the inefficient suppression and is expressed in some muscle cells, similar to the Old Faithfull geyser that is usually off but occasionally releases a burst of water," said corresponding author Stephen Tapscott, a member of the Hutchinson Center's Human Biology Division.

"The occasional 'bursts' of DUX4 are thought to be toxic to the muscle cells, which leads to muscle cell death and the muscular dystrophy."

The study has been published in PLoS Genetics.

Assistive Technology Industry Association show in Illinois highlights newest technology for people with disabilities

From The Chicago Tribune:

Sophie Prunty has a rare neurological disorder that makes it difficult for her to get around and communicate. But fastened to the front of the teen's wheelchair is a computer that has changed her life.

Looking like an overgrown iPad, the touch-screen tablet allows Sophie, 16, to control devices such as a television and an MP3 player. Most importantly, when she pushes buttons on the screen, a robotic voice speaks for her.

"She can hold a conversation, although like most teenagers she likes to keep it short," said her mother, Jody Prunty, of Wheaton. "It has opened up a new world."

Technology is creating new opportunities for countless people with disabilities, and many of the latest gadgets were on display last week at a Schaumburg trade show, where the Pruntys were browsing for educational software.

The show, put on by the Chicago-based Assistive Technology Industry Association, included music players that can also tell you the color of your shirt, devices that translate Web pages into Braille and computers that are controlled by eye movement.

Some say these are mere forerunners of a larger revolution that is yet to come. They envision products designed so that anyone can use them, appliances that automatically detect a person's needs and become more user-friendly, and a transformed Internet that welcomes the blind and developmentally disabled.

"There are a lot of things people are exploring that can be game changers," said Gregg Vanderheiden, a University of Wisconsin engineering professor who works on making technology accessible.

Yet for all of technology's promised advances, some worry that the cost will keep helpful devices out of many people's reach. Others are concerned that governments, schools and institutions might think that high-tech gadgetry has relieved them of their responsibility to serve the disabled.

"Technology is not a solution for every problem," said Paul Schroeder of the American Foundation for the Blind. "It doesn't replace the need for quality teaching. It doesn't replace the need to teach social skills."

Marca Bristo, president of the Chicago-based advocacy group Access Living, said not all technical advances are electronic. Her titanium wheelchair, for example, is half as heavy and much easier to push than the model she first used after suffering a broken neck in 1977.

But as computers and other digital devices become ever more widespread, she said, it is vital that they be made so people with disabilities can use them.

"What we want to see is technology that uses universal design principals, meaning it's designed for everyone from the ground up," she said. "Technology moves so fast that unless you commit yourself to universality at the front end, you'll always be catching up."

Some people at the show said one product that has come close to that sort of usability is the smart phone.

Robert Thompson, who works for the Chicago Lighthouse, a service agency for the visually impaired, has extreme tunnel vision and once needed a magnifying glass to use his cell phone. But he recently got an iPhone, whose easily adjustable text size make it much simpler for him to use.

More specialized devices, though, can be extremely expensive. A scanner featured at the show that reads text aloud cost $2,300. A camera system that allowed a computer to be controlled by eye movement was more than $10,000.

David Dikter, CEO of the Assistive Technology Industry Association, said that although school systems and federal insurance programs sometimes pick up the cost of new devices, families often must pay the tab themselves.

"This is always what technology is," lamented Marie Simmons, of Griffith, Ind., whose two sons have a rare genetic disorder that forces them to spend much of their lives in wheelchairs. "You buy something this year, next year something comes out that's newer and better."

Justin Benes (pictured), 14, of Waunakee, Wis., had a $7,000 computer attached to his $35,000 wheelchair, but his grandfather Jim Benes said the state picked up the cost. As they browsed the trade show booths, looking for a better way to fasten the computer to the chair, Jim Benes said the devices have enhanced his grandson's quality of life.

Justin, who has a condition similar to cerebral palsy that affects his motor skills, works at a cafe at his high school. He uses the computer to speak for him, welcoming other students and telling them about the daily specials.

"This allows him to communicate," Jim Benes said.

Vanderheiden, the University of Wisconsin engineer, said the next frontier is the Internet, with the U.S. Department of Justice exploring whether Web sites, like public buildings, should be accessible. That means designing them so that text-to-speech readers and other adaptive technologies can work easily, Vanderheiden said.

In the more distant future, he said, he expects everything from home appliances to airport kiosks to adapt technology that allows them to change their interfaces depending on who is using them, offering larger text, voice commands or whatever is necessary.

Bristo, of Access Living, said such advances would also be a boon for America's aging population.

"Up to this point, the disabled community has really been seen as a small market," she said. "That's going to change. Things made for us will benefit other people."

St. Louis program tries to get people with mental illness out of homelessness

The intro to a story in The St. Louis Beacon:

More than a decade of sleeping in cars and abandoned houses while working as a stripper and a prostitute made Natisha Parker's (pictured) every waking moment a never-ending nightmare.

By the time she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2008, Parker, 32, had endured a childhood with sexual molestation. Thirteen of her adult years were consumed by crack cocaine addiction, heavy drinking and dabbling in ecstasy, mushrooms, crystal meth and heroin.

During that period Parker said she was raped more than 20 times. At one point, she was held captive in a basement for three days --- a sexual slave with a gun to her head.

Desperate to escape her hellish existence, Parker twice went to rehab but wasn't ready to change. When she was 30, a third round of rehab proved to be the charm.

"I just got tired of the life I was in," Parker said. "It was terrible; there are no words that could possibly describe the things I went through every day, the dangers I put myself in, me being a woman."

Now off drugs and alcohol for two and a half years, Parker is living in her own apartment with the help of local agency Places for People and has frequent visits with her 10-year-old son, who's being raised by her mother.

Helping more people like Parker is the goal of a new grant shared by Places for People and three other St. Louis homeless providers. The five-year, $3.6 million St. Louis Partnership for Mental Health and Housing Transformation will help expand and improve programs for mentally ill homeless people, many of whom are use drugs and alcohol. The award is from the federal government through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

"It's very important that when you're getting clean and trying to get better that you have someplace to stay, somewhere to call your own, even if it's just one room," Parker said.

About 1,300 people are living in homeless shelters or on the streets in St. Louis, according to 2010 census figures. Fifty-five percent of them are mentally ill; half of them have serious psychotic disorders. But those with mental illness are often last in line for available housing.

"If a landlord or an organization has a choice between filling the unit with a single mother with kids or somebody with mental illness, they always choose the single mother with kids," said Don Cuvo, St. Louis Mental Health Board executive director.

The new grant is the latest chapter in the long story of how Missouri has historically failed to serve those with mental illness, according to Jackie Lukitsch, executive director of the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) of St. Louis. From the dark days of institutionalization for most of the 1900s to the massive dump of the mentally ill onto the streets in the 1960s to today's lack of priority in available housing, Missouri has "never gotten it right."

"Now we have people with mental illness living in the community where they are not served well and they're jumping from negative situation to negative situation -- from jails and homeless shelters to the streets," Lukitsch said.

The "transformation" grant, which went into effect on Oct. 1, is designed to help agencies do just what its name implies: transform services for the homeless mentally ill. The grant, to be split among Places for People, Community Alternatives, Queen of Peace Center and St. Patrick Center doesn't just provide money to feed the current system; it also stipulates a reorganization of services and the instigation of "best practices," or programs whose success is proven by scientific research.

The end goal is to improve the process so that increased services live on after the grant money runs out.

Scientists study new strain of polio-related virus

From The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel health & science blog:

A global health campaign eradicated polio viruses in many parts of the world, but a enterovirus 71, a close relative has spread across Asia striking mostly children and some adults.

Now, researchers report on enterovirus 71,in two articles in The Lancet Infectious Diseases and The Lancet Neurology. Scientists from University of Liverpool in England and University of Malaysia Sarawak found that the virus is able to evolve quickly and is transmitted from one family member to another more easily than had been previously thought.

First detected in the 1960s in California, enterovirus 71 has caused major outbreaks of hand, foot and mouth disease. The virus can cause neurological disorders including meningitis, encephalitis and paralysis.

"The biggest challenge to doctors looking after children with this infection is to ascertain if a child could develop serious brain infection," said Mong How Ooi, who led the study from Malaysia, adding that the team has produced tests to help medics decide which patients are at greatest risk from brain infection.

California colleges opening more doors to disabled students

From The Monterey Herald in Calif. In the picture, Monterey Peninsula College instructor Alexis Copeland works with student.

Disabilities are a reality for many students at local colleges and universities, but cutting-edge technology, modern teaching methods and specialized services can make education less of an obstacle at CSU Monterey Bay, Monterey Peninsula College and Hartnell College.

Students at the schools are graduating despite speech and language impairments, hearing and sight disabilities, psychological issues and virtually any other problem that can hinder the learning process.

"We work almost exclusively with adults. I think our oldest student, many years ago, was 91," said Terria Odom-Wolfer, faculty coordinator and instructor in MPC's Department of Supportive Services and Instruction, which serves people with physical therapy and rehabilitation needs, heart problems, and students with issues such as blindness, hearing loss and learning disabilities.

"Our program is unique to many community colleges in the sense that we have a fairly extensive instructional side, along with services," she said.

Services provide whatever is needed to help a disabled student master course content.

"That might be done by providing an accommodation that levels the playing field," she said. "For example, we might allow extended time to complete a test, or provide a student with a quiet place in our testing center that would reduce the types of distractions he or she might encounter in a regular classroom. Something like pencil tapping or a quiet conversation between another student and the instructor might be very distracting to a person with attention deficit disorder."

The Department of Supportive Programs and Services at Hartnell College, which lost four of its eight staff members to retirements and budget cuts during the past two years, is more counselor focused, said program coordinator Kathy Noble. Disabled students are integrated into mainstream classrooms. Counselors lend support but teach self-advocacy.

"We don't notify our instructors that a student with a disability is coming into the classroom," she said. "We want our students to learn how to discuss their particular classroom needs with their instructors, in conjunction with working with our Department of Supportive Programs."

Both local community colleges help disabled students build learning strategies that will enable them to be successful in mainstream classrooms.

Adaptive physical education classes — courses that accommodate special-needs students — are widely used by locals who may have reached the limits of their medical insurance but require physical therapy.

While community colleges focus heavily on providing disabled students an opportunity to learn what kind of accommodations and support are available, and how to request equal access, CSUMB has an expectation that they will have the skills by the time they arrive.

"We have a very professional staff that is part of Health and Wellness Services here, so we work very closely with our Personal Growth and Counseling and our campus health center on the overall wellness of the student," said Margaret Keith, coordinator of Student Disability Resources at the university. "We have a focus on overall wellness in addition to academic success."

Technological advancements have been a boon to students with disabilities in recent years.

A computer program called Kurzweil 3000 provides students with reading, writing and study skills through electronic textbooks that allow the user to annotate the text by highlighting key ideas, inserting notes to themselves.

Dragon Naturally Speaking converts speech to text, or text to speech — invaluable to a student with limited physical mobility or vision impairment.

SmartPen is a device that records a lecture as the student takes notes, then instantly replays a point in the recording that coincides with a specific note when the pen is touched to that location on the paper.

A program called ZoomText magnifies everything on a computer screen up to 32 times for the benefit of people with impaired vision.

"We're actually seeing a big societal paradigm shift to a more auditory world," said Alexis Copeland, adaptive technology specialist at MPC. "This technology is becoming more universally accessible to everybody, not just disabled students. The SmartPen would be great for somebody trying to copy the minutes of a meeting. Older people who are losing their eyesight can benefit from ZoomText or Dragon Naturally Speaking or Kurzweil."

Students with disabilities graduate at almost the same rate at Hartnell College as the general population, Noble said. CSUMB graduates its disabled students at a rate similar to "other underrepresented groups in higher education," said Keith.

"That doesn't mean every student is going to do it in two years — though some will and with an extremely high grade-point average — but they matriculate as the same rate as the other students," Noble said. "It's incredible how hard they work and what they're able to accomplish in light of what their obstacles are."

Keith said the growth of K-12 programs for students with disabilities injected college programs with significant enrollment increases among that population: 20 percent in the past school year, 16 percent in the previous — much higher than the numbers in the mainstream campus population.

"My favorite day of the year is when I volunteer at commencement, where I see students and their families so happy and proud of their academic achievements," she said.

Dallas jury awards $184,400 to a hearing-impaired job applicant who was refused a stock clerk position at Smith Personnel Solutions

From HR and Employment News:

A Dallas jury awarded $184,400 to a hearing-impaired job applicant who was refused a stock clerk position at Smith Personnel Solutions, a staffing company with four locations in Texas, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently announced.

The jury awarded $34,400 for lost wages and emotional harm and an additional $150,000 in punitive damages. According to EEOC, a screener for Smith refused to take the plaintiff’s application or to interview her, instead telling her through her interpreter that there were no openings. The screener also allegedly told her that she could be “dangerous” because she “couldn’t communicate.” The plaintiff had 3 years of experience as a stock clerk without any history of communication problems, EEOC reported.

The plaintiff “wasn’t asking for special treatment, just the chance to apply for a job,” said EEOC Trial Attorney Joel Clark. “Smith Personnel’s assumption that she couldn’t work just because she is deaf is the type of mistaken assumption that can be prevented through training and education.”

Idaho to cut $8 million from Medicaid, which will affect those with mental illness or autism

From The Associated Press:

BOISE, Idaho -- The state is poised to make $8 million worth of cuts to Medicaid programs and services that cater to low-income adults with severe mental illness or children with disabilities like autism.

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare has drafted a new set of rules that would authorize cuts designed to save the agency about $1.6 million. The state cuts, however, would also trigger the loss of another $6.5 million in Medicaid matching money used to pay for those services.

Advocates for the mentally ill and disabled say the rules unfairly target a group that can ill afford rollbacks in services and programs.

Set to go in effect in January, the reductions or elimination of some services target programs for adults diagnosed with severe depression and schizophrenia, or children with Asperger's syndrome or other developmental challenges.

Prosthetic flipper could help amputees swim

From Wired Magazine:

Thanks to modern mechanical prosthetics, complete with hydraulics and microprocessors, missing a limb needn’t mean missing much. Except when it comes to swimming. Artificial appendages for the water are still rudimentary: Most resemble clip-on canoe paddles for hands or kiddie flippers for feet—clunky versions of their nimble landlubbing brethren.

So, inspired by amputee sprinters like Aimee Mullins (whose extensive collection of prosthetic legs includes creations by the late designer Alexander McQueen), Swedish industrial design student Richard Stark developed an elegant, water-friendly prosthetic called the Neptune.

“I wanted users to be able to choose from a variety of colors, like with shoes,” he says. But to make sure form didn’t drown function, Stark teamed up with a pair of competitive amputee swimmers and their coaches to solve the problems amputees encounter in the pool.

The fin is divided into three “fingers”—a stiff digit in the middle flanked by two pliable ones—which allows wearers to emulate the vaguely circular motion of treading water; swimmers can use the slider to adjust the Neptune’s flexibility to match their strength. And in a modification suggested by one of the amputees, the fin can rotate 90 degrees to switch from the sideways kick of the breaststroke to the up-and-down motion of the crawl.

When Stark finished the project, he published photos and a video online and was surprised at how quickly the Neptune garnered a response.

“Amputees all around the world were asking me if they could order it,” he says. Stark is trying to sell the concept as he pursues his master’s degree, but many insurance policies don’t cover a prosthetic that’s strictly for swimming. So Stark will have to simplify his design and get the cost down to something people will be willing to pay out of pocket—hopefully less than $350.

Winnipeg, Canada, elects first blind person to its City Council

From Global Winnipeg:

Ross Eadie (pictured) doesn't just want to be known as the first blind person to be elected to Winnipeg's city council.

“I don’t define myself as being blind," said Eadie. "I’m a family man. A person who lives in the community."

The new Mynarski councillor says his biggest challenge at city hall isn't his blindness, it's convincing the other sitting members to help solve his ward's problems.

That's not to say he won't have challenges at city hall because of his impairment.

Eadie lost his vision in his right eye at 9-years old when he was hit with a branch. He then went blind in his left eye at 24 after the prescription glasses he was wearing shattered during a scuffle.

Eadie uses audio software to maneuver on the Internet.

He says it will have to be installed on computers at city hall for him to participate in council and committee meetings. He will also need help reading last minute motions and information from community members, something that would require additional staff to help him.

City hall officials say they will find funding for extra staff if needed.

Cabaret cantor performance tells of work in synagogue founded by deaf people in Illinois

From The Pioneer Local in Ill.:

It's no secret that Charlene Brooks of Skokie (pictured) engages an audience with her marvelous voice, amusing real-life stories and playful manner onstage. So you may wonder what will be revealed when she presents "Confessions of a Cabaret Cantor!" on Saturday, Nov. 6 at the Skokie Theatre.

Well, for one thing, you'll learn about her work as a cantorial soloist at Congregation Bene Shalom, a Skokie synagogue founded by people who were deaf, and that still has a number of deaf congregants. Because some of those congregants will be in the audience, and Brooks doesn't want them to miss a thing, American Sign Language interpreter Donna Reiter Brandwein of Lincolnshire (pictured) will also be in the spotlight.

Brandwein is an animated interpreter, which is not surprising given her background. "I was an actress from the time I was 11," she said. Brandwein earned a bachelor's degree in acting from Loyola University.

"My first play as a professional, where I was actually paid real money, was with Chicago Theater of the Deaf and Black Ensemble Theater," she said. "I met my first deaf person, who was our coach, and I met my first interpreter and they taught us how to sign our lines."

The show toured Illinois. "All I knew were my lines," Brandwein recalled. "When you tour the state, afterwards you have lunch in the cafeteria with the kids. They would start talking with me and I didn't know what they were saying. I felt so handicapped."

Around this time, Brandwein was working as a legal assistant during the day and taking professional acting classes at night. She wanted to find a way to use her sign language experience when, while she was home recovering from chicken pox, she learned from a friend about the role of interpreter.

Brandwein took three adult continuing education classes "and really had a good feel for the facial expressions because of my acting background," she reported, explaining, "In American Sign Language, all the grammar and all the adjectival and adverbial information is in your face and your body.

"After I did a couple of classes, I realized how much I didn't know," Brandwein continued. She attended the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, earning a master's degree in sign language interpreting.

Since then, Brandwein has interpreted at every major theater in Chicago and for three Presidents. She was also the coordinator of sign language interpreters for 15 years at the Illinois Storytelling Festival.

"What's fun about interpreting is you get to go places you would never go," she said. "I always say, 'Yes, I interpreted for Bush, Clinton and Obama, but I've also interpreted for the lady who was learning to fold towels the right way at the hotel.'"

Brandwein first interpreted for Charlene Brooks at a concert last year. "We had a blast and the audience loved it," she said.

Brooks noted that even the hearing audience members appreciated Brandwein's presence. "She is so interesting to watch, even if you don't know sign language," Brooks said. "So many people told me how much they enjoyed it, even if they didn't know what she was signing because she's very dramatic. And the deaf members really appreciated it because they can watch me and see her at the same time."

Babies, toddlers get assessment for possible autism

From The NY Times:

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In the three years since her son Diego was given a diagnosis of autism at age 2, Carmen Aguilar has made countless contributions to research on this perplexing disorder.

She has donated all manner of biological samples and agreed to keep journals of everything she’s eaten, inhaled or rubbed on her skin. Researchers attended the birth of her second son, Emilio, looking on as she pushed, leaving with Tupperware containers full of tissue samples, the placenta and the baby’s first stool.

Now the family is in yet another study, part of an effort by a network of scientists across North America to look for signs of autism as early as 6 months. (Now, the condition cannot be diagnosed reliably before age 2.) And here at the MIND Institute at the University of California Davis Medical Center, researchers are watching babies like Emilio in a pioneering effort to determine whether they can benefit from specific treatments.

So when Emilio did show signs of autism risk at his 6-month evaluation — not making eye contact, not smiling at people, not babbling, showing unusual interest in objects — his parents eagerly accepted an offer to enroll him in a treatment program called Infant Start.

The treatment is based on a daily therapy, the Early Start Denver Model, that is based on games and pretend play. It has been shown in randomized trials to significantly improve I.Q., language and social skills in toddlers with autism, and researchers say it has even greater potential if it can be started earlier.

“What you ultimately might be doing is preventing a certain proportion of autism from ever emerging,” said David Mandell, the associate director of the Center for Autism Research at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “I’m not saying you’re curing these kids, but you may be changing their developmental trajectory enough by intervening early enough that they never go on to meet criteria for the disorder. And you can’t do that if you keep waiting for the full disorder to emerge.”

Sally Rogers, a MIND Institute researcher who has been working with the Aguilars, said she faced several challenges in adapting the toddler therapy for infants.

Even normally developing babies cannot speak or gesture, let alone pretend. Instead, Ms. Rogers has parents focus on babbling and simple social interactions that occur in the normal routine of feeding, dressing, bathing and changing the baby.

“Patty-cake and peekaboo or tickle games, those are people games,” she explained to Carmen and Saul Aguilar during their first session with their son Emilio at 7 months old. Ms. Rogers talked about the next 12 weeks and how they would focus on getting Emilio to exchange smiles, to respond to his name, to babble with them, starting with single syllables (“ma”) and moving on to doubles (“gaga”) and more complex combinations (“maga”).

“Most babies come into the world with a built-in magnet for people,” Ms. Rogers said. “One thing we know about autism is that it weakens that magnet. It’s not that they’re not interested, they have a little less draw to people. So how do we increase our magnetic appeal for his attention?”

Lesson 1 was eye contact. Ms. Rogers had the parents take turns playing with Emilio, encouraging them to get face to face with the baby and stay in his line of vision. Mrs. Aguilar leaned down on the blue blanket and rattled a toy. “Emilio? Where’s Emilio?”

On the other side of a two-way mirror, another researcher watched the session and an assistant monitored three video cameras in the room. Sally Ozonoff, a researcher who first identified Emilio as a candidate for the study, stopped by to observe.

“He’s just staring at that object even though her face is three inches away,” she said. “He has that flat, very sober-looking face.”

Mr. Aguilar tried next. He put Emilio in a red beanbag chair and folded the sides together over the baby. “Squish, squish, squish!” he said. No response.

He picked Emilio up over his head and flew him like an airplane. Emilio stared at the ceiling.

Mr. Aguilar put the baby back in the beanbag and picked up a stuffed wolf toy. He put it on his head and let it drop into his hands. “Pschooo! Uh-oh!” Finally, Emilio was watching.

“That was great,” Ms. Rogers told the father. “You put that toy on your head and he was drawn to your face. You were using the toy to enhance the social interaction. When you bring it up to your face, he’s with you.”

While the causes of autism are still a mystery, scientists agree that it has some genetic or biological trigger. Experimental treatments like Infant Start are intended to address the social environment the baby grows up in, and to see whether changes at home might alter the biological development of the condition once triggered.

“Experiences shape babies’ brains in a very physical way,” Ms. Rogers said. “Experience carves synapses; some are built, some are dissolved.”

If a baby starts focusing on objects instead of faces, the theory goes, a “developmental cascade” can begin: brain circuits meant for reading faces are used for something else, like processing light or objects, and babies lose their ability to learn the emotional cues normally taught by watching facial expressions. The longer a baby’s brain runs this developmental course, the harder it becomes to intervene.

But the effort to stop autism in its tracks with earlier interventions presents a scientific problem.

Because there is no formal diagnosis for autism before age 2, it is impossible to distinguish between infants who are helped by the intervention and infants who never would have developed autism in the first place. Researchers must see enough improvement with babies like Emilio before they can do a randomized trial, comparing babies who get the treatment and babies who don’t.

Emilio’s parents are happy to have their son in the first wave of the pilot program. They saw their older son, Diego, make so much progress in behavioral therapy between ages 3 and 5 that they’re very hopeful about what might happen with Emilio.

Mr. Aguilar quit his job at a telecommunications company so he could care for Emilio and work on their objectives all day. Mrs. Aguilar had quit her job in social work when their first son received his diagnosis. But the commitment to the future is much revised since Emilio’s 6-month evaluation.

“I’m the first in my family to go to college, and grad school,” Mrs. Aguilar said. “My thought was, ‘Now I’ve set the bar for my son.’ ”

But after learning that Emilio too may have autism, “you stop looking that far into the future,” she said. “We’re forced to think day by day.”