FENWICK ISLAND, Del. -- Officials have approved the installation of Mobi Mats along a few of the town's beach access dunes.
The mats are portable and removable rollout access pathways that can be used for pedestrians, wheelchair users and vehicles. They are made of rigid, corrugated polyester fabric spread over the dunes to assist in crossing.
The town received approval from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control's Division of Parks and Recreation for the purchase of the Mobi Mats using a $20,000 state grant.
The product is available in 50-foot and 33-foot lengths and cost about $3,950 and $3,607, respectively. For $40,000 -- which includes a $20,000 contribution from the town -- the municipality can purchase about 500 feet of the mats.
"I think going with the grant, it gives us the possibilities of doing different scenarios at different streets," said Councilman William Weistling.
While no decision has been made as to which streets will have the mats installed, beachgoers could see them in June, although the council may choose to wait until after the beach replenishment project is complete, said Town Manager Win Abbott.
Mayor Audrey Serio said the towns with Mobi Mats have been very satisfied. Fenwick joins South Bethany, Cape Henlopen State Park and Rehoboth and Bethany beaches in using the mats.
"It makes it easier to traverse over the sandy dunes," she said. "They have proven they do work."
Councilman Todd Smallwood suggested only buying one mat to test for the summer at one of the town's more popular beach streets -- such as Atlantic, Dagsboro or Farmington -- to see how it holds up.
"I believe they are effective, but not having them in place, I'd really like to see how they would really do over an entire summer," he said. "If we had a hurricane coming, we'd probably have to get those off the dunes; I'm not sure what kind of hassle that will be."
The mats are secured in the sand by 50-foot poles and are relatively maintenance free, according to the company's website.
Abbott said the Fenwick Island Beach Patrol and the town's Public Works Department will take care of the upkeep, which involves sweeping them regularly and power washing them at the end of the season.
"They've been proven by the military," said Councilman Gardner Bunting. "If they can drive tanks over them and land helicopters on them, I don't think we can destroy them."
Abbott said realty transfer taxes would cover the town's cost for the mats.
"Simply purchasing these is not going to add to your personal tax bill over the coming years," Abbott said.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Fenwick, Island, Del., works toward more accessible beaches
From Delmarva News:
Sunday, April 24, 2011
UN aims to vaccinate 41 million people in Western Hemisphere
WASHINGTON — The Pan-American Health Organization said April 22 it is aiming to vaccinate 41 million people in 45 Western Hemisphere nations against a variety of diseases in its ninth annual vaccination week.
The effort by the UN agency in the week of April 23-30 coincides with similar vaccination drives in other regions aiming to target polio, influenza and yellow fever, among other diseases.
Health workers, volunteers, government officials and celebrities throughout the Americas are gearing up to participate in what has become the hemisphere's largest multi-country health effort.
"We have every reason to be proud of vaccination week in the Americas," said PAHO director Mirta Roses.
"It has not only helped spread the benefits of immunization to people throughout our hemisphere, it has provided a model for what can be achieved with vaccines if we all work together. Given the tremendous momentum, I am confident that next year -- on the 10th anniversary of own initiative -- we will see the first truly global vaccination week."
The agency said Europe will celebrate its sixth initiative, the Eastern Mediterranean will celebrate its second and the African and Western Pacific regions will celebrate their first-ever vaccination weeks bringing participation to more than 180 countries and territories worldwide.
The Americas region was the first to eradicate smallpox, in 1971, and polio in 1991. The last case of endemic measles in the Americas was reported in 2002, and the last case of endemic rubella in 2009.
But the agency said many children in the Americas have not completed their vaccine schedules, and hard-to-reach populations continue to have lower rates of coverage.
Theatre troupe for people with Down syndrome forming in Nova Scotia
From The Chronicle Herald in Canada:
SYDNEY, Canada — A black light theatre troupe is being formed in Sydney for people with Down syndrome.
"We call it the Weird Beard Black Light Theatre and it’s going to be a lot of fun," said organizer Joanie Cunningham. Cunningham’s son, Nico, was born with the syndrome two years ago and she calls him her ray of sunshine.
"Since then, our family has had so much fun, so many belly laughs all the time," she said. "His outlook on life, already present at this early age, is truly enviable.
"I am hoping that the community we are pulling together will have just as much fun and will see this as an opportunity to be wildly creative as we work together to put on a fun show."
The troupe plans to produce an adapted version of The Three Little Pigs with life-sized puppets. Cunningham said she and a friend are building the puppets together.
"We’re looking for people with Down syndrome and their families to work behind the scenes or onstage," Cunningham added.
Virginia pushes state's businesses to hire more disabled people
Virginia Commonwealth University policy analyst Jack Brandt (pictured) is like a lot of young professionals.
The 31-year old works, socializes and is looking to move ahead in the world.
But unlike most other people in his position, Brandt, a former Boy Scout who has a degree in political science and philosophy, has cerebral palsy. He gets around in a motorized wheelchair and needs help with basic functions.
Other than the frustration of not being able to always communicate his points verbally, life is good, Brandt said.
Brandt is one of thousands of disabled Virginians working throughout the state every day. Their disabilities range from intellectual to severely physical, but in most cases the disabilities don't interfere with their duties.
Virginia's Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services is pushing businesses to bring even more disabled people into the workforce.
"We have to work with employers to get the word out" that there is an untapped workforce, said Joseph Ashley, assistant commissioner for grants and special programs at the state agency. Ashley is blind.
The agency works with businesses to find qualified applicants, to find ways to make the workplace accessible to people with disabilities, to train current employees and to find tax incentives for those who hire the disabled.
It also works with the disabled to find and maintain jobs as well as providing resources, including tips on how to earn more money without the risk of losing Medicare or Social Security the current difficulties in the job market for the disabled.
While the jobless rate for the general workforce has been inching downward in recent months, the unemployment rate nationally for the disabled in March was 15.6 percent, up from 13.9 in March 2010, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics.
"It is staggeringly high," Doug Payne, director of communications for Greater Richmond ARC, said of the unemployment rate.
ARC provides training and jobs at its center in North Richmond and elsewhere for more than 220 people with physical and intellectual disabilities.
Payne said businesses need to understand that the disabled are solid workers who make the best of opportunities because they appreciate the job.
"In my experience, people with disabilities, perhaps because they have such difficulty securing and keeping employment in the first place, seek something beyond monetary compensation. They recognize in a much keener sense than a lot of us 'abled' workers the nobility in work itself," Payne said.
One of the major obstacles faced by those helping get the disabled jobs is perception.
James Rothrock, commissioner of the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, knows firsthand the negative perceptions and challenges of disabled people.
Rothrock lost the use of his legs after a sledding accident in 1965.
At school, he had to be carried up and down three flights of stairs to get to class. When he applied to college in 1967, only three schools in the country could accommodate him.
After graduating from college, Rothrock said getting a job was very difficult because "I couldn't get into a lot of buildings."
"It's been interesting to see, after four decades, the vast changes. Yet the transparency that one feels when one is seen through or looked over is still there, here in 2011, to a degree," he said.
Yet Rothrock cherishes the opportunity to prove doubters wrong and remind people that a wheelchair is not an impediment.
"I still get joy, when people assume that I might not be who I am, to remind them that I've an IQ of three digits, a couple of degrees and have been appointed by a couple of governors," he grinned. "That's all."
To help counter the negative perceptions and to encourage business owners to consider hiring the disabled, the state agency joined several other agencies across the country last year in running a series of public service announcements urging business owners to "think beyond the label."
The campaign stressed, in a humorous way, that a disabled person could do most any job that a nondisabled person could do. It then sent viewers to its website for information.
Getting that message to the people making hiring decisions is vital to changing minds, disability experts say.
"The biggest barrier (for getting the disabled work) is attitude," said Fred P. Orelove, executive director at the Partnership for People with Disabilities, an affiliate of the School of Education at VCU. He's also Brandt's boss.
"Many employers believe that a person with disabilities is less reliable, less dependable, that they won't work fast," Orelove said. Follow-up surveys with employers who have hired the disabled prove all that false, he said.
Bernard Mantlo, president of Henrico County-based high tech firm Synergy Systems, said some employers are wary of hiring disabled workers because of a "fear of the unknown."
"People with disabilities, I've found, make some of the best employees," he said.
Locally, several companies and nonprofits hire disabled workers, including HandCraft Cleaners, Ukrop's Homestyle Foods and Positive Vibe Café.
Several companies also belong to the Virginia Business Leadership Network, a business-to-business group that helps educate employers on the benefits of hiring the disabled.
Mantlo, who has hired about 10 workers with varying degrees of disabilities in the past five years, has worked with the state agency to help find qualified applicants for his company.
"DRS does a tremendous job finding the right fit, looking for the skill sets that we need," he said of the state agency.
When VCU's Orelove went looking for a policy analyst almost two years ago, Brandt's skill set stood out. Brandt "had experience both on a personal and professional level. He's very thoughtful, very funny and has a very deep sense of social justice," Orelove said.
While Brandt uses a wheelchair and is difficult to understand, he works with policymakers to come up with programs that help people with disabilities as well as dealing with families, advocates, health care providers and politicians on issues facing the disabled.
And if a full-time job wasn't enough, Brandt also is working on his master's degree in rehabilitation counseling at VCU and likely will pursue a doctorate degree.
"He's very aware of the fact that he's disabled," Orelove said, "but that disability is not his identity."
Brentwood, Calif., plans accessible playgrounds
Brentwood playgrounds offer fun for all kids -- even those with special mobility needs.
The facilities are still a work in progress, according to the CC Times, but work is well underway with new swing sets that are accessible to kids of varying sizes. The swings have platforms and harnesses that allow wheelchairs to swing safely.
In the future, a larger playground for special-needs kids will feature even more specialized equipment. That could include items that stimulate kids with sensory handicaps, and quiet areas for kids for whom sensory stimulation is unpleasant.
The swing sets, which cost $1,100 a piece, are just the beginning. Construction on larger elements is expected to begin next year. The designers are playing close attention to wheelchair users' needs, but have also emphasized elements for other types of disabilities.
The accessible playground won't come cheap. Costs are estimated to be between $100,000 and $200,000, of which only $36,000 has so far been raised. The project is currently being overseen by the Special Kids Foundation.
DA in Pennsylvania re-files criminal charges against caregiver in death of man with Down syndrome
From WHTM-TV in Pa.:
CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- The Franklin County District Attorney's Office has re-filed criminal charges against a Chambersburg caregiver in the death of a mentally challenged man.
Joseph Easton, 39, faces charges of involuntary manslaughter in the September 9 death of Tim Smith.
A district judge dismissed the charges during a preliminary hearing last month, saying Easton showed no evidence of criminal behavior when he straddled Smith's chest during a struggle.
Smith, who had Down syndrome and required 24-hour care, had charged at Easton and scratched at his eyes before the caregiver was able to restrain him, according to court documents.
Easton, an employee of Person Directed Supports, continued to restrain Smith until other caretakers arrived at the Guilford Township home and found Smith had stopped breathing, the documents state.
An autopsy determined Smith died of traumatic asphyxia.
Easton's instructor testified at the hearing that caregivers are trained to never restrain clients, but to move to a safe location until the person tires or calms down.
A preliminary hearing was scheduled before another district judge on May 10.
Australia mourns death of talented disabled athlete, wheelchair designer, Nick Morozoff
Some people seem to live life at half-speed and leave little behind to be remembered. Other people, such as Nick Morozoff, do so much in one too-short life that it seems impossible to squeeze the list into one obituary.
Along with an exotic background, Morozoff was in turn a ballet dancer, wheelchair athlete, wheelchair designer and manufacturer, mentor to other wheelchair-bound people and a proud and happy father.
Nikolai Pankratyevich Morozoff, or just Nick Morozoff in Australia, was born on August 8, 1956, in a small village near the city of Hailar in what is now Inner Mongolia, the son of Pankratti and Lidia Morozoff.
Advertisement: Story continues below Pankratti's parents had left Russia during the communist revolution and settled in China, then, in 1958, the Chinese communists forced the family out to Hong Kong, with plans to migrate to Australia.
On the way, they had five years in Bolivia, before arriving in Sydney in January 1964 to learn another new language to go with the four Nick already spoke.
The family settled in Lidcombe and Nick went to Granville Boys High School. School holidays were spent camping, learning to love their new land. At age nine, Nick also fell in love with ballet dancing. He performed as part of the Sydney Dance Company and with a Russian folk troupe, and performed at the opening of the Sydney Opera House in front of the Queen in 1973.
Then, in 1979, a motor vehicle accident left Morozoff paralysed from the waist down. He spent months in Royal North Shore's spinal ward then in rehabilitation. His enthusiasm and willingness to push the boundaries made him a favourite patient for the medical team and he quickly learnt remarkable wheelchair skills. He represented Australia in the 1980 Stoke Mandeville Games (started after World War II as rehabilitation for injured servicemen and now an international event as the IWAS World Games) and in 1984 was part of the Paralympic wheelchair basketball team.
He also represented NSW, played in the National Wheelchair Basketball League for another two decades and is in the Wheelchair Sports NSW Hall of Fame.
Morozoff was also a gifted rock climber and did some remarkable climbs, not the least of which was scaling the Three Sisters with his wheelchair tied to his waist. In 2008 the Herald photographer Tim Clayton snapped an award-winning picture of him hanging from a rock with his wheelchair hanging from his waist.
Morozoff was a sailor as well and part of the team that won gold at the first Australian Disabled Sailing Competition. He could water-ski, snow-ski, fish, play tennis and handcycle - the list goes on. One year, he rowed 1600 kilometres on the Darling River system to help raise funds for charity.
In 1990, Morozoff travelled to Russia, including remote regions of Siberia, to meet his relatives. During the trip, he visited the spinal hospitals of Russia and was shocked by what he saw.
He spent weeks with the authorities educating them on wheelchair design, wheelchair skills, fund-raising, wheelchair sports and opening up opportunities for local wheelchair users. When he returned home, he co-ordinated shipments of wheelchairs and equipment back to Russia.
In Australia, Morozoff volunteered countless hours to peer support and mentoring programs for wheelchair users, especially for children.
By the early 1990s, he was building custom-made ultra-light wheelchairs in his garage in Lidcombe. The wheelchairs gained a strong following among active wheelchair users and led to the ''Knix'' wheelchair range. In 1993, he and two other wheelchair users opened a successful business supplying mobility products to the Australian market. The business was sold in 2001.
Morozoff was instrumental in the beginning of a still-successful business, Seating Dynamics, and remained a part owner-director until February this year. From 2001 to 2010 he also worked as a sales consultant for GTK Rehab, until illness prevented him from working.
In 1999, Morozoff married Allison Wright. Despite all his accomplishments, the thing he cherished most was what he called his ''Little Family'', Allison, their children, Lara and Sasha, his mother, sister, brother and nieces and nephews.
Last year, Morozoff was diagnosed with late-stage esophageal cancer. He and Allison faced this last challenge with characteristic courage and the most positive of attitudes.
Nick Morozoff is survived by Allison, daughters Lara and Sasha, mother Lidia, brother George and sister Nada.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Actress Isabella Rossellini's love of animals leads her to help train guide dogs
For young Bau, there is a lot to learn yet. For instance, that it’s not a good idea to walk your human full speed into a lamppost. Especially when your human has a money face. When she is, say, Isabella Rossellini.
Ms. Rossellini is, of course, an actress of some renown, but during a recent stroll in Midtown Manhattan, she wasn’t acting, she was training. Bau, the trainee, is a 6-month-old black Lab who, if he proves to be a good learner and have the right personality, will some day be a guide dog for a blind person.
“I do like a lot of animals, but dogs are so close to us,” Ms. Rossellini said during the stroll down Eighth Avenue with Bau. “No; leave it.” That last phrase was directed at Bau, who was eyeballing a pigeon that was pecking at someone’s trash on the sidewalk. Any other puppy would see an opportunity for fun; Bau was learning that there is no pigeon chasing while on the job.
Ms. Rossellini is a “puppy walker,” someone who will spend a year with a young dog teaching rudimentary skills and habituating the animal to crowds, bright lights, cats and, yes, pigeons. If Bau shows promise in that year, he will be turned over to another trainer to gain the specialized knowledge needed by a guide dog. The dogs, Ms. Rossellini said, can learn 200 commands.
Ms. Rossellini also walks a four-legged trainee around town in “Animals Distract Me,” an hourlong documentary she made for the cable channel Planet Green that is having its premiere on Saturday. In the film, that dog, Sweety, drops in on some of Ms. Rossellini’s famous friends, like the chef Mario Batali, and Ms. Rossellini gets a chance to expound not just on guide dog training but also on her broader concern for animals, cruelty-free menu choices and other subjects.
Ms. Rossellini’s acting résumé is certainly eclectic: highlights include David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet” in 1986 and “Wild at Heart” in 1990, the foodie favorite “Big Night” in 1996 and a recurring role on the ABC series “Alias.” But for real eclecticism, you need to see her work as a filmmaker. In one especially ridiculous scene in “Animals Distract Me,” Ms. Rossellini and André Leon Talley, the fashion editor, begin talking gibberish to illustrate how Sweety perceives their conversation.
Two series of very short films that Ms. Rossellini made for the Sundance Channel, “Green Porno” and “Seduce Me,” about the sex lives of spiders, dolphins and assorted other creatures, border on the bizarre. They are droll and informational at the same time and, like some vignettes in “Animals Distract Me,” feature Ms. Rossellini in an array of outlandish costumes. For instance, the whale suit she dons to show the male half of that species in midreproduction leaves nothing to the imagination in terms of the animal’s appendages. Ms. Rossellini may have a highbrow pedigree — her father was the director Roberto Rossellini, her mother Ingrid Bergman — but she has a wicked, winking sense of humor.
“She always has a point of view about the world that is a little off center,” said Laura Michalchyshyn, president of Planet Green, part of Discovery’s group of channels.
In the new film “she’s making a big statement about how humans and our interactions influence the world, but she doesn’t do it with straight finger-pointing, she does it with humor,” added Ms. Michalchyshyn, who first worked with Ms Rossellini when she was an executive at the Sundance Channel. “She doesn’t take herself so seriously that she can’t talk dog-talk with André Leon Talley or can’t dress up as a cabbage.”
She is serious, though, about the work she does for the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind in Smithtown, N.Y., on Long Island. Bau — the name is from the Italian equivalent of the sound of a dog’s bark, as in bow-wow — is the eighth dog she has trained. She also sometimes acts as a midwife to pregnant dogs being used by the foundation; she takes them into her home in the Long Island town of Bellport and oversees the birth and the first five weeks of the puppies’ lives.
“Mostly they are Labs or golden retrievers,” Ms. Rossellini said, though efforts are being made to turn poodles into guide dogs because some people who are allergic to other breeds aren’t allergic to them. Another trend comes from war: “Now they’re breeding very big dogs that act like walking sticks” for veterans with head injuries that leave them with impaired balance, she said.
On the stroll through Midtown, at 40th and Eighth, Bau was a bit distracted by a food cart. Crosswalks were still a problem. And so were obstacles like trash cans and lampposts.
“The dog is always calculating so he doesn’t walk you into a pole,” Ms. Rossellini said, referring to fully trained dogs, not to Bau. She then demonstrated his need for work in this area by letting him walk near a lamppost. Sure enough, Bau — the dog is always on the human’s left side, by the way — didn’t have the calculation thing down yet; he left himself enough room to get past the pole, but Ms. Rossellini, had she been blind, would have clanged right into it.
An amble down a sidewalk, though, is only the simplest thing a guide dog is asked to do; any old mutt can probably manage that. But it takes a dog with a certain kind of personality, Ms. Rossellini said, to make the command decisions that are sometimes needed.
“The dog has to be obedient, but it has to be willing to overrule,” Ms. Rossellini said. For instance, a blind person going by sound may be ready to step off the curb to cross the street, but the dog needs to have the last word, in case a bicyclist or a super-quiet electric car is coming along.
“The puppies she raises for us are very well-adjusted dogs,” said Doug Wiggin, a field representative at the Smithtown foundation who has done the next level of training on some of Ms. Rossellini’s graduates. Especially useful, he said, is Ms. Rossellini’s fearlessness about taking the puppies to the city, into crowds and so on. “The puppies have quite a bit of exposure, which is great for our purposes,” he said.
The walk ended at Penn Station, a spot nicely suited to Ms. Rossellini’s needs. “All of this is fantastic for training: loudspeakers, crowds, that noise,” she said, as she prepared to disappear onto an ordinary commuter train with Bau for the trek to Long Island.
When she’s out and about with a trainee like this, who gets the most attention, the movie star or the dog?
“Probably the dog,” she said.
Chicago nursing home resident dies when he tries to escape nursing home with tied-together sheets
From STMW:
CHICAGO -- A man who tied sheets together and used them to try and lower himself out a window of a nursing home accidentally fell and died April 20 in the Logan Square neighborhood on the Northwest Side.
Ramon Crisantos, 57, who lived at the Woodbridge Nursing Pavilion at 2242 N. Kedzie Blvd., woke up early Wednesday and a nurse saw him begin his normal routine so the nurse began her daily duties, according to a Shakespeare District police lieutenant.
But about 5:20 a.m. Wednesday, someone downstairs heard a noise and went to investigate. That person saw Crisantos lying on the ground, with bedsheets tied together into a makeshift rope, according to the lieutenant.
The lieutenant said it appeared Crisantos had been trying to “escape” the home by using the sheets to lower himself out of a window, but accidentally fell 10 to 20 feet.
A nurse called an ambulance and he was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 10:30 a.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.
An autopsy Thursday determined Crisantos died of multiple injuries in a fall from height and his death was ruled an accident.
It was not known immediately why Crisantos was staying at the home.
Grand Central Area detectives are investigating.
Virginia law that public schools, colleges, universities must accept ASL for foreign language credit receives final approval
From the Virginia Gazette:
RICHMOND, Va. – Public high schools, colleges and universities in Virginia must accept American Sign Language toward fulfillment of foreign language requirements under a bill that received final approval by the General Assembly last week.
House Bill 1435 says high schools must “count completion of an American Sign Language course toward the fulfillment of any foreign language requirement for graduation.” Moreover, such courses “shall be counted toward satisfaction of the foreign language entrance requirements of a public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth.”
The General Assembly had passed the bill in February during its regular session in February. But Gov. Bob McDonnell recommended minor edits in the wording. On Wednesday, when legislators held their “reconvened session,” they approved the governor’s recommendations.
Under a 1998 policy by the Virginia Department of Education, high school students could use American Sign Language classes to fulfill foreign language requirements to graduate. However, college admissions officials did not have to accept American Sign Language as a foreign language credit.
HB 1435, proposed by Delegate Richard P. “Dickie” Bell, R-Staunton, strengthens the education agency’s policy and makes it a state law. It will take effect July 1.
Students enrolled in an American Sign Language course at Loudoun Valley High School, in the town of Purcellville in Northern Virginia, contacted Bell with the idea for the bill.
“They were the inspiration for it. And when they contacted me looking for a sponsor for the bill, I thought it was a wonderful idea, so we became partners,” Bell said.
In February, HB 1435 passed in the House 95-3 and in the Senate 34-6.
“The bill received amazing bipartisan support in the General Assembly,” said Bell, whose district includes the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind in Staunton.
He said the legislation will remove some of the barriers that deaf and hard-of-hearing students face in applying to colleges and universities. Bell also said the law provides new opportunities for high school students to learn about deaf people and sign language culture.
Virginia Tech, Radford University, the University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University and George Mason University are among the schools that already offer American Sign Language as a foreign language credit.
VCU offers two American Sign Language courses through the Department of Rehabilitation Counseling.
“I think the most important thing about the bill’s passage is the fact that it improves access to higher education for a lot of people,” Bell said. “It breaks down barriers between cultures, and it improves the ways we can communicate.”
Bell said the Loudoun Valley High School students also benefited by learning about the legislative process as their idea worked its way through the General Assembly.
“Just as important, perhaps, is the civics lesson taught to this high school class who had an opportunity to participate first-hand in the process of seeing their good idea become law,” Bell said.
UN Special Rapporteur on disability, who is a wheelchair user, barred from boarding Swissair flight
European disability rights movements were flabbergasted on hearing that a high United Nations disability representative was prohibited by Swissair from boarding a flight that would have taken him from London to Geneva.
The passenger, the UN Special Rapporteur on disability, Shuaib Chalklen, who is a wheelchair user, was not allowed to board flight LX353 from London to Geneva on the grounds of his disability.
According to the European Disability Forum, the airline’s reason for not allowing this passenger to fly is in direct violation of EU law governing the rights of disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility.
Subsequently, the Commission vice-president for transport, Siim Kallas, released a report on the functioning and effect of this regulation. This report additionally demonstrates the gravity of such discriminatory behaviour. Freedom of movement is the EDF’s top campaign in 2011. Therefore, in response to this incident, the disability movement called on the EU to step up its monitoring of EU law and for a clear definition of concepts to improve the journey for 80 million persons with disabilities.
On Monday 4 April, Mr Chalklen was informed that he couldn’t board the flight he booked if he planned to travel unaccompanied, because the Swiss Air Medical Department argued that he could not use the sanitary facilities independently. The standard flight time for this route, from London to Geneva, is one hour, 40 minutes, and although Mr Chalklen is a frequent and experienced flyer, he was refused access on the grounds of his disability.
The EU regulation concerning the rights of disabled people and persons with reduced mobility when travelling by air clearly states that it is illegal to deny air travel to disabled people and that these rules apply to all commercial passenger air services on departure, transit or arrival within the territory of the EU, in this case the UK. The only exception to this rule can be made “in order to meet applicable safety requirements established by international, Community or national law”. However, Mr Chalklen was denied carriage because he could not independently use the bathroom, which is clearly not a flight safety issue.
Commissioner Kallas published a report on this regulation, mentioning that “some carriers tend to mix up requirements related to flight safety”. The Commission repeated that “if boarding is denied for safety reasons, this must be done solely for flight safety reasons”, recognising that there are still problems with the implementation of the regulation and hinting towards the misuse of the rules.
This incident is a prime example of the discriminatory attitudes that persons with disabilities face on a daily basis when travelling. In response to this case, vice-president Kallas clearly stated that the series of measures contained in the Commission report, which was released earlier this week, intended to clarify and strengthen their rights, with the purpose to “avoid situations where people with a disability or reduced mobility are unduly refused access”. To further alleviate the situation and limit such barriers to free movement, the disability movement suggests that airlines consider improved staff training that includes a disability perspective to ensure the inclusion of persons with disabilities.
The EDF has devoted its efforts in 2011 particularly to the issue of freedom of movement and increasing the accessibility to transport and similar services. The EDF regards that in this case, as in many others, the right to free movement was infringed due to a lack of understanding and awareness of disability issues. Yannis Vardakastanis, president of the EDF, added that “persons with disabilities cannot yet freely move, work and live in other countries as simply as other EU citizens. The EU has committed itself to guaranteeing freedom of movement to all citizens; it is now time to deliver this promise to the 80 million Europeans with disabilities as well.”
Residents at Hawaii public housing complex file ADA, Fair Housing complaints in court
Kapalama residents fed up with what they say is substandard public housing conditions filed class-action lawsuits in state and federal courts yesterday against the state for the alleged lack of repairs.
The Circuit Court suit was filed by residents of Mayor Wright Homes, alleging the Hawaii Public Housing Authority failed to provide safe and sanitary conditions. The suit filed in U.S. District Court claims the authority failed to meet standards under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fair Housing Act.
Victor Geminiani (pictured), executive director of Lawyers for Equal Justice, who is representing the residents, said poor conditions at the housing project have been a long-standing problem.
"We're waiting for changes to be made," Geminiani said yesterday at Mayor Wright Homes.
Residents have complained that unsanitary conditions, vermin infestation and overflowing Dumpsters exacerbate their health problems, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, he said.
Also, the lack of ramps and a lower side to bathtubs makes accessibility difficult for disabled residents, Geminiani said. The state is required by federal law to seek reasonable accommodations for residents, and "the state doesn't do that. The state ignores them," he said.
The residents have campaigned at the state Capitol over the lack of hot water that most have suffered through for about seven years, this year winning a promise of action from the governor. Many residents say they have been forced for years to boil water.
Disabled resident Frances Wong, who has lived at the project since 1970, has a difficult time entering the bathroom because her wheelchair is wider than the doorway. Wong, who is paralyzed on the left side of her body after a stroke three years ago, must depend on family members to get in and out of the bathtub, the state suit says.
Fetu Kolio, president of the Mayor Wright Homes Tenants Association, said residents are frustrated with the state's neglect. Contractors were hired and repairs are budgeted, yet there are no results, said Kolio.
There is a lack of urgency or importance because it is a low-income housing project, he added.
Infrequent extermination services have resulted in an infestation of rats, mice and roaches on the property. Unwanted odors waft through the air from overflowing Dumpsters, while feral cats tear plastic trash bags open, resulting in more trash strewn on the grounds, according to the state court suit.
Gangs, violence and drug activity increased due to inadequate security, said Kolio. The project's playground is covered with graffiti. Overgrown trees block lighting to the property at night.
"Parents are afraid to allow their children out after dark," the suit says.
Mayor Wright Homes, the state's second-largest public housing project, has about 364 units.
Nicholas Birck, housing planner with the public housing authority, declined comment on the suits, saying officials had not had a chance to review them.
More banks making ATMs accessible
MCPHERSON, Kan. — Bryce Brewer has his work cut out for him.
The Peoples Bank and Trust Vice President for Technology is in charge of retrofitting or replacing nine ATMs for the bank before March 2012. He has one complete and eight more to go.
Brewer and employees at nearly every bank and credit union across the country realized a heft to-do list following the adoption of new rules and regulations for ATMs from the 2010 Americans with Disabilities Act.
The new compliance requirements are complex and technical and will require nearly all ATMs to be updated. That means time and money for financial institutions.
“While the new ADA compliance standards have been on the ATM industry’s radar for many years, the reality of fully understanding the intricacies of the new rules and actually complying with them within the next 17 months will be an overwhelming task for many ATM deployers,” said Sam M. Ditzion, CEO, Tremont Capital Group.
The ADA regulations will require every ATM to be voice activate, have Braille keypads and, for indoor machines, have automatic doors and sufficient space for wheelchair access.
Jan Seiler, vice president at Home State Bank and Trust, said the bank has already started brining its machines into compliance. The new auto-bank location meets the new ADA standards and plans are in place to replace the bank’s three remaining machines. Seiler said replacement is more cost-effective than trying to update old technology and machines.
John Paulson, president of Citizens Community Bank, said the ATM located at the bank’s McPherson branch is relatively new and therefore will require minimal upgrades. But the bank is facing some major expenses at its other locations.
The ATM at its Arlington branch is substantially older and is located inside the foyer of the bank. The decision of whether to upgrade or replace the machine was made easier by thieves, who attempted to rob the ATM in February.
“It was an opportune time for us to make a commitment to safety and accessibility by purchasing a new ATM which will be installed in the wall of our building outside in our drive-thru,” Paulson said.
Peoples Bank will be able to make three ATMs complaint through software upgrades and replacing a keypad Brewer said. The remaining six ATMs will likely be replaced.
Even small changes Brewer said, aren’t cheap or simple. Machines without voice capability will require major changes to accommodate both sound and a head phone jack which can be a very complex upgrade.
For exterior and stand alone ATMs, the process will be slightly easier Brewer said.
All banks were required to have ADA compliance plans submitted to the government by March 15 and will have until March 15, 2012, to make all of the outlined changes.
"Paul Reiser Show" cancelled before young disabled actor, Brock Waidmann, has his TV debut
LOS ANGELES -- As expected, NBC has pulled the plug on "The Paul Reiser Show" after two low-rated outings.
Repeats of "The Office" will fill the Thursday, 8:30/7:30c slot for the remaining four weeks of the season, network sources have confirmed to the site exclusively.
The April 21 episode of "Reiser" drew 2.377 million viewers and a 0.9 rating among adults 18-49, down from its already modest opener on April 14 (3.372 million viewers, 1.1 rating among adults 18-49).
Here's an interview with Brock Waidmann from June 2010 in Wheelchair. Brock was supposed to play one of Reiser's two sons.
State cuts in North Carolina threaten group homes many disabled people rely on
After years of battling the developmental disabilities they were born with, Eric Falls (pictured) and Clint McManus have found a measure of ease in the local group home they have shared since 2004.
The quiet, stable environment with round-the-clock attention has done for the men what previous years spent living in state institutions could not. And yet a complex state funding issue may soon force them to move back into a more crowded special needs facility, despite the fact that taxpayers could end up spending more for the men’s care if that happens.
“Moving them back into an institutional level of care is not in their best interest,” said Rita Thuot, executive director of Gaston Residential Services, which oversees the group home where the two live. “If it happens, it’s going to be a true injustice.”
Falls’ and McManus’ dilemma is an example of why some 20 local family members of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities recently drove to Raleigh to meet with Gaston County legislators. They lobbied for a continuation of services that have already sustained drastic funding cuts of late, and which stand to be reduced further because of the state budget deficit.
Revised laws have made it harder for the developmentally disabled to acquire certain state funding if they are already receiving Medicaid. That has most notably affected a small group of people with specific disabilities such as Falls and McManus. They are being better served in their home communities, but are faced with being thrust back into detrimental living situations elsewhere, said Beth Haywood, clinical director of Gaston Residential Services.
“These are folks who through no fault of their own happen to have a disability, and they need help,” she said. “It’s less expensive to keep and care for them where they are now, which is where they belong.”
Falls, 45, and McManus, 40, suffer from autism, mental retardation and neurological conditions that prevent them from communicating verbally. Falls is listed as the second-oldest person in the world with Cornelia de Lange Syndrome, a genetic disorder that prevents most of those who have it from living past their 20s, Thuot said.
Both men lived in state-run facilities years ago that catered to people with special needs, but they did not do well around the large groups they had to interact with . Even being placed in a group home with five other people proved unsuccessful.
“When we started serving them in 1996, we realized they were easily overstimulated by too many noises, people and activity,” said Thuot. “We tried to find funding that would allow them to succeed in an environment where they wouldn’t hurt themselves, or be hurt.”
By 2004, Gaston Residential Services — a private nonprofit that aids people with developmental disabilities — had located funding to place Falls and McManus in a home together. And the pairing worked. They coexist well, with the help of clinical caregivers who assist them with medications and monitor them regularly.
“It’s amazing. No one ever would’ve thought it could happen,” said Thuot. “They’re quite content. They do grocery shopping, house cleaning. They pick up recycling for our organization and they participate in activities that are hopefully helping them to develop further.”
North Carolina’s efforts to control mental health care costs led to it reform its mental health system in 2003 — a move that has been widely criticized since then for its failures. Continued attempts to provide quality care more efficiently led to a change in law in 2008 that limited people such as Falls and McManus from receiving state funds if they also receive Medicaid.
Since 2008, Gaston Residential Services has spent more than $200,000 of its own money to support the two-person group home while trying to find a more permanent state funding solution, Thuot said. But it won’t be able to continue doing that after June 30.
“Our board of directors has been very accommodating to this point,” she said. “But unfortunately we are a business, and we can’t exhaust our savings.”
Caring for Falls and McManus in the group home where they live now costs $100 to $400 per person, per day. Should they have to be institutionalized again, it would cost at least $500 per person, per day, Haywood said.
Members of the Gaston Residential Services Family Support Group that traveled to Raleigh this month met with Gaston County’s five legislators in the Senate and House of Representatives. But no local legislators serve on any of the committees that are debating mental health funding.
Falls’ mother, Barbara Falls of Bessemer City, has tried to have her son live with her in the past, but has been unable to provide the care he needs. She visits him daily at his group home in Gastonia.
Lawmakers have told Barbara Falls they are trying to work out a solution for the small subset of people such as her son who have fallen through the cracks. At the very least, she has hoped some type of funding extension could be approved while a permanent answer is found.
“(Gaston Residential Services) has been great the last two years,” she said. “They carried them, but I just don’t know how much longer they can.”
She remains hopeful that someone in Raleigh will come to their defense.
“They’ve had to make cuts in Raleigh they don’t want to,” she said. “I do understand. But I also understand that we had this funding, and they took it away.”
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