Housing development for disabled people in Afghanistan opens

From BBC News:

A purpose-built housing development for people left disabled by the three decades of violence in Afghanistan has been completed in the capital, Kabul.

It is believed to be the first such major facility for disabled Afghans.

More than one million people are disabled from conflicts that have plagued Afghanistan over the years.

But facilities and official help for such people are extremely limited in what is one of the world's poorest and most violent countries.

The housing development, comprising 200 homes, has been handed over to its future residents in Kabul.

The houses have three rooms for living and sleeping, plus a kitchen and two toilets.

A committee was created to decide who should get the homes and it ruled that they should go to badly-disabled, married people who are already resident in Kabul.

One such person is Maneezha, who said she was very pleased about her new home.

"I lost both my legs in a mine explosion and I'm the mother of six children. How can a disabled person build a life without help? It was very difficult before, but now I'm happy," she said.

The development cost $4m and has on-site health facilities, a school and a mosque.

It was paid for by the United Arab Emirates which said it would fund more such projects.

Some disabled people complained that they were eligible, but not given a home.

The Afghan government says that with so many disabled people in the country it is not possible to help everyone.

Sen. Kennedy adds disability-insurance program to health-care bill

From the Wall Street Journal:

Sen. Edward Kennedy (pictured) plans a new disability-insurance program that would automatically enroll all American workers as part of the sweeping health-care bill he is preparing to introduce, aides said May 29.

Premiums would automatically be charged, and in many cases deducted from workers' paychecks, unless they choose to opt out of the disability program. The idea is to give all workers a basic level of protection in case they become disabled. But it could draw complaints from people who see it as a de facto tax, given that few workers are expected to opt out.

On average, premiums could not exceed $65 per month, according to a Senate aide who described the provision in detail.

Participants would be entitled to a cash benefit of at least $50 a day if they become so disabled they cannot participate in at least two or three activities of daily living, such as eating, bathing or using the toilet. The money could be used for expenses to support staying in one's home.

If all American workers participated, one estimate found that the program would collect $320 billion in its first year, the Senate aide said. The money would be put into its own separate fund, not available to other government spending.

Overall, Mr. Kennedy's legislation aims to fix the nation's health-care system by creating a new public health-insurance plan, requiring individuals to buy health-insurance coverage and employers to help provide it and creating new exchanges that would allow Americans to comparison shop for health insurance, according to a committee briefing paper reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which Sen. Kennedy chairs, plan to meet behind closed doors starting Tuesday to discuss exactly what will be in the measure, according to a Senate aide. The committee is expected to hold public hearings on the legislation as early as the following week.

The Massachusetts Democrat, who has been battling a brain tumor, is a key player in the effort to pass a comprehensive health care bill, and his commitment to the disability provision increases the chances it will wind up in the final package. But the legislation has a long trip to go through Congress and there are no guarantees that this provision--or the overall bill--will make it out of Congress.

The provision, a side note to the central debate, addresses Mr. Kennedy's longstanding interest in disability issues. The program, which Mr. Kennedy has long supported as a stand-alone bill, is aimed at establishing a large disability-insurance pool. Supporters say the program could help the millions of workers who lack long-term care insurance while defraying costs for Medicaid, which pays for nursing homes for disabled Americans who have low incomes and have spent their savings. Money from this program would be dedicated to nursing-home bills before Medicaid kicked in payments.

The new program is distinguished from private and public disability programs in that the disabled could collect benefits even if they are still working, and it could be easier to be deemed eligible. It is more similar to long-term care insurance, which only a fraction of workers have, but aides said would be more affordable and more flexible in how the money could be spent.

The Senate aide said the payments aren't meant to replace long-term care insurance.

The expectation behind the provision is that most American workers would choose to participate. Workers would be automatically enrolled at age 18, and premiums would be based on age. Those who started in the program young and stuck with it would see lower premiums throughout their lives than those who opted out and later chose to enroll. Participants would be eligible for benefits after five years.

The Senate aide said that Mr. Kennedy has not actively sought Republican support for the provision, and there are no Republicans co-sponsors for the legislation on which the provision is based. She said that Republicans on the HELP Committee are aware of the provision but have not taken a position either way.

Calls to the committee's Republican staff were not immediately returned.

The provision must also pass through the Senate Finance Committee, which is actively working to assemble its own comprehensive bill. The provision has received little attention there.

Mr. Kennedy has asked the Congressional Budget Office to evaluate the proposal and estimate participation rates.

Exact premiums and benefits would be set by the secretary of Health and Human Services. The secretary also would determine whether someone had to have two or three functional disabilities to qualify for benefits. Disabilities include eating, toileting, transferring, bathing, dressing and continence issues, as well as cognitive problems that impair the ability to do these things.

People living in poverty and students who are also working would owe just $5 a month for premiums.

The incentives are for people to stay in the program while healthy. Those who drop out would have a limited window to rejoin and still receive credit for earlier payments. Someone who is not participating but becomes disabled could join the program only if they are working, and wouldn't be eligible to collect benefits for five years.

"Like all Americans, millions of senior citizens and persons with disabilities want to lead full and independent lives," Mr. Kennedy said in a statement. "Our health reform legislation will make that possible. By providing access to long-term care and services, our legislation will enable our most vulnerable citizens to remain in their own homes and contribute to their communities."

Mr. Kennedy's overall plan would bar health insurance companies from denying coverage to individuals based on a pre-existing health problem, and it would require insurance companies to charge more consistent insurance premiums, reducing regional variances in rates. Further, it would create a national Web site that consumers could use to compare and buy health insurance plans, in the same way they can comparison shop for airline tickets on travel sites. The plan would allow states to create their own such exchanges, too.

The measure would establish a "Patient Safety and Clinical Delivery Institute" aimed at reducing medical errors by promoting best practices, like how to properly insert a catheter. Some hospital patients would be assigned a "discharge advocate" to help patients through recovery, a step to try to reduce the number of patients who are readmitted. Patients with chronic illnesses would get health coaches in an effort to help keep them from getting sicker.

Sen. Kennedy's plan would also reach into medical schools, according to the committee brief. "The Hippocratic Oath says: 'First, do no harm,'" the brief says. "A reformed curriculum will teach the next generation of health care professionals: First, prevent unnecessary disease.'"

Legislation to reform state institutions for people with intellectual disabilities in Texas heads to Governor for his signature

From The AP:

AUSTIN — The Texas Senate on May 29 gave final approval to improving security and oversight of the state’s large institutions for the mentally disabled, which have been hit with allegations of widespread abuse and neglect.

The unanimous vote sends the bill to Gov. Rick Perry, who had declared fixing problems at the 13 state schools, housing nearly 5,000 residents, a top priority of the legislative session.

If the bill is signed into law, the state will install video surveillance cameras in common areas and give new powers to the state office of inspector general to help local prosecutors pursue cases of abuse, neglect or exploitation. Staff would be subject to drug tests and criminal background checks.

Also, state schools would be renamed state supported living centers.

The bill would also create a hot line for reporting abuse, neglect and misconduct.

There have been recent scathing reports of neglect and abuse, including fights between residents staged by workers.

Dozens of people have died under questionable circumstances, and hundreds of employees have been disciplined for mistreating residents. A 2008 review by the federal Department of Justice reported that residents’ civil rights were being violated. Investigations uncovered employees who had criminal records.

"The abuse and neglect that has taken place at our state schools will stop," said Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, who led the Senate’s reform efforts.

Lawmakers are expected to give final approval to a five-year, $112 million settlement with the federal government to improve conditions and medical care, including hiring more than 1,000 direct care workers and placing monitors in each school.

The agreement resulted from discussions among the Justice Department, Perry’s office, the Texas attorney general and the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services officials.

A Justice Department report presented to Perry in December said residents are often victims of abuse, neglect and inadequate medical treatment. At least 53 residents died within the past year because of lapses in healthcare, the report concluded.

The investigation centered on Aging and Disability Services, which operates 13 large facilities, including one in Denton.

A provision in the state budget would move 500 people out of state schools in the next two years to community-based care and identify more than 1,000 others who could be better served in other facilities. It would also create more community-based slots for care.

The bill passed Friday also strengthens oversight over those community care facilities, said Rep. Patrick Rose, D-Dripping Springs, who sponsored the bill in the House.

For example, those homes will no longer be allowed to investigate claims of abuse and neglect at their facilities, Rose said. That job now reverts to the state.

Community homes will also be subject to unannounced inspections by the state Department of Family and Protective Services.

Lawmakers agreed to give the state new powers to investigate abuse claims at community homes and to create a database of abuse cases that the public can review.

Some advocates for the disabled had called for closing state schools or ending admissions, two ideas that ran into fierce resistance from some families of residents.

Jeff Garrison-Tate of the advocacy group Community Now said the state schools system is beyond repair. "These facilities have created an environment and culture that breeds abuse and neglect," Garrison-Tate said. "It is past time for Texas to develop a plan to get people out of these places."

Nelson is confident that the bill will lead to major improvements.

"This legislation will see to it that our state school residents receive proper care from staff who are better trained. It also establishes an independent oversight structure and calls for the use of video surveillance to serve as a strong deterrent against abuse or neglect," Nelson said recently when the bill cleared the Senate.

"This vulnerable population deserves the best possible care and our protection from harm."

Asian-Americans with disabilities face additional challenges

From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Culture and language are major barriers to access to care and support for Asian-Americans with developmental disabilities, according to research by the Doraville-based Center for Pan Asian Community Services Inc.

About 6.5 percent of people of Asian and Pacific Islander descent in Georgia have a disability, said Sharon Chung, one of the researchers on the project.

The report, funded by the Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities, focused on caregivers and service providers.

Focus groups were held with members of the four largest Asian communities —- Chinese, Indian, Korean and Vietnamese. Caregivers complained about a lack of support from school officials and problems accessing a maze of government programs.

Nancy Duncan, of the Disability Research Group, said some of the problems in ethnic communities are in the larger community, and she urged joining forces. “We have a strong voice if we join together for support and advocacy,” she said.

Georgetown Center for Child and Human Development sponsors symposium on media images of disability June 15

From the Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development:

The Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development and the School of Continuing Studies, Journalism Program will present a symposium on "Framing Disability: The Influence of Media Representation" Monday, June 15, 2009, 12-4 p.m. at the Copley Formal Lounge, 37th and O St. NW, Washington, D.C.

A light lunch will be provided at 11:45 a.m. The forum begins promptly at noon. In you are interested in attending, please RSVP at framingdisabilities@gmail.com or call (202) 687-8742.(Please inform us of any special accommodations you may need when you RSVP)

According to the US Census Bureau, 54 million Americans have a disability, representing 18% of the population. Between 1990 and 2000, the number of Americans with disabilities increased 25 percent, outpacing any other subgroup of the U.S. population. With an aggregate income of $1 trillion and $220 billion of discretionary spending people with disabilities is an often ignored market.

Media, especially news organizations, have the ability to raise awareness, clarify information, and educate the public on issues as diverse as foreign policy and fashion. Although mass media has the potential to “socially construct images of people with disabilities” positively, in reality, it often perpetuates stereotypes by depicting individuals with disabilities as dependent, helpless, burdens, threats, or heroes. According to the Special Olympics, more than 80% of U.S. adults surveyed felt that media portrayals were an obstacle to the acceptance and inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities.

The symposium, "Framing Disability: The Influence of Media Representation," will explore issues related to the representation of persons with disabilities in the media and how this representation can influence the public’s attitudes and perpetuate stereotypes which in turn influence decisions regarding school placement, employment opportunities, housing choices, use of public transportation, access to health care, and a host of other activities, programs, and supports that are available to all citizens.

The plenary speaker will be Judy Woodruff, Senior Correspondent for the PBS Newshour (pictured).

Panelists are:

· Leon Dash, Swanlund Chair and Professor of Journalism, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

· Tawara Goode, Director, National Center for Cultural Competence

· Beth Haller, Professor, Mass Communication & Communication Studies, Towson University

· Deborah Perry, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Georgetown University

· Nolana Yip, Lecturer, Department of English, Georgetown University

· Jody Wildly, Diversity Program Manager at the Office of Diversity, Management and Equal Opportunity at the Department of Health and Human Services

For information about the event’s sponsors, please see Georgetown University, http://georgetown.edu/; Center for Child and Human Development, http://gucchd.georgetown.edu/; and the School of Continuing Studies, Journalism Program, http://www12.georgetown.edu/scs/mps/journalism/home.cfm.

The Center for Child and Human Development was established over four decades ago to improve the quality of life for all children and youth especially those with special needs, and their families. The Center is founded on an interdisciplinary approach to service, training, research, community outreach, technical assistance, and public policy.

The Master in Professional Studies Journalism program fuses traditional journalism and "new" media. As innovative technology formats change the way news is delivered, the critical skills remain the same: careful, patient reporting, sophisticated storytelling, and sound, ethical judgment. The MPS Journalism graduate degree program emphasizes all of the elements needed to be a successful, adaptable journalist.

BBC moves forward with wheelchair dancing TV show

From BBC News:

Actress Michelle Gayle and singer Heather Small (pictured) are among the celebrities who have signed up to take part in a new BBC dancing competition.

Dancing On Wheels sees the celebrities partnered with wheelchair users who have never danced before.

The winning couple of the six-part series will represent the UK at the Wheelchair Dance Sport European Championships in Israel this autumn.

BBC Three boss Danny Cohen said the show would be "fun and glamorous".

He added: "This is a really important project for BBC Three, and underlines our commitment to covering disability in a mainstream way, following the success of Britain's Missing Top Model last year."

Gold medallist Mark Foster, actor Kevin Sacre, rugby legend Martin Offiah and presenter Caroline Flack have all signed up to compete.

Professional ballroom dancer and wheelchair dance teacher Brian Fortuna will choreograph the couples.

The couples will train intensively and perform in front of a panel of judges, who will decide each week which couples stay in the competition.

New stem cell procedure may reverse corneal disease

From The Daily Mail in the UK:

The groundbreaking operation brought significant improvements in vision within a matter of weeks.

The procedure uses a person's own cells to heal damage to the cornea - the transparent outermost layer of the eye.

It is carried out under local anaesthetic, with patients returning home within two hours of surgery, removing the need for expensive hospital stays.

The three patients treated so far had very poor vision caused by corneal disease - the fourth most common form of blindness, affecting around 10million worldwide.

It is caused by genetics, surgery, burns, infection or chemotherapy, and treatments usually include grafts and transplants and drugs such as steroids.

The team from the University of New South Wales in Sydney harnessed the power of stem cells - 'master cells' with the ability to turn into other cell types.
They removed small samples of stem cells from the eyes of two men and a woman with corneal disease and grew them on a contact lens.

The stem cell-coated contacted lenses were then put into the patients' eyes for around three weeks.

During that time, the stem cells moved off the lenses and began to heal the damaged corneas, the journal Transplantation reports.

Using a person's own cells removes any need for donors and means the transplant will not be rejected.

Researcher Dr Nick Di Girolamo said: 'The procedure is totally simple and cheap.

'Unlike other techniques, it requires no foreign human or animal products, only the patient’s own serum, and is completely non-invasive.
'There's no suturing, there is no major operation. You don’t need any fancy equipment.'

The contact lenses used in the operation are already widely used after eye surgery.

The researchers hope the technique can be adapted for other parts of the eye, such as the retina, and even elsewhere in the body.

Damage to retinal blood vessels is behind a range of conditions that can lead to loss of sight including many cases of age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, the most common cause of blindness in the elderly.

Dr Di Girolamo said: 'If we can do this procedure in the eye, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work in other major organs such as the skin, which behaves in a very similar way to the cornea.'

Dr Kuldip Sidhu, a stem cell expert at the same university, said the 'clever strategy' was a step towards using stem cells to treat debilitating human diseases.

Professor Loane Skene, of the University of Melbourne, said: 'Provided that patients are told that the new procedure is experimental and possible risks are not yet known, and they then consent to have it, this use of a patient's stem cells is no more ethically contentious than a skin transplant.'

In Britain, Sonal Rughani, of the RNIB, said: 'This small-scale study reveals promising outcomes with the use of contact lenses. We await further developments of this innovative nature.'

The work is one of several studies being carried out around the world which aim to use stem cells to cure blindness.

Tennessee to cut about 700 state workers from MH/MR programs

From The Tennessean:

State workers are again facing a sizeable round of layoffs as officials laid out a plan to cut Tennessee's payroll by nearly 1,400 positions over the next 13 months.

Two months after Gov. Phil Bredesen said layoffs could be pushed back until next year, budgeters from his administration said Wednesday that more job cuts will have to come after all — particularly to the state agencies that serve people with mental illnesses and mental retardation.

The reductions will help the state deal with a recession that has worsened in recent months, cutting expected tax receipts by $161 million since March.

"We just have to cut everything in sight," Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz said. "It's the sign in the window at the closing-business sales, 'Everything must go.' We're just in a very difficult circumstance. Unprecedented."

As many as 717 workers could receive layoff notices by June 30 of next year, with three-quarters of them coming in the state departments that serve people with mental illness or mental retardation. The Bredesen administration also called for eliminating 656 vacant positions statewide.

Tennessee employs about 50,000 state workers, not including higher education employees, with a payroll of nearly $3 billion.

Workers who lose their jobs will be eligible for severance pay averaging about $3,000 a piece and tuition reimbursements for two years. Cutting the state payroll will save the government about $30 million in the next fiscal year, budgeters estimated.

A spokesman for the Tennessee State Employees Association said the group would not discuss the layoffs until it receives more details from the administration.

Eighteen agencies will see their payrolls reduced, but the vast majority will come in two areas: the Department of Mental Health, which will lay off as many as 254 workers, and the Division of Mental Retardation Services, which will lose 298 workers.

Advocates had been bracing for cuts, and May 27 they said the reductions were not as bad as they had feared.

Much of the job losses are in state institutions, which have been falling out of use gradually as care has shifted to state-funded community and home-care programs.

"This would be OK, with the understanding that then we have an investment in the communities," said Sita Diehl, executive director of the Tennessee chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Some lawmakers expressed concern Wednesday that cuts in staffing and the number of beds in state mental hospitals will put more of the burden for caring for the mentally ill on local governments.

For instance, county sheriffs could be required to jail more mentally ill patients if they can't find room for them in state facilities.

"If the cuts become a tax increase on local government, what have we gained?" said Rep. Glen Casada, the House Republican Caucus chairman.

Another area that could see cuts includes support services for the families of children with learning disabilities. The program, which is run by the Division of Mental Retardation Services, stands to lose $300,000 in next year's budget and could be shut down entirely after that.

Supporters say the program is a cheap way to aid families. Its possible demise concerns people like Amanda Nipper, the mother of a 15-year-old son with mild autism from Cannon County who has turned to the family support program for help in dealing with her son's insomnia.

"It's been a relief," Nipper said. "If insurance won't pay for it, there's no way people like us can afford it."

Deputy Commissioner Stephen Norris, the division's head, said most of the agency's other services should not be affected because they are funded in large part through TennCare.

Budgeters also called for cutting funds to some school programs, including those that provide physical education and connect schools to the Internet. Schools had been left largely untouched in Bredesen's original budget proposal, and together, the two cuts will save the state about $6 million, Goetz said.

Meanwhile, state budgeters also increased funding for several programs. Among other proposals, the Bredesen administration suggested allocating $5.6 million for 13 projects in state parks, $13 million for a "megasite" industrial park in Haywood County and $21 million for the University of Tennessee Veterinary Medicine Hospital.

The proposal laid out several tax provisions that purport to close loopholes in the budget. These include raising sales taxes on business telecommunications services and charging sales tax on cable television boxes and software warranties.

Jim Brown, state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, said his group will study the provisions before taking a position on them.

Diabetes drug may help those with MS

From UPI:

CHICAGO -- U.S. medical researchers say they've found a drug used to treat diabetes shows protective effects in the brains of some multiple sclerosis patients.

Researchers at the University of Illinois-Chicago College of Medicine say they conducted a small, double-blind clinical trial involving patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis. The patients were assigned to take pioglitazone -- a type 2 diabetes drug commercially known as Actos -- or a placebo. Patients continued their normal course of therapy during the trial.

The scientists said patients taking pioglitazone showed significantly less loss of gray matter during the course of the one-year trial than patients taking placebo. Of the 21 patients who finished the study, patients taking pioglitazone had no adverse reactions.

"This is very encouraging," said Professor Douglas Feinstein. "Gray matter in the brain is the part that is rich in neurons. These preliminary results suggest the drug has important effects on neuronal survival."

The scientists also tested pioglitazone in an animal model of MS and found the drug "can significantly reduce the clinical signs in mice with an MS-type disease," said Feinstein.

"More importantly, when mice who are already ill are treated with pioglitazone, the clinical signs of the disease go away," he said.

The study is reported in the online edition of the Journal of Neuroimmunology.

Illinois Senate approves medical marijuana

From The AP:

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The push to legalize medical marijuana in Illinois has taken a big step forward.

The Illinois Senate voted 30-28 in favor of a plan to let sick people use pot for relief from diseases like cancer, AIDS and multiple sclerosis.

The bill now goes to the Illinois House, where a committee passed a medical marijuana measure earlier this year.

Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, says that if the bill is eventually signed into law, Illinois would join 13 other states that have such measures in place.

Critics argue allowing medical marijuana would make it harder for police to enforce other marijuana laws and would be a step toward wholesale legalization of pot.

Jim Abbott continues to be a star in the eyes of disabled athletes

From The New York Times:

Amazing, Jim Abbott said, responding to the news of a prospective Division I basketball player who has only one hand. Simply amazing and, he added, a profound example of why the achievement ceiling for the disabled athlete tends to be higher than most people think, even for one standing 6 feet 10 inches.

Kevin Laue, the center from California who this week accepted a scholarship to play for Manhattan College next season, was inspired by tales of Abbott — a major league pitcher for 10 years who was born without a right hand. In turn, Abbott was intrigued several months ago when he first heard about Laue.

For years, Abbott said, he has been a magnet for such stories, countless letters and e-mail messages finding their way to him from those wanting to say thank you, you motivated me, here’s what I’ve done.

Why not? Abbott (pictured) pitched and played quarterback in high school, starred on the mound at the University of Michigan, won the gold-medal game for the United States in the 1988 Summer Olympics and threw a no-hitter for the Yankees in 1993.

His ability to maneuver his glove from right forearm to left hand after unleashing a pitch and back again after fielding a ball and needing to make a quick throw was an act of human adaptation to behold, even as he made it look much too easy.

“But to think that this kid can go and play at such a high level in a sport that pretty much requires two hands to dribble, that’s really impressive,” Abbott said of Laue.

In a telephone interview, he added that he could relate to Laue’s degree of difficulty, to some extent. A pitcher and quarterback at Flint Central High School in Michigan, Abbott loved basketball, too, and didn’t let his disability keep him from walking into the gymnasium for ninth-grade tryouts in a city whose players bore no bodily resemblance to Michael Moore, its celebrated filmmaker.

“It’s a tough town,” Abbott said, “and we’ve had some unbelievable players come out of Flint.”

One of them, an Abbott classmate and friend at Flint Central and later at Michigan, was Glen Rice, who made a few jump shots in his time while winning the 1989 N.C.A.A. title with the Wolverines and another in the N.B.A. with the Lakers in 2000.
A long way from the midsize guard he might have been at a full-grown 6-foot-3, Abbott was cut from the freshman team. But he soon had his own athletic pedigree and became a regular in gym class when Rice and the chosen ones held court.

“I don’t want to overstate my abilities, but I played every day with Glen Rice in high school, and I honestly felt I could hold my own in that atmosphere,” Abbott said. “I understand the challenge. Definitely the biggest problem was when a player would force me away from my left hand, changing direction.

“I mean, how do I go right? I don’t know how someone makes up for that at a D-1 level. I’m looking forward to seeing Kevin Laue play. If he succeeds, he is going to make a lot of people with disabilities think, I can do that, too.”

Or maybe just do something, athletic or otherwise, that doesn’t seem feasible when disbelief reigns, self-imposed or assumed by others.

“I think the most important aspect is that there are visible positive role models for the disabled, so they are willing to challenge themselves,” said Doug Pringle, president of the Far West chapter of Disabled Sports USA.

The organization, with 90 chapters nationwide, creates programs not necessarily to develop Paralympics athletes but, as Pringle said, “to make the disabled believe we can do a hell of a lot more than you think we can.”

A Vietnam veteran, he returned from Southeast Asia in the late 1960s after having one leg amputated. “My self-image was shattered,” he said. “And back then, it was like, ‘Hey, man, you’re ruined.’ ”

Pringle became a three-time national champion slalom skier and an activist in the movement to create what evolved into the Paralympics.

“Learning to ski on one leg changed my life,” he said. “It made people look at me differently. I think that is the benefit when you’re talking about a kid good enough to play college basketball or a Jim Abbott — changing expectations.”

Pete Gray made a name for himself as a one-armed wartime major league outfielder, but Abbott was front and center in the television age. The Manhattan coach, Barry Rohrssen, thought of Abbott when Brother Thomas J. Scanlan, the college president, showed him an article about Laue, who was playing at Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia, and asked him to consider a recruiting pitch.

In turn, hearing about Laue’s scholarship made Abbott fondly recall “the people at Michigan who gave me the same chance.” Last month, he was back in Ann Arbor with his wife and two daughters to have his jersey, No. 31, retired.

The ceremony, he said, made him feel 7 feet tall.

USA joins international group trying to block blind people, people with reading disabilities from accessible digital texts

From James Love, Director, Knowledge Ecology International, at The Huffington Post:

I am attending a meeting in Geneva of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). This evening the United States government, in combination with other high income countries in "Group B" is seeking to block an agreement to discuss a treaty for persons who are blind or have other reading disabilities.

The proposal for a treaty is supported by a large number of civil society NGOs, the World Blind Union, the National Federation of the Blind in the US, the International DAISY Consortium, Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D), Bookshare.Org, and groups representing persons with reading disabilities all around the world.

The main aim of the treaty is to allow the cross-border import and export of digital copies of books and other copyrighted works in formats that are accessible to persons who are blind, visually impaired, dyslexic or have other reading disabilities, using special devices that present text as refreshable braille, computer generated text to speech, or large type. These works, which are expensive to make, are typically created under national exceptions to copyright law that are specifically written to benefit persons with disabilities.

The number of accessible works is very small everywhere, relative to what "sighted" persons can read. However, in developing countries, the collections are super small, and even in the USA, access to works in languages other than English is practically non-existent.

Under the current international legal regime, there is almost no sharing of these works across borders. The treaty would change that, vastly expanding the availability of works to all persons who are blind or have other reading disabilities.

Every regional group in the developing world expressed support for advancing work on this proposal, as part of a broader agenda on access to knowledge and the protection of consumer interests.

The opposition from the United States and other high income countries is due to intense lobbying from a large group of publishers that oppose a "paradigm shift," where treaties would protect consumer interests, rather than expand rights for copyright owners.

The Obama Administration was lobbied heavily on this issue, including meetings with high level White House officials. Assurances coming into the negotiations this week that things were going in the right direction have turned out to be false, as the United States delegation has basically read from a script written by lobbyists for publishers, extolling the virtues of market based solutions, ignoring mountains of evidence of a "book famine" and the insane legal barriers to share works.

Last week Obama worked with PhRMA to kill a Medical R&D Treaty at the World Health Organization. This week he is trying to kill a treaty for blind and reading disabled persons. This is not encouraging.

Hate crimes against disabled people rise sharply in Tennessee, report says

From The AP:

NASHVILLE — Hate crimes rose dramatically in Tennessee last year, particularly those against the disabled, according to a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation report released Thursday.

The total number of hate crimes rose nearly 38 percent, jumping from 372 offenses in 2007 to 515 last year.

Crimes against the disabled were up by 88 percent, with 42 total offenses last year. Those against the mentally disabled showed a 94 percent rise, with 36 incidents.

Ethnic hate offenses was the only category to show a decrease in numbers, slipping from 52 in 2007 to 34 last year.

The report also noted that of the 515 hate crimes reported in 2008, a large proportion was in the category of unknown bias. That category signifies a crime that has the traits of a hate crime but an investigation has not determined a specific bias motivation category. Reported offenses with unknown bias increased from 76 to 178.

Most of last year's hate crimes against the disabled were thefts, assaults and burglaries victimizing mentally disabled persons.

Experts say the rise in crimes against the disabled can be attributed to the poor economy, with criminals exploiting a vulnerable group for money.

"When people are feeling desperate and pressured in times like these ... you're going to try to find the most vulnerable person to victimize," said Carol Westlake, executive director of the Tennessee Disability Coalition.

That group lobbies state lawmakers on behalf of people with disabilities.

Westlake also points to the more than 700 current state employees who would lose their jobs as part of $241 million in budget cuts proposed by Gov. Phil Bredesen this week. The proposal would also eliminate another 656 vacant jobs.

The agencies hardest hit by the proposed layoffs would be the Mental Retardation Services Division and the Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, with a combined 552 existing positions to be eliminated.

"I think we sort of overall are seeing, particularly in Tennessee, a little bit of a general backlash against people with disabilities," Westlake said. "I think that has to do with state budget crisis and money being tight everywhere.

"There's this underlying message that too often people with disabilities aren't as valued because there's a perception they're not contributing to society and the economics of the state," making victimization easier, she said.

According to the TBI report, racial bias accounted for the largest percentage of total hate crimes against a particular group in Tennessee with 30.7 percent in 2008 — 158 incidents. Hate crimes targeting blacks accounted for the largest number of offenses against a group, with 112 incidents.

Sexual bias crimes had the second largest percentage of total hate crimes with 11.8 percent last year, which accounted for 61 offenses.

One of the more notorious hate crimes in Tennessee last year involved two Middle Tennessee men, who pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes for their role in firebombing a mosque in Columbia.

Jonathan Edward Stone and Michael Corey Golden both pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of destruction of religious property and one count of use of fire to damage religious property.

Stone was 19 and Golden was 23 when they were arrested after the Feb. 9, 2008, attack on the Islamic Center of Columbia. The firebombing burned down the small mosque in a storefront and no one was hurt.

Texas House votes to give disabled veterans exemptions on property taxes

From the El Paso Times:

AUSTIN -- Nearly two years after voters approved a tax cut for disabled veterans, members of the Texas House on May 27 approved a bill that would give those injured while serving their country exemptions from property taxes.

"This is about people who have really earned it, and the people have already told us to do this," said state Rep. Ismael "Kino" Flores, D-Palmview.

In 2007, more than 86 percent of Texas voters said "yes" to a constitutional amendment giving veterans with a 100 percent disability a complete exemption from property taxes. The bill lawmakers approved Wednesday would implement that exemption, and allow other disabled veterans deductions on their property taxes based on their military disability ranking.

The bill passed with a vote of 145-0 and will next move to Gov. Rick Perry's desk for approval.

"This would probably make things quite a bit easier for disabled veterans," said Ted Monette, service officer and a commander for the El Paso chapter of Disabled American Veterans.

The measure would apply to 600,000 disabled Texas veterans, saving them about $11 million a year in property taxes. It nearly fell victim to a partisan standoff in the House over a bill that would require photo identification from voters.

As Democrats continued a five-day filibuster to prevent a bill requiring voters to present photo identification from coming to the floor, the stalling also threatened to derail the veterans' tax exemption.

Flores repeatedly requested permission to bring up the measure out of order. Republicans, though, had vowed not to allow any other substantive measures to be considered out of order as the Democrats continued to stall the GOP's hallmark issue of the legislative session.

Flores, himself a veteran and desperate to pass the bill he said he worked on for six years, said he attempted to attach it to another measure that had already passed the House and was headed for approval in the Senate.

He said he worked with Republican Sens. Tommy Williams of The Woodlands and John Carona of Dallas, two lawmakers from urban areas who could not be more different from Flores, a representative of the Rio Grande Valley.

"Who would have thought Kino and Carona make good tortillas?" Flores said.

But the two, along with state Rep. John Otto, R-Dayton, agreed to add the veterans' tax break to a separate bill that deals with how property taxes are calculated, and the measure passed on Wednesday.

State Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, who had proposed a similar measure, said the bill was important for El Paso veterans.

"For El Paso and the historic ties between Fort Bliss and our community, we thrive when our veterans thrive," Moody said. "That bill would be a small token of appreciation for their sacrifices."

Disability advocates push the Indian government to redesign Web sites to be accessible

From Sify.com:

NEW DELHI -- Disabled rights groups have approached the IT ministry with a list of 50 government websites like that of the Indian Railways, Central Information Commission and Income Tax Department which they want to be made disabled friendly.

'We have identified 50 organisations and departments in the government. We have sent a proposal to the IT ministry to make sites of these WCAG (web content accessibility guidelines) 2.0 compliant, thereby making them disabled friendly. The ministry has shown a very positive outlook on this,' Javed Abidi, convener of the Disabled Rights Group, told IANS.

According to Abidi, such a move would simplify the Internet interface for people with disability by making the websites compatible with the special software they use to access websites.

'With an aim to enable disabled people to be a part of e-governance, we came to a consensus on the list after discussions with various disability groups across the country. Simple things like booking a rail ticket will be possible for people with visual impairment once the site carries out technical changes,' he said.

Abidi, who is also director of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) - an umbrella organisation of various NGOs and civil society organisations working on disability issues - said that 99.99 percent of the estimated 5,000 websites and web portals hosted by the government of India listed by the National Information Centre (NIC) can't be accessed by people with disability.

At the e-governance conference in Goa Feb 12, it was announced that all government websites would be made WCAG 2.0 compliant.

These government websites would now enable web access to a wider range of people with disabilities, including blindness and low vision, deafness and hearing loss, learning disabilities, cognitive limitations, limited movement, speech disabilities and photosensitivity.

The challenge, Abidi said, was to make existing sites WCAG 2.0 compliant and sensitise concerned government departments.

'While the IT ministry initiated immediate action and made India's largest sites - india.gov.in and bharat.gov.in - accessible to the disabled, the social justice and empowerment ministry continues to drag its feet. It is ironic that it is this ministry that is supposedly nodal for various issues concerning disabled people,' he said.

Abidi added the website of the National Institute for the Visually Handicapped (NIVH) was not accessible to visually impaired people.

'Similarly, the CCPD (Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities) website is still not accessible to people with disabilities. And they are supposedly the watchdogs for any Disability Act violations that may occur,' he said.