Buffalo, N.Y., woman with computer-controlled prosthetic leg guides other amputees

From WBFO-TV:

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A Buffalo woman who lost her leg 10 years ago is now a model for coping with such a loss and for a computer-controlled prosthetic leg.

Deborah Hanitz of Buffalo knows the importance of having someone around to answer those questions, someone who's already dealt with an amputation first-hand.

"I had a wonderful group of doctors and my family was very supportive and I couldn't ask for a better support system around me, but there's still a lot of questions and there's no one around that I could talk to and i felt very alone," said Hanitz.

Hanitz is part of a group called Amputee Empowerment Partners. She lends a helping hand to fellow amputees.

"Having someone to talk to,to cry with to guide, who has been through it. They have found has been very valuable to the patient :40 and that's what i do," said Hanitz.

And Hanitz is also now showing off her computer-driven prosthetic leg, called a C-Leg (pictured).

"It is actually a computerized knee, which whenever I need any type of adjustment I'm actually plugged in to a laptop computer. I have a little cord and I plug it into my leg," said Hanitz

It helps Hanitz maintain her independence, and keep in stride with others.

"I do use a walker, at home I use a cane, but when I'm walking with somebody I'm right next to them," said Hanitz.

And that's just how she likes it.

In Florida, 11-year-old autistic boy charged with felony battery for outburst at school

From The News Herald in Panama City, Fla.:

BAYOU GEORGE, Fla. — The family of an autistic 11-year-old accused of assaulting school administrators said the boy was made an example of and the situation did not need to escalate to the extent it did.

Terrauce Jones was in assistant principal Harold Weaver’s office Tuesday discussing allegations he hit another student when he became upset and struck Weaver with a binder, principal Charlotte Marshall said.

Terrauce then left Weaver’s office and entered the main office, where Marshall met up with him and tried to calm the boy down. Terrauce kicked at Marshall but missed, school officials said. Administrators were able to calm the student temporarily, but when he went to the cafeteria, Terrauce became upset again and threw a soda bottle at Marshall, according to a news release.

Authorities charged the 11-year-old with two counts of felony battery.

Francis Green, Terrauce’s grandmother and part-time caretaker, said she was very upset the incident led to felony charges and the situation should have been handled differently in a number of ways. She said she doesn’t understand why no one at the school was able to restrain and control the child; he simply could have been put in a room until the family arrived.

“This could have been handled a whole lot different,” Green said. “I feel like (Marshall) changed how she would have reacted to demonstrate the need for SRD (school resource deputies).”

Superintendent Bill Husfelt, however, contends arresting the child was a last resort and school employees exhausted all possibilities before resorting to calling law enforcement.

In the wake of county budget cuts, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office eliminated eight school resource deputy positions this year, leaving middle schools to rotate deputies.

Marshall and Capt. Steve Harbuck of the community services division said Tuesday they felt the situation could have been avoided or at least contained if a deputy had been on the campus.

Green said she agrees the school needs resource deputies on campus, but she feels her grandson was unfairly made an example of to drive that point across to the public. The deputy who arrested Terrauce later told the family he wasn’t informed the boy was autistic and that if he had known, he simply would have supervised him until the family arrived, Green said.

“I want the charges dropped and my baby to get the best education possible,” she said.

Husfelt countered the only way the situation would have been handled differently if SRDs had been on campus is that “the handcuffs would have been put on earlier.”

When a parent or guardian can’t be reached, school employees must be concerned first and foremost with the safety of the student and any other employee or student with whom they may come in contact, Husfelt said.

“Administrators and teachers have to be very careful about how they deal with a hostile situation,” he said.

A school official restraining the child is a very delicate situation because it can result in charges for the teacher or administrator, Husfelt said. For that reason, school employees do not make physical contact with the student, but leave that to a parent, guardian or law enforcement.

“If a teacher or principal grabs a student and holds on, what’s to stop the parent… from filing charges?” Husfelt said.

Terrauce was diagnosed with autism when he was 2 years old, Green said. To this point it has been controlled through medication and careful supervision, she said.

“We’ve struggled with him fitting in, trying to find the right school, trying to find the right teacher to deal with his temper tantrums or meltdowns; we call them meltdowns,” she said.

The transition to middle school has been difficult for Terrauce. Green said her daughter, the student’s mother, approached the administration two weeks ago about home schooling Terrauce because he was having difficulty coping with the changing classes, being around more students and bullying.

“My daughter is an LPN (licensed practicing nurse) and she works at night, but she can’t sleep during the day because she’s worried. She knew something like this would happen,” Green said.

School officials, however, assured the family Terrauce was “too smart” for home schooling and all of the appropriate measures to meet his needs were in place at the school, Green said. So, Terrauce was taken to the doctor to have his medicine adjusted, and they continued the process of trying to adapt.

The first outburst in Weaver’s office was brought on by frustration because Terrauce felt the administrator wasn’t listening to him as he tried to explain he hit the other student only when the student hit him first, Green said. This frustration and confrontation led to a meltdown because Terrauce was on a low dosage of medication because of the recent change in treatment, she said.

The second outburst was a result of not being allowed to sit with his friends in the cafeteria and attention being drawn to him because he was chaperoned, Green said.

Terrauce is a good student who enjoys school and gets As and Bs, Green said. But Wednesday morning, after seeing his picture on the news and reading the story about the incident online, he was ashamed to show his face.

“I hate she (Marshall) did that. I hate she used him as a scapegoat,” Green said.

Marshall did not return The News Herald’s phone calls Wednesday, but Husfelt said the school staff went “above and beyond” to try to calm Terrauce’s meltdown before calling 911. Second guessing their decision after-the-fact is difficult because the urgency is not the same, he added.

“Arresting a child’s the last thing we want to do,” he said. “… Unless you’re in the middle of a situation, you don’t know how you’d handle it.”

British paratrooper, who is triple amputee, determined to return to Afghanistan

From The Oxford Times in UK:

A paratrooper who lost three limbs in a bomb blast has revealed he could be back in Afghanistan by January.

Corporal Tom Neathway’s injuries in 2008 injuries were so horrific he was not expected to live – but he recovered and now works as an administrator at RAF Brize Norton.

Last night the 27-year-old, of 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment, said he could be back in the war-torn country after completing his rehabilitation in the United States.

Cpl Neathway has been instrumental in training and helping 800 paratroopers to qualify for service.

He said: “I am still trying to go over to Afghanistan, and this may be in January.

“I do still also have to go back to the States to finish my rehabilitation and to improve the socket fit for my prosthetic limbs as they are the world’s best at it.”

Cpl Neathway lost both legs and his left arm when an improvised explosive device hidden under a sandbag went off while he was on patrol in Kajaki, northern Helmand Province, in July 2008.

He had his arm amputated at Camp Bastion before being flown back to the UK, where his legs were removed above the knee at Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham.

But just four months later, Cpl Neathway was able to walk unaided to collect his Afghanistan campaign medal from Prince Charles.

And Cpl Nethway has revealed that a businessman replaced his £6,000 Apache FLX 320 quad bike after it was stolen from outside his family’s Worcester home.

Ed Dunn was so moved by the story that he offered to buy a replacement bike.

Cpl Neathway said: “This quad bike is a newer version of the one I had before.

“I had been so angry that my original one was taken.

“But it was great to meet Mr Dunn, he was so relaxed about it, and just said, ‘Here is a quad bike’.

“I am very thankful to him for doing this.”

Mr Dunn, managing director of an online perfume shop, said: “I was so angry when I read about it and it is horrible that it happened, so I just wanted to do what I could to help.

“This is the first time that I have met Tom and it is great to be able to give him the bike. He is a true hero.”

The news comes two weeks after a leaked Ministry of Defence document revealed up to 5,000 troops – which would include Cpl Neathway – could be discharged from the Armed Forces because they are medically unfit.

An MoD spokesman refused to comment on the leaked document but insisted there was no quota for numbers to leave the Army.

Polio survivor, Buddist monk cycles around the world for peace

From The Phnom Penh Post. In the picture, Nepali monk and polio survivor Chitra Poudel, left, is cycling around the world in several stages to promote world peace, travelling with his companion Krishna Prasad Bhaharai.

Disabled Nepalese monk Chitra Poudel is on a mission to become the first monk to cycle around the world, spreading a message of peace and love.

Passing through Phnom Penh this week on the latest leg of his 32-country tour, he had to leave his bicycle behind in Thailand, because of strict Buddhist laws preventing monks from riding it in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

However, he’s been getting around Phnom Penh by tuk- tuk, while staying at pagodas.

“I want to give a message to the whole world, of peace and love for the whole world,” said the 27-year-old monk. He was struck by polio as a five-year-old, leaving him with a withered leg that’s prone to seizing up in cold weather.

“But I want to show that disabled people have courage, so I’m cycling during the summer months when it’s easier for me to move,” Chitra Pudel said. “In winter it’s hard because my leg gets very stiff in the cold.”

So far in Cambodia, where he arrived on Saturday, monks have welcomed him warmly, he said. Today he’s due to return to Thailand to pick up his bike and continue his journey through Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the Philippines, Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan.

From there he plans to fly to Kuwait in the Middle East and continue his arduous journey, helped only by his Nepalese companion Krishna Prasad Bhaharai.

“I’m also raising money to build a monastery and a home for older people in Nepal,” Chitra Poudel said. “At the end of my trip, I hope to hold an exhibition to show some photographs of the journey.”

This could take him until 2025, because in three years’ time he plans to train for an ascent of Mount Everest.

“I was the first disabled cyclist in Nepal in 2004, so I think I can climb Mount Everest if I do the proper training,” he said. He also hopes on his journey to promote next year’s Nepal Tourism Year.

Disability Rights North Carolina protests plan to build new Cherry State Hospital

From The Progressive Pulse:

RALEIGH, N.C. – One day before the ground breaking ceremony of the new Cherry State Hospital, Disability Rights North Carolina calls on Governor Perdue and the N.C. General Assembly to halt construction on the new Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro pending a thorough review of the need for this construction.

“The plan developed to build this facility is over 10 years old,” said Vicki Smith, executive director of Disability Rights NC. “Given the devastating cuts across the full continuum of mental health services triggered by the State’s economic crisis, proceeding with new construction of a large institution is fiscally irresponsible. More importantly, even if the state were in better budget times, is this new facility still a wise investment?”

Disability Rights NC believes this construction highlights the state’s institutional bias – that it is willing to spend more money on bricks and mortar than on more appropriate, community-based services for people with mental illness.

In light of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the U.S. Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision and the fact that the U.S. Department of Justice is already looking into North Carolina’s institutional bias and its continuing failure to provide community services, constructing a new hospital is particularly short-sighted, the agency’s director said.

“It is time for North Carolina to act progressively and maximize its resources to benefit the state and all its citizens. Putting our resources into community services rather than institutions will be more cost-effective and humane. North Carolina’s citizens deserve a better vision,” Smith said.

Smith believes that construction of the new hospital may jeopardize the state’s compliance with the American with Disabilities Act by focusing more resources on institutionally-based care than on community-based services.

“It is certainly contrary to the spirit and intent of the ADA and the Olmstead decision,” she said. “If people with mental illness receive the community services they need, it may entirely eliminate the need for hospitalization for many individuals.”

Smith warns that if the new Cherry Hospital is built, her agency will be carefully watching the new hospital’s services. “If the hospital cannot find appropriate staff, and if it does not provide appropriate, evidence-based treatment, we will take action,” she said.

Smith said the state should take the time to fully explore and
answer the following questions before proceeding with any new construction:

-- Would the hospital be necessary if the state had adequate community-based services?

-- If additional hospital-based beds are found to be necessary, what type of beds is needed – adult acute care, adult long term care, forensics (for those involved in the criminal justice system), etc.?

-- Given the history of problems the state faced when building Central Regional Hospital, including significant needs for retrofitting the building prior to admitting patients to ensure a safe and therapeutic environment, what assurance can the state give the public that there will not be similar problems with the proposed construction at Cherry?

-- Will the state be able to staff the new hospital adequately? There is a long-standing history of difficulty in staffing the current Cherry Hospital.

-- How will the construction of a new building address the hospital’s long and troubled history of abuse and neglect of patients?

-- Should the state consider moving any new construction to a setting more conducive to attracting qualified staff, such as Greenville, which has a medical school?

In Australia, disability groups upset with new train policy that requires wheelchair users to sit in area without shelter, safety lighting

From The Daily Telegraph in Australia:

A rail operator wants commuters in wheelchairs to wave a "high-visibility" card to warn train guards they need a boarding ramp.

Disability groups are outraged that wheelchair-bound passengers in Sydney will now have to wait towards the end of the train platform - without shelter or safety lighting - in a so-called BAZ area (boarding assistant zone).

RailCorp said it was to accommodate its new $2 billion Waratah trains, because guards were positioned in the back carriage instead of the current location in the middle.

However, there was widespread confusion as to why every platform was now being reconfigured given just one of the 78 new trains will be delivered by the end of this year and just two more by March 2011.

"I was part of the consultation process two years ago and at that time I felt like we were not being consulted," Physical Disability Council of NSW policy officer Jordana Goodman said.

"We were told that the train was being built and that we would have to make the best of what we have."

She said the notion of having to wave a card was ridiculous: "I'm sitting down, so it will be quite hard to be noticed if the platform is busy when there are people standing all around me.

"When on the train I am reliant on the guard getting off at the station and positioning the ramp, so this is going to make it difficult too."

RailCorp station managers were also concerned. "They'll be left in the rain, in the hot sun - this is wrong and we are concerned," one station manager told The Daily Telegraph yesterday.

RailCorp said it was "improving procedures" to assist people with a disability.

"Under the changes, consistent locations for wheelchair-bound passengers will be marked on every platform, aligned with carriage six," a spokesman said.

Almost 25% of people in Mexico have a mental illness

From the Latin American Herald Tribune:

MEXICO CITY – Nearly a quarter of Mexico’s 107 million people suffer from some kind of mental illness, and some 3 million of them have serious afflictions like schizophrenia that require hospitalization, neuropsychiatrist Jesus Ramirez Bermudez told Efe.

“The numbers are very big, almost a fourth of the population. About 25 percent have some problem, possibly severe addictions, depression, anxiety or something else,” Ramirez said while commenting on his recent book, “Brief Clinical Dictionary of the Psyche,” published this year by Random House Mondadori.

Ramirez, head of the Neurophychiatry Unit of the National Neurology and Neurosurgery Institute, said in an interview with Efe that patients with the most dramatic mental disorders need specialized attention.

“Generally schizophrenia and bipolar syndrome are found in 2-3 percent (of the population), which means 2 to 3 million Mexicans,” he said.

“The biggest problems are obsessive-compulsive disorders, anxiety disorders like phobias, panic attacks and posttraumatic stress caused by episodes of violence,” Ramirez said.

The specialist said that many of these problems spring from social conditions like poverty and violence.

Ramirez cited figures from the World Health Organization indicating that in the 1980s and ‘90s, the suicide rate increased by up to 70 percent in Mexico.

He also said that “in Mexico the health-care budget is low, but for mental health it is less than 1 percent (of the total) and is entirely insufficient.”

Schizophrenia, he said, is a chronic mental illness in which there is a distortion of reality – the person suffers delirium, and situations that may seem ridiculous to us are real for the patient and can lead to dramatic consequences.

He recalled the case of a person convinced that he had a demon inside his body and stabbed himself in the abdomen to get it out.

In past decades such disorders as personality changes occurred from an illness called neurosyphilis.

He once had a patient who complained of a sore back and said he was Atlas and that his mission was to carry the world on his shoulders, which was why “he had his back broken in pieces.”

Ramirez said that each clinical case is unique and all of them cannot be measured with the same ruler – “they need unique questions and unusual answers.”

In his book he includes cases of diverse illnesses such as multiple-personality disorder, delirium, grief, schizophrenia, manias, depression, paranoia and psychosis.

The specialist said that while the brain has a biochemical language, there are emotional elements that can distort its way of functioning.

He told of a woman with a dangerous brain tumor that stimulated pleasure centers in her brain, so that she was always happy and in a good mood.

After the malignant brain tissue was excised, the woman lost her senses of smell and taste and also her interest in sex, all of which plunged her into a state of gloom.

Ramirez said it’s not enough to know how the brain works, it is also necessary to observe the personality, and added that medicines are useful but by no means the complete answer.

With regard to politicians, he said that while they are people who can have personality disorders like narcissism, antisocial behavior, split personalities, obsessive-compulsive disorder and more, it is not possible to diagnose them from what they say.

“I have had the occasion of treating people with those problems and who are in positions where they must make important decisions,” he said, and added that this is reflected in their style of governing.

On another topic, he acknowledged that while among Mexico’s numerous spiritualists, witches and wizards there are many charlatans who manipulate the faith of others, some of them could be authentic mystics suffering from delirium and hallucinations.

Novartis AG's new MS drug will cost $4,000 a month

From Bloomberg News:

Novartis AG’s multiple sclerosis pill Gilenya will cost $4,000 a month in the U.S., according to a company spokesman.

Novartis has set a wholesale price at about $48,000 annually, Eric Althoff, a spokesman for the Basel, Switzerland- based company, said by e-mail. The company has programs to help patients with the cost of the drug, he said.

Gilenya, the first multiple sclerosis pill on the U.S. market, will be more expensive than injectable competitors such as Biogen Idec Inc.’s Avonex, Merck KGaA’s Rebif and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.’s Copaxone, which cost between about $2,800 and $3,200, for a standard month’s supply, according to the Web site destinationrx.com.

“Gilenya pricing is based on the value it will deliver patients, the scientific innovation it represents and our investment in studies to support the product,” Althoff said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Gilenya on Sept. 22.

UC-San Francisco building $200 million neuroscience center

From the San Francisco Business Times:

Innovative neuroscience research will follow innovative financing of UCSF’s $200 million neuroscience center.

Construction on the five-story, 237,000-square-foot building began in May and will be completed in April 2012, said Michael Bade, UCSF interim assistant vice chancellor for capital programs and campus architect. It eventually will house 150 investigators looking at treatments, devices and diagnostics for diseases ranging from multiple sclerosis to Alzheimer’s disease.

In all, more than 600 UCSF employees will be housed in the building that Steve Hauser, chair of UCSF’s neurology department, has said will be a meeting place for research, patients and technology.

The building jumped ahead of others on the development plan for the Mission Bay campus after a nonprofit group leased the land from the University of California. That allowed for unique financing. The public California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank sold bonds, the proceeds from which were funneled through the nonprofit to private developer Edgemoor/McCarthy Cook Partners LLC.

When Clark Construction Co. is finished with the building, Edgemoor/McCarthy Cook, which is subleasing the parcel from the nonprofit group, will lease the structure to the UC. The rent over 30 years will pay principal and interest on the bonds.

Edgemoor/McCarthy Cook was set up by Edgemoor Real Estate Services and McCarthy Cook & Co.

But the buck doesn’t stop there. Many of the new researchers that Hauser and UCSF hope to bring into the building will be funded by a $55 million endowment coming out of a $150 million fund-raising campaign.

New novel from bestselling author of "Riding the Bus with My Sister" will focus on characters with disabilities

From Rachel Simon:

THE STORY OF BEAUTIFUL GIRL
By Rachel Simon
Coming out from Grand Central Publishing in May 2011

An unforgettably moving love story about the improbable odds faced by a couple with disabilities and a lost child—from the author of the bestseller Riding the Bus with My Sister.

It is 1968. Lynnie, a young white woman with a developmental disability, and Homan, an African American deaf man, are locked away in an institution, the School for the Incurable and Feebleminded, and have been left to languish, forgotten. Deeply in love, they escape, and find refuge in the farmhouse of Martha, a retired schoolteacher and widow. But the couple is not alone—Lynnie has just given birth to a baby girl. When the authorities catch up to them that same night, Homan escapes into the darkness, and Lynnie is caught. But before she is forced back into the institution, she whispers two words to Martha: “Hide her.” And so begins the 40-year epic journey of Lynnie, Homan, Martha, and baby Julia-lives divided by seemingly insurmountable obstacles, yet drawn together by a secret pact-and extraordinary love.

Rachel Simon’s previous book, the bestseller Riding the Bus with My Sister (Houghton Mifflin, 2002; paperback with Plume, 2003), is a memoir about her year riding city buses with her developmentally disabled sister. Adapted for a 2005 Hallmark Hall of Fame movie starring Rosie O’Donnell and Andie MacDowell, it is a seminal book in the disability community.

Rachel Simon is also the author of the critically acclaimed The House on Teacher’s Lane (Plume, 2010) and The Magic Touch (Viking, 1994), as well as a book for writers, The Writer’s Survival Guide (Story Press, 1997), and a collection of short stories, Little Nightmares, Little Dreams (Houghton Mifflin, 1990). Rachel Simon, who used to teach creative writing at a number of universities, now writes full-time. She also does professional speaking about issues of importance in the disability community. She lives in Delaware.

Japan undertakes first major revision of "Nihongo — Shuwa Jiten," Japanese Sign Language Dictionary

From The Japan Times:

KYOTO, Japan — Around 1.2 million people are estimated to use sign language in Japan. While they have to deal with new words and phrases that are constantly emerging in fields such as information technology, many also say they have difficulty expressing subtle nuances peculiar to Japanese.

To address these issues, the first major revision in over a decade to a sign language dictionary is under way, aiming to make sign language easier to understand and use.

University professors, former teachers at schools for the deaf and others gathered in June at a sign language training institute in Kyoto to discuss a wholesale revision of "Nihongo — Shuwa Jiten" ("Japanese Sign Language Dictionary"), a work compiled in 1997 that lists words and phrases along with sample sentences that are useful in conversation.

At the meeting they tackled issues such as how to use sign language to express the phrase "futokoro ga itamu," a rough equivalent to "hit someone in the pocketbook" in English.

"Futokoro ga itamu" means cash in hand is getting scarce. A "futokoro" is an inside breast pocket where a wallet can be placed, while "itamu" denotes "hurt." The Japanese expression also conveys the nuance that one is in pain because of mounting expenditures.

One expert ventured, "How about pointing with a finger to the chest (futokoro) and then waving a hand to express being in pain (itamu)."

"That would just mean 'the chest hurts,' " replied another.

"Or better yet, why don't we just adopt a gesture for throwing money away," another person suggested.

Even though the topic was debated for hours, the participants, all members of the Japan Institute for Sign Language Studies in Kyoto, could not reach a conclusion.

"Just lining up words could run the risk of producing a completely different meaning," said Akihiko Yonekawa, supervising editor of the dictionary who teaches at Baika Women's University in Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture.

How sign language originated in Japan remains a mystery. Some say it was derived from hearing and watching the impaired using gestures, while others say signs were created as a tool for instruction at schools for the deaf.

Like spoken languages, sign languages vary depending on countries or regions.

In Japan, a school for the blind and hearing impaired was first established in 1878 in Kyoto, using sign language for instruction. Thereafter, a number of organizations were set up around the country for the hearing impaired and for those wishing to learn the language.

In 1969, the Japanese Federation of the Deaf in Tokyo published a lexicon called "Watashitachi no Shuwa" ("Our Sign Language"), the first attempt to catalog common sign language expressions used nationwide. Some people, however, were puzzled by the use of certain words that have a wide range of meanings, such as "nomu," a verb meaning literally "to drink" but which is also used to mean taking medicine or catching one's breath.

Next spring, the Japan Institute for Sign Language Studies is planning to publish a revised edition of its dictionary that contains 6,000 words and more than 10,000 sample sentences, which around 20 percent more entries than the 1997 edition, according to editors.

Report: IRS ignores most calls from hearing- or speech-impaired people

From The AP:

Fewer than one in 10 callers managed to get help during tax season when they called an Internal Revenue Service help line for people with speech or hearing impairments, a government investigator said Sept. 30.

Overall phone service by the IRS improved during the 2010 tax season, said a report by J. Russell George, Treasury inspector general for tax administration. But phone service for speech- or hearing-impaired callers declined.

More than 350,000 people called the IRS help line for people with speech or hearing impairments during tax season. The overwhelming majority hung up almost immediately - the IRS says many probably called the line for people with hearing or speech impairments by mistake.

Some 3,844 stayed on the line to wait for assistance. Of those, 339 - or 8.8 percent - actually reached a real person, the report said.

That's down from last year, when 14.4 percent were served.

"Our report found that far too few hearing- and speech-impaired taxpayers successfully reached an IRS assistor," George said. "The IRS must do a better job of ensuring that all Americans have equal access to its services."

The IRS said it offers many services for taxpayers with speech or hearing impairments, including a website that provides pages of information addressing many taxpayer issues. Online services include an American Sign Language channel on YouTube.

The agency's toll-free help line for people with speech or hearing impairments requires callers to have a telecommunications device with a keyboard that allows them to type their conversations and read the reply on a display screen.

In a written response to George's report, the IRS said the number of callers not getting help is inflated because many people mistakenly call the help line and hang up once they realize it is for people with hearing or speech impairments. Nevertheless, the agency said it plans to improve its services for 2011.

The IRS has been working for years to provide more alternatives for all taxpayers seeking help, with regular updates on the IRS website as new tax issues arise. Still, millions of taxpayers call the IRS each year, looking for help or information about their taxes.

This year, the agency's toll-free help line received a total of 72 million calls during tax season, down from nearly 76 million in 2009.

A little more than 75 percent of the callers got help this year, the report said. That's up from 64 percent in 2009.

Wait times, however, increased, from a little less than 9 minutes last year to a little less than 10 minutes this year.

Disability advocates protest legalizing assisted suicide in Scotland

From The Christian Institute:

Disability campaigners have warned that a controversial bill which would legalise assisted suicide in Scotland discriminates against disabled people.

Margo MacDonald’s End of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill would allow the terminally ill and the physically incapacitated to seek assistance in ending their lives.

Earlier this week members of Inclusion Scotland, a group which campaigns on behalf of disabled people, held a protest outside Holyrood as a special committee met to scrutinise the Bill.

Protester Catherine Garrod, a disability support worker, said: “I think it is offering assisted suicide to disabled people but a non-disabled person who was suicidal would be given counselling.”

And Dr Colin Cameron, a disability equality trainer, said: “We need to provide support for disabled people to live on their own terms, not providing support for them to die.”

These sentiments were echoed by a number of groups who gave evidence before MSPs on Tuesday.

Pam Duncan, a board member of Inclusion Scotland, cautioned: “I genuinely believe that as a parliament we have a responsibility to make life a better choice than death.”

And John Deighan, parliamentary officer for the Roman Catholic Bishops Conference of Scotland, cautioned that legalising assisted suicide would lead to it becoming increasingly prevalent in society.

He said: “It has widened in the Netherlands, we’ve seen it go from terminally ill to chronically ill, to people who are competent to people who are incompetent, to children, so safeguards simply will not work.”

However Margo MacDonald, the independent MSP responsible for the Bill, dismissed the protest, saying: “The Bill has nothing whatsoever to do with disabled people, and I think it is absolutely disgraceful that such vulnerable people should have been used here today.”

Earlier this month Mrs MacDonald indicated that she was prepared to drop the disability clause from the bill.

Sarah Wootton, chief executive of the pro-euthanasia campaign group Dignity in Dying, told MSPs that the Bill would simply regulate a practice which already exists.

She said: “This is going on anyway, there is no doubt about that, there is voluntary euthanasia and non-voluntary euthanasia in every country of the world.”

Assisted suicide is currently illegal in Scotland and anyone involved in assisting suicide may be charged with culpable homicide.

Last week Dr Tony Calland, Chair of the BMA’s Medical Ethics Committee warned against the Bill.

He cautioned: “Once you’ve crossed the rubicon of changing the law to allow premeditated hastening of the death of another person, you can never go back.”

Dr Calland also said that if legislation allowing assisted suicide was passed it would inevitably “creep” into other areas.

Earlier this month Elaine Stevens, from the Independent Association of Nurses in Palliative Care, asked: “Does Scotland really want to be recognised as a ‘death tourism’ destination?”

She also warned that people would register with doctors who took part in the scheme, even if they didn’t live in the area.

In June over 14,000 people signed a Care not Killing petition against the Bill.

Disabled actor from EastEnders sails into new role

From Cambs Times in the UK:

Former EastEnders actor David Proud, from Whittlesey, will take to the seas next Friday as part of BBC series Inside Out.

David, 27, who has spina bifida and uses a wheelchair, will board the tall ship Tenacious where he and his friend, Jason Cook, will be filming a personal diary of their week-long sea adventure which sails from London’s West India Dock.

Until recently, David played the role of Adam Best in EastEnders, and was the first adult actor with a visible disability to star on the soap.

This is his second opportunity to sail with the Jubilee Sailing Trust (JST), which has the only two tall ships in the world that have been specially designed to enable a crew of mixed abilities to participate in the sailing experience.

“Sailing with the JST is a trip of a lifetime”, David said: “It’s hugely important that as many disabled people as possible know about the adventures the JST offers.

“All of the staff at the JST work incredibly hard to make each trip an unforgettable experience.

“I am delighted to be joining them again and cannot wait to get on board.”

David will join a unique crew of mixed abilities and ages, all of whom will have the opportunity to steer the ship, pull on ropes, and rise 125ft above the waves from a platform on a mast, as the Tenacious visits an overseas port and returns to Southampton on Friday October 15.

He also hopes this trip will raise awareness for Peterborough based charity Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus (ASBAH), which he recently became patron of.

ASBAH is Europe’s largest organisation dedication to supporting individuals and families as they face challenges arising from spina bifida and hydrocephalus.

The first time David sailed with the JST was eight years ago as part of holiday programme Wish You Were Here.

United Spinal Association acquires New Mobility magazine

From PRNewswire:

ORLANDO, Fla. -- United Spinal Association announced Oct. 1 the acquisition of New Mobility magazine, leveraging capabilities of both organizations to improve the lives of people with disabilities nationwide.

The organizations will retain their individual names and United Spinal Association will continue the publication of New Mobility uninterrupted.

United Spinal Association, a national nonprofit and pioneer in the disability rights movement with more than 60 years of experience, advocates for people with disabilities by removing the medical, legal, architectural, and attitudinal barriers confronting many in their daily lives.

Paul J. Tobin, president and CEO of United Spinal Association said, "United Spinal and New Mobility share a legacy and vision to improve the lives of people with disabilities and mobility impairments. By integrating talents and areas of expertise, we can promote unprecedented access to information, resources and opportunity."

New Mobility magazine is recognized nationally as the premier lifestyle publication for active wheelchair users. For 20 years it has offered information and personal stories that encourage readers to participate in all areas of life, take charge of their health, seek assistive technology and assert legal rights.

New Mobility publisher Jeff Leonard said, "New Mobility will continue to break stereotypes with contemporary images and stories. United Spinal will continue to remove barriers in society and organize positive change. We will simply be in a better position to support each other's efforts."

The acquisition will be formally announced Friday afternoon at a special reception during United Spinal's Independence Expo, at the Buena Vista Palace Hotel and Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. The Expo, which continues through Saturday, Oct. 2, is designed to promote active living and independence for all people with disabilities and aging Americans.

United Spinal Association and New Mobility have been collaborating for years on issues that affect the wheelchair community, such as improved access to power wheelchairs, lightweight manual wheelchairs, seating systems and other assistive technologies that facilitate an active, community-integrated lifestyle.

About United Spinal Association

United Spinal is a national 501(c) (3) nonprofit membership organization formed in 1946 by paralyzed veterans and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for all Americans with spinal cord injuries and disorders (SCI/D), including multiple sclerosis, spina bifida, ALS and post-polio. It played a significant role in writing the Americans with Disabilities Act, and made important contributions to the Fair Housing Amendments Act and the Air Carrier Access Act. Membership is free and is open to all individuals with SCI/D. United Spinal was instrumental in getting New York City to create sidewalk curb ramps and accessible public transportation that has been used as a model for many United States cities.

About New Mobility

New Mobility is a colorful lifestyle magazine for active wheelchair users seeking full participation in all that life has to offer — education, work, relationships, sex, parenting, home, media, recreation, travel and more. Through contemporary images, journalism and personal stories, NM also explores the latest news in healthy living, assistive technology and legal rights. Rooted in disability culture but committed to societal integration, the magazine recently changed its tagline from "life on wheels" to "life beyond wheels."