Dad's blog post about Target ad with his son with Down syndrome makes ABC news.

From ABC News:

A recent Target ad featuring a child model with Down syndrome is helping one dad blogger raise awareness about the chromosomal condition.

This week, Rick Smith praised it on his blog, NoahsDad.com, which tells the story of the Smith’s life with his son Noah, who has Down syndrome.

Smith gratefully described how Target had included someone with a disability without making a big deal about it.

The story of the Target ad as well as Smith’s post has gone viral, spreading through the media and resulting in the post receiving more than 16,000 Facebook likes, more than 3,000 tweets and 261 comments, Smith said.

Spreading along with it is the core message of NoahsDad.com: “Down Syndrome is OK.” Everything is fine with Noah. Advertisers and TV shows like “Glee” are getting it, and — perhaps most important to Smith — so are parents.

In a section on the blog titled “Our Story,” Smith reveals how he himself absorbed that message. After the shock and confused sorrow following the news about Noah, Smith, a self-described “tech guy,” went online to learn what his life would be like.

“The videos were all so weird and sappy,” he said. ”People need to know it’s not this sad thing,” Smith said he told himself.

Smith bought the Apple video-editing program Final Cut Pro and with his iPhone as a camera, started shooting one one-minute video of Noah each day.

Sometime in May, NoahsDad.com was born.

“It took off like crazy, with people all over the world, on pretty much every continent,” Smith said.

In one third-world village, Smith said fans used video of Noah’s physical therapy as a guide for giving therapy to people with Down syndrome, because they didn’t have access to it themselves.

Another blog visitor, who was preparing for the likelihood of having a Down syndrome child, wrote to Smith to say he watched Smith’s videos every night with members of his family to learn and take comfort.

Most of the blog’s content is simply Rick Smith’s accessible, funny descriptions of the one-minute videos showing everyday life with Noah.

“Fear is very crippling,” Rick Smith said. “If we can just show you what life can be like, take away that fear for you, you can have courage.”

Smith said that “90 percent or 92 percent, depending on the study” of parents who learn through prenatal screening that they have a relatively high chance of having a child with Down Syndrome abort the pregnancy.

A new blood test, less invasive and risky than amniocentesis, makes it easier than ever to screen for Down syndrome, he said.

“Unapologetically, one of the main purposes of the blog is to encourage these parents to follow through with the pregnancy,” Smith said.

“I’m not yelling or picketing outside an abortion clinic,” he added. “I’m more creative. I believe in the power of story, of inviting people into our story.”

NoahsDad.com integrates Smith’s life and faith with his strong interest in social media. A self-described “early adopter,” Smith was one of the first people on Twitter, he said.

“God has given us these tools to reach people,” he said. “How can we use them to further good in the world?”

He recently blogged about a couple featured recently on ABC World News who adopted a girl from Ukraine, where Down syndrome children were found living in adult mental institutions.

“They’re treated like outcasts,” Smith said. “Families are embarrassed by them. It’s so heartbreaking.”

Ireland's first arts festival dedicated to promoting mental-health awareness opens in Dublin

From The Irish Times:

The country's first arts festival dedicated to promoting mental-health awareness has opened in Dublin with a wide range of music, film, theatre and more promised over the next two weeks.

A number of specially commissioned art works have been created to coincide with the start of First Fortnight 2012, which takes place in and around Temple Bar.

The festival is being staged in association with See Change, a Government-backed initiative that seeks to challenge discrimination on mental health issues, and is sponsored by the Ticket .

Among the highlights of the festival programme is a concert with Cashier No 9, Le Galaxie and Royseven, whose single We Should Be Lovers was the most-played Irish single on radio here last year.

Other highlights include a series of new short films from directors such as Hugh O'Connor and Mary Redmond, a number of visual art and photography exhibitions and two performances of 565+ , a play which tells the story of how one woman sought solace in the theatre when struggling with depression.

The two-week festival programme begins tonight with the first of three 'Therapy Sessions’ which feature a mix of poetry and spoken word performances accompanied by live music from acts including the Delorentos and We Cut Corners.

First Fortnight is a volunteer-based project which began with a one-day event in 2010. The project is so named because the first two weeks of the year is a period that is generally perceived to be a particularly difficult time for those suffering from depression or suicidal thoughts.

The project's founder JP Swaine said he was hopeful the festival's programme would entice people to come along and take part.

"We hope people come to First Fortnight because this is a genuinely high-quality programme of arts events. That way we hope they will go into the year ahead touched by a really strong message about reducing the stigma that surrounds mental health and hopefully go forward with some confidence into 2012 to be the change they want to see,” he said.

A showing of the acclaimed documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston will take place at the IFI on Saturday as part of the festival. Johnson, a musician and artist, who has had an ongoing struggle with manic depression, has shown his support for the event by making one of his artworks available for use as a limited-edition once-off festival T-shirt.

Almost one-quarter of Irish people have personal experience of mental illness or a suicide in their peer group, according to the recently published Global Health Survey 2011. However, many individuals experience widespread prejudice with an Amnesty Ireland survey showing that 95 per cent of people who have mental health problems said they have been treated unfairly because of their condition.

See Change campaign manager Kahlil Thompson-Coyle said she was hopeful the festival would become a regular event.

"We're hoping that we can make the first two weeks of the year synonymous with breaking down the stigma associated with mental health problems and show that it's okay to not be okay sometimes."

CBeebies presenter Cerrie Burnell on breaking down barriers for disabled TV talent in Britain

From the Manchester Evening News in the UK:

Cerrie Burnell (pictured) doesn’t see herself as a role model. As one of the most high-profile disabled TV presenters in the UK, the term is often attached to her by others. But the 32-year-old says: "Anyone who works at CBeebies is seen as a role model by the children who watch it and their parents.

"It’s such a big word. I don’t see myself as a role model. But I like to think I am a sign it is possible."

And what she has proved is possible is for a disabled person to be accepted, adored even, by a broad television audience. In a world where those with disabilities are often discriminated against, ignored and neglected, Cerrie has thrived by being herself.

Born with her lower arm missing, this hasn’t prevented her from becoming one of the most popular personalities on children’s TV. Given the distinct lack of disabled people in the media, it is a notable achievement. hence the role model tag.

"I’ve been very lucky to have been given this opportunity," she says, modestly. "I’m very grateful for it. I’m very happy to be the person who is breaking down barriers."

And just how big those barriers she is smashing are was demonstrated when Cerrie first appeared on

CBeebies in 2009. The reaction from most viewers was positive but some parents complained their children were upset by the sight of the new, one-armed presenter. There was a flurry of emails objecting to her presence and one viewer left an online rant charmingly stating their child was "freaked out" by her appearance.

In the face of such hostility, Cerrie displayed a calmness and inner strength that perhaps she has developed throughout a lifetime of being subjected to stares and comments from strangers.

Today, three years on from her on-screen début, she plays down the reaction and underlines it was a minority who objected. "The BBC received nine complaints," she says, matter-of-factly. "If people are uncomfortable, it comes from naivety. They haven’t been exposed to someone with a disability before.

"If I’ve ever encountered that kind of reaction in my life I’ve found the best thing is to sit down and explain to the person about my disability and let them ask questions."

Now it is hard to imagine anyone objecting to her. She’s a fixture on CBeebies, and for good reason.

Pretty and petite, with wide eyes, and a warm and gentle manner, Cerrie radiates an innocent charm, making her perhaps the perfect presenter for CBeebies, the most popular channel for kids under six years old.

And the reaction from young viewers has been predictably positive. "I think children are very accepting. When they see me on TV I don’t think they see my arm. Other things catch their attention. They might think, ‘Oh she’s wearing a pink jumper’.

"Whenever I see children all they want to talk about is Mr Tumble or Iggle Piggle (both well known CBeebies characters). Or, at the moment, when I see children they get very excited that I’m in Manchester."

Cerrie, along with her three-year -old daughter, Amelie, has been living in the north west for two months. The moved followed the BBC’s decision to relocate its children’s TV departments north, to Salford.

Unlike some famous talent, and some of the corporation’s executives, Cerrie has rejected the idea of commuting each week, and moved out of the south east and set up home in south Manchester. "I’ve become hardened to rain since I’ve lived here," she laughs.

Having a young child means Cerrie not only works at CBeebies but also spends a considerable amount of time watching it. "I think my daughter is bored by seeing me on telly. She has grown up with it. She’s met everybody at CBeebies. I think she believes everyone works in TV."

Cerrie says working at the channel is "as fun as it looks". "It is a diverse place. All telly should be like it. It’s important to reflect the country."

In conversation, she is reflective, eloquent and polite. The warmth, familiar from her on-screen persona, is present but her sunny disposition can’t conceal a streak of steel. Here is someone who has evidently acquired the toughness to overcome the obstacles life has thrown at her.

An example of that steel is the decision she made, aged just nine, to never wear a prosthetic arm again, having been forced to wear one during her early years.

In later life, warnings from drama tutors that she’d struggle to find roles if she didn’t disguise her arm fell on determinedly deaf ears.

Understandably, she is outspoken when it comes to the visibility of disabled people.

"There aren’t enough disabled presenters or actors. There aren’t enough disabled people in the media. People need to open their doors. It’s better than it used to be, but there is still a lot of room for improvement.

"It’s similar to 25 years ago when there were lots of black and Asian actors struggling to get work.

"Thankfully that situation has improved. Disability is the last diversity to go through that process."

So she’s backing a BBC scheme to uncover new disabled presenting talent.

PresentAble is a training programme for disabled people, designed to develop their on-screen careers.

"I think it is a positive thing," says Cerrie. "And it is necessary."

There are few disabled presenters with her profile. This scheme will seek to address that. Cerrie hopes talent can be judged on merit. But some suggest she herself has benefited from a form of quota-filling.

Does she think she got the job because the BBC wanted to demonstrate its equal opportunities credentials?



"But even if the brief had been to find a disabled person I would have been happy with that. In this industry, casting can be your way in. That’s how it works."

It’s a typically pragmatic approach from a woman determined not to be defined by her disability.

She may not see it herself, but there’s no denying Cerrie is a role model, for all of us.

Florida parents seek help from special-education advocates

from the Orlando Sentinel. In the picture, Heidi Handley plays with her son Adam, who has Asperger's.

Tavious Diamond, 9, knows he's missing out on events such as Field Day and subjects such as art because he's in special-education classes at his elementary school. His mother, Jennifer, is sure he would do better in reading if he were moved into regular classes.

But she has felt so stymied trying to convince his school that she hired a special-education advocate.

"I'm furious," said the Altamonte Springs mother of three, who has hired Deltona advocate Jamison Jessup. "I thought the school system was going to do everything they could do. They failed my son."

Diamond is one of a growing number of parents in Central Florida and across the country who are paying advocates or lawyers to help them navigate the complex world of special-education services.

Federal law requires public schools to provide a "free, appropriate public education" to disabled children in the least restrictive possible setting. It also requires parents to be involved in placement decisions.

Most parents don't hire outside help. But those who do say they think the schools aren't listening to them.

"Parents are extremely frustrated," said Mark Kamleiter a St. Petersburg-based attorney who has focused on special education statewide since 1996. Kamleiter, a former special-education teacher, said he has seen the number of advocates and attorneys who focus on special education spike in recent years.

"Parents are discovering they have rights," he said.

Advocates, who are not lawyers and do not need special certification, help parents learn what choices they have in their child's education. They sit in on school meetings to develop or change the Individualized Education Program legally required for each disabled child. Some advocates also help parents file due-process claims in state court when they think the law is being violated.

Many, such as Orlando advocate Pam Lindemann started out advocating for their own children.

Lindemann and Jessup, who both advocate full time, charge $75 to $100 an hour, though they also offer a sliding scale. A lawyer can cost three times as much. Many other local advocates are volunteers or work part time, and some don't charge at all.

Exact numbers of advocates are not available, but Kamleiter said they outnumber the about two dozen Florida attorneys who focus exclusively on special-education law.

Lynda Langa, a special-education director with Orange County schools, said she has seen an increase in the number of paid advocates in the past few years, though the district also contracts with three "ambassadors" who help parents work through the special-education process.

"There can honestly be a breakdown between a school and parent," Langa said. "If they feel they are not strong enough by themselves, they have every right to bring someone in who can negotiate or speak education language."

But there can be real disagreement about what placement is best for a child. And Langa said advocates who refuse to compromise, or come in with a litigious mind-set, don't help.

Advocates say most educators want what's best for the children. But they may not know the law or think they can't offer special equipment or individualized help for financial reasons. But each advocate also has stories of hostile principals or school staff who resented their presence.

"I used to believe they're out to screw parents. That's not the case. It's the system," said Lindemann, whose daughter, now 15, has cerebral palsy. She said she wished parents didn't need the help, but "there's a huge need." Lindemann has also trained about 60 people to serve as advocates in the past three years.

One of her clients, Heidi Haines Handley, called Lindemann her "personal hero."

"If you have never been to an IEP meeting, you have no idea how intimidating that they can be, even for a very confident person," Handley said. "Everyone should have an advocate to go with them."

Handley said Lindemann helped her change her son Adam's placement, and ultimately his school. He has Asperger's syndrome, an autism-spectrum disorder.

Jessup, of Deltona, branched out into full-time advocacy after working as a paralegal for a lawyer who took special-education cases. His wife is also a special-education teacher.

He said he often sees schools refusing to evaluate a child for special-education services. Other cases involve a child's placement, the type of help a child gets or difficulties when a parent wants to use a McKay Scholarship, a state program that pays for special-education students to attend private schools.

"You often hear parents aren't as involved as they should be," Jessup said. "My parents are. Just communicate with them."

Diamond, Tavious' mother, detailed years of frustration, starting when her son got in trouble for banging his fists on the desk and hiding under it in first grade. He has a brain malformation and was placed in a class for students with emotional problems.

"It makes me feel really bad because the class is not for normal kids," said Tavious, who no longer acts out, according to his mother. His class doesn't attend art, music and media classes as often as other students, and his mother said they were excluded from Field Day.

When it took summer school to get him reading last year, his mother decided she needed to get him into more-challenging classes in fourth grade.

Diamond said she's finally making headway with Jessup's help. Tavious recently started attending reading class, lunch and classes like art with his peers. His school also agreed to do new tests of his behavior.

"He's enthusiastic about doing the work and the homework," Diamond said of the new classes. "I will definitely never go to another IEP meeting without Mr. Jessup."

California teen uses specialized prosthetic for playing the violin

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

Make a list of the requirements for playing the violin, and the first few items are pretty obvious. Love of music, a good ear, dedication - check, check, check.

What about two good arms? Now that's where you want to be careful about jumping to conclusions.

Sophia Hummell confounds any glib assumptions about what is and isn't possible on the musical front. The spirited 18-year-old San Francisco native was born without a full right arm, but she's been playing the violin since the fourth grade.

She makes it look easy, too. The key is a specially designed prosthetic - what Hummell calls her "violin arm" - that attaches to the short stub of her arm with a suction device, while a mechanical grip on the other end is attached to the bow.

The result is an apparatus that has allowed Hummell to keep pace with her fiddling peers. She plays in string quartets and in the chamber orchestra of the Villa Sinfonia Foundation, a nonprofit run by violinists Lynn and Roy Oakley. With the orchestra, she's performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and played the national anthem for a Giants game, and just last month she was the soloist in one movement of a Vivaldi concerto at the orchestra's annual concert.

To spend any time with Hummell is to encounter a young woman who seems to simply breeze past whatever obstacles life may throw her way. Though she has a variety of prosthetic arms for different activities, she says she feels most at home without any of them - using one hand, along with the occasional teeth and toes, to negotiate the world.

She took to music as a first-grader at the San Francisco Waldorf School, where music is a required subject for all students. She began with the recorder, using a special English model playable with just one hand.

But by the fourth grade, inspired by a childhood friend, she had set her sights on the violin. So she consulted with James Caywood, an upper-extremity specialist with Hanger Prosthetics who had worked with Hummell since she was an infant.

"I told him what I wanted, and he said, 'Well, let's experiment,' " Hummell recalled. "You can't go to a store and try on a prosthetic like a shoe. Every one is custom made."

The first model was rudimentary, not much more than a long rod to attach to a violin bow. But over the years the two of them, working in conjunction with Hummell's violin teacher, Julie Smolin, have developed an increasingly sophisticated mechanism.

"I've had a number of children who wanted to play the violin," Caywood said. "And of course a lot of children start playing an instrument and then get tired and quit. But Sophia has been a wonderful kid, and she's kept with it.

"Now that she's become more of an aggressive player, we've had to specialize it just for her needs. We had to get the forearm piece to the proper length, and work on the attachment to hold the bow. It's been a long process to get to where she is right now."

Hummell also works with the San Francisco instrument maker and dealer Roland Feller to customize a range of bows for her use.

"At this point I have six bows," she said, "including a viola bow, a cello bow and a heavy violin bow. The cello bow is heavier, and it gives me more sound, so I used that for my solo. But it's harder to control. For orchestra playing I use a violin bow."

A senior at Oakland's Bayhill High School, Hummell is in the throes of the college application process. She's applying to a number of local colleges and universities ("I want to be able to come home on the weekends") and plans to study psychology so she can work counseling amputees.

Each summer she spends a week at Paddy Rossbach Youth Camp, a camp for teenage amputees from around the country.

"It's like any summer camp. We swim, canoe, play soccer and basketball - also wheelchair rugby. But we also have a mutual understanding because we're all amputees."

In many ways, the life of a one-armed violinist is like that of any other - there are scales and arpeggios to be practiced, music to memorize, dynamics and phrasing to settle on and internalize.

But there are unique aspects to it as well. The placement of the bow on the strings is harder to control, and pizzicato passages - the plucked notes that violinists execute with the bow hand - need to be done with the left hand.

On the other hand, Hummell says, she doesn't have to worry about the proper technique for holding the bow. There are screws to take care of that - which can cause problems of their own.

"Last year, right before we played at the Giants game, the bow holder got stripped and one of the metal pieces wouldn't work. I had to run all over the place trying to find a screwdriver.

"Now wherever I go, I carry all my screwdrivers with me, in case anything falls off. That's the bad thing about prosthetics - with your hand, at least you don't have to worry about parts suddenly falling off."

Quadriplegic undocumented immigrant dies In Mexico after being deported from his hospital bed in Chicago

From UPI:

CHICAGO -- A young man returned to Mexico by a Chicago-area hospital after a construction injury that paralyzed him from the neck down has died, officials say.

Advocates say Quelino Ojeda Jimenez, 21, (pictured) spent months in a small hospital in Mexico that did not have the facilities to care for a quadriplegic, the Chicago Tribune reported. He was transferred to the General Hospital of Juchitan a month before he died on New Year's Day, Jeromino Ramirez Luis, the new hospital's medical director, said.

"He never even made it to his home," said Jesus Vargas, a friend in Chicago. "He was always in the hospital stuck to the machine that helped him breathe."

Ojeda, who was working illegally in the United States, was treated at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Ill., after a 20-foot fall paralyzed him. The hospital transferred him to Mexico three days before Christmas in 2010.

He told the Tribune in an interview last year that he did not want the transfer but was unable to speak as he was being wheeled to an air ambulance.

“The Movement: One Man Joins an Uprising,” which focuses on 5 disabled athletes who have regained sense of freedom through skiing, official selection of 2012 Sundance Film Festival

From The Aspen Times in Colorado:

ASPEN — The 2012 Sundance Film Festival announced a documentary partially shot in Aspen as an official selection.

“The Movement: One Man Joins an Uprising,” which Kurt Miller of Boulder produced and co-directed, focuses on five disabled athletes who have regained a sense of freedom through skiing. Actor-director-producer Robert Redford and Miller's father, Warren — renowned maker of skiing films — provide the narration for the 41-minute movie, which is among 64 entries in this year's Short Film competition.

Redford is the founder and president of the annual Sundance film festival based in Park City, Utah. In all, Park City, Salt Lake City and Sundance Resort will offer five screenings of “The Movement.” The festival runs from Jan. 19 through Jan. 29.

In a trailer, Redford's distinctive voice introduces the film's theme before featuring interviews with Rick Finkelstein, a Hollywood executive paralyzed from the waist down after a skiing accident seven years ago on Aspen Mountain. The trailer is available at www.imdb.com/title/tt2054819/.

“This is the story of movement,” Redford says in the clip. “It's about finding that turning point when physical disability is no longer a limitation but a part of your character. … Like most movements, this one began with a crystallizing event.”

In the movie, Finkelstein discusses his December 2004 accident at Kleenex Corner, an intermediate trail on Ajax. Audio recordings from emergency responders describe the incident as a “skier-versus-tree” event in the movie.

Finkelstein, vice chairman and chief operating officer for Universal Pictures, considered himself a veteran skier when he flew off a precipice at high speed and crashed into some trees. He collapsed both lungs, severed his spine and suffered internal injuries. He was initially hospitalized at St. Mary's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Grand Junction.

Six years, nine surgeries and countless rehabilitation sessions later, Kurt Miller's cameras captured Finkelstein's dramatic return to Kleenex Corner. There also was an interview at the Sundeck restaurant.

Finkelstein spent four days at Snowmass learning how to monoski with Challenge Aspen instructors Ryan Latham and Nicole Marx. Marx said Wednesday that she plans to attend one or more of the screenings at Sundance. She said Latham has more speaking parts in the movie because he shared an offbeat friendship with Finkelstein.

Finkelstein, who sold his Aspen home after the accident, told The Aspen Times a year ago that he enjoyed skiing again and working with Miller on the documentary. With the monoski, “You get the same sensation of speed,” he said.

The film premiered in Denver in November and made the rounds through a few cities in 2011. It has yet to screen locally, but Challenge Aspen plans to show it in March as part of a benefit. The venue, date and time have yet to be decided.

Miller was not available for comment Wednesday, but said in December 2010 that he planned to donate proceeds from the movie to nonprofit organizations that specialize in recreational opportunities for people with disabilities, including Challenge Aspen.

Miller said Finkelstein's accident and his ability to overcome it would be woven through the documentary.

“It's the feel-good story,” he said. “Rick had not even seen snow for six years. He never thought he'd ski again.”

The documentary features four other disabled athletes:

Chris Waddell — With more than 20 Paralympic and World Cup medals, Waddell is the most decorated male skier in U.S. Paralympic history. Paralyzed in a ski accident at age 20, Waddell was on the snow again within a year, quickly becoming a leader of his new sport of monoskiing. He is the first paraplegic to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. A U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame inductee, Waddell has created his own charitable foundation and has worked as a TV personality and motivational speaker.

Mike May — The world-record holder for speed skiing by a completely blind person, May is a successful entrepreneur and family man. Blinded at age 3 in a chemical explosion, May has led a life of adventure, including a stint as the first blind CIA agent. He produced the first accessible GPS device for blind people. He regained partial vision through a series of transplants in 2000 and is the subject of Robert Kurson's book “Crashing Through.”

Jim Martinson — A U.S. Ski Team Paralympic gold medalist, Martinson was the first wheelchair winner of the Boston Marathon, beating all runners. At 63, he still competes successfully in wheelchair and handcycle events. Martinson served in Vietnam, where he lost most of both legs in a land-mine explosion. Upon returning to the United States, the lifelong skier discovered very little support for adaptive sports. He became a pioneer in both the technology and cultural acceptance of wheelchair sports.

Traci Taylor — Born three months premature with the rare congenital disorder sacral agenesis and a life-threatening malformation of her heart, lungs, kidneys and legs, Taylor received the most dire prognoses for several years. She not only survived but became a poster child at a March of Dimes event, where she met Warren Miller. He took her skiing, provided lessons and equipment, and featured her in his next film. She currently works with students with disabilities.

Kurt Miller self-produced “The Movement” through his nonprofit organization, Make a Hero, on a $450,000 budget.

4th annual Reelabilities: NY Disabilities Film Festival, country's largest showcase of films by and about people with disabilities, will be Feb. 9-14, 2012

From ReelAbilities:

NEW YORK - More than 20 venues, across eight counties, will present the 4th Annual ReelAbilities: NY Disabilities Film Festival, from February 9th through February 14th, 2012.

Presented by various arts, culture, educational and community venues, such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY Public Library branches, Museum of the Moving Image, The Jacob Burns Film Center, and more, the festival will showcase narrative, documentary and short films from across the globe, many in their U.S. or NY premieres, all followed by intimate conversations and in-depth discussions with filmmakers and special guests.

In addition to the selection of ground-breaking international films; live music, dance performances, art exhibitions and other special events are major components of the ReelAbilities experience. The festival partners with over 50 community, arts, government, disability, and educational organizations making it the only film festival to bring stories of disabilities to such a wide-reaching audience. Through film, ReelAbilities brings together the community to explore, discuss, embrace, and celebrate the diversity of our shared human experience.

Festival Co-Director Isaac Zablocki says, “We use film to promote awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories and artistic expressions of people with different abilities. The films we screen not only entertain, but enlighten and capture experiences that are often shied away from.”

Initiated in NY in 2007, the festival recently launched its national presence in partnership with the Saul Schotenstein Foundation B. Premiering in Cincinnati, OH, and Atlanta, GA, earlier this year, the national festival is scheduled to be presented in Boston, MA and Greater DC area this coming February 2012, followed by additional festivals in Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, Richmond, Fairfax, Baltimore, Columbus, and Rockville. The recently introduced new festival website, www.reelabilities.org , featurs a new homepage that allows festival goers to explore the diversity of programs offered in their communities.

The upcoming edition of the NY festival will open on Thursday, February 9th, with OCEAN HEAVEN (Xiao Lu Xue, China, 2010, 96 min, Narrative) starring Jet Li in his first dramatic role, telling the moving story of a father's tireless love for his autistic son and his attempt to teach his son the life skills necessary to surviving on his own.

The festival's closing night event will feature a screening of Academy Award Nominee Susan Seidelman's (Desperately Seeking Susan, She Devil, and more) recent dance romance MUSICAL CHAIRS (USA, 2011, 100 min, Narrative), followed by a closing night reception and dance party.

The film follows two New Yorkers, Armando from the Bronx, and Mia from the East Side, and their love of ballroom dancing. A tragic accident changes Mia's life. True to his heart, Armando dedicates himself, along with a group of colorful misfits, to help Mia deal with her challenges and dance once more.
Other films to be featured in the festival:

APHASIA
Carl McIntyre, USA, 2010, 40 min, Narrative
Actor Carl McIntyre suffered a massive stroke in 2005 and lost his ability to read, write and speak, but not his drive to act. Through humor and pathos, Aphasia speaks to anyone who has struggled to meet life's challenges.

BODY AND SOUL (DE CORPO E ALMA)
Matthieu Bron, France / Mozambique, 2011, 54 min, Documentary
The amazing story of three young Mozambicans with physical disabilities, who work to help others in their community. Their daily lives reveal how they see themselves, raising questions on self-acceptance and how to find one’s place in
society.

DEFINING BEAUTY: MS. WHEELCHAIR AMERICA
Alexis Ostrander, USA, 2011, 78 min, Documentary (pictured)
The vibrant lives of five women with disabilities on their journey to the Ms. Wheelchair America pageant, where the concept of beauty is defined through the lens of advocacy & perseverance.

GIRLFRIEND
Justin Lerner, USA, 2011, 94 min, Narrative
Evan, a young man with Down Syndrome, lives with his mother in a working-class town hit hard by the recent economic recession. When he unexpectedly comes into a large amount of money, Evan uses it to romantically pursue Candy, a girl he has loved since high school.

MABUL (The Flood)
Guy Nattiv, Israel, 2011, 100 min, Narrative
A coming-of-age drama about a family that struggles to keep up appearances while hiding their sins from one another. When the eldest son, who has autism, returns from an institution, the pressure builds and secrets begin to emerge.

MOURNING (Soog)
Morteza Farshbaf, Iran, 2011, 85 minutes, Narrative
A cinematic road trip follows a deaf couple and their young nephew on their way to Tehran. Before they get there, the couple must break the bad news to the boy that his parents were killed in an accident but the journey proves to be more complex than they had expected.

PRINCESS (Prinsessa)
Arto Halonen, Finland, 2010, 104 min, Narrative
Based on real-life events, the amazing and musical story of Anna Lappalainen who spent 50 years of her life as a patient at a psychiatric hospital, where her lovable personality healed and brought joy to those around her and where she claimed to be a princess.

REEL ENCOUNTERS 2012
A selection of award-winning films from around the globe.
I DON’T WANT TO GO BACK ALONE
Daniel Ribeiro, Brazil, 2010, 17 min, Narrative
A 15 year-old blind teenager and his best friend face issues of jealousy and other new feelings when they befriend a new kid in their class.
AGLAEE
Rudi Rosenberg, France, 2010, 20 min, Narrative
Benoit looses a schoolyard bet and must invite Aglaee, a girl with CP, to go out with him.
10:4 (TEN TO FOUR)
Guy Natanel, UK, 2010, 5 min, Documentary
Blindness through the textures, colors, and sounds of the mundane. Can the sighted fully comprehend what it means to be blind?
SOUND SHADOWS
Julie Engaas, Norway, 2008, 7min, Documentary
Enter a world where sound gives shape to space.
ANYTHING YOU CAN DO
Emma Buckley, Australia, 2009Australia, 7 min, Narrative
Two boys face off. But when the stakes are at their highest will victory be sweet?

RUN IF YOU CAN (Renn Wenn du Kannst)
Dietrich Bruggemann, Germany, 2010, 112 min, Narrative
A gripping story of friendship and a love triangle between frustrated Ben, who is bound to a wheelchair, his playful caretaker, Christian, and Annika the dreamer, musician and object of both men’s desire. When the relationships heat up, Annika cannot decide between the two men. Together they create an adventure filled with imagination and desire. But what starts out as a game soon becomes serious when Ben faces his biggest fear.

THE STRAIGHT LINE (La Ligne Droit)
Régis Wargnier, France, 2011, 98min, Narrative
The story of Yannick, a blind runner, and Leila, a recently released convict. Their relationship develops on and off the racetrack but the couple’s love is met by adversity and family relations create obstacles.

Tickets for the 4th Annual ReelAbilities: NY Disabilities Film Festival go on sale January 9th, 2012.

Full information about the festival, locations, films, special events, and guests is available at www.ReelAbilities.org. 

More performances accessible to deaf people at Oregon Shakespeare Festival

From WTW:

ASHLAND, Ore. — For deaf and hearing-impaired audience members and others with disabilities, the accessibility of a genuine theater experience at Oregon Shakespeare Festival is better than ever.

Since captioning its first play in 2007, OSF has continued to bolster in-theater services for its deaf and hearing-impaired audience members each season, and is discussing the potential of making further adjustments to better those services for upcoming seasons.

"We recognize that there is a need and a desire for these open-captioned and sign-interpreted performances," said OSF Media and Communications Manager Amy Richard. "It's becoming more popular as word gets out that we are doing this."

The festival has been asked to provide readable captions for performances theaterwide by the Oregon Communication Access Project, an advocacy group that focuses on making public venues more accessible to people with hearing loss.

"We've had conversations about that with them, and within the company," said Richard. "The main thing you have to consider is, how do you do that so that it's accessible and viewable by everyone, but not a distraction to those not using it?"

Richard said the theater has discussed the potential of installing a permanent caption board, also known as supertitles, to run above the stage, or installing small screens in the backs of seats. None of OSF's theaters is specifically being considered at this point in the discussions, and the project isn't at the top of OSF's list, she said.

Supertitles appear above the stage for most operas that are staged in Italian, French, German or other languages.

John F. Waldo, a spokesman and attorney for the Oregon Communication Access Project and its branch in Washington state, said purists thought the supertitles would ruin opera performances, but now captions have become the norm.

"Even so, with its current changes, the Shakespeare Festival is now by far the most accessible, for these types of plays, out of any theater in the country," he said.

Waldo, 66, suffers from partial hearing loss himself, and having experienced theater with good and bad hearing, said, "The captions are good for anyone."

"Most of us haven't been able to go to the theater for years, so it's just a delight to see this happening," he said. "And you know what most people say to me when I walk out of a performance with open captions? 'You know, my hearing is fine, but those captions kind of help.' "

The festival plans to caption 24 performances during the 2012 season and is allowing patrons to request captions for any performance, a new addition to its services, said Richard.

Because most of the festival's audience travels to fill its theaters, OSF schedules its captioned performances in weeklong clusters, so that patrons can fully immerse themselves in the festival.

"If folks are coming to town to see an open-captioned performance, and they want to see more than one, they can. As a destination theater that's something we have to do for it to be effective," said Richard.

In 2011, OSF access coordinator Jim Amberg and audience services manager Radawna Wallace captioned 39 performances at the festival, and distributed about 10,000 assistive listening devices for patrons with moderate hearing loss. Additionally, the pair arranged for nine plays to be sign-interpreted, and audio-described about 100 performances for blind and visually impaired patrons.

Although some of the captioned performances weren't attended by any patrons with hearing loss, as many as 14 sat in front of the portable caption board for at least one play, said Richard.

For performances, the festival uses a portable LED board that flashes red captions from a perch below the left of the stage. A section in front of the board is reserved for the deaf or hearing-impaired.

Before a performance can be put into captions at OSF, scripts have to be stripped of stage directions and everything else that is extraneous to what an audience should read in the captions during a play.

Then a computer program breaks scripts into 26-character lines, but it's not able to divide phrases and punctuation in a way that would be logical for readers. For example, it might separate a period from the sentence to which it belongs.

Both Amberg and Wallace were selected to receive a 2011 John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability Award for Emerging Leaders. They could not be reached for this article.

"Right now we're trying to provide as much as we can for our audiences with the limitations that we have," said Richard.

National Federation of the Blind files complaint against Baltimore City Public Schools for proposed use of Nooks

From the NFB:

BALTIMORE -- The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), the nation's leading advocate for access to technology by the blind, announced today that it has filed a complaint with the United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, requesting an investigation of the Baltimore City Public Schools' proposed acquisition of NOOK devices.

The NFB filed the complaint because the Baltimore City Public Schools recently announced a partnership with the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation to overhaul the school libraries in six middle schools in the district. As part of the partnership's plan, the selected school libraries will acquire an unspecified number of NOOK e-reader devices. These devices are inaccessible to blind and other print-disabled students.

The NFB raised its concern with leaders in the Baltimore City Public Schools but has been told that the district is moving forward with its plans to implement these devices while it seeks "alternative emerging technology"-- in other words, a needlessly segregated technology for students with print disabilities. Because the NOOK is inaccessible to blind students, the Baltimore schools' use of the devices violates Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: "The National Federation of the Blind will not tolerate blind students receiving an unequal education. If e-reading devices are available in school libraries, they must be accessible to all students, not just the sighted.

"Appropriately, the date of this complaint falls on the birthday of Louis Braille, who first brought literacy to the blind and fought for the right of blind students to read independently. He would not stand for this glaring inequity and neither will we. That is why we have asked the United States Department of Justice to act swiftly and decisively to ensure that blind students receive the same education as their sighted peers."

The National Federation of the Blind is represented in this matter by Daniel F. Goldstein and Daniel A. Ross of the Baltimore firm Brown, Goldstein & Levy, LLP.

Blind Briton sets South Pole trek record

From The Mirror in the UK:

A British adventurer has become the first blind person to trek to the South Pole.

During his 39-day ­expedition, Alan Lock (pictured), 31, suffered howling winds, temperatures of -35C and whiteout blizzards.

The amateur explorer completed the 600-mile journey to raise money for the ­Sightsavers charity.

Speaking from the South Pole, Mr Lock said: "It feels amazing to have made it to the South Pole, what an adventure.

"The high point is having the opportunity to make this expedition in the first place. Reaching the pole, having been only one of a handful of people to have ever walked here, is a fantastic experience.

"There have been difficulties with the terrain but this has all been made possible for me by my great team members.

The trip, which started on November 22, has raised £15,000 so far for the Sightsavers charity, which aids blind people in the developing world, and San Francisco-based Guide Dogs for the Blind.

Mr Lock, from Clevedon, Somerset, undertook the Polar Vision trek accompanied by two sighted team mates Andrew Jensen and Richard Smith, whom he met while studying for an MBA in the United States, plus guide Hannah McKean.

Having been forced to halt his naval career after losing all but his peripheral vision, Mr Lock now works in telecommunications.

But since losing his sight, he has completed 10 marathons, including the 151 mile Marathon Des Sables in the Sahara Desert. He has been to a number of mountain summits including the highest mountain in Europe, Mt Elbrus, and in 2008 Alan set a Guinness World Record when he became the first visually impaired person to row across the Atlantic Ocean.

The Polar Vision team underwent intensive training that included a camp in Iqaluit, Canada, where they spent a week traversing the ice pack near the Arctic Circle on skis, and dragging tyres attached to their waists along beaches and parks back home to develop the muscles needed to pull the sleds.

"Trekking for over nine hours each day we have been losing up to 9,000 calories a day," Mr Lock said.

"We've also suffered many falls and bruises whilst trekking across the rough terrain as there are many big drops and jumps which I've relied on my teammates to guide me through."

Caroline Harper, the chief executive of Sightsavers, added: "Sightsavers is incredibly grateful and honoured that Alan has chosen to support our work to eliminate avoidable blindness in the developing world.

"By taking on such a colossal challenge and raising money for Sightsavers' work, they will help to transform the sight and lives of some of the world's poorest people."

Federal judge removes class-action status from a lawsuit that had argued Florida illegally forces people with disabilities into nursing homes when they are capable of living elsewhere

from The AP:

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - A federal judge struck a blow Tuesday to advocates for the elderly and disabled, removing class-action status from a lawsuit that had argued Florida illegally forces people into nursing homes when they are capable of living elsewhere.

U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle ruled in favor of one of the institutionalized Medicaid patients who sued the state of Florida in 2008, saying they should be allowed to live in other settings. But by removing the suit's class status, the ruling applies to just one person, Clayton Griffin, instead of the 8,500 plaintiffs estimated by attorneys to be in a similar situation.

"It is a limited victory," said David Bruns, a spokesman for AARP, the nonprofit group for those 50 and over which took up the case up on the behalf of the plaintiffs. Southern Legal Counsel also joined AARP in that action.

Filed just shy of four years ago and argued in court early last year, the lawsuit has dragged on so long that of the original seven plaintiffs, five have died. A sixth, according to the judge's written decision, said he no longer wished to leave a nursing home after relatives moved away.

Because of that, Hinkle vacated the class action he previously had granted, also citing changes to the state Medicaid program have ensured people can avoid nursing homes if they wish.

"Not a single Medicaid beneficiary who is in a nursing home," wishes to be released, and could safely do so, "would not be approved for transition" under the current state system, Hinkle wrote.

But in the very same judgment, Hinkle acknowledges "the state apparently has made errors ... in failing to transition a small number of nursing home residents."

Among those mentioned by name is Marguerite Pace, a Sarasota woman who was deposed in the case and had been among the plaintiffs until she was granted a waiver by the state to receive support services outside a nursing home.

That waiver was granted last spring. She still remains institutionalized, waiting on a seemingly unending amount of bureaucratic hurdles.

Pace has no use of her legs and limited use of her arms. She is still hopeful she will be released by the time her 50th birthday comes on Jan. 14, but she called Tuesday's decision disheartening.

"I'm sad. Again it's saying that people with disabilities have no rights, that we are at the mercy of the state," she said.

Americans who qualify for Medicaid and get sick or disabled enough to require substantial care typically have little problem gaining admission to a nursing home. But obtaining Medicaid-supported services at home, such as visits from an aide, is substantially harder and often involves a long waiting list, even though it may cost the government less.

Advocates for the elderly and disabled had hoped a 1999 Supreme Court case would change that. The Olmstead decision, as it is known, involved two Georgia women, both Medicaid beneficiaries with mental retardation who wanted community-based services, but were refused and were treated in institutions.

The high court ruled unjustified isolation of the disabled in institutions amounted to discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act. It said states must provide community services if patients want them, if they can be accommodated and if it's appropriate. Medicaid is the state-federal partnership that provides health coverage and nursing home care to the poor.The plaintiffs in the Florida case had sued citing the ADA.

The case was put on hold for a year beginning in 2009, when the defendant, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, agreed to spend $27 million toward nursing home diversion programs.

When that ultimately failed to satisfy the plaintiffs, the case went to trial.

A spokeswoman for the Agency for Health Care Administration, said Tuesday night she could not immediately comment.

Inclusion Films opens doors in Hollywood for people with disabilities

from The LA Times:

Greg Donoghue grew up around film sets. His father worked as a film publicist in Europe and his uncle is Pierre Spengler, a producer of the "Superman" movies.

But the 30-year-old had never seriously considered a career in the movie industry until he got a chance to direct his own short-film called "Sunshine Manor," a love story about relationship between a nursing home patient and her doctor.

"It takes a lot of patience, and time is your worst enemy," Donoghue said of his directorial debut. "I'd rather build sets than be a director, but the experience is going to benefit me when I try to get an interview."

Donoghue, who was diagnosed a few years ago with a form of high-functioning autism, was among nearly two dozen special-needs crew members who worked on "Sunshine Manor." The film was shot over three days in Burbank this summer as a class project for a 20-week-long course offered by Inclusion Films.

Founded by Joey Travolta, older brother of actor John Travolta, Inclusion Films trains adults with developmental disabilities in the nuts and bolts of filmmaking -- from writing the script to building sets and using film and editing equipment -- with the goal of finding them jobs in the entertainment industry or some other field.

Students with autism, cerebral palsy and Down syndrome are trained by working cinematographers, set designers, actors and other professionals who are active in the industry.

"The filmmaking process is a great teaching tool about life," said Travolta, 61. "A lot of our students aren't going to be filmmakers and may never work in the film business, but they are going to be able to go into the workplace and have a sense of what it's like to be on the job. This builds their self-confidence."

Based in Burbank, Inclusion Films works with Easter Seals of Southern California to provide jobs to graduates of the program and is in discussions with various studios to set up internship programs for the students, Travolta said. Many of the participants are referred by the nonprofit regional centers that contract with the California Department of Developmental Services to provide job training and other services for special-needs people.

"We've seen phenomenal things happen with the students in this program," said Mike Clark, executive director of the Kern Regional Center, which in the last three years has referred about 70 students to Inclusion Films' program in Bakersfield. "They see themselves as people who can do something with their lives."

Diane Anand, executive director of the Frank D. Lanterman Regional Center in Los Angeles, acknowledged the difficulty of finding work in the movie industry for special needs adults, but said the film workshops instilled confidence that helps graduates find jobs or pursue further education.

"This really resonates with our clients," she said. "They're learning how to interact in a real-world work environment and how to interact with their peers."

Travolta launched the Burbank business in 2006 after a long career as a singer, actor, director and producer. The Englewood, N.J., native briefly worked as a special education teacher in New York before embarking on a singing career in 1978, performing on such variety shows such as "American Bandstand" and "Donny & Marie," the show starring the two Osmonds.

Travolta went on to act in movies such as "Beverly Hills Cop III" and "Oscar" before shifting his attention to writing and directing his own movies, including "Enemies of Laughter" starring Peter Falk and the comedy "Partners."

The idea for Inclusion Films happened almost by accident. Travolta was helping his daughter organize a film festival at her West Hills high school.

After reading a newspaper article about his involvement in the school film festival and his acting workshops for children, the mother of an autistic teenage boy named Taylor Cross asked if he could help her son make a film about being autistic. Travolta mentored the boy and together they made the 2006 documentary, "Normal People Scare Me."

After his experiences working on the documentary, Travolta began to teach film to other autistic children at camps.

"I found my calling," he said. "This allowed me to merge two things that I really love: filmmaking and working with special-needs children and adults."

With the help of professional instructors, many of whom had worked with Travolta on his earlier films, students take classes in script writing, prop building, editing and cinematography, then apply what they learn by making an actual short film. One 2009 film called "Spud," about a 12-year-old victim of neighborhood bullies who reinvents himself as a superhero, was written and directed by Tyler Norman, a student with Asperger's syndrome.

Using his Hollywood connections, Travolta also brings in high profile speakers, including "Rain Man" writer Ron Bass and "Criminal Minds" star Joe Mantegna, to meet the students.

With the support of Inclusion Films, former student Michael Cooney of Boston launched his own production company, Team Diversity Media, which produces commercials and music videos with students from Inclusion. The company produced a promotional video for Easter Seals and the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.

After receiving a bachelor's degree from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Cooney worked at a radio station but had trouble finding permanent work because of his condition, cerebral palsy. He credits the workshops at Inclusion Films with giving him the confidence and the contacts to start his own business.

"I used to think that disability was something to hide," said Cooney, who also teaches at the school. "I learned that having a disability is a gift and that I have abilities I didn't even know I had before I came here."

Deaf actress Marlee Matlin on why ‘Switched at Birth’ is breakthrough TV

From The Wall Street Journal. (Switched at Birth will return Jan. 3.)

Oscar-winning actress Marlee Matlin is back in the spotlight on ABC Family’s “Switched at Birth,” which will have its winter premiere on Tuesday.

The hour-long drama, about two teenage girls who discover they were accidentally switched at birth, finds Matlin, who is deaf, in good company with a new crop of young and talented deaf actors. Katie Leclerc plays Daphne, one of the teens, who is deaf. Leclerc, who is hard of hearing, can speak and is fluent in American Sign Language. Sean Berdy, a deaf actor, plays Emmett, Daphne’s best friend. Matlin, in a recurring role, plays Emmett’s mom. The show’s other major characters learned sign language, which figures prominently in the story lines.

The show made ABC Family’s No. 1 series debut of all time in June 2011 with over three million in total viewers, according to the network. Matlin, who at age 21 became the youngest actress to win an Oscar for Best Actress when she made her film debut “In “Children of a Lesser God,” isn’t surprised by the show’s popularity. “It adds a great deal of dimension to the public’s perception of what deaf people are like,” says the 46-year-old Matlin. “Because you really understand that there’s more than just a deaf person who happens to move their hands…. there’s a language, there’s a culture, there’s relationships between deaf people, deaf people and hearing people, there are obstacles, there is happiness and joy, and people are watching this all flow into their living rooms.”

How did you get involved in “Switched at Birth”?

My agents had told me that the producers wanted me to see the pilot. They were very thorough. They wanted to see if they got it “right” with the pilot and seeing as I was experienced in playing deaf characters and with story lines involving deaf characters, I, along with my producing partner, Jack Jason, went to see it. I was very impressed with how they wove the elements of the deaf community into the pilot so well, how they were able to subtitle scenes that had sign language. I had tried many times in the past to get deaf characters on screen without having translated/spoken dialogue with no luck, so I was very impressed they were able to do it. By the end of that first meeting, I told them “If you’ll have me, I’d love to be part of the show!”

“Switched” is one of the first TV shows to have deaf and hard-of-hearing actors in lead roles. Why do you think it has taken this long for a show like this to happen?

It’s not exactly true that “Switched at Birth” is the first to have deaf and hard of hearing actors in the lead. I did my first series lead back in 1991 on a show called “Reasonable Doubts” and have done many shows with other actors who are deaf. But “Switched at Birth” is the first TV show where there is more than one actor who is deaf or hard of hearing and who are series regulars. And the show is the first I can recall that allows them to communicate in their language­–American Sign Language– much as it’s been done on other shows like “Lost” or “Heroes” where actors who speak in a foreign language are subtitled. I think those shows and the large number of reality shows with subtitling [when it's difficult to hear people on screen] have made the landscape more welcoming to subtitles. I think it’s way overdue and very welcome. It allows deaf actors to stand on equal footing with their hearing peers.

Why do you think studio executives green-lighted the show? Is it a question of them finally being comfortable with it — or thinking viewers would be comfortable with it?

I think it’s just a matter of expanding notions of diversity. There have been so many shows done so many different ways but were basically reinventions of the same wheel. I have tried for a number of years to encourage expanding ideas of what a show could benefit from by having a deaf character, simply because it’s just different and interesting. The producers clearly had the clout to suggest the idea, they made it happen and they did it well. I’ve always said, you can write for any character, any type of character in a teleplay as long as it’s written well, people will watch. That’s what the producers of “Switched at Birth” did; they wrote it well and they did it seamlessly. It’s a simple formula–a teen drama–just done from an entirely new and fresh perspective! And look, people don’t have to always hear characters talk. Look at the new feature film “The Artist” –it’s done entirely without dialogue and is a hit; it might even win the Academy Award for Best Picture. At the end of the day it’s about stories—good stories. Written well and you can show anything!

In one scene, your character questions the wisdom of your TV deaf son, Emmett, becoming involved with a non-deaf girl. Your husband and your four children are all hearing. Would you have similar reservations for your own children?

No, as we all know it’s a TV drama and an exaggerated version of what goes on in real life. In my case, I wouldn’t mind whom my children married as long as they were happy. But the statistics my character quoted are true; the divorce rate between deaf and hearing couples is high. And there are many deaf people who couldn’t imagine living in a marriage without someone who doesn’t speak their language. For me, I believe that hearing or deaf is fine as long as both parties are willing to communicate in each other’s language. But if there’s no communication, then the marriage, I believe, will be difficult if not doomed.

Despite all the technological advances that now make it much easier for deaf people to communicate–via email and text and Twitter and Facebook and video–is there still a feeling of isolation among the deaf?

Oh absolutely. I’m the only one in my family who is deaf and there are still conversations that go around me that I miss out on. And I ask what’s going on and I have to ask to be included. But I’m not going to be sad about it. I don’t live in sad isolation. It’s just a situation I’m used to. I don’t like to be left out in conversations. And yet, the truth is, if I’m with a bunch of deaf friends who are signing I feel 100% at home because everybody’s speaking the same language.

What other projects do you have, on top of your recurring role in “Switched”?

I am currently producing an app for Apple platforms called “Marlee Signs” that teaches sign language. Since “Switched at Birth,” so many young people and adults have asked me to teach them a few signs so I thought, why not do an app? I’m also producing a number of projects, some already in script stage some in development. And my plate is full with motivational appearances, speaking on topics such as diversity in the work place, importance of philanthropy, advocating for children with disabilities as well as working on behalf of my charities. I’m particularly proud of my work with the Starkey Hearing Foundation for whom I raised a million dollars in one day on “Celebrity Apprentice.” They do great work around the world helping deaf children in developing countries get proper attention and free hearing aids. And I’m still working on making sure broadband and Internet content is closed captioned [just as she did with broadcast TV] as well as work on behalf of advocating for expanded Text to 911 capabilities for millions of people who are unable to call into 911.

Advocates for people with disabilities speak out on Detroit transit cuts

From The World Socialist Web Site, which recently interviewed members of Warriors on Wheels concerning cuts in bus service in Detroit and surrounding suburban areas.

Warriors on Wheels is a Detroit-based organization that advocates for people with disabilities.

In 2004 Lawrence Dilworth and four other persons with disabilities initiated a class action lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) against the Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT) over lack of wheelchair access on city buses. Since that time bus service in the Detroit area has drastically worsened for both individuals with disabilities and able-bodied people alike.

Transit users in Detroit face long waits due to the lack of serviceable buses, while SMART (the suburban Detroit transit system) recently instituted drastic cuts including the elimination of 15 weekday routes, several weekend routes as well as cuts in service during “off peak” hours.

WSWS: Can you tell us about Warriors on Wheels?

Lisa Franklin: I am the founder of the organization. In 1996 I was in an auto accident caused by a drunk driver. I was ejected from the vehicle. I woke up one week after and I had a spinal cord injury. I was classified as a paraplegic. I can stand on a walker, but I use a wheelchair for mobility. After 12 years going through the community and seeing the lack of accessibility and insensitivity I encountered, I realized something had to be done.

Our organization is mostly for persons with physical challenges, but our members have various disabilities. We ensure the city is ADA compliant and, in particular, supplying people with adequate/mandated transportation services. Education is key to change in our community. We talk with the schools and First Responders, and promote awareness. We have been very successful in our approach, which emphasizes communication and other solutions to prevent costly litigation.

We take pride in our independence, which is why these cuts hurt us in a grave way. Most of us don’t have the luxury of driving. We have to depend on public transportation and they are not delivering. The cuts in transportation limit our independence.

Sixteen percent of Detroiters have disabilities, and 70 percent of our homeless population. The underserved in our city continue to be the subject of constraints. It’s awful.

WSWS: What has been the impact of the cuts in bus service?

Marguerite Maddox: These cuts are really affecting my ability to get around, because I have depended on public transportation from day one. My grandmother taught me to use public transport at a very young age. By the age of 12, I was learning how to get buses so I could prepare myself to be able to work. I use SMART and DDOT to travel from city to suburbs. Since there are no major grocery stores in Detroit, I have to use the buses to get groceries in the suburbs, so having the bus stop at the city limits is a real hardship.

I used to take my dog, Jello, to Farmington. That is the only vet in this area who will treat the PAWS assistance dogs for free. The buses I took, the 305 and the 385, are cut out now.

Lisa Franklin: Employers are paying attention to this. They won’t even hire people from Detroit because you can’t make it to work. It is a bad situation. My daughter is a college student and she has problems getting to school on time. She has to leave two, two and a half, three hours early to get to school on time.

What I found out recently with the SMART cutbacks is that Smart Connector has also conformed to only running on peak hours, so they are only transporting people with disabilities during peak hours if they are coming to the city of Detroit. If you have a person sitting in a wheelchair at a bus stop, they have to wait even longer for a bus, because with the cutbacks buses are overcrowded and there is no room to board a wheelchair.

Lawrence Dilworth: It is worse than it’s ever been. When Detroit catches a cold, people with disabilities catch pneumonia and wind up in intensive care.

Lisa Franklin: There have been people left waiting at the bus stop. One of our members was going down Eight Mile Road and he saw a gentleman waiting for the bus. He came back an hour and a half later, and the guy was still sitting there. So he pulled over to see what the problem was. He said, “One bus passed me by and the lift wasn’t working.” We’ve had that issue since 2004 when the lawsuit came into play. They were supposed to fix that issue. The buses aren’t supposed to leave the yard if the lifts aren’t working.

We feel if the transit system is better for us, it will be better for everybody.

Lawrence Dilworth: It is worse than when we initiated the lawsuit. Look at the news, you have 400 buses and only 100 are working. That has got to stop.

The main problem we had was with what we call rear loaders. The newer buses and all the SMART buses are front loaders. But the DDOT buses still have a lot of the rear loaders. I refuse to ride on those. I will let a rear loader go by and wait for a front loader because if there is a fire in the back, you just can't get out.

Once I was on one of those old buses. The bus broke down. They did not even have one of those hand cranks to get me out of there. Now suppose the hand crank is missing in the buses on fire? How do I get out of there?

WSWS: Are you a locally based organization?

Lisa Franklin: Yes, we started right here. We actually started in 2006 as Women on Wheels and we changed it to Warriors on Wheels in 2008. It started because of the lack of accessibility around the community. It was across the board wherever we went. This is the first chapter.

WSWS What has the response been?

Lisa Franklin: Everybody talks. The ball is starting to roll. My husband used to be a truck driver and he met a couple in Tennessee with cerebral palsy, and they were interested in starting a chapter there.

Lawrence Dilworth: Lisa is an inspiration for everybody in Detroit who is physically challenged, or even seniors. I got involved because I saw what she was doing. She is the biggest advocate for people with disabilities in the city, bar none.

WSWS: What does the Americans with Disabilities Act require?

Lisa Franklin: The ADA sets out the conditional and unconditional. If you can ride the line-haul buses, but maybe it’s too cold outside, then you can use the para transit line. [Para transit buses pick up those too disabled to use regular service. They are confined to the general area served by regular buses.] Unconditional means you can’t use the line-haul, you have to have para transit. But DDOT doesn’t go by that rule and neither does SMART. If you can ride the line-haul, flat out you are not qualified to ride the para transit line.

Lisa Franklin: The ADA says there are two types of situations that would allow someone to use the para transit buses, conditional and unconditional. For example, heavy snowfall may affect the ability of a wheelchair to get to a bus stop. If it is too hot or too cold outside, then some people start to qualify for the para transit buses. But DDOT does not go by the rules and neither does SMART.

WSWS: So they don’t transport disabled people in the winter.

Lisa Franklin: Right, so people with disabilities are stuck.

Marguerite Maddox: They don’t train the drivers on the different kinds of service.

Lisa Franklin: They are supposed to include a person with disabilities when they train the drivers. And they stopped doing that about two years ago.

Lawrence Dilworth: The training is terrible.

Marguerite: Many of my friends have been denied access to the para transit buses. They denied them for the different kinds of services. Those who are blind, have epilepsy, use a wheelchair, have PTSD, or other health problems find getting certified to use the para transit service is difficult.