Graduate with Down syndrome will deliver high school commencement address

Amanda Wothe

Amanda Wothe, who has Down syndrome, will deliver a speech at the May 25 commencement at Perham High School in Minnesota, according to WCCO-TV.

Wothe said she wants her classmates to always keep their dreams in sight, because anything's possible.

"I have many of the same goals and dreams as you," Wothe said. "So, to many of you, thank you for your support and for being my friend."

The upside of disability

Rabbi Lionel Blue says there's

an upside to his epilepsy.

The BBC You and Yours series asked What Disability Means to Me? and brought together several prominent British disabled people to discuss "how disability has affected their lives, and perhaps formed, or changed the kind of people they are."

The BBC talked to Rabbi Lionel Blue, commentator Murray Walker, writer and poet Gwyneth Lewis, rugby player Kenny Logan, comedienne Liz Carr and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The BBC reports that its biggest surprise from the piece was "the almost universal reaction from our contributors that their 'disability' has improved them in some ways: made them more perceptive, more 'emotionally intelligent,' as writer Gwyneth Lewis puts it, while not claiming that definition for herself."

The BBC does much good work on the topic of disability, with its program Ouch! and its news coverage, so I hope others in the media will follow its lead to allow disabled people to tell the world of their experiences in their own words.

Voice of America tells world about deaf culture in USA

A West Virginia teacher and her

student sign the word ''turtle.''

Voice of America (VOA), the multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government, broadcast a report called "Inside the Complex Worlds of Deafness and Deaf Culture in America" on May 18.

It's an in-depth story about deaf culture that will reach VOA's estimated worldwide audience of more than 115 million people.

You can read the transcript or listen to the broadcast here.

Texas special ed students receive valuable work experiences

Meagan Flynn works at Schlotzsky's, where her boss says

she is a dependable asset to the business.

According to the Austin American Statesman, hundreds of special education students in Central Texas schools are transitioning into the community as paid, productive workers, primarily because of public school programs that prepare them for employment and employers who offer them jobs.

"Half a million students in the state's 1,200 public school districts and charter schools are classified as having challenges ranging from autism and mental retardation to physical and emotional disabilities," according to Gene Lenz, deputy assistant commissioner for special programs with the Texas Education Agency.

In 2008, 50 special education students took classes ranging from agricultural studies to culinary arts at the Clifton Career Development School in Austin. About 30 percent of the 536,000 mentally disabled Texans ages 21 to 64 were employed in 2005, according to state figures.

"Studies show that special (education) students who worked during their school years are more likely to work after they leave the public schools," Lenz said.

Austin High School student Matthew Wright, 21, says the money he receives from his job as a messenger for the Texas Senate will help him live on his own at some point.

"I want to live independently," said Wright, who learned his workplace skills through Austin school district programs that train students with disabilities. "You have to pay your utility bills and your phone bills, and how can you order movies if you don't have money?"

Slate analyzes meaning of Pistorius ruling

Oscar Pistorius

Science and technology columnist William Saletan for the online magazine Slate analyzes the recent ruling in favor of runner Oscar Pistorius competing in the Olympics within the context of today's more advanced technology of artificial limbs.

In the column called "Leg Up. The emerging supremacy of artificial limbs," Saletan explores the paradox of the ruling: "Go, Oscar, go. We're all rooting for you to cross that finish line in Beijing. Just one note of caution: Don't win. That's the strange upshot of the court's ruling. Artificial legs are fine to run on, as long as you don't win the race."

Disability Law Lowdown launches ASL video podcasts

The Disability Law Lowdown Web site, ASL.DisabilityLawLowdown.com, launched what are believed to be the first-ever video podcasts in American Sign Language (ASL) on May 13, according to the Disability 411 blog.

The Disability Law Lowdown ASL podcasts will bring information to the Deaf community by expanding traditional audio-only podcasts to include video that allows subscribers too see native Deaf speakers signing the show’s content.

The podcasts will deliver the latest in disability law information every other week via American Sign Language, captioning, voice-over and transcripts to maximize accessibility. Free subscriptions to the ASL podcasts are available to have shows automatically delivered to MP3 players.

Transcripts of the ASL podcasts also will be available on the Web site. For the fastest viewing, the ASL podcasts are available on YouTube at www.youtube.com/disabilitylawlowdown.

The hosts for the ASL Disability Law Lowdown are native Deaf signers Danny Warthling and AJ Roupp. They will provide current information about disability rights and obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act and other disability-related topics.

Subscription is free and RSS feeds are available to automatically download the shows to video iPods, computers, phones and other video-capable devices.

Disability Law Lowdown is provided by the Disability Business Technical Assistance Center (DBTAC), a national network of 10 ADA Centers across the country, offering technical assistance and training in the Americans with Disabilities Act and other disability-related laws. DCRE Labs developed the Disability Law Lowdown Web site and brought together several new technologies as part of the Disability Law Lowdown project.

To subscribe, look for the ASL Disability Law Lowdown podcast on iTunes, or visit ASL.DisabilityLawLowdown.com.

In anticipation of Paralympics, Chinese ready to better protect disabled people

Back in April, Chinese lawmakers adopted an amendment to its disability law so it will better protect the country's more than 83 million disabled people. The amendment to the Law on Protection of the Disabled should go into effect on July 1, in anticipation of the September Paralympic games in Beijing, according to China Daily.

"Caring for the disabled is a sign of social progress, and is an important part of building a harmonious society," China's top legislator Wu Bangguo said of the amendment. "It showcases the country's vowed respect to human rights in its constitution.

"The disabled should be guaranteed the right to play a fair role in social life and share the fruits of our country's economic and social development."

A revision of a 1991 law, the amendment should "tackle new circumstances and problems" cropping up amid economic and social advances, Civil Affairs Minister Li Xueju said.

The amendment adds specifics about stable financial support, better medical care and rehabilitation for people with disabilities, along with favorable employment opportunities and tax policies.

"Work Out" features therapeutic horseback riding for disabled children

"Workout" client, Shannon, takes trainer JD to

her daughter's horseback riding therapy session.

The Bravo reality show "Work Out," about the drama at a gym in LA run by Jackie Warner, got serious in its May 20 episode by showing the home life of one of the trainer's clients, who has a daughter with cerebral palsy.

Shannon, who is part of the program's Skylab, an intensive fitness and weight loss program, mentioned in a previous episode that she has a "caretaker" personality and one of the people she has to focus on other than herself is daughter, Kendall, who is disabled.

As she bonded with her new trainer, JD, she invited him to her daughter's therapeutic horseback riding session. JD revealed that he also has someone with a disability in his family, as his sister has schizophrenia.

According to Shannon and an article about therapeutic horseback riding, "the horse’s movements are smooth, and for those who are not able to walk on their own, the riding experience can help to exercise muscles that are used in walking and for balance. For individuals with cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis, the smooth motion of the horse can help to improve balance, overall gross motor function, as well as trunk, pelvic and hip motion."

Kendall is able to walk with a walker because of the muscle improvement she has gained through horseback riding, her mother says. She demonstrated some of her walking skills for JD.

It was a sweet moment and a nice diversion from the usual conflicts in the gym that are the staple of the reality show.

Thanks to afterellen.com, which recaps "Work Out," for the above photo from the show.

U.S. money may become accessible to blind people

A federal appeals court ruled on May 19 that the United States discriminates against blind and visually impaired people with its paper currency that is all the same, The New York Times reported.

The 2-to-1 decision from the U. S Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found that the Treasury Department did not demonstrate that it would be too burdensome to create paper money in which each value amount could be of different sizes or have added features so they could be read by touch.

A lawyer for the American Council of the Blind, which brought the lawsuit in 2002, said he hoped that the government, “instead of litigating the issue, would solve the problem.” The Treasury Department has the means and technology to change the design of American currency to help the blind, said the lawyer, Jeffrey A. Lovitky of Washington. “It’s just a question of willingness.”

The appeals court didn't tell the Treasury what kind of money to create, but it pointed to examples from other countries that use different shapes, sizes, colors and tactile features to denote denominations.

Profile of blind author Steve Kuusisto

The Gazette, part of the Chicago Tribune, profiled author and Iowa professor Steve Kuusisto on May 19. Kuusisto wrote the 1997 NY Times notable book, The Planet of the Blind, (which is also the name of his blog) and more recently Eavesdropping: A Memoir of Blindness and Listening in 2006. (Kuusisto also has a video interview that was part of the Gazette story on his blog site.)

It's a good story and interview that allows Kuusisto to blast some myths about blindness.

"It's not an obstacle to having a good job and a full life," he said of blindness. "Nobody has to have a second-class life. Really, the sky's the limit.

"Blindness is a disability that demands that you find intelligent, useful accommodations at all times, but it's not a life-limiting disability," he said.

A graduate of the University of Iowa (UI) Writers' Workshop, Kuusisto moved to UI in fall 2007 from Ohio State University, where he was part of a disability studies program spanning academic departments.

At UI, he is trying to better integrate discussion about disabilities across the curriculum. He teaches creative nonfiction, memoir and essay writing in the UI English Department, but he also has a joint appointment in the Carver College of Medicine to assist its students in understanding the disability studies perspective. Kuusisto is developing UI's new disability studies program, which will be the first one in Iowa's state-funded universities.

Audible Picture Show explores blind woman's experience

The radio show "This American Life" broadcast a segment May 16 called "A Sense of Place" that British filmmaker Tony Hill did for The Audible Picture Show. Hill took his friend Sally Goode, who was born blind, to a location where she had never been and then taped her figuring out where she was by using her other senses. The segment was also an entry in the Third Coast International Audio Festival.

CNN interview of deaf couple who wants to try for deaf baby with IVF

Paula Garfield

The story of the British deaf couple, who wants another deaf child and may use in vitro fertilization (IVF) to make it happen, has been in the news for a few months, but CNN posted a video of an interview with them on May 19.

Paula Garfield, artistic director of Deafinitely Theatre, and Tomato Lichy, an artist who runs the Web site Stop Eugenics, have a daughter, Molly, who is deaf like them, and they want to make sure their next child shares that trait with them.

Their quest has caused a number of comments in British newspapers attacking them, like this column in The Times.

And their quest may be in conflict the current British government, which has the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (HFE) bill scheduled for a decision in the next few weeks. Under the proposed bill, using embryo screening to purposely create a baby with a serious medical condition - which British officials have said includes being deaf - would be illegal. A mini-documentary about the HFE bill was posted on YouTube May 13.

The controversy recalls one in the USA in 2002 when sperm banks rejected a deaf lesbian couple's desire to find a donor with congenital deafness. They eventually found a deaf donor through a family friend and succeeded in having a baby who is hearing impaired.

Disabled people blocked from NY subway access with constant elevator breakdowns

The New York Times reports that New York City Transit has spent about $1 billion on more than 200 new elevators and escalators in the subway system since the early 1990s with the goal of providing better access to people with disabilities.

But a large number of the subway system's elevators and escalators were consistently out of service. City Transit data shows that one of every six elevators and escalators in the subway system was out of service for more than a month in 2007.

"The 169 escalators in the subway averaged 68 breakdowns or repair calls each last year, with the worst machines logging more than double that number," The New York Times reports. "And some of the least reliable escalators in the system are also some of the newest, accumulating thousands of hours out of service for what officials described as a litany of mechanical flaws. Two-thirds of the subway elevators — many of which travel all of 15 feet — had at least one breakdown last year in which passengers were trapped inside."

The number of elevators has risen since the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act prompted a more accessible transit system. In 1990, the subway system had 48 elevators, which has risen to 167 in 62 stations today.

By 2020 New York City Transit has pledged to make 100 key stations fully accessible so dozens more elevators and escalators are planned.

Veterans who develop ALS advocate for benefits

Anthony Averella, 53, of Glen Burnie, Md., served in
the Army and National Guard and has ALS.

The Baltimore Sun reported on the race against time that military veterans are in to get the benefits they need after developing ALS.

A Duke University study has found that soldiers are more likely than the general population to develop amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

"Early this decade, the Veterans Affairs and Defense departments released a study showing that veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War were twice as likely as other soldiers to get ALS, and the federal government extended disability compensation," The Sun reports." Now, some veterans and advocates, including members of Congress, are pushing the VA to extend those benefits to all veterans with the disease."

"Relatives of Anthony Averella (picture above), who receives disability pay because he was in the Army when diagnosed with ALS, are among those who suspect that the illness is linked to military service," The Sun reports.

"Other people came home - they lost an arm, lost a leg," said John Y. Averella, his brother. "But he came home with a death sentence."

ALS is a fatal neurological disease, affecting about 30,000 Americans, fewer than 10 percent of whom served in the military. The disease kills motor neurons until total paralysis sets in; however, it has little effect on a person's mind, so the person is aware of the body's deterioration. Most people die within five years of diagnosis.

NY governor being treated for acute glaucoma

NY Gov. David Paterson

After being taking to Manhattan's Mount Sinai Medical Center May 20 for migraine symptoms, New York Gov. David Paterson, who has been legally blind since childhood, has now been diagnosed with acute glaucoma in his left eye and will be receiving an outpatient laser procedure, The AP reports.

Paterson's office said in a statement that the procedure "will not have any long-term impact on the governor's overall health."

The governor will remain conscious during the procedure. But "in an abundance of caution, the Senate majority leader and the Assembly speaker were advised," Paterson's office said.