Actress Holly Robinson Peete blasts Michael Savage's comments on autism

Actress Holly Robinson Peete and son, RJ, who has autism.

MSNBC reports that actress Holly Robinson Peete, whose son RJ has autism, has responded to conservative talk show host Michael Savage's outrageous comments about autism.

“We find it shocking that the individuals who name-call and pass judgment on families like ours have had zero experience with the disorder,” Holly Robinson Peete and husband Rodney Peete said in a statement.

Savage has defended himself on his blog, saying, “My comments about autism were meant to boldly awaken parents and children to the medical community’s attempt to label too many children or adults as ‘autistic.’”

The Peete family say they are proud of their autistic son and have hope for his future.

“We see how brilliant he is in different ways," Holly said of her son. “I would love to encourage the world to embrace these children.”

The Peetes discuss their son's autism in-depth on the Celebrity Babies Web site.

Palestinian woman wants to stay in more accessible USA

Jenan Barghouthi

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Palestinian Jenan Barghouthi worked hard to reconstruct her life and get back to work in the West Bank city of Ramallah following a spinal cord injury in 1999. For five years, she experienced the daily frustrations of living and working in an environment that makes little provision for people who use wheelchairs.

She became active in efforts to raise awareness of disability issues in her society and, in 2005, accepted an opportunity to come to the University of Pittsburgh to pursue a master's degree in rehabilitation counseling.

But even with the degree she will complete next month, Ms. Barghouthi, 41, says she cannot put her knowledge to use in Ramallah or any Palestinian city because the physical environment remains inaccessible, attitudes toward people with disabilities are limiting and the political situation is unstable.

Consequently, she has been seeking a job in the United States in the hope of remaining in the country beyond the term of her student visa, which expires in September.

Upon arriving at Pitt three years ago, Ms. Barghouthi intended to return to Ramallah, a city of 57,000 people, to improve conditions for others with disabilities, and she still hopes to do so at some point in the future. But for now, she says, the landscape is so unfriendly to people with disabilities that she would not be able to live with any degree of independence, much less work.

"I would like to go back to change the situation, but I find that even I would be disempowered," she said. "Access has not improved; it has gotten worse."

Three years of living in Pittsburgh has shown her what it means to live in an environment that is generally accessible, even with its older buildings and infrastructure.

Illinois aims to fix poor record of serving people with developmental disabilities

From HOI-19 TV station:

Illinois ranks dead last in total dollars allocated for community living services for people with developmental disabilities.

That means some people living with autism, Down syndrome and other disabilities may eventually have to live in institutions if their families can't care for them.

But a new report from the Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities aims to reform the system.

Supporters of the seven-year "blueprint" says it focuses more on community-based living and eliminating the 11,000 person waiting list.

“We'd like to support families as long as they want to stay together and not wait until a crisis to offer them support,” said Sheila Romano of the ICDD. “We believe we've set a course where we can serve more people and do it more cost efficiently to the state.”

Illinois institutionalizes more people than any other state.

Holly Roos has two children with fragile x syndrome and the last thing she wants is for either of them to live in a state institution.

“When I'm no longer able to care for him, it doesn't matter how much I can get him in the community and how much I can help him be productive,” Roos said. “If there’s not somebody to help him when I'm gone, what’s going to happen to him?”

Among other things, the report urges the state to strengthen the existing system by adequately funding services and expanding community-based supports in place of existing state run institutions.

Man gets prison for stealing identity of person with Down syndrome

From The Capital Times in Wisconsin:

A Madison man who posed as a BBC reporter in a scheme to obtain credit cards in the name of a young man with Down syndrome was sentenced Tuesday in federal court to four years and six months in prison and ordered to repay $25,763 to four victimized banks.

District Judge Barbara Crabb called J. Richard Outhier, 37, a "pretty scary individual."

"You prey on vulnerable persons to finance a lifestyle by illegitimate means," Crabb said to Outhier.

Outhier previously admitted to using an "identity broker" in 2006 to get the name of a Boston woman active in Down syndrome awareness then, under the guise of interviewing her for a news story, verified her son's birth date and Social Security number, which he had obtained from the broker.

Using the son's personal information and duplicate copies of his birth certificate, Outhier obtained a Social Security number and then credit cards from U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo Bank. Outhier used the man's identity to obtain a bank loan to purchase a 1999 Saab in January 2007, said Assistant U.S. Attorney David Reinhard.

The Boston woman only learned of Outhier's scam when she received an overdue bill from a credit card company and a benefits statement from Claddagh's Irish Pub in Middleton, where Outhier had worked, said Reinhard.

Outhier apologized to the court and his victims and asked Crabb to recommend that he serve his sentence as close to Madison as possible.

Crabb imposed a sentence near the top of the applicable guideline range on three counts of credit and bank fraud telling Outhier that he seems to "take pride and satisfaction in your ability to con people. Anyone who comes in contact with you should be on guard."

Woman with Asperger's sues McDonalds over disability discrimination

From the San Francisco Chronicle on July 23:

An autistic woman who had worked at the McDonald's in downtown Berkeley for 21 years showed up at her job in March, after a change in ownership, and was told that she and two other disabled workers were no longer needed, she says.

"I was devastated ... then I was really just angry," Lisa Craib said after filing a discrimination complaint July 22 with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. After she was fired, the complaint said, the fast-food restaurant at Shattuck and University avenues posted a sign: "Help Wanted - Equal Opportunity Employer."

Craib's claim was filed under the Americans With Disabilities Act, which has its 18th anniversary on July 26. Under the law, "if someone's a qualified individual with a disability, they have to be treated equally alongside other people ... and they're entitled to reasonable accommodations," noted Craib's attorney, Claudia Center of the Legal Aid Society's Employment Law Center in San Francisco.

The food outlet's new owner, Nick Vergis, said he hadn't received a formal notice of the complaint but has a strict policy against discrimination.

"I comply with all applicable laws - including the Americans With Disabilities Act - and continually strive to maintain an environment in which everyone feels valued and accepted," Vergis said in a statement released by McDonald's.

Craib, 43, has Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism that typically causes people to have trouble interacting with others and to become preoccupied with narrow topics.

She worked the morning shift at the McDonald's outlet for more than two decades, preparing salads, busing tables and cleaning up, her lawyers said. They said she became such a fixture that two regular customers called her "Miss McDonald's." A job coach, funded by the state under the disability law, visited once or twice a week to see how she was doing, Center said.

According to the discrimination complaint, Craib came to work a day or two after Vergis bought the downtown franchise and was told by her supervisor, "You're no longer part of the team." The other two developmentally disabled employees were also dismissed but at least some of the nondisabled staff kept their jobs, Center said.

"It's somewhat uncommon, fortunately, that such a dramatic and seemingly blatant situation of discrimination occurs," the attorney said. But she said disabled Americans have a high unemployment rate and have a particularly hard time getting hired.

The claim filed July 22 asks the federal agency to make a finding of discrimination, which would clear the way for a damage suit, Center said.

Blind Iraq vet wins outdoor ESPY award

Capt. Scott Smiley

From the Tri-City Herald in Washington state:

Army Capt. Scott Smiley was named the best outdoor athlete July 20 in ESPN’s 2008 ESPY awards after climbing Mount Rainier despite being blinded by a suicide
blast in Mosul, Iraq, in 2005.

Smiley, who wrestled and played football at Pasco High, didn’t start mountain climbing until after he was injured. But when he was stationed at Fort Lewis with the 25th Infantry Division, he used to stare at Mount Rainier in the distance and think about climbing it one day, according to the Army News Service.

He got the chance to climb the mountain in July 2007 through Camp Patriot, a nonprofit that arranges outdoor adventures for injured veterans. His preparations included weight training, stair machines, running and practice limbs in the Colorado Mountains.

“You followed the person in front of you,” he told the Army News Service when he was nominated for the award. “You heard their footsteps and I had two hiking poles, one in each hand. That kind of gave me the ability to keep my balance. But it was difficult taking one step after the other, when you didn’t know what was ahead of you, whether it was rock, how high the rock was, if it was a slippery rock, how slippery the ice or snow was, if it was going to give.”

Smiley now is working on a master’s degree in business administration at Duke University in North Carolina and plans to teach cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., after finishing the degree in 2009.

Australian man wins case in taxi discrimination against his guide dog

From Adelaide, Australia, Now on July 23:

A blind man who won a lawsuit after his guide dog was refused entry into a taxi is happy with the result - even though it means he lost a potential windfall.

Peter Ellson was today awarded $2300 in compensation and damages after the Equal Opportunity Tribunal found he had been discriminated against by a cabbie working for PBL Taxis in February 2006.

However, Mr Ellson could have made $25,000 more by settling out of court.
Mr Ellson said he took the legal action on behalf of all blind people who have experienced problems getting their guide dogs into cabs.

"Every single guide dog user through the metropolitan area have had difficulties with catching taxis and there are only three or four of us who have ever brought it to the Equal Opportunities Commission,'' he said. "They (taxi companies) still haven't got the message but I'm thinking that today they probably got the message.''

The tribunal found that taxi companies and booking agents were responsible for the actions of their drivers.

Mr Ellson said some drivers were still prepared to "take the risk'' of refusing entry to guide dogs.

"It's a little bit like drink driving - people used to take the risk until the penalties got tougher,'' he said. "It's the same with guide dogs - if they don't want to take a dog they will take a chance.''

He said his legal battle had cost him much more than his $2,300 payout - but that his fight was never about the money.

"I'm not in it for the money, if I was on the second day of court, the operator's solicitors actually offered me $27,000 to withdraw the complaint and go away - and I refused, I turned that down,'' he said.

Focusing only on logic doesn't value all people

The New Scientist has a special report on reason, with an essay by British disability studies scholar Tom Shakespeare. He explains the problems that arise when people focus only on logic and reason:

I find the utilitarian bioethics of a Peter Singer at Princeton University (or a Julian
Savulescu at the University of Oxford) to be a powerful example of what goes wrong when we value logic and consistency above wisdom and pragmatism. It may be "rational" to try everything to avoid having a disabled child – or even to kill a newborn with disabilities – to avoid the burden of care or the suffering of a difficult life. But a world ruled by such cold moral arithmetic would not be one in which I would like to live.

Disability is part of the human condition: we are all impaired and will all become more so. We must accept disability as part of the diversity of embodiment, not seek to eliminate it at all costs. As Immanuel Kant wrote: "From the crooked timber of humanity nothing straight was ever made."

Some radio stations drop "The Savage Nation"

From The New York Times July 23:

A group of seven Mississippi talk radio stations owned by Telesouth
Communications has dropped Michael Savage’s nationally syndicated radio program over comments the host made last week suggesting that nearly every child with autism was “a brat” of inattentive parents.

“Michael Savage’s comments about autistic children were beyond inexcusable and are unacceptable,” the station group said in a statement posted Tuesday on its Web site, supertalkms.com. The cancellation follows the decision on Monday by Aflac, the insurance company, to pull its advertising from the show.

On his Web site, Michaelsavage.com, the host posted a letter on Monday in which he iterated the central point he said he had been trying to make on his July 16 program: that autism is too often misdiagnosed in the cases of children, or falsely diagnosed, at least partly as a means of wringing resources. “Let the truly autistic be treated,” he wrote. “Let the falsely diagnosed be free.”

On July 16, Mr. Savage referred to autism as “a fraud, a racket,” and asserted that what “99 percent” of children with autism most needed was a parent willing to tell them things like, “Don’t act like a moron.” Mark Masters, chief executive of Talk Radio Network, which syndicates Mr. Savage’s program to more than 350 stations, did not return messages left at his office seeking comment.

Disability doesn't keep coach from coaching

Coach Larry Ricker

From The Greeneville, Tenn., Sun:

For more than twenty years, Coach Larry Ricker has been spending a portion of his summers teaching, encouraging, and instilling the game of basketball into young Greene County athletes. The exception was last year when the coach was continuing to recover from a tragic accident that nearly cost him his life.

Earlier this month, however, Coach Ricker was back on the basketball court holding camp, traveling quickly across the gym floor in a motorized wheelchair, and continuing to share his knowledge and love for a game that he cultivated through decades of coaching.

It has been two years now that one of the most successful coaches in Greene County girls basketball history suffered the spinal injury that forever changed his life. He lost a son – and he was left with a devastating, near-fatal injury.

Young athletes competing in the National Junior Disability Championships

New Jersey's Rutgers Livingston campus is currently hosting the National Junior Disability Championships and and the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports (IWAS) Federation Junior Games.

The Star-Ledger reports that "the games bring together more than 400 athletes, ages 7 to 22, and coaches from about 25 states and 19 foreign counties. About 34 New Jersey athletes are participating in the NJDC, and seven in the IWAS games. The competitors participated in several national events to qualify for the championships and compete in sports such as swimming, track and field, archery, weightlifting, soccer, table tennis and basketball. Some are also headed to Beijing for the Paralympic Games, event organizers said."

"These kids don't want to feel sorry for themselves," said Trisha Yurochko, co-meet director of the events. "These are athletes. We don't look at them as being disabled. We look at the abilities they have."

National Coalition for Disability Rights says Michael Savage should be fired

ADA Watch and the National Coalition for Disability Rights put out a press release about conservative talk show host Michael Savage's insulting comments about children with autism, saying "hate speech is unacceptable as the 18th anniversary of Americans with Disabilities Act nears. The group's press release is below.

The Los Angeles Times reported July 21 that "protesters from Autism United, a coalition of advocacy organizations, gathered today outside the New York City WOR radio studio, which employs Savage, parents such as Martin Schwartzman, whose 15-year-old son Robbie has autism, are up in arms."

"I couldn't understand why someone could be so heartless and so insensitive, and also so ignorant for a national talk show host," Schwartzman said on WCBS-TV.

According to the ADA Watch and the National Coalition for Disability Rights release, this is not the first time Savage has insulted people with disabilities. Interestingly, on his Web site, Savage says he knows "real" disability because "as the brother of a severely disabled person who suffered and died in a New York 'snake-pit' of a 'mental hospital,' I know first-hand what true disability is."

Savage seems genuinely pleased with all the ire he's stirred up. I personally think it's just a convenient method for him to raise his profile nationally. After all, he made it into the NY Times based on his controversial statements.

The release:

WASHINGTON -- The leader of a national coalition of disability, civil rights and social justice organizations called on Talk Radio Network to fire talk radio host, Michael Savage for his hateful attacks on children and adults with physical and mental disabilities.

Jim Ward, founder and president of ADA Watch and the National Coalition for Disability Rights (NCDR), stated: "ADA Watch/NCDR calls on Talk Radio Network to fire Michael Savage. As America prepares to celebrate the 18th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on July 26th, people with disabilities, parents, family members, friends and advocates across the nation are outraged over Savages latest attack on people with disabilities.

"His despicable assault on children with autism -- calling them frauds and brats -- is rightly being condemned as hateful and bigoted. But it is just the latest of Savages numerous and painful attempts to demean and disenfranchise people with disabilities."

Savage has also used his bully-pulpit to declare that:

• High levels of asthma impacting minority children was because the children got extra welfare if they were disabled. (July 2008)
• The handicapped workers at the Phoenix Cafe would drool and put dung in diners food. He made up names for the food on the menu, such as "nutburger."
  (July 2002)
• Members of the disability rights community are the Wheelchair Mafia.
• The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the worlds first civil rights law for people with disabilities, should be called the Lawyers Improvement Act.
• His political opponents are degenerate slime bags with mental disorders and have a virus like leukemia.
• When he was younger, he touched the hand of a midget [Dwarf], it really freaked him out and, since that episode, he doesn't like public places. (June
  2004).
• The autism lobby of devastated parents is just a scam to get more money.

ADA Watch and the National Coalition for Disability Rights (NCDR) is a coalition of national, state and local disability, civil rights and social justice organizations united to protect and promote the human rights of children and adults with physical and mental disabilities. NCDRs Road To Freedom bus, launched on November 15, 2006, is still on the road and has traveled more than 40,000 miles promoting social justice and economic opportunity for people with disabilities. For more information, go to www.adawatch.org and www.roadtofreedom.org.

New Zealand ad visually illustrates hearing impairment

An interesting ad from the Foundation for the Deaf in New Zealand that tries to visually illustrate what having a hearing impairment might be like and how ineffective reading lips can sometimes be.

Here's the ad on the AdverBox advertising blog.

Thanks to Lawrence for the tip.

Disabled air passengers gain rights in Europe

From TravelBite.co.uk July 21:

Disabled people will be entitled to receive more assistance when travelling by air in Europe, thanks to a new EU regulation.

Providing assistance to travellers with reduced mobility will now be the responsibility of airports when the regulation comes into effect on July 26, 2008. And disabled passengers who believe they have not received adequate assistance will now be able go to the Equality and Human Rights Commission to enforce the regulation.

The new legislation is the second part of the Regulation on Disabled Persons and Persons of Reduced Mobility.

The first part came into effect in July 2007 and made it illegal for anyone to be unreasonably denied access to board a plane due to a disability.

UK disability charity Leonard Cheshire has welcomed the new legislation.

"As our Now Boarding campaign showed, disabled people are still facing barriers when using air travel, when they should enjoy the same opportunities that most of us take for granted," commented national campaigns officer Katie Turner.

She called for air travel providers to "take this new directive seriously and equip their staff with the skills and understanding to support disabled customers."

A Leonard Cheshire survey revealed that 61 per cent of disabled respondents had experienced difficulties boarding a flight.

School-age disabled athletes celebrate new Maryland law

From The Baltimore Examiner July 21:

Implementing the nation's first law guaranteeing disabled athletes the chance to compete alongside their peers may be a tricky process, students said July 21 at a celebration of the law's passage.

The law, which Gov. Martin O'Malley signed into law in May, guarantees disabled students the right to race or play alongside students in mainstream athletics, unless their participation endangers the players.

"This measure will make Maryland the very first to require that all athletes, including those with disabilities, will be allowed to participate in school sports and activities," O'Malley said after attending the event at M&T Bank Stadium. "I hope other states will follow suit."

Students celebrated the law's passage with games like wheelchair basketball, golf, bocce ball and "goalball" - which sighted people play blindfolded alongside blind players.

The hard work facing public schools is worth the benefits of the law, O'Malley said.

"There's no progress without struggle," O'Malley said. "I'm sure we'll figure out ways to make this work ... We shouldn't relegate people because of their disabilities to the sidelines."