Judge says non-degree disabled student in Michigan must be allowed to live in dorm at Oakland University

From The AP:

ROCHESTER, Mich. - A judge ordered a suburban Detroit university to allow a non-degree student with a learning disability to live in a student dorm, despite a school policy that allows only students pursuing degrees to live on campus.

U.S. District Judge Patrick Duggan wrote in his Dec. 23 decision that Oakland University was breaking federal law by barring 25-year-old Micah Fialka-Feldman (pictured) from its dorms. He noted a deposition by Mary Beth Snyder, vice president of student affairs, "who referred to some unspecified impact on 'study floors' and 'quiet hours."'

"This assessment instead appears to be grounded on prejudice, stereotypes and/or unfounded fear," Duggan wrote.

Fialka-Feldman's attorney, Chris Davis, said his client wants to live on campus because he has to take the bus to school every day but is involved in student government and likes to attend sporting events.

"It's a convenience issue," Davis said.

Fialka-Feldman, 25, has an impairment that affects his reading and writing and has been attending classes at the school since 2003. He's enrolled in a program for students who otherwise wouldn't be at the university that requires them to take at least three classes at a time.

The Huntington Woods resident said in his lawsuit that the university agreed to let him live on campus but later denied the request.

"I think it's pretty awesome," Fialka-Feldman said Monday. "I'm so happy I've made it this far."

School spokesman Ted Montgomery said the university is evaluating Duggan's order. The judge said his decision is a narrow one and does not clear the way for other students in the same non-degree program to automatically get housing.

Alabama woman's sister able to commit her to psychiatric facility even though she isn't mentally ill

From the intro to a story in The Montgomery Advertiser in Alabama. In the picture, B.J. Hutter sits with her parents, Bob and Vera Pike, at their home.

It was a year ago Dec. 29 when deputy sheriffs came to B.J. Hutter's home and put her in a white van. She soon found herself shackled and confined in a mental institution -- not because she was insane, but because of what Hutter said was sibling rivalry.

Although Hutter was quickly diagnosed as being sane, her release did not come as quickly as the diagnosis because necessary procedures had to be followed.

Hutter was confined for about a week in a mental institution until the courts could officially release her. That was far faster than it may have occurred in the past, but it still seemed like an eternity to Hutter.

Adding insult to injury, Hutter said she later discovered she had to pay the tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills for her own involuntary and unnecessary commitment.

On that day one year ago, Hutter had only been worrying about the visit she was about to make to her orthopedic surgeon for treatment of a broken ankle. That changed when several deputy sheriffs arrived at her house with orders from the Probate Court.

A handful of law enforcement vehicles surrounded the front of her Montgomery home, with officers surrounding the house itself, she said. In the driveway, the white van was backed up, ready for Hutter's transfer.

And within eyesight was her younger sister Vicki Pike, who Hutter later learned had signed the petition to have her involuntarily committed. After they had argued, her sister had filed papers saying Hutter was both suicidal and homicidal.

As authorities walked Hutter from her house, she shuffled on her crutches. She remembers how embarrassed she was when she saw her neighbors watching her as a group of deputy sheriffs escorted her to the van. She didn't know at that time who had signed the papers.

There was embarrassment, and there was shock.

She realized that this was serious, that she was being involuntarily committed to a mental institution.

"The severity of this hit me so hard, that for a moment in time, I felt completely removed from my body," the 59-year-old Hutter said.

REM's Michael Stipe remembers Vic Chesnutt

From Spin magazine:

Vic Chesnutt, a critically-acclaimed singer/songwriter from Athens, GA, died Christmas day after spending two days in a coma, caused by an overdose of muscle relaxers. He was 45.

Chesnutt, confined to a wheelchair since a car accident paralyzed him at age 18, was known for his dark, comical songs about love and death. He was championed by an array of rockers, including Billy Corgan, Madonna, and Garbage, who all covered his songs on the 1998 benefit compilation Sweet Relief II: The Gravity of the Situation, which helped provide medical funds to uninsured musicians.

R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe, a fellow Athens native, was also a friend and fan of Chesnutt's work, and even produced two of the troubadour's albums.

In an interview with NPR Saturday, just one day after Chesnutt's death, Stipe said the artist "was one of our greatest songwriters, and one of our greatest voices." "[Chesnutt] was able to bring levity to very dark emotions and feelings, and he had a humor that was really quite unusual," Stipe said.

Chesnutt's death is believed to be a suicide, and Stipe said that the musician "was very open about talking about his depression and about suicidal tendencies and thoughts." Stipe added that Chesnutt's tune "Flirted With You All My Life" was the late singer's "break-up song with death."

As news of Chesnutt's death spread over the holiday weekend, musicians took to the web to pay their respects. Patti Smith and Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum both wrote to the website of Constellation Records, which released some of Chesnutt's albums.

"He possessed an unearthly energy and yet was humanistic with the common man in mind," wrote Smith. "He was entirely present and entirely somewhere else. A mystical somewhere else. A child and an old guy as he called himself… with his angel voice."

Added Mangum: "In 1991 I moved to Athens in search of god, but what I discovered instead was Vic Chesnutt. Hearing his music completely transformed the way I thought about writing songs, and I will forever be in his debt."

Over his 25-year-long career, Chesnutt released a total of 13 records (including two in 2009) and collaborated with numerous musicians, including Widespread Panic, Elf Power, Cowboy Junkies, and more. He also contributed to Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse, and David Lynch's recent release, Dark Night of the Soul.

Watch footage of Chesnutt performing "Flirted With You All My Life" here.

California teen with CP gives home to abandoned Shetland pony

From Digital Journal:

An abandoned Shetland pony and a California teen got the best holiday presents ever, thanks to her father who couldn’t refuse his daughter's wish to have a pony.

Joseph Sandoval, an Anaheim, California, resident said it was impossible to refuse his 17-year-old daughter the gift of a six-year-old, camel-colored pony she wanted so badly after she saw the diminutive horse on TV.

“I’m so excited,” said Michelle Sandoval, who has cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair, as she took possession of the pony she renamed “Snowflake” at the Southeast Area Animal Control Authority (SEAACA) the day before Christmas, as her proud father, sister Angelica, 12, and cousin, Lorenzo Torres, 5, looked on.

Known to animal control officers as “Big Boy,” the pony was found wandering in traffic early this month and reported to SEAACA. It took more than a half-hour to corral the three-foot tall horse and take him to a shelter, where authorities waited for his owner to claim him. The owner never did.

"This is a great day for us," said Capt. Aaron Reyes, director of SEAACA. "It's always special when we get to bring together an animal with a loving family."
Snowflake will reside at Sandoval’s Riverside ranch along with a menagerie of other animals.

Disabled woman in Florida forced to sleep outside two nights

From NBC 2 in Florida:

NORTH FORT MYERS, Fla. -- A North Fort Myers man is accused of assaulting a disabled woman then forcing her to sleep outside on Christmas night and the following evening.

Charles Jagger, 58, is charged with one count of abuse against a disabled person, one count of criminal mischief and one count of obstructing or resisting a police officer.

Authorities say he locked 46-year-old Gail Stone outside his home at 1358 Old Bridge Road December 25 - 26.

Stone, who is confined to a wheelchair due to a spinal injury, had been living with Jagger since late November, according to a Lee County Sheriff's Office report.

Stone says Jagger struck her in the head, pushed her out the door then locked her outside.

Deputies say he was staggering and intoxicated when they arrived at the home.

He was placed under arrest then reportedly threatened to kill Stone and injure a deputy upon his release from jail.

Authorities say he then began to head-butt a Plexiglas shield inside a patrol vehicle.

Deputies used pepper spray to subdue him, the report said.

He was taken to the Lee County Jail without further incident.

Shafallah Center for Children with Special Needs in Qatar graduates 36 people with disabilities from voc rehab program

From Gulf Times:

Thirty-six graduates from the Shafallah Center for Children with Special Needs are ready to take up appropriate jobs after completing a five-year course in vocational training.

Among them are 25 Qataris.

“They are pretty well trained and well behaved,” Shafallah’s Post School Services co-ordinator Torrence Royer told Gulf Times yesterday.

There are 22 men in the group. All the graduates are in the 18 to 25 age range. They have intellectual disabilities, including autism, mental retardation, cerebral palsy and epilepsy.

“Most of our graduates are capable of handling tasks with a repetitive nature, which many others could find boring,” Royer said.

They recently completed an assignment from Qatar University, to place magnetic strips in about 900 books, an activity that was repetitive.

Graduate Ghanim Abdulaziz al-Mudhaiki, who will start working today at Souq Waqif car parking control room, has to ensure that a car given entry on a particular ticket is the same that exits on the same ticket.

“Two other graduates are working part-time at the InterContinental Doha Hotel. One is a receptionist at the sports centre and the other is a florist’s apprentice,” Royer said.

The graduate working as florist’s apprentice, a male, developed a liking for flower arrangements while at Shafallah. He now assists in preparing flowers daily for the 200 rooms at the hotel, yet another example of a repetitive activity.

“We send a job coach to train our graduates, who take up jobs, and supports and supervises them before backing out gradually when they become independent,” the official explained.

Shafallah’s Post School Services is currently in discussion with Qatar Airways. “Since Qatar Airways has offices across the country, we hope to provide jobs for our graduates near their residences,” Royer said.

As of now, the Post School section functioning from a villa at West Bay area has graduates coming from places such as Wakrah and Dukhan.

“By September 2010 we expect to have extension services in these locations, and instead of clients coming to us always we could go to them as well,” he said.
Shafallah’s Post School Services, established last year, has a capacity for 60 graduates, with 20 expected from the Shafallah Center annually.

MDA faces $25 million budget shortfall

From WBOY-TV in West Virginia:

BUCKHANNON, W.Va. -- The Muscular Dystrophy Association said it's facing a budget shortfall of about $25 million and it's struggling to develop a balanced budget for 2010.

As of Jan. 1, the MDA will no longer buy new medical equipment for patients, and it will not cover the cost of transportation to MDA clinic appointments, said an MDA spokesperson.

Families dealing with Muscular Dystrophy, like the Rosencrance family in Buckhannon, were recently sent letters about the cutbacks.

They were also sent letters in August, when 21 field offices were closed and 120 MDA staffers were laid off.

Clinic grants have also been reduced by 10 percent, and second and third year grant funding by five percent, said the MDA.

Mary Rosencrance said the latest cutbacks will be hard on people who need equipment like wheelchairs, slings and breathing machines.

"That will have a big effect on everybody because we won't have them to call on. There's other organizations that can help buy equipment, but that's contingent on money available. Sometimes they have money and sometimes they don't," said Rosencrance, whose son Brandon has Duchenne's Disease.

The MDA said it will try to increase the amount of equipment it can loan to people, and it will also help people find other equipment funding and transportation resources.

"Love hormone" may help young adults with autism

From UPI:

NEW YORK -- The "love hormone," released at childbirth and during sex, is being used in a U.S. trial of young adults with autism spectrum disorders, researchers say.

Dr. Eric Hollander, the advisory board chairman for the International Center for Autism Research and Education and chairman of psychiatry at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, says giving oxytocin may improve social functioning and repetitive behaviors -- irrespective of the age of the patient.

"For the first time, certain core systems of autism may respond to treatment," Hollander says in a statement.

In the trial, autistic patients age 18 and older, who were given oxytocin nasally for 12 weeks significantly reduced their repetitive behavior, and were better able to recognize anger or happiness in the tone of a speaker's voice.

Upbeat results were also provided in a similar age group who took the peptide intravenously, the study said.

Autism spectrum disorders refers to a group of symptoms, like a profound inability to communicate and other developmental disorders.

Disabled people in Iowa being paid less than minimum wage to work at state-run homes

From the Des Moines Register:

More than 300 mentally retarded people are being paid less than the minimum wage to work at the state-run Woodward and Glenwood homes for the disabled.

State records obtained by The Des Moines Register under the Iowa open-records law show that 74 of the mentally retarded workers are paid an average wage of about 60 cents an hour. One averages 11 cents an hour working for a company owned by one of the world's richest private equity firms, the Carlyle Group.

Those wages are legal under a 71-year-old federal law that enables employers to pay the disabled less than the minimum wage. The law has always been controversial, but the alleged exploitation of mentally retarded employees by Henry's Turkey Service in Atalissa has rekindled the national debate on subminimum wages.

The federal law is intended to ensure that jobs are available for people who cannot perform at the same level as people without disabilities. It has proved divisive even among the disabled, their families and mental health advocates.

Citing the situation in Atalissa, the Association for Persons in Supported Employment is calling for a gradual phaseout of the minimum wage exemption. The organization says the exemption leads to a segregated work force and advances the notion that a disabled worker is not as deserving of base-line, minimum wage protections.

"The disabled is the only class of people we look at and say, 'We'll pay you based on your productivity,' " said association executive director Laura Owens.

"I don't do that when I hire a woman or an African American or a Native American. When we hire other people, we say we're going to pay them according to their value to the company," she said.

But others say the exemption creates meaningful job opportunities for the disabled that wouldn't otherwise exist. Woodward Superintendent Jim Finch said the residents there benefit from not just the pay but from the work itself.

"It is part of a person's self-esteem," he said. "Oftentimes, I'll go down to the payroll office when our clients come in and start picking up their checks on payday, on Friday. And, you know, whether it's 50 cents or $300, they are just so excited. They want to show you their checks and show you that they get paid for doing work. It's a big morale booster."

Owens said, "That's a very demeaning way of looking at this. Eleven cents an hour is almost an insult. This is a civil rights issue."

According to the Iowa Department of Human Services, which runs the Woodward and Glenwood centers, 314 residents of the two facilities are paid less than the Iowa minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

Department records also show:

- At Glenwood, there are 173 residents being paid subminimum wages, and the workers collect an average of $3.31 an hour. One resident is paid an average of 11 cents an hour, and there are 18 workers averaging less than the 40 cents an hour that was paid by Henry's Turkey Service.

The disabled Glenwood residents assist with food service, custodial work, laundry, delivery services and recycling. Some of the work is done on behalf of churches, the city of Glenwood and the Glenwood Chamber of Commerce.

- At Woodward, there are 141 disabled residents receiving less than the minimum wage, and the average pay is $3.09 an hour. There are 43 residents averaging 50 cents an hour, which is the lowest reported average hourly wage at Woodward.

The residents help with salvage labor, assembly of parts, delivery services, grounds maintenance and laundry. Some of the work is done on behalf of nonprofit agencies, state offices and for-profit companies.

Sylvia Piper of Iowa Protection and Advocacy said her concern is that with wages as low as 11 cents an hour, some workers' full potential is not being realized.

"Eleven cents an hour does seem low," she said. "Is there something else, some other job, these people could do that would be of greater value to them and to the employer?"

Department of Human Services spokesman Roger Munns said the Glenwood resident who averages 11 cents an hour is packaging items, labeling boxes and sealing bags for the Oriental Trading Co. That's a for-profit company owned by the Carlyle Group, a global private equity firm with $87 billion in assets.

Munns said some of the workers, including the person who averages 11 cents an hour, are being paid on a piece-rate basis, not the time spent on a task.

Many of the residents at Woodward and Glenwood are profoundly disabled, but Owens said people who are capable of working are entitled to a fair wage.

"I hear this argument all the time, that we are dealing with people with really significant disabilities," Owens said.

"I work with folks taken from institutions, and I have one woman who is deaf, blind and supposedly has significantly intellectual disabilities. She has been working for 15 years in the community and is now making $11 an hour - not 11 cents," Owens said.

Curt Decker of the National Disability Rights Network said the nation's minimum wage exemption is an "outmoded concept" that dates to a time when there were no support services or devices to improve the productivity of the disabled.

"It is inappropriate to single out and stigmatize workers with disabilities," he said.

The Department of Labor reports that nationally, there are about 425,000 disabled people working for more than 3,200 nonprofits, government agencies and for-profit companies authorized to pay less than the minimum wage.

The vast majority of these people work in so-called sheltered workshops made up exclusively of disabled workers. More than half of them are paid less than $2.50 per hour, with 23 percent earning less than $1 per hour.

People on both sides of the minimum wage issue agree that if disabled workers are to be protected from exploitation, the federal government needs to improve its oversight of employers.

The process of determining a worker's rate of pay involves a calculation of the prevailing wage paid to able-bodied workers. That is coupled with a detailed assessment of the impact that each worker's disability has on his productivity in a specific job.

Those calculations are made by the employers who are paying the wages, not by an independent third party or a worker advocate. The calculations are detailed in written reports the employers send to the Department of Labor for review and approval.

But some of those reports receive little or no scrutiny. John McKeon, deputy director of the department's Wage and Hour Division, said there are only three federal employees reviewing the 2,000 reports submitted each year for approval.

At Woodward, officials acknowledged that when they calculated the prevailing wage for the position of a "cleaner," they mistakenly factored in a $1.22 hourly pay rate for an able-bodied worker at Woodward.

It was a simple - but obvious - mathematical error that reduced the prevailing wage for that job from $9.25 to $7.58, yet no one caught the mistake before the report was finished and sent to the Department of Labor for approval.

Finch said the mistake had no adverse effect on any Woodward residents because the calculations were included in a report filed just three weeks ago and have yet to take effect.

McKeon said many employers who pay the disabled less than the minimum wage "have never seen a wage-and-hour investigator." In March, he said, there were about 740 investigators at the agency, compared with 1,500 in 1975.

Even when investigations take place and violations are found, penalties are rarely imposed.

In the case of Henry's Turkey Service, Department of Labor investigators repeatedly called on the company to reimburse workers for unpaid wages but never imposed an additional penalty.

"I hate to put it this way," said James Leonard, a former Department of Labor lawyer, "but there's almost a financial incentive to take a chance that you won't be caught, because even if you are caught you'll only have to pay back wages."

Between 1987 and 2007, the number of lawsuits in which the Department of Labor took enforcement action and accused companies of violating payroll laws dropped from 705 per year to 151.

That reduction forced workers to hire their own attorneys to seek enforcement of the law. Between 1987 and 2007, the number of lawsuits filed by workers and their private lawyers increased from 773 per year to 7,159.

Leonard said the enforcement system has left all workers - not just the disabled - to fend for themselves.

The Government Accountability Office and the Labor Department's Office of Inspector General reached similar conclusions as a result of investigations several years ago.

Since then, the department has revised its policies and protocols, but Decker told a U.S. Senate committee early this year that "Henry's Turkey Service lingers as an ugly reminder that more is still required."

President Barack Obama has since proposed spending $30 million to hire an additional 288 investigators at the Labor Department.

Decker wants to see stiffer penalties for violators, more public disclosure related to employers' payroll practices and increased enforcement efforts that include a partnership with protection-and-advocacy agencies located in each state.

Advocates for the disabled point out that Atalissa is not the only case of worker exploitation.

In New Hampshire last month, state officials alleged that a nonprofit organization committed 260 violations of the minimum wage law. Community Partners allegedly used mentally disabled clients to perform yardwork and paid them less than the minimum wage without the required approval from the Department of Labor.

British disabled vet returns to military

From The Guardian in the UK:

The army has given a fillip to badly maimed Afghan veterans by confirming a new job for one of the most severely injured of them all.

Three years after a roadside bomb left him with brain injuries, both legs amputated and unable to speak, paratrooper Ben Parkinson (pictured) is preparing to walk, talk and start a computer job back with his regiment in the new year.

His mother, Diane Dernie, 50, described the Christmas offer as fantastic. She said that officers of the 7th Parachute Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery, had promised a resumed army career to the 25-year-old "for as long as he wants it".

She said: "They told us they wanted him back at work but it had to be something meaningful. Now he can't wait. All he says is, I'm getting back to the boys."

Parkinson and his family in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, have been symbols of determination, both in medical recovery and the campaign to get "fair" compensation for badly wounded troops.

The lance bombardier was the archetypal Para when the explosion in Helmand province in September 2006 blew off both legs above the knees, broke his back and caused 35 other injuries. As well as a ruptured spleen, broken pelvis and rib cage, he lost so much blood that his brain closed down temporarily, leaving him speechless on recovery and with no memories of the three years leading up to the blast. But doctors at the specialist Hedley Court military hospital in Surrey were astonished at his slow but obstinate powers of recovery.

Nine months ago, he defied their predictions again, refusing to accept a prognosis that his condition was as good as it could get, with no chance of walking or speaking. He was fitted last month at the Northern General hospital in Sheffield with artificial legs and is making rapid progress with an electronic voicebox.

Parkinson showed the results during Christmas week when he opened a new health centre in Doncaster shortly before a fundraising rugby match in his honour was played in the town. His uniform has been kept immaculate and regularly worn at awards ceremonies, including his choice as 2009 Yorkshireman of the Year at a ceremony last month.

Dernie says that she and Parkinson's brother Danny now understand most of what he says, and their target is at least 80% of normal speech in due course.

Parkinson's compensation claim saw an initial offer of £152,000 from the MoD rise to £285,000 after a lively and imaginative campaign. Compensation rates for the most seriously injured victims were then doubled, and his final award of £540,000 has paid for a specially adapted bungalow in Doncaster, where he lives with his mother and stepfather.

Washington state blind man continues career as machinist

From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

KENNEWICK, Wash. -- The sign says "Basic Machining," but what Bernie Vinther accomplishes inside his two-car garage converted into a shop is far more complicated than that.

The 65-year-old moves around the cramped quarters, sidling between a 13-by-40-inch metal lathe, a metal band saw, drill press, cabinets with razor-edged cutting tools and a milling machine that would take three hefty men to inch it into position.

When Vinther flips a switch, fluorescent lights reveal dozens of wrenches, files, hammers, pliers and machinist's drill bits filling niches above, on and under benches and cabinets.

A typical machine shop, except each item has its place.

This is Vinther's world, one where he works in total darkness.

"The lights are for you handicapped people," the Kennewick resident says with a smile as his fingers feel for the switch. His eyes don't hint at the meaning of the joke because he lost his vision to diabetes more than two decades ago.

Sightless but confident and seemingly fearless, Vinther's love of machining is his second chosen career.

He used to be a skilled electronics technician in Western Washington, owning a business that specialized in industrial communications systems. He designed, built and fixed radios, and even climbed communications towers.

But the diabetes that began in childhood worsened. At age 38, his sight began to diminish, marking the end of his chosen career.

His life change included a move to the Tri-Cities, where his wife Brenda had grown up and had a job offer.

As Vinther's world grew darker, a desire to work with his hands led to an interest in machining, so he enrolled in machine shop classes at Columbia Basin College 10 years ago.

The first challenge was overcoming the resistance of having a blind person in a shop where the odds were high for losing fingers to the equipment. Vinther prevailed, completing the required courses, which even included blueprint reading.

How did he do it?

"You have only two eyes. I have 10," he says, holding up his fingers and thumbs.

Having a good mental picture also helps, Vinther said.

Vinther feels shapes, molding three-dimensional objects out of clay.

"I have a way of making drawings I can feel, using a drawing kit made with Velcro and yarn for the lines," he said.

Listening carefully also tells him not only where things are, but also the relative speed of moving machinery.

But Vinther's best trick is an audio readout device that tells him the precise measurements and positions on his lathes and milling machines.

By attaching the device to each machine's digital display, he hears the information he needs. That way he can make necessary adjustments to as close as one ten-thousandths of an inch.

The device was designed and built for Vinther by the nonprofit Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in San Francisco, which was founded to develop products for the blind.

Using a Braille printer, Vinther has labeled all of his cutting tools. He's even created a multi-page drill size index in Braille so he knows which tool to use, in both metric and standard sizes.

Most of Vinther's jobs are for people he knows as friends or neighbors, but he also does contract work. A recent assignment involved making parts out of stainless steel for LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory at Hanford operated by the California Institute of Technology.

Vinther is one of perhaps only 100 blind machinists nationwide, with maybe only 10 others who are at his level of proficiency.

He's a rarity, but not perfect.

"When I make mistakes, I start over," he said.

He's had a couple of injuries, both to the same finger and once cut to the bone. But Vinther notes that he still has all 10 digits and his only lingering problem is it's more difficult reading Braille with the damaged finger.

He said he doesn't think about what could go wrong. "I visualize things in my head. I just do it."

An example of his mental capabilities is evident in a 6-inch square box crammed with 32 wires attached to his milling machine. Vinther designed and built the electrical component as a dead man's switch to replace a much simpler on-off switch that burned out.

His design is better because it controls all of the features of the machine with a single control, making it safer to operate.

"I like to keep learning. I'm always having to figure out how to do something," Vinther said.

Willard Stone, a neighbor, said he couldn't believe what Vinther was doing. So he called the Herald to suggest a story.

"He does the impossible," Stone said.

Vinther sees his life as a challenge.

"I can't quite understand why when most people go blind it is the end for them and they give up," he said.

"But you see, it's these challenges that push me on to find more and more ways to do more and more things."

Vinther's life isn't all work. He also enjoys taking his wife on dates to the movies.

He listens as she explains what's happening on the big screen.

Brenda also can be a big help as a machinist's assistant.

"She's been a big help to me. She finds the things I drop on the floor," he said.

San José library hosts Inclusive Story Times

From School Library Journal:

Starting in January, the library will introduce “Inclusive Story Times,” which uses unique strategies to engage children of varying abilities and learning styles.

The idea for “Inclusive Story Times” started as an experiment by two San José branch librarians who, over the course of a year, conducted story times specifically aimed at children with autism and other disabilities.

“We found that parents/caregivers at these story times were more comfortable in a setting where they felt understood by the other families and in turn could relax and enjoy the experience with their children,” says Ila Langner, a youth services librarian who has a child with autism.

In Santa Clara County, of which San José represents 54 percent of the population, at least 13,000 children up to the age of five are identified as having learning disabilities or special needs. Studies have shown that early intervention with children with autism is highly effective.

Although library story times and similar experiences in child care settings are intended for all children, there are a number of adjustments that can be made to make them more inclusive and beneficial for children with autism and other disabilities. These include: using pictorial schedules to help children with the many transitions involved in a story time; using books that help match words with pictures so children have a more active role in the reading; and using carpet squares to create a more defined space for children who find it difficult to establish boundaries.

These adaptations have also proven effective with helping English language learners master early literacy skills, the library says, something that’s particularly relevant in San José, where 6,338 kindergarten students were classified as English learners (EL) in 2007-2008; some 63 percent of the county’s EL kindergarten population.

This program, a collaboration between the library and the Inclusion Collaborative of Santa Clara County, will build on the library’s early literacy programs by providing specific story times for families of children between the ages of 0 to 8 with autism and other disabilities, modifying all story times so that they are more inclusive of every child, including adaptation of early literacy resources currently provided to early educators in 245 local child care sites.

The program is supported in part by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian and through a collaboration between the San José Public Library, Inclusion Collaborative and Santa Clara County Office of Education.

Children of all backgrounds and abilities are encouraged to participate. For more details, visit the “Story Times” section of the Kids pages at www.sjlibrary.org.

The San José Public Library system is the largest public library system between San Francisco and Los Angeles on the West Coast, serving a culturally diverse population of approximately 1,007,000 in the nation’s 10th largest city.

New wheelchair with hubless wheels, gadget seat

From Gizmodo:

The Nimbl wheelchair, designed by Lawrence Kwok, is intended for use in a home that hasn't been retrofitted for full handicap access. But why stay home when your wheelchair looks this good.

The Nimbl, living up to its name, features hubless wheels with a short wheelbase for increased maneuverability. But that's not the only unique feature of the chair's design.

The Nimbl also sports a motorized seat that can lift the operator several feet in the air, activated by a control panel in the chair's armrest. Though its currently only a concept, it wouldn't hurt current wheelchair makers to take note of the Nimbl's form or its function.

Ohio home health worker saves woman with MS from fire

From the Akron Beacon Journal in Ohio:

Denisha Anderson has always believed in showing up early for work.

Anderson's diligence helped save a life Dec. 28.

After the health-care aide arrived five minutes early to the West Akron apartment where her client lives, she was just in time to avert tragedy.

Authorities say Anderson, 35, rushed to pull invalid patient Marchell Pritchett, who is in her 50s and has multiple sclerosis, from her burning bed to safety.

''This was the scariest thing that's ever happened to me,'' Anderson said. ''It's a couple hours after, and I'm still shaking.

''And I'm still praying. Praying for her [Pritchett's] health, her life and my life. What happened in that burning house was something that I never want to see again in my life. I'm just thankful we both got out alive.''

Anderson isn't sure where she summoned the strength to pull the woman from the burning room.

''I had to drag her to save her because she couldn't move out of her bed,'' she said. ''I don't know where it came from, but it was courage that I never knew I had.''

Anderson, a mother of two teenagers, took a bus from her residence off South Hawkins Avenue and arrived at the three-story home at 386 Wildwood Ave. about 9:45 a.m.

Anderson takes care of Pritchett every day except Sunday. She has been caring for her for six months.

''I got into the house and went back to her bedroom and gave her her medicine,'' she said. ''Then the lights went out.''

Anderson went downstairs and hit the switch on the fuse box. The lights went back on and Anderson returned to care for Pritchett.

Anderson and Pritchett then saw sparks fly out of an extension cord that was plugged into the wall close to the side of Pritchett's bed. The cord was hooked to a nearby lamp.

''It all happened so fast, we couldn't even think,'' said Anderson, who graduated from Buchtel High School in 1993. ''The spark flew out and hit the mattress. That caught the entire bed on fire.''

Anderson said she dragged Pritchett through the living area of the first-floor apartment and out the front door.

''I had pushed the fire button on her [Pritchett's] emergency phone, but it didn't work,'' Anderson said. ''I was screaming for somebody to call 911 while I drug her out of the house.''

Anderson said she was met on the front porch by a ''couple of men who lived upstairs.''

''They carried Marchell across the street to a neighbor's house,'' she said

Akron Fire Capt. James Case identified one of the men as Rodondo Jackson, who lives on the third floor of the house.

Anderson believes Pritchett had a second-degree burn on the back of one of her legs. She was taken to Akron Children's Hospital's burn unit for treatment.

Anderson suffered a small burn on a finger and inhaled some smoke. She declined to be taken to the hospital.

Case, who was working the final shift of his 33-year career, said all of the residents of the house managed to escape safely.

''We don't know how many people were in there,'' Case said, ''but everybody got out of the house OK.''

Case confirmed that the fire started in the rear bedroom on the first floor occupied by Pritchett.

Investigator Matt Davello ruled the cause of the fire as unintentional electrical failure.

''The problem with the older homes like this is that the fire spreads quickly,'' Case said. ''Once the fire gets into the walls, it climbs quickly up to the second and third floors because of the bloom construction.''

Although a ladder rescue unit and an engine truck arrived shortly after the Akron Fire Department received the first of multiple 911 calls, there wasn't much the firefighters could do to save the structure, Case said.

Case said it took about an hour to get the fire under control. Firefighters spent another couple of hours making certain it didn't spread.

Case said the house was a total loss. He estimated its value at $100,000.

Right before the blaze started, the home aide and her patient were counting their blessings.

''The really crazy thing is that we had just a couple minutes before the fire congratulated each other on making it to 2010,'' said Anderson, who works for Interim Home Health Care. ''We even gave each other high-fives for making it to another year.

''I guess I learned again that you should never count your chickens before they hatch. We almost didn't make it to 2010. That's how scary this whole thing was.''

Florida beach gets closer to wheelchair access

From The News Herald in Panama City, Fla. Tom Swett of Panama City Beach, left, who developed an electric wheelchair that can traverse the sand, stands with Jerry and Janet Scott outside the Summit condominium in Panama City Beach.

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. — Beach scooters for the handicapped remain prohibited at St. Andrews State Park, even though city and county beaches allow them.

But a pilot program underway at St. George Island State Park near Apalachicola might change that, officials said.

With the expected opening in May of the new $318 million Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport near West Bay, inventor John Swett said the area should be eyeing the money disabled tourists spend — upwards of $1.2 billion each year on vacations.

“The disabled are not going to come here from around the world if they can’t get to the beach,” said Sweet, who was disabled with polio when he was young. “If I’m disabled, I’m calling ahead.”

Swett and his brother, Tom, of Panama City Beach, first developed the hybrid electric beach cart now allowed on city and county sand.

They said they hope the pilot program at St. George — a program using their invention — will soon clear the way for handicapped beach scooters at St. Andrews State Park.

John Swett said he loved the water and decided to develop a motorized wheelchair so the handicapped could negotiate the sand.

“That is whole reason we’ve invested in the material and the research and the development,” he said.

One snowbird couple who has enjoyed the mobility the scooters give are Jerry and Janet Scott of South Dakota, who have been coming to Panama City Beach for four-month stretches for six years.

Without his beach scooter, Jerry Scott said he wouldn’t be able to enjoy the white sand.

“It’s the only way I can get out on the sand,” said Scott, 73, who has not been able to walk without crutches for 15 years. “It allows me to get out all along the beach. I don’t think I would be coming to Panama City Beach without this, or staying quite so long.”

Janet Scott said her husband recently injured his shoulder rotator cuff, which makes using crutches even more difficult.

“He just wouldn’t be able to walk on the sand,” she said. Although the couple enjoy coming south to Panama City Beach, many of their friends spend the winter in Arizona, instead, she said.

The Swetts say another client, Kim Blakeman and her parents, of Kentucky, were turned away at St. Andrews over Thanksgiving from using a customized cart rented from the Swett’s firm, Accessible Beach & Bath Products.

In addition, there are still many hotels and condos along city and county sand where access to the beach is difficult, John Swett said.

“There are some condos that haven’t quite caught up with the need,” he said.

Last year, both Bay County and Panama City Beach tweaked local ordinances to allow the carts for disabled tourists and local residents, clearing the way for handicapped vehicles “operated for the sole purpose of transporting upon the sandy beach a person with an ambulatory disability.”

Previously, both city and county ordinances prohibited motorized vehicles on the sand except for police, cleanup or maintenance vehicles.

In an e-mail sent to the Swetts, Blakeman said: “My grandmother has diabetes and other health problems which make walking difficult. She has very limited mobility and when we came down last year she was never able to access the beach.”

Unfortunately, she found out that St. Andrews State Park still prohibited the vehicles after renting a beach scooter.

“Just wanted to share this with you,” Blakeman wrote. “Perhaps you can assist us with getting the beach scoot out onto the (state) beach where my grandmother would surely take pleasure in spending time out on the sand.”

Jessica Kemper Sims, information director for the Florida Park Service, confirmed the use of motorized scooters, even for the handicapped, is prohibited on state beaches.

However, “we are evaluating the new beach scooter technology and the appropriateness of its use on state park lands at St. George Island State Park near Apalachicola,” she wrote in an e-mail to The News Herald.

“The ongoing pilot project at St. George Island State Park is designed to determine the feasibility and impacts of the use of personal assistance vehicles,” Sims wrote. “The personal assistance vehicle in the pilot program is new technology called a “Beach Scoot,” made by a company out of Panama City Beach.

“It is a motorized mobility device that will allow visitors with certain types of disabilities access to traverse sandy conditions or rough terrain. The beach scoot can be seen at www.beachscoot.com,” she wrote.

Sims said a non-motorized “beach wheelchair” was available free of charge at the Jetty store at St. Andrews State Park and the wheelchair “is used frequently.”

Those wheelchairs are not motorized and “require the assistance of another person to be pushed through the sand,” Sims wrote.