Blog [with]tv

‘Reading For Inclusion’ Gets Kids Talking About Disabilities

Submitted by Karen Moyes Stallings
A unique program at one Burlington, VT school is allowing kids to engage firsthand with adults who have disabilities and talk candidly about how differences can affect a person’s life, all through reading.
The effort, known as Reading for Inclusion, is modeled after the national Reading to End Racism program, which brings individuals from different cultural backgrounds into classrooms to read books and discuss racial prejudice.
For the inclusion program, guest readers with special needs ranging from autism to cerebral palsy and spinal cord injury visited Champlain Elementary School to read to students and discuss what it’s like to have a disability. During the events, students were free to ask questions like, “why are you in a wheelchair?”
The idea behind the program, organizers say, is to help youngsters understand that just because a peer may have differences doesn’t mean that they don't deserve lindness.  It was developed after school officials heard stories from parents who said that their kids with disabilities were often left out when it came time for birthday parties or even recess.
After interacting with 10 guest readers, the message of inclusion appears to be sinking in. “Just because somebody has a disability doesn’t mean they can’t play with you,” one 11-year-old student told the Burlington Free Press. 

Submitted by Karen Moyes Stallings, Rossi Fund Coordinator for the Developmental Disabilities Council of North Carolina.  Karen has long been active in the fight for inclusion for people of all abilities.

The Emerging Disability Industry: Purchasing Power On The Rise

From MediAbility Factsheet: An Impressive Emerging Market by Vince Staskel, MS, VPS MediAbility Consulting, and retired Legal Rights Advocate in IDEA, ADA, SSA Claimant Legal Representation, and Media Arts Inclusion. He is very active in the promotion of performers-with-disabilities in the entertainment industry:

As baby boomers age, and we see an inclusive media ascendency of performers, producers, writers, and filmmakers coupled with an emerging disability media industry, there is huge marketing potential.
Recent disability marketing statistics reveal that of the 54 million persons with long-term disability:

     - 73% are the heads of households
     - 46% are married
     - 58% own their own homes
     - 77% have no children
     - 48% are principal shoppers

The aggregate income of persons-with-disabilities tops $1 trillion. As the disability marketing statistics show, this is more purchasing power than the pre-teen and teen markets combined. Including families of pwds, companies can reach four out of ten consumers in the disabled community.We are very confident there is a bright future developing here.

First and foremost, we must utilize and advertise to the pwd community. Although the recent 2009 Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) report of $1 trillion a year in spending has been criticized as “happy fluffy numbers” because it included family and friends, that should be the point of the study. Disability appending DOES include family and friends.They are 

Property Tax Forgiveness as a Means of Promoting Social Inclusion

From a post by Gary Norman, Commissioner of the Maryland Civil Rights Commission -

Accessible parking, seating and restrooms at theaters, curb cuts, and an ever-increasing presence of assistance dogs in public venues constitute but a few examples of the outcomes of a “comprehensive declaration of equality”which the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended, and its corollary statutory schemes have enacted in the several states. 

The majority of people with or without disabilities desire to be integral to the social fabric of their community, to age in place within their homes and to participate in the social life of their neighborhoods. The 2010 survey entitled, The ADA, 20 Years Later, revealed that people with disabilities still constitute the poorest members of our communities, bereft of equal opportunities for living, learning, and earning. My concise set of thoughts, following, will provide one strategy to ensure that people with disabilities of any age and older adults who may not self-identify as being disabled have the same access to these fundamental privileges, fostering their inclusion in communities.

In the experience of this attorney and Civil Rights Commissioner with a disability, there is continued need for translation of this law enacted 21 summers ago into practice in a way that maximizes the integration of the largest and poorest minority population in our neighborhoods, people with disabilities.  Read more ....

ADAPT Talks Medicaid Reform with The Gang of Six; Visits White House

Washington,D.C. --- May 4, 2011 - 300 members of ADAPT, the national disability rights grassroots organization, visited the U.S. Senate Gang of Six: the six Senators currently shaping the country's budget for fiscal year 2012.  The four day event included the arrest of 101 ADAPT members in the Cannon and Longworth House Office Buildings.

In ADAPT's view, reforming Medicaid long term care spending encompasses several factors. It is paramount to eliminate the institutional bias by mandating that a state can and should spend funds on community-based services and supports. Next, the federal government should take leadership in pushing to rebalance Medicaid long term care spending away from institutional settings and emphasize community based services. Also, making enormous cuts to Medicaid and block granting Medicaid to the states, as under the House-approved "Ryan Plan," would be a disastrous strategy for services that support people with disabilities all over America.

"The Senate has got to take counteractive measures against the damaging provisions of the Ryan Plan," said David Wittie, an organizer with ADAPT of Texas.  "We know that they are eyeballing Medicaid reform ...."  Read the full Press Release. View the photo gallery.

ADAPT is a national grass-roots community that organizes disability rights activists to engage in nonviolent direct action, including civil disobedience, to assure the civil and human rights of people with disabilities to live in freedom.

Best Advocacy - Be Seen in Public with PWDs You Know

Commentary by Howard Renensland, Founder/CEO of [with]tv:
"I saw Timothy Shriver recently. While I admire the work he and his family have done and continue to do and  respect his intent to eliminate the use of the words 'Retard' and 'retarded' as in, "what are you, a retard?", "Hey, retard", "OMG, that is so retarded." I just don't believe it is the most effective approach.

Let's face it - when someone is hitting you, does asking them to stop usually do the trick? We need to go out with our loved one, family member, friend, etc. who is developmentally disabled, intellectually disabled or - my choice - a person with disabilities. Go with them everywhere. Work, worship, shopping, leisure etc. The more people see and meet them, the less likely they will be to think, talk or act disrespectfully, because in knowing them comes respect.

The harm that these words do - 'retard', 'intellectually disabled/challenged', 'developmentally disabled', etc.- is in the labeling which is not apt. My own daughter has intellectual skills and deficits all over the place; yet she continues to seek knowledge, is curious about all things, and acquires knowledge, information and experiences hourly.  Many, many people I know who are not labeled operate in society without being singled out, but truly have not had a new, kind, thought about PWDs since middle school.  Not to make fun of them - who of us is perfect? Who of us does not do things each day that are ill conceived, short-sighted, unfortunate, misguided, ignorant, cruel, or mean-spirited? Such is the human condition. But hopefully, at the end of the day we have also done kind, thoughtful and supportive things.

Love your loved one with a disability. Share them with the world, don't exclude them. Share them. Only then will the community as a whole progress as it can. And I mean the whole world community, not just those of us with loved ones with a disability or disabilities of our own.

The FFALF Needs YOU!

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS

The Fred Fay Advanced Leadership Forum (FFALF) seeks to identify proven leaders from the disability community and bring them together with pioneers from the disability rights movement and key current figures for an informal, comprehensive weekend aimed at giving participants the background, training, information and expertise to return to their communities and organizations and lead successful advocacy efforts for disability rights.

The goal of the FFALF is for the next generation of leaders in the disability rights movement from across the United States to get to know and learn from the current generation of leaders, and for them to strategize together about the future direction of the movement.

Nominees will have demonstrated strong vision and leadership ability by having either:

· improved the civil rights and delivery of services for people with disabilities.
· led disability rights actions that have achieved significant results.
· enhanced opportunities for people with disabilities to participate fully in all aspects of society.

Selected candidates will participate in an intensive, two day, all-expense-paid retreat in Boston on October 24 - 26, 2008, covering a wide range of subjects critical to the disability community. The Fred Fay Advanced Leadership Forum is presented by the Boston Center for Independent Living and members of the Advisory Council. National leaders of the disability rights movement and noted public figures will also take part in the FFALF.

Applications due by July 1st.

For more information:

Brochure

Application

Cross-posted on Planet of the Blind

Protect Your Medical Equipment Rights!

RADICAL change is occurring in the medical industry and it will directly affect YOU!  However, there is something YOU can do about it! 

• Learn about Competitive Bidding and how it will impact your relationship with your provider and access to quality equipment
•  Learn how to navigate Medicare's new service delivery model
• Learn about the ripple effect to all payors (Medicaid and Private Insurance)
•  Learn what advocates (YOU) can do to stop these changes, effective July 1st

PLEASE forward this email to your network requesting they register and participate in these 2 events. The goal is to generate 1000 plus calls asking Congress to exempt complex rehab (refer to HR.2231 and S.2931) from Competitive Bidding. 

#1. Tuesday, May 20th Kick-Off, 11:00am EDT. Register at
http://recp.rm05.net/ctt?kn=2&m=1072605&r=NzI0MjYwNDE2MgS2&b=0&j=MTA3ODM3NDMyS0&mt=1

 #2. Thursday, May 22nd – Nationwide Consumer and Clinical Legislative Call-in Detailed Call-in Day instructions at
http://recp.rm05.net/ctt?kn=1&m=1072605&r=NzI0MjYwNDE2MgS2&b=0&j=MTA3ODM3NDMyS0&mt=1

You will find who your members of Congress are, how to contact them and talking points. 

Hosted by:

Sunrise Medical 

Sponsored by:

ADAPT
American Association of People with Disabilities
America Paraplegia Society
Boston Medical Center
Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation
Cody Unser First Steps Foundation
Frazier Rehab and Neuroscience Center
Kennedy-Krieger Institute
Miami Project to Cure Paralysis
National Council on Independent Living
National Spinal Cord Injury Association
New Mobility Magazine
Ohio Governors Council on People with Disabilities
Paralyzed Veterans Association
Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana
Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation
Self Advocates Becoming Empowered
Shepherd Center
The Rehabilitation Center at University of Utah Healthcare
United Spinal Association

Crimes Against People with Disabilities

Crimes Against People with Disabilities: A brand new blog and A Place to Tell It Like It Is 

 

In 2002 Professor Mark Sherry, then at the University of California, published an intriguing article about the grievous underreporting of hate crimes against people with disabilities in the United States.

The most important dimension of this piece resides in the FBI’s suggestion that hate crimes against the disabled are statistically negligible. The findings of an accompanying study by the UC Berkeley’s program in disability studies suggest that police and law enforcement officials are often reluctant to categorize crimes against people with disabilities as hate crimes because officers aren’t sufficiently trained to identify biased based crimes. Additionally, it is easier to classify a crime as simple assault.

Alas, not much has changed in the six years since this article was published even though disability rights advocates have continued to point out the seriousness of this underreporting problem.

The aim of this blog is to give people with disabilities and their fellow advocates a place to publicly record narratives of abuse against PWDs. These narratives might be first person accounts or associated stories drawn from the news media or the internet. They might be links to blogs or links to announcements concerning public policy and law enforcement initiatives aimed at addressing these problems. Other posts might include articles or bibliographies about these issues.

Above all else it’s safe to say that the gathering of this information will be timely.

Cross-posted on Planet of the Blind

Press Release for Maryland Area Guide Dog Users, Inc.

Maryland Area Guide Dog Users, Inc.

For Immediate Release

For more information, contact:

Gary C. Norman, Esq., CEO and President
Maryland Area Guide Dog Users, Inc.
(410) 241-6745
[email protected]

Cecelia M. Warren, Vice President and Program Chair
Maryland Area Guide Dog Users, Inc.
(410) 608-7059
[email protected]

Leading Maryland Non-profit Service Animal Organization To Host Canine Partnership Series in 2008-2009
April 12, 2008 - Canine Partnership Series: Relationships with Law Enforcement

ADVOCACY ALERT: Support The Military Pain Care Act of 2008

The Military Pain Care Act of 2008 (HR 5465)
has been introduced in the House of Representatives!
TAKE ACTION NOW! Urge your representative to co-sponsor this important legislation!

To All Pain Advocates, Members of the American Pain Foundation, and Supporters of the Military and Their Families:

Although today's body armor and rapid evacuation to medical care are saving lives, there are more non-fatal injuries occurring now than during any previous war in United States history. Instances of amputation are double previous rates. Pain management is critical to restoring the lives of our servicemen and women.

Thanks to Representative Dave Loebsack who has sponsored the bill, the Military Pain Care Act of 2008 (HR 5465) has been introduced to the House of Representatives. For more information please see:

    *
      Bill Summary
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      Bill Full Text
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      Military/Veteran Pain Fact Sheet

PLEASE CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES TO REQUEST THEY BECOME A CO-SPONSOR of the MILITARY PAIN CARE ACT OF 2008 (HR 5465) TAKE ACTION NOW!

    *
      Contact your REPRESENTATIVES and encourage them to co-sponsor the Military Pain Care Act of 2008, HR 5465. Our online advocacy center will send a message to your representative. It is quick and easy.
    *
      Forward this message to anyone you believe is concerned about improving pain care in America for members of the military and veterans.
    *
      Please share this with groups or organizations that you are a part of and urge their members to contact their Representatives about this bill.
    *
      APF is pursuing pain care legislation for Veterans as well. If you would like further information on the current military and veteran legislation, please click here.

There is strength in numbers!
Show your support for our military by taking action
and asking your congressperson to co-sponsor this bill.

To further get involved in advocacy work with the American Pain Foundation, please fill out our advocacy survey or visit our “Get Involved” page.

Thank you for being part of this united effort to eliminate the under treatment of pain!

© 2002 - 2006 American Pain Foundation
201 North Charles Street, Suite 710, Baltimore, Maryland 21201-4111
A 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.