News and Views on Disability Rights

According to a Disability Scoop report, Michigan, California, New Hampshire and Vermont round out the top five, while Illinois, Arkansas, Texas, and Mississippi score the worst. (5/24/12)

A post on This Ain't Livin' points out that access needs to be an expected part of any event, not a favor granted. (5/23/12)

From Disability Scoop, good news for our future job-seekers. (5/22/12)

Disability Scoop reports that some parents don't favor closing institutions, feeling that communities are not capable of caring for their children. (5/14/12)

Disability Scoop reports that, having removed the term "mental retardation" from federal laws, Congress is now considering striking the term "lunatic." (5/14/12)

According to a Disability Scoop post, honorees "include Ralph Braun whose company produces accessible vehicles and lifts, Virginia Stern who developed a program to provide paid internships in the sciences to students with disabilities and Christine Reich, director of research and evaluation at the Museum of Science, Boston, whose focus is on inclusion of people with disabilities in museum learning." (5/7/12)

A post on Love That Max looks at a couple of recent cases of parents at risk of losing their children for no other reason than their disability.

From Disability Scoop: Actor Noah Wyle and "more than 70 disability advocates arrested last month during a Medicaid protest at the U.S. Capitol are being forced to return to Washington to appear in court." (5/17/12)

Find this year's contributions listed on the blog Diary of a Goldfish. (5/2/12)

An independencechick posts wonders why people with disabilities get blamed for being smart enough to get what they way. (4/29/12)

The group was protesting possible changes in Medicaid. (4/25/12)

According to a Disability Scoop post, the seven-year-old's parents say she's committed to doing for herself. (4/23/12)

From the blog This Ain't Livin', reflections on the limitations society puts on true community living for people with disabilities. (4/19/12_

A Disability Scoop post reports on the creation of an Administration for Community Living. (4/17/12)

Different Dream for My Child reports on new ADA hotel provisions. (4/17/12) More travel advice

The World of Special Olympics looks forward to a time when people will be celebrated for their accomplishments, not for doing them with disabilities. (4/12/12)

The Ams Vans Blog reports on a helpful new book. (4/12/12)

Disability Scoop reports on a poll that shows people (even professional caregivers) react negatively when they see someone with the facial characteristics of Down syndrome. (4/10/12)

Information and resources from Life After IEPs. (3/29/12)

From Disability Scoop: "After a number of cases in recent years of parents killing their kids with disabilities, self-advocates are working to focus attention on victims rather than the stresses their caregivers face." (3/28/12)

Bloom looks at a paper from the Journal of Medical Ethics that suggests death as a reasonable option for babies with Down syndrome, Treacher Collins syndrome, and anything else that makes their parents want a do-over. (3/23/12)

From Disability Scoop: "The national drugstore chain, which first embraced inclusion with a goal of having employees with disabilities make up 10 percent of its distribution center workforce, is rapidly bringing the concept to the storefront."

As an Authentic Inclusion post points out, just because there's no good reason not to include kids with special needs doesn't mean it happens. (3/13/12)

Inspiring story from the Ams Vans blog. (3/13/12)

About.com's guide to Disability looks at current trends. (2/29/12)

Different Dream for My Child reports on the hotline and other resources for travelers with disabilities. (2/29/12)

From Ams Vans: "The city of Chicago recently sued 15 taxicab owners for non-compliance with the city’s wheelchair accessibility requirements. Under the newly adopted ordinances, taxicab owners with 20 or more medallions must have a minimum of 5% of their fleet operating as wheelchair accessible vehicles." (2/27/12)

On Support for Special Needs, Robert Rummel-Hudson dreams a big dream of free sharing of opinions amongst parents and self-advocates with hurt feelings disallowed. (2/27/12)

A post on Painting for Hailey looks at some options. (2/21/12)

A post on This Ain't Livin' points out that characters with disabilities need writers with disabilities to accurately portray their experience. (2/20/12)

From Disability Scoop, your fears for your child's future confirmed. (2/15/12)

A book review from About.com Disability. (2/9/12)

From Life After IEPs, videos of young adults with disabilities speaking out. (2/6/12)

From Disabled Christianity: "Many people who experience disability have lives filled with people who are nice, perhaps because they are paid to be caretakers, or social workers, or teachers or some other role. They are nice and perhaps they are even friendly. But they are NOT friends." (2/1/12)

According to a Disability Scoop post, a lawyer for the plaintiffs says that "The Americans with Disabilities Act recognizes that discrimination against individuals with disabilities includes intentional segregation and relegation to lesser service jobs." (2/1/12)

Advice for coaches, music teachers, museum educators, church workers, and more from the blog Authentic Inclusion. (1/30/12)

From Care2: "Work-activity programs where people perform simple packaging and assembly tasks in locations segregated from the general public have become the end point for too many individuals with disabilities, rather than serving as transitional programs that would ultimately lead to workers being integrated into the mainstream community." (1/30/12)

Parents of children with special needs, kicking ass and taking names. (1/17/12)

From Disability.gov: "NASA is looking to increase the number of students with disabilities pursuing science, technology, engineering and math careers in their internship programs." (1/17/12)

According to a Disability Scoop post, members of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network are portesting the appointment of an Autism Speaks executive. (1/16/12)

From Disability Scoop: "Representatives are available to answer questions about airport screening procedures and can refer passengers to TSA disability experts as needed, according to the agency." (1/4/12)

Winter Rambling alerts us that the Glee star will be sworn in on January 3. (12/31/11)

Education Week's On Special Education column looks at practices in four states. (12/31/11)

The blog Different Dream for Your Child talks about the importance of self-advocacy in college, and the need to start preparing for that early. (12/13/11)

A New York Times report looks at a eugenics program in which thousands of people were sterilized between 1933 and 1977, many because they were thought to have low IQs. (12/12/11)

About.com's guide to Disability wonders if the visibility of protesters with disabilities will make them more vulnerable to budget cuts. (12/12/11)

From Disability Scoop: "Under a proposed rule announced Thursday by officials at the U.S. Department of Labor, the government would set a goal that at least 7 percent of workers employed by most federal contractors be individuals with disabilities." (12/9/11)

A list from the blog Best Online Colleges. (12/9/11)

Bloom looks at a study on "what life in England is like for disabled children age four to 16." (12/6/11)

A post on The World of Special Olympics tells about a movie that's perfect for the celebration of International Day of Persons With Disabilities tomorrow. (12/2/11)

Disability Scoop reports on a letter sent "to officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services [by] nearly 100 advocacy groups." (12/2/11)

The blog This Ain't Livin' begs people not to assume that they have any right to grill people with disabilities about their medical history and choices. Meaning well is no excuse. (11/28/11)

The Wheelchair Accessibility Blog has some great photos from a dance troupe featuring dancers with disabilities. (11/23/11)

Amen to this round-up from Chosen Families. (11/22/11)

Disability Scoop reports that "of households headed by those with disabilities, just 43 percent had broadband Internet access in 2010." (11/11/11)

Care2 reports on an upsetting story that raises questions about who exactly meets your child's bus at school. (11/9/11)

Add another use to the ways iPads are helping people with disabilities join the mainstream. (11/8/11)

Wheelchair Accessibility Blog and Disability News has words and photos about some very cool treehouses. (11/3/11)

A post on Radical Neurodivergence Speaking points out that even a simple "No!" is an act of self-advocacy, and should be respected as such. (10/27/11)

From Wheelchair Accessibility Blog: "Insurers and Medicare are increasingly delaying and denying requests for more expensive and customized power wheelchairs, placing fraud prevention and cost cutting above improving the quality of life for persons with disabilities." (10/27/11)

From Disability Scoop: "Most states are expanding community-based care for people with disabilities over institutional options in an effort to rein in long-term care costs and meet consumer demand, a new survey finds." (10/27/11)

From Radical Neurodivergence Speaking, a confrontation with someone who defends use of the R-word. (10/25/11)

EasyStand Blog offers tips for college students who use a wheelchair. (10/24/11)

Disability Scoop reports on an app that allows people to snap a photo of an offending vehicle and send it directly to law enforcement. (10/20/11)

From Disability Scoop: "Even as violent crime declined significantly in 2010, people with disabilities continued to be victims almost twice as often as those without special needs." (10/17/11)

About.com's guide to assistive technology looks at the way Jobs's devices helped individuals with special needs communicate and participate better. (10/11/11)

Mashable spotlights some cool tools. (10/5/11)

About.com Disability tells about efforts to raise awareness of employment needs. (10/3/11)

The conversation on The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism concludes. (9/30/11)

The conversation continues on The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism. (9/29/11)

According to a Department of Labor press release, the more than $21 million in funding is intended to "improve education, training, and employment opportunities and outcomes for youth and adults who are unemployed, underemployed and/or receiving Social Security disability benefits." (9/28/11)

The conversation continues at The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism. (9/28/11)

The conversation continues on The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism. (9/27/11)

Reflection and comments on the first week of dialogues, from The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism. (9/26/11)

From the blog Radical Neurodivergence Speaking, comments on the advocate-parent dialogue being conducted on the Thinking Person's Guide to Autism blog. (9/26/11)

The dialogue continues on The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism with a post by Melody Latimer, director of The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network's Dallas-Ft. Worth chapter, and blogger at ASParenting. (9/26/11)

The conversation continues on The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism, today returning to a parent's point of view. (9/23/11)

The conversation on The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism continues with advocate Zoe responding to a post by parent Robert Rummel-Hudson. (9/22/11)

A Disability Scoop posts reports on efforts to support Medicaid by the disability community. (9/21/11)

The conversation continues on The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism with a contribution from the president of the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network. (9/21/11)

Information on evacuating kids with disabilities from Capable Kids Clubhouse. (9/21/11)

Why not let people with disabilities be advocates and give everybody else a qualifier? (9/21/11)

The conversation continues on The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism, with a response by parent Robert Rummel-Hudson of the blog Fighting Monsters with Rubber Swords. (9/20/11)

The U.S. Department of Transportation proposes that travelers with disabilities should have the same access to services as anybody else. (9/20/11)

Advice and resources from FEMA. (9/19/11)

Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa calls for more supported employment in the community and less sheltered employment for workers with intellectual disabilities. (9/16/11)

A post on This Ain't Living disputes the notion that making businesses accessible is too expensive. (9/16/11)

Disability Scoop reports on a worker with cerebral palsy who was succeeding and being promoted until the restaurant changed hands. (9/16/11)

Disability Scoop reports on tough times for individuals with disabilities age 18 to 64. (9/15/11)

An Education Week post looks at statistics that say young people with disabilities are less likely to go to college and become financially independent. (9/9/11)

About.com's guide to disability wants your stories. (9/9/11)

Disability Scoop notes the lack of an easy way for people selling accessible homes and those who need them to find each other. (9/7/11)

About.com's guide to Disability reports on a cool service from a body shop in Joliet, Illinois. (8/16/11)

About.com's guide to Disability has some tips. (8/16/11)

An interview with author Kate van Heugten on the JKP blog. (8/12/11)

Advice from the new About.com guide to Disability. (8/9/11)

From Rolling Around In My Head, a conversation about wishing away disabilities, and the people who think we should. (8/1/11)

Mashable learns what we've been talking about for ages. (7/26/11)

From Bloom: "How easy it is to assume we know what a good quality of life is for anyone other than ourselves." (7/18/11)

A Wired.com looks at the need for more customizable controls. (7/14/11)

According to a post on Care2, "intellectual disability" and "physically disabled" take their places. (7/10/11)

Jolene Philo at Different Dream shares five you should check out. (7/7/11)

Easter Seals offers an easy way to send a message to lawmakers about protecting Medicare and Medicaid. (6/28/11)

There's strength in numbers, but we too often let our differences divide us. (6/24/11)

Resources from The Inclusive Church, along with thoughts on making inclusion work in small churches. (6/20/11)

According to a post on Disability Scoop, VSA and CVS Caremark have once again gathered artwork from kids with disabilities from every state. (6/16/11)

Disability Scoop reports that recipients would be able to save $5,000 without losing eligibility, up from $2,000. (6/14/11)

According to a Disability Scoop post, the same questions many of us grapple with about school inclusion -- the zeal of some proponents to remove children with disabilities from the company of students like themselves -- are now being asked about the movement from group settings to community living. (6/14/11)

A post from the United Nations Development Programme in Europe and CIS looks at the living conditions of the 2.5 billion people worldwide who have disabilities. (6/13/11)

The co-coordinator of All God’s Children Disability Ministry shares her experience on The Inclusive Church blog. (6/10/11)

That's over a billion folks, as Disability Scoop reports, so maybe we need to redefine our definition of "normal." (6/10/11)

A post on The Inclusive Church blog offers practical ways that church members and workers can make a difference for families with special needs. For starters, notice them. (6/8/11)

About.com Special Needs Children becomes About.com Children With Special Needs. (6/7/11)

You can't dump kids into a mainstream setting and call it inclusion. Successful inclusion takes thought and energy, but the result is better than the sum of its parts. (5/31/11)

How good are you at identifying barriers to accessibility for people with disabilities? Test your skills with a DisabilityGame from the Equal Rights Center that aims to get players thinking about "What is WRONG with these pictures?" (4/14/11)

As parents of children with disabilities, we may have some different perspectives on things than adults with disabilities, but I think it's essential for us to read and process all viewpoints as we raise our kids to be their own advocates. (4/18/11)

From Disability Scoop: "A federal class action lawsuit is seeking relief for more than 19,000 Florida residents with developmental disabilities who are on a years-long waiting list for community-based services." (3/30/11)

From Disability Scoop: "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." (3/25/11)

The Relief Headquarters for Persons with Disabilities of Tohoku-Kanto Great Earthquake has started an English-language blog to provide information on efforts to help those with special needs in the damaged areas and solicit donations. (3/24/11)

From The Campaign For Disability Employment: "The Campaign for Disability Employment (CDE) received Honorable Mention in the category of Best Use of Audio/Video for the “I Can” video public service announcement (PSA) at the 2010 PRWeek Awards held in New York City, March 10, 2011." (3/23/11)

From JFActivist: "To support persons with disabilities affected by the Tohoku-Kanto Great Earthquake on 11 March, DPI-Japan, JIL, Yumekaze Foundation and other Disability Organizations established "Relief Headquarters for Persons with Disabilities of Tohoku-Kanto Great Earthquake." (3/22/11)

From Beacon Broadside: "Whenever I case a new location, look at friends' vacation photos, or watch travelogues, I wonder about wheelchair accessibility. I wondered the same thing on Friday afternoon, watching disaster coverage on TV with my eleven-year-old daughter in Japan." (3/18/11)

There is no shortage of ways to donate to those suffering the effects of earthquake and tsunami in Japan, but if you're interested in helping out people with disabilities specifically -- knowing that they may be particularly in need and under-served in disaster conditions -- one charity to check out is Portlight Strategies. The organization provided aid to people with disabilities after the earthquake in Haiti, and is gearing up to do so again in Japan. (3/15/11)

From Love That Max: "You do what you can do within your power and your sphere, taking small steps—the same way Max got to walking." (3/3/11)

Today is the first day of March, otherwise known as Hemophilia Month, National Kidney Month, and Trisomy Awareness Month. (3/1/11)

From Disability Scoop: "Money for a Special Olympics project that works to build inclusion and acceptance in schools would be eliminated. Officials at the organization say the initiative known as Project Unify will end if federal funding is cut off." (2/23/11)

From About.com Patient Empowerment: "The entire basis for the movie is that Queen Elizabeth (not the current queen, but her mother, who we came to know and love as the Queen Mum) moves from her frustration with doctors and medical professionals who could not help her husband overcome his stutter, to researching, finding and connecting with the man who COULD, and did, help him." (2/28/11)

From Winter Ramblings: "Did you know kids with special needs are bullied at three times the rate of other students?That's why I'm so pleased to share this important discussion on CNN about the silent epidemic of the bullying of students with special needs." (2/17/11)

From The World of Special Olympics: "Today marks the official release of a groundbreaking report from AbilityPath.org about bullying among children with special needs called 'Walk a Mile in Their Shoes.' This important report demonstrates how bullying is a silent epidemic in schools across the country. If it isn’t enough that a quarter of all school-aged kids are bullied, nearly 60 percent of students with disabilities experience this treatment in their schools." (2/17/11)

From The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism: "According to Tim Shriver, Chairman and CEO of the Special Olympics, FX is currently the only TV network that bans the word "retard." Bullying of people with special needs remains entrenched, and insidious. According to AbilityPath.org, "Some reports estimate that nearly 85 percent of children with special needs experience bullying." But it doesn't need to stay that way." (2/17/11)

A new report on bullying of children with special needs is full of statistics and heartbreaking stories that will make you want to think seriously about homeschooling. It's the jumping-off point of a campaign called "Disable Bullying" that's asking us to do exactly the opposite, though, and put our kids in the spotlight and in the community and at the front of the assembly to say loud and clear that bullying of kids with disabilities is a civil-rights issue, a real problem to be addressed, and not at all okay. (2/17/11)

From Disability Scoop: "In a plan featuring flat or reduced spending for many programs, special education got a boost. President Barack Obama included $200 million in extra funds for state grants for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, and added $50 million to help young children with disabilities." (2/14/11)

From Mission Network News: "On February 3, 2011, Shepherds College was officially granted accreditation candidacy status from the North Central Association - Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI). For a three-year-old school, this is a big deal. Director Tracy Terrill says, 'As far as we know, we're the only school that works with individuals that have intellectual disabilities, to ever accomplish even this first step: the candidacy for accreditation.'" (2/14/11)

From this ain't livin': "Cuteification of disability was once championed and pretty widely used, to get people to be more accepting of people with disabilities and to enlarge ideas about accommodation and needs. We aren't disabled, we're 'special needs.' We aren't handicapped, we're 'handicapable.' Etc. But I think it's time to move beyond cuteification of disability when it comes to neutral language used to refer to disability in general." (2/14/11)

From Wheelchair Pride: "US News and World Report has ranked hospitals for a variety of specialities including rehabilitation. In the case of rehabilitation 200 physicians were randomly selected and asked to list five hospitals they consider to be the best in their specialty for complex or difficult cases." (1/31/11)

From Different Dream for My Child: "The powers that be at Scholastic asked the experts at Scholastic Book Clubs and Scholastic Book Fairs to list the top 10 trends in children’s books during 2010.The special needs nod came in at #9." (1/31/11)

The U.S. government's booklet on "Understanding Supplemental Security Income" offers a lot of basic information, with links taking that information into more depth, on what SSI is, why people get it, what it can be used for, and what limits are in place.

From BBC - The Ouch! Blog: "A couple of weeks ago, a Tweet by Stephen Fry caught my attention. He said, 'The blog of Sophie Adler, a truly remarkable bed-bound girl in chronic pain. Inspirational.'" (1/27/11)

From Life With Joey: "There is definitely something wrong in a society when people with disabled children have to choose between paying their rent or paying for the care of their child." (1/27/11)

Special Kids in the UK has grown in ten years from an online support group to a registered charity with a mission to offer "contact, information and support for families of children and young people with special needs throughout the United Kingdom. (1/27/11)

From Disabled Christianity: "I do not want to project suffering onto people when they are either, 1) not suffering in their own minds, their own experience, or 2) are suffering because of something that I am doing that I can stop doing." (1/25/11)

From This Ain't Livin': "Ashley X, a young girl with developmental disabilities, was subjected to hormone treatment to stunt her growth, removal of her breast buds, and removal of part of her reproductive tract at a Seattle hospital. Her parents claimed the procedure would improve her quality of life. Many disability rights activists disagreed." (1/18/11)

Etsy has finally realized that greeting cards mocking people with Down syndrome and congratulating women on being raped "are not within the spirit of Etsy" and therefore can be removed from the store. So if you've been feeling that shopping in a place that condones cards like that is not within the spirit of you, it's safe to take your credit cards out again. (1/17/11)

I've created an index of awareness and advocacy months, weeks, and days throughout the year, with links to sites that may provide more information. But while I've gotten this resource started, it's not finished -- I need to hear from you about the events you're involved in through the year. (1/17/11)

CVS Caremark and VSA Arts have put out the call for entries in this year's art contest for kids with and without disabilities. (1/12/11)

From Disability Scoop: "The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, handled 25,165 claims of workplace discrimination based on disability in fiscal year 2010, up 17 percent from 21,451 the previous year." (1/12/11)

From Disability Scoop: "In an analysis of 131 winners of the Newbery Medal and Honor — considered the top prizes for children's books — researchers found that just 31 included a main or supporting character with a disability between 1975 and 2009." (1/4/10)

Interesting conversations going on in the comments of a couple of posts that are really about the same thing -- how to handle bozos who say nasty things about people with disabilities, in your home or where you shop. (1/4/10)

News stories on disability rights from around the Web featured in the daily news folder on About.com Children With Special Needs in 2010.