News and Views for People with Disabilities http://www.mcil-mn.org/feeder/Evergreene_MCIL_Feed.xml http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:07:03 -0600 Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:05:03 -0600 FeedForAll Mac v2.0 (2.0.0.4); http://www.FeedForAll.com/ A recent independent audit of Seattle Public Schools has determined that the district's special education system unnecessarily segregates many students with disabilities in "self-contained" programs instead of serving them in typical classrooms with students that do not have disabilities. "Seattle has an outmoded model, an outdated model in special education as a system," David Riley, one of the reviewers from the Massachusetts-based Urban Special Education Leadership Collaborative, told the Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/2004003614_specialed09m.html Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:05:53 -0600 This Report) is the product of an investigation spanning four years, by Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI), into the human rights abuses perpetrated against institutionalized children and adults in Serbia. From July 2003 to August 2007, MDRI has documented a broad array of human rights violations against people with disabilities, segregated from society and forced to live out their lives in institutions (all observations in this report are from December 2006 through August 2007 except as noted). Filthy conditions, contagious diseases, lack of medical care and rehabilitation, and a failure to provide oversight renders placement in a Serbian institution lifethreatening. MDRI investigators found children and adults with disabilities tied to beds or never allowed to leave a crib – some for years at a time. Inhumane and degrading treatment in Serbian institutions – in violation of article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) – is widespread. Children and adults with disabilities tied down and restrained over a lifetime are being subjected to extremely dangerous and painful “treatment ” that is tantamount to torture. http://www.mdri.org/projects/serbia/Serbia-rep-english.pdf Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:03:39 -0600 Janice Jackson came away from a harrowing accident with a testimony and a mission. She credits God with turning her tragedy into triumph and directing her on a path filled with service to others. With a bright and sunny disposition, she sits amid the comfort of her plants, family photographs, and framed diplomas of higher learning, with her computer close at hand. One almost forgets she sits in a wheelchair not by choice, but by chance. She shares her story with grace, and not a moment of it descends into self-pity or defeat. Jackson's life changed forever in 1984 following a very ordinary occurrence. A young woman of 24 at the time, Jackson was spotted by a friend while out driving. She went over to the friend's car to chat. Their exchange took only a few minutes. While returning to her car, another car on the road driven by an 18 year old that happened to be smoking at the time, went out of control when the young man dropped the lit cigarette into his lap. Jackson was struck by the careening vehicle and had to be airlifted from the scene to University of Maryland's Shock Trauma Center with a spinal cord injury. http://www.btimes.com/News/article/article.asp?NewsID=83865&sID=4 Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:58:05 -0600 This guide explains how assistive technology (AT) can help kids with learning disabilities, and it walks you through the process of selecting technology tools that will be most beneficial for your child. These articles have been developed in collaboration with Marshall Raskind, Ph.D., Director of Research and Special Projects at SchwabLearning.org, an expert on the topic of assistive technology. http://www.schwablearning.org/articles.aspx?r=488&EMC-STF Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:53:43 -0600 Vigil seeks to promote Jesus' message of inclusion, justice, and compassion. Sunday, December 2, 2-3PM, front steps of the Cathedral of St Paul in St. Paul, MN http://www.progressivecatholicvoice.org/ Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:48:59 -0600 More than 100 babies with minor disabilities, such as a cleft palate or club foot, were aborted in one area of England in a three-year period, statistics reveal. The data records that 54 babies with club feet, 37 with cleft palates or lips, and 26 with extra or webbed fingers or toes were aborted in south-west England between 2002 and 2005. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/21/nabortion121.xml Fri, 16 Nov 2007 12:05:40 -0600 Stephen Orr has a small insulin pump attached to his belt. It's in a leather case, about the size of a cell phone. The pump sends insulin through a plastic tube that's thinner than a piece of spaghetti and threaded under his skin. With insulin and devices like this, Orr has been able to control his diabetes and keep working at the job he loves — as a pharmacist. Until, that is, he got a new boss at the Wal-Mart in tiny Chadron, Neb. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15521968 Fri, 16 Nov 2007 12:00:15 -0600 A long-term study of American students with disabilities from age 15 through 19, released last Tuesday, revealed that most felt good about themselves and were confident that they would graduate from high school with a diploma. The "Perceptions and Expectations of Youth With Disabilities. A Special Topic Report of Findings From the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2" found, however, that the youths generally were not confident that they would attend a college or university or that they would earn enough money to live independent of government benefits. http://ies.ed.gov/ncser/pdf/20073006.pdf Fri, 16 Nov 2007 11:54:14 -0600 An Italian woman who sought to abort one of the twins she was expecting is at the centre of an international furor over society's attitude to children with disabilities. When she was 18 weeks pregnant, the 38-year-old from Milan was told that one of her twin baby girls had Down syndrome, characterized by an extra chromosome and intellectual disability. She asked doctors to abort that fetus. By mistake, they aborted the other. Subsequently, the second fetus was also aborted. http://www.thestar.com/living/article/253107 Fri, 16 Nov 2007 11:52:16 -0600 A group representing people with a hearing loss filed complaints with the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last month, accusing Apple of not making its iPhone compatible with hearing aids. The Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) filed formal complaints with the FCC in August, Brenda Battat, the HLAA's associate executive director, said in emailed comments about Apple's iPhone. "The phone is not usable with a hearing aid, either on the microphone or telecoil setting," said Battat. "Clearly it was not designed to be hearing aid compatible. It should have been." Under its Section 255 regulations, the FCC requires phone manufacturers, including those selling mobile handsets, to make their products accessible to people with disabilities, if such access is "readily achievable." That standard is defined by the agency as "easily accomplishable without much difficulty or expense." http://www.macworld.co.uk/business/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=19166 Fri, 16 Nov 2007 11:50:16 -0600