By TRAVIS FAIN
Legislative Writer
Macon Telegraph
News - Politics - State Legislature
Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010
ATLANTA — Gov. Sonny Perdue gave his final state-of-the-state speech Monday, sharing personal thoughts on his seven years in office and calling on state officials to make the hard choices now, as great Americans have done repeatedly in the country’s darker times.
Perdue’s speech, an annual one to the Georgia Senate and House of Representatives, contained very little new policy. Perdue made his pitch for changing the way teacher salaries are set, with a focus on student achievement instead of advanced degrees. And he put a number on his promise Tuesday to put more money into state mental health and disability programs: another $20 million in the coming budget year and more than $50 million more in 2011.
Bob Andres, Associated Press - Gov. Sonny Perdue makes his final state of the state address flanked by House Speaker David Ralston and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, to a combined Senate, House and Judiciary in the House chambers at the state Capitol in Atlanta on Wednesday.
Those would amount to nearly 4 percent and 9 percent increases, respectively, according to the governor’s office. Federal regulators are forcing the state to improve its care for mentally ill and disabled patients, and Perdue said he was “frankly embarrassed” that it has come to that.
Beyond that, Perdue told legislators to work together for the state. He walked them through the American Revolution, World War II and the Great Depression, quoting some of the great writers on American democracy and hinting at the sparseness of a state budget proposal he’ll release Friday.
“I am for doing with a little less if it means a lighter burden and a brighter future for the next generation,” Perdue said.
The line won applause from the representatives, legislators and judges of state courts assembled at the Capitol for his speech.
State Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond gave the Democratic response to Perdue’s address, and his speech also avoided specific policy discussion, save his mention of a Democratic effort last year to reform the way sales taxes are collected.
In a nutshell, Thurmond had two main points: He invited the Republican majority to work with Democrats to create jobs for the nearly 500,000 unemployed people in Georgia, and he urged voters to choose a Democratic governor in November’s elections.
Two-party leadership cuts down on the corruption inherent in absolute power, he said, and Republicans have made a mess of things in recent years, when they have controlled the governor’s office, the Senate and House of Representatives.
Republican response to the governor’s speech was positive, though there’s plenty of trepidation about what Perdue’s final budget proposals will look like. There are also plenty of details to work out on the governor’s plan to overhaul teacher pay by 2014, details that will have to mesh with the likelihood of cuts to the state’s current education budget.
State Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, said he likes the governor’s basic idea of tying teacher pay to student improvement. The state should embrace the mentality that “compensation should be tied to performance,” he said. But state Rep. David Lucas, D-Macon, was concerned that the change would hit poorer districts harder than rich ones, because families there can’t afford to help prepare their students as well.
The governor’s office responded to that contention, saying in an e-mail that the system may compare teachers from similar demographics when setting pay. The details have yet to be worked out, and teacher input will be sought, the governor’s communications director has said.
Perdue’s speech took on a very personal tone at times, and state Sen. Robert Brown, D-Macon, said that was understandable as Perdue prepares to finish his two terms in office. But, “as far as substance and addressing the issues before us, I found it wanting,” Brown said.
During his remarks, Perdue thanked his family, telling his children that they never embarrassed him while in office. He said he loved them. But the most personal moment was reserved for his wife, Mary Perdue.
“Mary, I’m not sure I’ve ever told you this before, but you’re the person that I want to become,” the governor said, choking up. “And I thank you for all that you’ve done. My loving wife and the first lady of Georgia.”
To contact writer Travis Fain, call 361-2702 or tfain@macon.com
http://www.macon.com/741/story/984723.html
Macon.com copyright notice
Material published on Macon.com, including articles, photos, graphics, videos, bulletin board postings and other content, is copyrighted by The Telegraph or by other information providers who have licensed their content for use on Macon.com. The entire contents of Macon.com are also copyrighted as a collective work under the United States copyright laws.
All About Developmental Disabilities (AADD) is Atlanta's preeminent resource on developmental disabilities, providing support services to families for more than 55 years. We are often the one place where people with developmental disabilities can go to achieve personal empowerment, family stability and community participation. AADD provides family support; public policy and advocacy; and community engagement.
Showing posts with label Media coverage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Media coverage. Show all posts
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Monday, January 04, 2010
Atlanta's New Mayor, Kasim Reed, is Sworn In
By Ernie Suggs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
January 4, 2010
Hours before being sworn in as Atlanta's mayor, Kasim Reed spent his morning at Ben Hill United Methodist Church in southwest Atlanta with the choir singing the civil right’s anthem, “We Shall Overcome.”
But unlike the maudlin, slow version we have come to know, this one was loud and rollicking. Cheerful and optimistic. Hopeful for at least four good years out of Reed as the city’s next mayor.
“We are here to pray for Kasim Reed,” said Morehouse College President Robert M. Franklin.
“And we are here to speak truth to power to remind him that we will hold him and all elected officials accountable.”
This morning’s Inaugural Prayer Service kicks off a day’s worth of inauguration activities for Reed as he marks his first official day in office.
At noon, Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Carol W. Hunstein will swear in Reed as mayor. The swearing-in ceremony will be held at The Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center.
At 5:30 p.m., Reed will host a Citizens’ Reception at City Hall. At the reception, citizens will be able to meet Reed and tour the executive suite.
Reed, who was never shy about his faith on the campaign trail, grew up in the church with his mother and three brothers. His voice broke when he talked about his time in the church. When he was baptized. The first time he spoke in public, he said, was in Ben Hill United Methodist Church. Four minutes away from the house he was raised in.
Quoting Scripture, Reed asked if four little boys could succeed in 2010.
“If our children cannot rise to the highest levels of this city, what have we become?” Reed said.
“We’ve got to look in the mirror Atlanta. I am going to work today and focus on making sure that mothers and fathers have a job to make sure they can look in their children in the eyes.”
Throughout the campaign, Reed spoke tough on crime and promised to re-open every closed community center in the city.
“I carry the hopes and aspiration for the people in Atlanta in my heart,” Reed said.
At the prayer services, several members of the clergy, representing different faiths, offered a series of prayers for Reed. But there were also specific prayers for the city, communities, families, the city council, and the city council president, among others.
There was also singing at the church Reed grew up in. Minister T. Renee Crutcher strolled through the church’s aisle singing, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” before stopping in front of Reed to serenade the new mayor.
“Kasim Reed has a purpose in his life, upon his life,” said the Rev. Walter Kimbrough. “The purpose of his life is God given and God inspired. It is God’s purpose for KR to be our mayor.”
Kimbrough noted that Reed had persistence and lauded him for not quitting the mayor’s race when he trailed desperately in the polls.
“We are God’s provision for him, don’t expect our mayor to be all things for all people at all times,” Kimbrough said. “We have to help him be all things that God will have him to be. He is ready to give us the leadership we need in this time.”
Reed called on the city council, judiciary and the community to work with him to improve the city.
“The challenges Atlanta face are too big for one individual,” Reed said.
http://www.ajc.com/news/reed-begins-day-in-266446.html
© 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
January 4, 2010
Hours before being sworn in as Atlanta's mayor, Kasim Reed spent his morning at Ben Hill United Methodist Church in southwest Atlanta with the choir singing the civil right’s anthem, “We Shall Overcome.”
But unlike the maudlin, slow version we have come to know, this one was loud and rollicking. Cheerful and optimistic. Hopeful for at least four good years out of Reed as the city’s next mayor.
“We are here to pray for Kasim Reed,” said Morehouse College President Robert M. Franklin.
“And we are here to speak truth to power to remind him that we will hold him and all elected officials accountable.”
This morning’s Inaugural Prayer Service kicks off a day’s worth of inauguration activities for Reed as he marks his first official day in office.
At noon, Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Carol W. Hunstein will swear in Reed as mayor. The swearing-in ceremony will be held at The Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center.
At 5:30 p.m., Reed will host a Citizens’ Reception at City Hall. At the reception, citizens will be able to meet Reed and tour the executive suite.
Reed, who was never shy about his faith on the campaign trail, grew up in the church with his mother and three brothers. His voice broke when he talked about his time in the church. When he was baptized. The first time he spoke in public, he said, was in Ben Hill United Methodist Church. Four minutes away from the house he was raised in.
Quoting Scripture, Reed asked if four little boys could succeed in 2010.
“If our children cannot rise to the highest levels of this city, what have we become?” Reed said.
“We’ve got to look in the mirror Atlanta. I am going to work today and focus on making sure that mothers and fathers have a job to make sure they can look in their children in the eyes.”
Throughout the campaign, Reed spoke tough on crime and promised to re-open every closed community center in the city.
“I carry the hopes and aspiration for the people in Atlanta in my heart,” Reed said.
At the prayer services, several members of the clergy, representing different faiths, offered a series of prayers for Reed. But there were also specific prayers for the city, communities, families, the city council, and the city council president, among others.
There was also singing at the church Reed grew up in. Minister T. Renee Crutcher strolled through the church’s aisle singing, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” before stopping in front of Reed to serenade the new mayor.
“Kasim Reed has a purpose in his life, upon his life,” said the Rev. Walter Kimbrough. “The purpose of his life is God given and God inspired. It is God’s purpose for KR to be our mayor.”
Kimbrough noted that Reed had persistence and lauded him for not quitting the mayor’s race when he trailed desperately in the polls.
“We are God’s provision for him, don’t expect our mayor to be all things for all people at all times,” Kimbrough said. “We have to help him be all things that God will have him to be. He is ready to give us the leadership we need in this time.”
Reed called on the city council, judiciary and the community to work with him to improve the city.
“The challenges Atlanta face are too big for one individual,” Reed said.
http://www.ajc.com/news/reed-begins-day-in-266446.html
© 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Budget Cuts ‘Will Not Be Pretty’
By Tom Sabulis
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
January 2, 2010
A wild turn of events put Rep. Jan Jones (R-Alpharetta) in position to become the highest-ranking woman in Georgia legislative history.
First, House Speaker Glenn Richardson resigned last month after his former wife said he had an affair with a lobbyist. Then, Speaker Pro Tem Mark Burkhalter, the interim House speaker, announced he would leave the General Assembly if he lands the job heading the Georgia World Congress Center.
That paved the way for a new leadership team. Rep. David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) was nominated to become the next speaker. Jones was chosen as the GOP nominee for speaker pro tem — the No. 2 position in the House. Elections to ratify the new slate will be held Jan. 11, when the 2010 Legislature convenes. Jones talks about her historic nomination and the House’s image problems.
Q: Congratulations. We believe you will become the highest-ranking woman ever in the Georgia Legislature. How does that feel?
A: It feels good. The part I found most significant is that it was not an issue with my caucus. I wasn’t running as a female candidate; it generally didn’t even come up. That’s a good day — when folks just look at you for you and not your gender.
Q: Does it signify anything else for the state? I mean, it’s about time, right?
A: Well, half of Georgia is female. And it confirms to women that, certainly, some of the issues that might be of more concern to them might be on the table. I felt they were before. This is more visible confirmation ... and that matters. Sometimes, what you see does matter to folks.
Q: Will this new session signal changes in the ethics culture, the lobbyist culture, up at the Capitol?
A: Probably so. Certainly, again, I think it is more a visible confirmation, that we’re there to represent the people who elected us all across Georgia. I think that, probably, folks will see and feel more of a recognition that the focus should not be concentrated [on lobbyists], but broadly.
Q: You have a family — four kids. How do you react when you see behavior of colleagues in the House like Glenn Richardson?
A: It’s always a concern to me. Image does matter. It matters to me. Someone asked me, who keeps you accountable? I said, well, among others, my faith, my children. I don’t ever want my children to read something in the newspaper that they would find embarrassing. I will say a vast majority of legislators, on both sides of the aisle, Democrats and Republicans, operate with the best interests of the public in mind.
Q: What do you think are the biggest issues you’re going to be facing in this session?
A: No. 1 is the budget. It is going to be a tremendous challenge to balance it and to continue to meet the needs of the state. I’m absolutely confident we can do it, but it will not be pretty. There are consequences when you cut several billion dollars from the budget. I did an analysis for the [Republican] caucus a couple months ago, and the per capita spending in the budget for this fiscal year will be less than the per capita spending a decade ago. And that does not even take into account the inflation factor.
Q: There are just no new sources of revenues?
A: I do not know of a new source of revenue that doesn’t take more money out of people’s pockets, and given that about half of our budget revenue is derived from income tax and roughly half from sales tax, the fact that it’s down 15 percent tells you that people are making less and spending less. We’re a third of the way into the fiscal year and we’re down 15 percent. That will, I think, dominate the entire session.
Q: You’re from the metro Atlanta area. So is Ed Lindsey, the new majority whip. Will this leadership bring new cooperation between the state and city, specifically with MARTA?
A: I don’t know. I’m mindful that MARTA is important to the state and there are many people who rely on MARTA as their primary transportation. And I realize that having transit options is important in a vibrant, busy city. I would think there would be certainly a dialogue to hear what they have to say.
Q: It doesn’t sound like there’s going to be a transportation solution, just more talk about what to do.
A: No, I believe we will continue to make progress on that. There are several options on the table. One is more long-term, in which in years when we have a net positive budget — which, of course, is not this year — we take the fourth penny on gasoline [tax], the fourth penny tax, and devote it to transportation. That’s one solution that’s on the table.
Q: Does that fourth penny exist now?
A: It does exist, but only three of the four [cents] are mandated by the Constitution to go to transportation, to DOT. The fourth penny — I want to say it’s about $250 million — goes to the general budget.
Q: Atlanta has a new mayor, (former state Rep.) Kasim Reed. Do you know him, and what do you think about him?
A: I do. He is bright, talented. My experience with him is that he’s a fiscal conservative and that he works well on both sides of the aisle. I believe he will be a great mayor.
Q: You’ve been fighting for the re-creation of Milton County. Why?
A: Fulton County comprises one-tenth of the state’s population. We’re the ninth most populous state in the union. Fulton is larger in population than six individual states in the union. It is too large and too bloated and too remote from the voters to perform efficiently or adequately to anyone’s satisfaction. With a million people, you just can’t have elected influence in Fulton County. It is not local government, no matter how you define it. And it shows in the poor job that they do throughout the entire county. For example, they spend double per capita on library services than the state average, yet have half the circulation of books and materials per capita.
Q: What’s the status of the effort?
A: The bill is sitting in committee in the House. It would not create Milton County; it would simply allow the state voters to decide if historically created counties could be re-created. As a former Atlanta resident, as a north Fulton resident, I think it would be absolutely the best thing for all. It’s clear that it’s viable for both — what would remain in Fulton and what would become Milton. The per capita property tax revenues and sales tax revenues would be almost equal. We [Milton] would certainly continue to participate in MARTA and Grady [hospital]; those things should be off the table. Those decisions were made while we were all together, and should continue. But it is about having true local government and doing it more efficiently. And I think it’s time to let the people decide if they want to.
Q: You have a birthday coming up on Jan. 28. What are you wishing for?
A: I’m wishing that I’ll have the wisdom and judgment to do as good a job as I possibly can as pro tem, and that my children will be happy and healthy.
Q: I bet you think I wouldn’t ask you that question if you were a man.
A: That’s right.
http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/budget-cuts-will-not-264282.html
© 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
January 2, 2010
A wild turn of events put Rep. Jan Jones (R-Alpharetta) in position to become the highest-ranking woman in Georgia legislative history.
First, House Speaker Glenn Richardson resigned last month after his former wife said he had an affair with a lobbyist. Then, Speaker Pro Tem Mark Burkhalter, the interim House speaker, announced he would leave the General Assembly if he lands the job heading the Georgia World Congress Center.
That paved the way for a new leadership team. Rep. David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) was nominated to become the next speaker. Jones was chosen as the GOP nominee for speaker pro tem — the No. 2 position in the House. Elections to ratify the new slate will be held Jan. 11, when the 2010 Legislature convenes. Jones talks about her historic nomination and the House’s image problems.
Q: Congratulations. We believe you will become the highest-ranking woman ever in the Georgia Legislature. How does that feel?
A: It feels good. The part I found most significant is that it was not an issue with my caucus. I wasn’t running as a female candidate; it generally didn’t even come up. That’s a good day — when folks just look at you for you and not your gender.
Q: Does it signify anything else for the state? I mean, it’s about time, right?
A: Well, half of Georgia is female. And it confirms to women that, certainly, some of the issues that might be of more concern to them might be on the table. I felt they were before. This is more visible confirmation ... and that matters. Sometimes, what you see does matter to folks.
Q: Will this new session signal changes in the ethics culture, the lobbyist culture, up at the Capitol?
A: Probably so. Certainly, again, I think it is more a visible confirmation, that we’re there to represent the people who elected us all across Georgia. I think that, probably, folks will see and feel more of a recognition that the focus should not be concentrated [on lobbyists], but broadly.
Q: You have a family — four kids. How do you react when you see behavior of colleagues in the House like Glenn Richardson?
A: It’s always a concern to me. Image does matter. It matters to me. Someone asked me, who keeps you accountable? I said, well, among others, my faith, my children. I don’t ever want my children to read something in the newspaper that they would find embarrassing. I will say a vast majority of legislators, on both sides of the aisle, Democrats and Republicans, operate with the best interests of the public in mind.
Q: What do you think are the biggest issues you’re going to be facing in this session?
A: No. 1 is the budget. It is going to be a tremendous challenge to balance it and to continue to meet the needs of the state. I’m absolutely confident we can do it, but it will not be pretty. There are consequences when you cut several billion dollars from the budget. I did an analysis for the [Republican] caucus a couple months ago, and the per capita spending in the budget for this fiscal year will be less than the per capita spending a decade ago. And that does not even take into account the inflation factor.
Q: There are just no new sources of revenues?
A: I do not know of a new source of revenue that doesn’t take more money out of people’s pockets, and given that about half of our budget revenue is derived from income tax and roughly half from sales tax, the fact that it’s down 15 percent tells you that people are making less and spending less. We’re a third of the way into the fiscal year and we’re down 15 percent. That will, I think, dominate the entire session.
Q: You’re from the metro Atlanta area. So is Ed Lindsey, the new majority whip. Will this leadership bring new cooperation between the state and city, specifically with MARTA?
A: I don’t know. I’m mindful that MARTA is important to the state and there are many people who rely on MARTA as their primary transportation. And I realize that having transit options is important in a vibrant, busy city. I would think there would be certainly a dialogue to hear what they have to say.
Q: It doesn’t sound like there’s going to be a transportation solution, just more talk about what to do.
A: No, I believe we will continue to make progress on that. There are several options on the table. One is more long-term, in which in years when we have a net positive budget — which, of course, is not this year — we take the fourth penny on gasoline [tax], the fourth penny tax, and devote it to transportation. That’s one solution that’s on the table.
Q: Does that fourth penny exist now?
A: It does exist, but only three of the four [cents] are mandated by the Constitution to go to transportation, to DOT. The fourth penny — I want to say it’s about $250 million — goes to the general budget.
Q: Atlanta has a new mayor, (former state Rep.) Kasim Reed. Do you know him, and what do you think about him?
A: I do. He is bright, talented. My experience with him is that he’s a fiscal conservative and that he works well on both sides of the aisle. I believe he will be a great mayor.
Q: You’ve been fighting for the re-creation of Milton County. Why?
A: Fulton County comprises one-tenth of the state’s population. We’re the ninth most populous state in the union. Fulton is larger in population than six individual states in the union. It is too large and too bloated and too remote from the voters to perform efficiently or adequately to anyone’s satisfaction. With a million people, you just can’t have elected influence in Fulton County. It is not local government, no matter how you define it. And it shows in the poor job that they do throughout the entire county. For example, they spend double per capita on library services than the state average, yet have half the circulation of books and materials per capita.
Q: What’s the status of the effort?
A: The bill is sitting in committee in the House. It would not create Milton County; it would simply allow the state voters to decide if historically created counties could be re-created. As a former Atlanta resident, as a north Fulton resident, I think it would be absolutely the best thing for all. It’s clear that it’s viable for both — what would remain in Fulton and what would become Milton. The per capita property tax revenues and sales tax revenues would be almost equal. We [Milton] would certainly continue to participate in MARTA and Grady [hospital]; those things should be off the table. Those decisions were made while we were all together, and should continue. But it is about having true local government and doing it more efficiently. And I think it’s time to let the people decide if they want to.
Q: You have a birthday coming up on Jan. 28. What are you wishing for?
A: I’m wishing that I’ll have the wisdom and judgment to do as good a job as I possibly can as pro tem, and that my children will be happy and healthy.
Q: I bet you think I wouldn’t ask you that question if you were a man.
A: That’s right.
http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/budget-cuts-will-not-264282.html
© 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Father: Utah Man Who Inspired 'Rain Man' Dies
By DOUG ALDEN
The Associated Press
December 22, 2009
SALT LAKE CITY — The man who inspired the title character in the Oscar-winning movie "Rain Man" has died.
Kim Peek was 58. His father, Fran, says Peek had a major heart attack Saturday morning and was pronounced dead at a hospital in the Salt Lake City suburb of Murray.
Peek was a savant with a remarkable memory and inspired writer Barry Morrow when he wrote "Rain Man," the 1988 movie that won four Academy Awards.
Fran Peek said his son met Morrow at a convention in the early 1980s and the writer was taken with Peek's knack for retaining everything he heard. Morrow wrote the script, and the movie went on to win Oscars for best film and best actor for Dustin Hoffman, whose repetitive rants about being an excellent driver and the "People's Court" about to start were a hit with moviegoers.
Although the character was technically fictional, Fran Peek said his son was every bit as amazing as Hoffman's portrayal of him. And Kim's true character showed when he toured the world, helping dispel misconceptions about mental disabilities.
"It was just unbelievable, all the things that he knew," Fran Peek said Monday. "He traveled 5,500 miles short of 3 million air miles and talked to nearly 60 million people — half have been students."
In his later years, Peek was classified as a "mega-savant" who was a genius in about 15 different subjects, from history and literature and geography to numbers, sports, music and dates. But his motor skills were limited; he couldn't perform some simple tasks like dressing himself.
NASA scientists had been studying Peek, hoping that technology used to study the effects of space travel on the brain would help explain his mental capabilities.
Fran Peek says the funeral will be next Tuesday in Taylorsville. Details were pending.
___
http://www.ajc.com/
http://www.accessatlanta.com/atlanta-movies/father-utah-man-who-251022.html?cxntlid=thbz_hm © 2009 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Copyright 2009, The Associated Press.
The Associated Press
December 22, 2009
SALT LAKE CITY — The man who inspired the title character in the Oscar-winning movie "Rain Man" has died.
Kim Peek was 58. His father, Fran, says Peek had a major heart attack Saturday morning and was pronounced dead at a hospital in the Salt Lake City suburb of Murray.
Peek was a savant with a remarkable memory and inspired writer Barry Morrow when he wrote "Rain Man," the 1988 movie that won four Academy Awards.
Fran Peek said his son met Morrow at a convention in the early 1980s and the writer was taken with Peek's knack for retaining everything he heard. Morrow wrote the script, and the movie went on to win Oscars for best film and best actor for Dustin Hoffman, whose repetitive rants about being an excellent driver and the "People's Court" about to start were a hit with moviegoers.
Although the character was technically fictional, Fran Peek said his son was every bit as amazing as Hoffman's portrayal of him. And Kim's true character showed when he toured the world, helping dispel misconceptions about mental disabilities.
"It was just unbelievable, all the things that he knew," Fran Peek said Monday. "He traveled 5,500 miles short of 3 million air miles and talked to nearly 60 million people — half have been students."
In his later years, Peek was classified as a "mega-savant" who was a genius in about 15 different subjects, from history and literature and geography to numbers, sports, music and dates. But his motor skills were limited; he couldn't perform some simple tasks like dressing himself.
NASA scientists had been studying Peek, hoping that technology used to study the effects of space travel on the brain would help explain his mental capabilities.
Fran Peek says the funeral will be next Tuesday in Taylorsville. Details were pending.
___
http://www.ajc.com/
http://www.accessatlanta.com/atlanta-movies/father-utah-man-who-251022.html?cxntlid=thbz_hm © 2009 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Copyright 2009, The Associated Press.
Democrats Face Challenge in Merging Health Bills
By ROBERT PEAR and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
New York Times
December 21, 2009
WASHINGTON — Even as the Senate took a significant step toward passing its version of a sweeping overhaul of the health insurance system before Christmas, Democrats were grappling Monday with deep internal divisions over abortion, the issue that most complicates their drive to merge the Senate and House bills and send final legislation to President Obama.
Senate Democratic leaders and the president of the American Medical Association heading on Monday to a press conference where they said the group had endorsed the Senate health plan.
In the House, advocates and opponents of abortion rights and conservative Democrats have made clear that they object, for different reasons, to the Senate’s compromise language on abortion. Interest groups on both sides of the spectrum — Planned Parenthood on the abortion rights side, Catholic bishops for the anti-abortion rights camp — also oppose the abortion provision in the Senate bill, leaving Speaker Nancy Pelosi with a challenge in rounding up the votes she needs in the House.
Ms. Pelosi’s room for maneuvering is limited because any changes to the language in the Senate bill could unravel the deal that provided Democrats with the 60 votes they need to get the legislation through the Senate.
Ms. Pelosi, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, and the White House will have to find a way forward on abortion even as they confront other big differences between the House and Senate bills, including how to pay to expand insurance coverage to more than 30 million Americans and whether to include a government-run plan to compete with private insurers.
The Senate bill cleared a major hurdle early Monday, when the Senate voted 60 to 40, along party lines, to limit debate on the guts of its measure. Two more votes are set for Tuesday. Calling it a “historic vote,” Mr. Obama said, “The United States Senate knocked down a filibuster aimed at blocking a final vote on health care reform, and scored a big victory for the American people.”
Senate Democrats got another lift on Monday when the American Medical Association endorsed their legislation, which embodies Mr. Obama’s top domestic priority.
“Of all the organizations and individuals that have supported this bill, I rate this one as the most important,” said Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut and a co-author of the bill.
Jubilant and exhausted after winning the 1 a.m. test vote, Democrats on Monday were already thinking ahead to the next stage of the legislative process. The Senate and the House will try to hash out their differences, with members of the House under intense pressure to accommodate the tenuous deals in the Senate despite their ideological qualms. And no issue is shaping up to be more complex than abortion.
Representative Bart Stupak, Democrat of Michigan and the author of the anti-abortion provisions in the House bill, said Monday, “It would be extremely difficult for me to vote for a bill” taking the Senate approach on abortion.
The House, more liberal than the Senate on many issues, would impose more stringent restrictions, barring coverage of abortion by any health plan bought even partly with federal subsidies.
Under the bill that is likely to be approved this week by the Senate, health plans could cover abortion. But people who enroll in such plans would have to write two premium checks, one for abortion coverage and one for everything else. Insurers would have to keep separate accounts, and state officials would police the “segregation of funds.”
Douglas D. Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee, said it was difficult to envision a compromise because “people opposed to abortion see it as the taking of innocent human life.”
Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, said Monday that the compromise she struck last week with Senator Ben Nelson, Democrat of Nebraska, offered a potential road map for successful negotiations on the issue with the House.
In an interview, Mrs. Boxer said the Senate bill created “a firm wall” that would prevent the use of federal money to pay for insurance coverage of abortions, meeting a demand of opponents of abortion rights, while allowing women to use their own money to buy health plans that cover the procedure.
“When you have both extremes saying they’re unhappy, I think it’s a fair compromise,” Mrs. Boxer said. “Because we have this compromise that’s being attacked on either side, I think that gives us momentum going into the final conference.”
Sixty-four House Democrats, representing one-fourth of the House Democratic caucus, voted for stringent restrictions on insurance coverage of abortion. And 41 of them voted for passage of the House bill, so they constitute a crucial bloc. The bill was approved, 220 to 215, on Nov. 7.
But leading supporters of abortion rights in the House said they would not vote for a final bill if it included those restrictions, which they fear would curtail access to abortion for many women who already have insurance.
The House bill would establish a tax surcharge on income over $500,000 for individuals and over $1 million for couples. The Senate bill would tax high-cost employer-sponsored health plans and increase the Medicare payroll tax on individuals with incomes over $200,000 and couples over $250,000.
Lawmakers said they could envision a compromise mixing the two approaches.
More than 190 House members have gone on record against the Senate’s proposed excise tax on “Cadillac health plans,” which is also opposed by organized labor. But the White House and some health economists say the tax could help control health costs by encouraging employers to shop for cheaper policies that would not be hit by the tax.
It is unclear whether the House and the Senate will appoint a formal conference committee or just try to work out their differences in negotiations with Democratic leaders and committee chairmen from the two chambers. In any event, White House officials expect to play a huge role.
The Senate may have the upper hand in negotiations on a government health plan, championed by liberal Democrats.
Senate Democratic leaders dropped the public option after concluding they could not get 60 votes for it. Their bill calls instead for two or more nationwide health plans, to be offered by private insurers under contracts negotiated with the federal Office of Personnel Management.
Ronald F. Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a liberal advocacy group that works closely with the White House, said Monday: “I think we will not have a public option in the final bill. It would be close to impossible to pass it in the Senate.”
On this, as on several other issues, Mr. Pollack said, “the Senate has somewhat greater leverage than the House” because Senate Democrats need 60 votes, the exact number in their caucus, to overcome Republican opposition.
Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, said, “There is a natural tendency to split the difference between the Senate and the House.” But on major issues in the health bill, Mr. Lieberman said, “splitting the difference means you won’t have 60 votes in the Senate.”
In the eyes of consumers and voters, the success of the legislation will hinge, to a large degree, on whether it makes insurance more affordable. One of the most important issues for House and Senate negotiators is how to aid low- and middle- income people.
The House would expand Medicaid to cover people with incomes less than 150 percent of the poverty level ($33,075 for a family of four). The Senate would expand eligibility to 133 percent of the poverty level ($29,327 for a family of four). Many advocates for low-income people prefer the House approach.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/health/policy/22health.html?_r=1&hp
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
New York Times
December 21, 2009
WASHINGTON — Even as the Senate took a significant step toward passing its version of a sweeping overhaul of the health insurance system before Christmas, Democrats were grappling Monday with deep internal divisions over abortion, the issue that most complicates their drive to merge the Senate and House bills and send final legislation to President Obama.
Senate Democratic leaders and the president of the American Medical Association heading on Monday to a press conference where they said the group had endorsed the Senate health plan.
In the House, advocates and opponents of abortion rights and conservative Democrats have made clear that they object, for different reasons, to the Senate’s compromise language on abortion. Interest groups on both sides of the spectrum — Planned Parenthood on the abortion rights side, Catholic bishops for the anti-abortion rights camp — also oppose the abortion provision in the Senate bill, leaving Speaker Nancy Pelosi with a challenge in rounding up the votes she needs in the House.
Ms. Pelosi’s room for maneuvering is limited because any changes to the language in the Senate bill could unravel the deal that provided Democrats with the 60 votes they need to get the legislation through the Senate.
Ms. Pelosi, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, and the White House will have to find a way forward on abortion even as they confront other big differences between the House and Senate bills, including how to pay to expand insurance coverage to more than 30 million Americans and whether to include a government-run plan to compete with private insurers.
The Senate bill cleared a major hurdle early Monday, when the Senate voted 60 to 40, along party lines, to limit debate on the guts of its measure. Two more votes are set for Tuesday. Calling it a “historic vote,” Mr. Obama said, “The United States Senate knocked down a filibuster aimed at blocking a final vote on health care reform, and scored a big victory for the American people.”
Senate Democrats got another lift on Monday when the American Medical Association endorsed their legislation, which embodies Mr. Obama’s top domestic priority.
“Of all the organizations and individuals that have supported this bill, I rate this one as the most important,” said Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut and a co-author of the bill.
Jubilant and exhausted after winning the 1 a.m. test vote, Democrats on Monday were already thinking ahead to the next stage of the legislative process. The Senate and the House will try to hash out their differences, with members of the House under intense pressure to accommodate the tenuous deals in the Senate despite their ideological qualms. And no issue is shaping up to be more complex than abortion.
Representative Bart Stupak, Democrat of Michigan and the author of the anti-abortion provisions in the House bill, said Monday, “It would be extremely difficult for me to vote for a bill” taking the Senate approach on abortion.
The House, more liberal than the Senate on many issues, would impose more stringent restrictions, barring coverage of abortion by any health plan bought even partly with federal subsidies.
Under the bill that is likely to be approved this week by the Senate, health plans could cover abortion. But people who enroll in such plans would have to write two premium checks, one for abortion coverage and one for everything else. Insurers would have to keep separate accounts, and state officials would police the “segregation of funds.”
Douglas D. Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee, said it was difficult to envision a compromise because “people opposed to abortion see it as the taking of innocent human life.”
Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, said Monday that the compromise she struck last week with Senator Ben Nelson, Democrat of Nebraska, offered a potential road map for successful negotiations on the issue with the House.
In an interview, Mrs. Boxer said the Senate bill created “a firm wall” that would prevent the use of federal money to pay for insurance coverage of abortions, meeting a demand of opponents of abortion rights, while allowing women to use their own money to buy health plans that cover the procedure.
“When you have both extremes saying they’re unhappy, I think it’s a fair compromise,” Mrs. Boxer said. “Because we have this compromise that’s being attacked on either side, I think that gives us momentum going into the final conference.”
Sixty-four House Democrats, representing one-fourth of the House Democratic caucus, voted for stringent restrictions on insurance coverage of abortion. And 41 of them voted for passage of the House bill, so they constitute a crucial bloc. The bill was approved, 220 to 215, on Nov. 7.
But leading supporters of abortion rights in the House said they would not vote for a final bill if it included those restrictions, which they fear would curtail access to abortion for many women who already have insurance.
The House bill would establish a tax surcharge on income over $500,000 for individuals and over $1 million for couples. The Senate bill would tax high-cost employer-sponsored health plans and increase the Medicare payroll tax on individuals with incomes over $200,000 and couples over $250,000.
Lawmakers said they could envision a compromise mixing the two approaches.
More than 190 House members have gone on record against the Senate’s proposed excise tax on “Cadillac health plans,” which is also opposed by organized labor. But the White House and some health economists say the tax could help control health costs by encouraging employers to shop for cheaper policies that would not be hit by the tax.
It is unclear whether the House and the Senate will appoint a formal conference committee or just try to work out their differences in negotiations with Democratic leaders and committee chairmen from the two chambers. In any event, White House officials expect to play a huge role.
The Senate may have the upper hand in negotiations on a government health plan, championed by liberal Democrats.
Senate Democratic leaders dropped the public option after concluding they could not get 60 votes for it. Their bill calls instead for two or more nationwide health plans, to be offered by private insurers under contracts negotiated with the federal Office of Personnel Management.
Ronald F. Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a liberal advocacy group that works closely with the White House, said Monday: “I think we will not have a public option in the final bill. It would be close to impossible to pass it in the Senate.”
On this, as on several other issues, Mr. Pollack said, “the Senate has somewhat greater leverage than the House” because Senate Democrats need 60 votes, the exact number in their caucus, to overcome Republican opposition.
Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, said, “There is a natural tendency to split the difference between the Senate and the House.” But on major issues in the health bill, Mr. Lieberman said, “splitting the difference means you won’t have 60 votes in the Senate.”
In the eyes of consumers and voters, the success of the legislation will hinge, to a large degree, on whether it makes insurance more affordable. One of the most important issues for House and Senate negotiators is how to aid low- and middle- income people.
The House would expand Medicaid to cover people with incomes less than 150 percent of the poverty level ($33,075 for a family of four). The Senate would expand eligibility to 133 percent of the poverty level ($29,327 for a family of four). Many advocates for low-income people prefer the House approach.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/health/policy/22health.html?_r=1&hp
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Monday, December 21, 2009
Republicans Back Ralston for Speaker
By Aaron Gould Sheinin
December 18, 2009
COMING SUNDAY: The AJC takes a closer look at Rep. David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge), who was selected by Georgia’s Republican lawmakers to be the next Speaker of the House.
It took 13 months longer than he originally planned, but Rep. David Ralston won a key vote Thursday to become the next speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives.
Ralston, 55, the gregarious lawyer from the North Georgia mountain town of Blue Ridge, defeated Ways and Means chairman Larry O'Neal of Bonaire and Higher Education chairman Bill Hembree of Winston to become the House Republican caucus' nominee to be speaker. Ralston will stand as the GOP nominee when formal elections are held after lawmakers return for the 2010 session on Jan. 11. Because Republicans hold a 105-74 margin over the Democrats, his ascension to the speaker's podium is all but assured.
The vote, Ralston said afterward, tells Georgians that the House is "ready to change and make the changes necessary. It's not business as usual anymore, and I think people are going to like that."
Ralston will become the second Republican speaker since Reconstruction and his election came on a poignant day in the history of the office. Not only was it the day current Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) said goodbye to the chamber he led for five years before being forced to resign in disgrace, but it was also the second anniversary of the death of legendary Speaker Tom Murphy (D-Bremen), who led the House for parts of four decades.
Ralston's election followed more than a month of scandal that began with Richardson's admission that he tried to take his own life on Nov. 8. Richardson, and the caucus, seemed to rebound from that stunning revelation until Richardson's ex-wife gave a devastating television interview in which she revealed that Richardson had had an affair with an Atlanta Gas Light lobbyist while he was championing legislation that would benefit the utility.
From that, there was no coming back for Richardson.
But Ralston proved Thursday that there are comebacks in politics. Just more than a year ago Ralston ran for speaker at the height of Richardson's power because he said it was time for a different direction and a different tone in the House. Ralston lost that bid and as a result lost his chairmanship of the House Judiciary Committee.
Ralston referenced that failed bid in his speech to the caucus before the vote.
"The need now for that change is beyond debate because this House cannot afford business as usual anymore," he said.
And this time, the outcome was different, although it was close. While caucus chairwoman Rep. Donna Sheldon (R-Dacula) refused to release the actual result of the vote, it took two ballots for Ralston to gain a majority. Hembree was eliminated after the first round and Ralston ousted
O'Neal on the second ballot. One lawmaker in the chamber said the vote was 55-48 for Ralston, but that could not be confirmed.
In a final message from the floor of the House, Ralston beseeched his colleagues to walk out the door and return in January united.
"We have had a tough few weeks," he said. "When we walk out of here I want us to walk out committed to our family. The family's been battered up a little bit."
But he also warned his colleagues to end the rumor-mongering and personal attacks that have filled the void between Richardson's resignation and his election.
"I will put up with a lot. ... But I will not put up with and you need to know this probably today, because I'm not the speaker yet -- I will not put with backbiting and bickering and this intra-family tensions very long. Now, I hope I'm clear. That will destroy all the good work that has brought us to this point."
His colleagues largely praised his nomination.
"Speaker Ralston is going to have a clear mandate from this caucus," said Rep. Michael Harden (R-Toccoa).
That good will extended to Hembree, who said he promised to support Ralston after falling out of the race after the first ballot.
"The House caucus has turned in a new direction," he said. "His campaign was focused on change, my campaign was focused on change, and that's what brought it together today. We're ready to go and do the right things for Georgia."
O'Neal left without speaking to reporters.
While his GOP colleagues worked to turn the conversation forward, Georgia Democrats were sure to remind everyone of Ralston's past tax troubles.
"Republicans have shown the taxpayers that for all their talk of ethics, the House Republican Caucus is only interested in preserving the status quo," Georgia Democratic Party chairwoman Jane Kidd said in a statement.
Ralston repaid more than $400,000 in back taxes and penalties and fees covering 10 years in 2006. He said that the tax problems were caused by an employee of his law firm who embezzled money. Ralston said the employee was eventually prosecuted for the crime.
"This is just more of the same from Georgia Republicans," Kidd said. "It shows their dedication not to reform, but to sweeping their ethical problems under the rug and moving ahead with their dangerous special-interest agenda."
Also Thursday, Rep. Jan Jones (R-Alpharetta) was chosen as the GOP nominee for speaker pro tem. If elected by the full House, she was replace Rep. Mark Burkhalter (R-Johns Creek), who will serve as speaker from the time Richardson resigns Jan. 1 until the official elections are held after Jan. 11. Burkhalter chose not to run for speaker or for re-election as pro tem because he is in the running to become the executive director of the Georgia World Congress Center.
Burkhalter said Thursday he will resign from the General Assembly if he lands the World Congress Center job.
Rep. Ed Lindsey (R-Atlanta) was also elected as majority whip, a position that Jones vacated to run for speaker pro tem.
Ralston is known as good-natured and possesses a good sense of humor. Although he represents conservative North Georgia he could be considered a moderate in the Republican caucus on social issues.
He said his first piece of businesses will be to focus on the state budget, which remains in crisis.
Ralston inherits a budgetary nightmare and lawmakers will be forced to cut an additional $1.3 billion from the current year's budget as soon as they return in January. The budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 will likely be even more austere.
Staff writer James Salzer contributed to this report.
AP Mobile. © 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
December 18, 2009
COMING SUNDAY: The AJC takes a closer look at Rep. David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge), who was selected by Georgia’s Republican lawmakers to be the next Speaker of the House.
It took 13 months longer than he originally planned, but Rep. David Ralston won a key vote Thursday to become the next speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives.
Ralston, 55, the gregarious lawyer from the North Georgia mountain town of Blue Ridge, defeated Ways and Means chairman Larry O'Neal of Bonaire and Higher Education chairman Bill Hembree of Winston to become the House Republican caucus' nominee to be speaker. Ralston will stand as the GOP nominee when formal elections are held after lawmakers return for the 2010 session on Jan. 11. Because Republicans hold a 105-74 margin over the Democrats, his ascension to the speaker's podium is all but assured.
The vote, Ralston said afterward, tells Georgians that the House is "ready to change and make the changes necessary. It's not business as usual anymore, and I think people are going to like that."
Ralston will become the second Republican speaker since Reconstruction and his election came on a poignant day in the history of the office. Not only was it the day current Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) said goodbye to the chamber he led for five years before being forced to resign in disgrace, but it was also the second anniversary of the death of legendary Speaker Tom Murphy (D-Bremen), who led the House for parts of four decades.
Ralston's election followed more than a month of scandal that began with Richardson's admission that he tried to take his own life on Nov. 8. Richardson, and the caucus, seemed to rebound from that stunning revelation until Richardson's ex-wife gave a devastating television interview in which she revealed that Richardson had had an affair with an Atlanta Gas Light lobbyist while he was championing legislation that would benefit the utility.
From that, there was no coming back for Richardson.
But Ralston proved Thursday that there are comebacks in politics. Just more than a year ago Ralston ran for speaker at the height of Richardson's power because he said it was time for a different direction and a different tone in the House. Ralston lost that bid and as a result lost his chairmanship of the House Judiciary Committee.
Ralston referenced that failed bid in his speech to the caucus before the vote.
"The need now for that change is beyond debate because this House cannot afford business as usual anymore," he said.
And this time, the outcome was different, although it was close. While caucus chairwoman Rep. Donna Sheldon (R-Dacula) refused to release the actual result of the vote, it took two ballots for Ralston to gain a majority. Hembree was eliminated after the first round and Ralston ousted
O'Neal on the second ballot. One lawmaker in the chamber said the vote was 55-48 for Ralston, but that could not be confirmed.
In a final message from the floor of the House, Ralston beseeched his colleagues to walk out the door and return in January united.
"We have had a tough few weeks," he said. "When we walk out of here I want us to walk out committed to our family. The family's been battered up a little bit."
But he also warned his colleagues to end the rumor-mongering and personal attacks that have filled the void between Richardson's resignation and his election.
"I will put up with a lot. ... But I will not put up with and you need to know this probably today, because I'm not the speaker yet -- I will not put with backbiting and bickering and this intra-family tensions very long. Now, I hope I'm clear. That will destroy all the good work that has brought us to this point."
His colleagues largely praised his nomination.
"Speaker Ralston is going to have a clear mandate from this caucus," said Rep. Michael Harden (R-Toccoa).
That good will extended to Hembree, who said he promised to support Ralston after falling out of the race after the first ballot.
"The House caucus has turned in a new direction," he said. "His campaign was focused on change, my campaign was focused on change, and that's what brought it together today. We're ready to go and do the right things for Georgia."
O'Neal left without speaking to reporters.
While his GOP colleagues worked to turn the conversation forward, Georgia Democrats were sure to remind everyone of Ralston's past tax troubles.
"Republicans have shown the taxpayers that for all their talk of ethics, the House Republican Caucus is only interested in preserving the status quo," Georgia Democratic Party chairwoman Jane Kidd said in a statement.
Ralston repaid more than $400,000 in back taxes and penalties and fees covering 10 years in 2006. He said that the tax problems were caused by an employee of his law firm who embezzled money. Ralston said the employee was eventually prosecuted for the crime.
"This is just more of the same from Georgia Republicans," Kidd said. "It shows their dedication not to reform, but to sweeping their ethical problems under the rug and moving ahead with their dangerous special-interest agenda."
Also Thursday, Rep. Jan Jones (R-Alpharetta) was chosen as the GOP nominee for speaker pro tem. If elected by the full House, she was replace Rep. Mark Burkhalter (R-Johns Creek), who will serve as speaker from the time Richardson resigns Jan. 1 until the official elections are held after Jan. 11. Burkhalter chose not to run for speaker or for re-election as pro tem because he is in the running to become the executive director of the Georgia World Congress Center.
Burkhalter said Thursday he will resign from the General Assembly if he lands the World Congress Center job.
Rep. Ed Lindsey (R-Atlanta) was also elected as majority whip, a position that Jones vacated to run for speaker pro tem.
Ralston is known as good-natured and possesses a good sense of humor. Although he represents conservative North Georgia he could be considered a moderate in the Republican caucus on social issues.
He said his first piece of businesses will be to focus on the state budget, which remains in crisis.
Ralston inherits a budgetary nightmare and lawmakers will be forced to cut an additional $1.3 billion from the current year's budget as soon as they return in January. The budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 will likely be even more austere.
Staff writer James Salzer contributed to this report.
AP Mobile. © 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Princeton Family Thankful For Transportation
Arezow Doost
PRINCETON
(CBS 11 / TXA 21)
A North Texas family in desperate need of a handicap van got their wish Saturday.
The family from the Collin County town of Princeton will no longer have to cram their disabled little boy in a minivan, and it's all thanks to a non-profit organization.
It's an used 1999 dodge van with 57,000 miles on it.
For the Hicks it's what they've been desperately praying for."It's in great shape!" says Danielle Hicks. "This is going to change the lives of our entire family."
Especially the life of her son Ashley. The 9-year-old has cerebral palsy and dystonia, a movement disorder.
CBS 11 first told the family's story back in August. They showed us the challenges behind getting their son to the doctor in their minivan.
The family heard about the group Free Charity Cars and applied immediately.All summer long they waited for someone to donate a handicap equipped to the non-profit which gives away donated cars to struggling families.
Then in October, they got the call the day before Ashley was set to have brain surgery."The day of his surgery my little red minivan blew up" remembers Danielle.
The family is hoping to sell the minivan and donate the money to Free Charity Cars.
As they look forward to getting used to their new ride, "We can go places as a family where before we didn't."
They say it's already changed their lives."We have been planning trips to the zoo, but I think our first trip will be to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History."
Dallas / Fort Worth Local News
Arezow Doost PRINCETON (CBS 11 /TXA 21)
http://cbs11tv.com/local/ashley.hicks.free.2.1327049.html
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
PRINCETON
(CBS 11 / TXA 21)
A North Texas family in desperate need of a handicap van got their wish Saturday.
The family from the Collin County town of Princeton will no longer have to cram their disabled little boy in a minivan, and it's all thanks to a non-profit organization.
It's an used 1999 dodge van with 57,000 miles on it.
For the Hicks it's what they've been desperately praying for."It's in great shape!" says Danielle Hicks. "This is going to change the lives of our entire family."
Especially the life of her son Ashley. The 9-year-old has cerebral palsy and dystonia, a movement disorder.
CBS 11 first told the family's story back in August. They showed us the challenges behind getting their son to the doctor in their minivan.
The family heard about the group Free Charity Cars and applied immediately.All summer long they waited for someone to donate a handicap equipped to the non-profit which gives away donated cars to struggling families.
Then in October, they got the call the day before Ashley was set to have brain surgery."The day of his surgery my little red minivan blew up" remembers Danielle.
The family is hoping to sell the minivan and donate the money to Free Charity Cars.
As they look forward to getting used to their new ride, "We can go places as a family where before we didn't."
They say it's already changed their lives."We have been planning trips to the zoo, but I think our first trip will be to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History."
Dallas / Fort Worth Local News
Arezow Doost PRINCETON (CBS 11 /TXA 21)
http://cbs11tv.com/local/ashley.hicks.free.2.1327049.html
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Disabled Riders to Bing: Undo Switch in Transit Service
BY MATT HELMSFREE
PRESS STAFF WRITER
Detroit Free Press
Detroit, Michigan
November 19. 2009
People with disabilities and senior citizens called on Detroit leaders Wednesday to reverse an apparent decision to switch providers of specialized MetroLift rides that serve those who have trouble using regular buses.
The city announced earlier this month that Veolia Transportation would no longer be a provider of paratransit services. Officials said Veolia terminated its contract with the city Nov. 6.
But Veolia officials said Wednesday that the city stopped making payments in February, started contracting with other companies and has refused to discuss the issue. Veolia has provided paratransit services for the Detroit Department of Transportation since 1999 and was contracted through 2011.
Veolia has sued the city in U.S. District Court in Detroit, seeking nearly $10 million for breach of contract.
At a news conference Wednesday, representatives from Veolia and groups including the Council of Baptist Pastors of Detroit & Vicinity and the RainbowPUSH Coalition urged Mayor Dave Bing to reverse DDOT's decision on Veolia.
"We're hoping Mayor Bing will call a meeting, bring the parties together and try to resolve it," said Isaac Robinson, political director for the Michigan Teamsters Joint Council No. 43, which represents Veolia drivers.
Bing's office released a statement saying the city will continue to provide paratransit service but not commenting on Veolia's allegations.
"The City of Detroit is required by Federal Transit Administration regulations to provide paratransit service. Veolia was one of the vendors who provided this service until Nov. 6, when Veolia terminated their contract," Edward L. Cardenas, Bing's spokesman said. "Representatives of DDOT, including members of the mayor's staff, have had several meetings with Veolia and its lawyers in an attempt to resolve this dispute. The matter is now in court.
"There has been no interruption in services as DDOT continues to provide paratransit service to nearly 1,200 riders daily through licensed and certified vendors operating over 400 vehicles."
Robinson said 125 unionized drivers will lose their jobs if the city stands by its decision, and the people they served worry that the new contractors aren't providing service that meets Americans with Disabilities Act mandates.
Quintin Williams, 49, of Detroit, who is paraplegic and a disability volunteer coordinator for the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, said riders have been complaining about bad service.
"The program is not meeting the needs of the disability community or the senior citizens who use it," Williams said.
Contact MATT HELMS: 313-222-1450 or mhelms@freepress.com
http://www.freep.com/article/20091119/NEWS01/911190465/1322/Disabled-riders-to-Bing-Undo-switch-in-transit-service
Copyright © 2009 ... Use of this site signifies your agreement to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy/Your California Privacy Rights, updated March 2009.
PRESS STAFF WRITER
Detroit Free Press
Detroit, Michigan
November 19. 2009
People with disabilities and senior citizens called on Detroit leaders Wednesday to reverse an apparent decision to switch providers of specialized MetroLift rides that serve those who have trouble using regular buses.
The city announced earlier this month that Veolia Transportation would no longer be a provider of paratransit services. Officials said Veolia terminated its contract with the city Nov. 6.
But Veolia officials said Wednesday that the city stopped making payments in February, started contracting with other companies and has refused to discuss the issue. Veolia has provided paratransit services for the Detroit Department of Transportation since 1999 and was contracted through 2011.
Veolia has sued the city in U.S. District Court in Detroit, seeking nearly $10 million for breach of contract.
At a news conference Wednesday, representatives from Veolia and groups including the Council of Baptist Pastors of Detroit & Vicinity and the RainbowPUSH Coalition urged Mayor Dave Bing to reverse DDOT's decision on Veolia.
"We're hoping Mayor Bing will call a meeting, bring the parties together and try to resolve it," said Isaac Robinson, political director for the Michigan Teamsters Joint Council No. 43, which represents Veolia drivers.
Bing's office released a statement saying the city will continue to provide paratransit service but not commenting on Veolia's allegations.
"The City of Detroit is required by Federal Transit Administration regulations to provide paratransit service. Veolia was one of the vendors who provided this service until Nov. 6, when Veolia terminated their contract," Edward L. Cardenas, Bing's spokesman said. "Representatives of DDOT, including members of the mayor's staff, have had several meetings with Veolia and its lawyers in an attempt to resolve this dispute. The matter is now in court.
"There has been no interruption in services as DDOT continues to provide paratransit service to nearly 1,200 riders daily through licensed and certified vendors operating over 400 vehicles."
Robinson said 125 unionized drivers will lose their jobs if the city stands by its decision, and the people they served worry that the new contractors aren't providing service that meets Americans with Disabilities Act mandates.
Quintin Williams, 49, of Detroit, who is paraplegic and a disability volunteer coordinator for the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, said riders have been complaining about bad service.
"The program is not meeting the needs of the disability community or the senior citizens who use it," Williams said.
Contact MATT HELMS: 313-222-1450 or mhelms@freepress.com
http://www.freep.com/article/20091119/NEWS01/911190465/1322/Disabled-riders-to-Bing-Undo-switch-in-transit-service
Copyright © 2009 ... Use of this site signifies your agreement to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy/Your California Privacy Rights, updated March 2009.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
The Artificial Hand That Can 'Feel'
The big difference between our system and others is the sensory feedback.--Fredrick Sebelius, Lund University, Sweden
By Mark Tutton
CNN
November 6, 2009
· Prototype artificial hand allows amputees to "feel" objects they hold
· Sensors in the fingers send signals to the forearm, which stimulates the brain
· The long-term goal is to attach sensors directly to nerves, via a "neural interface"
London, England (CNN) -- Researchers are working on a breakthrough in artificial limb technology -- a prosthetic hand that can actually feel.
The SmartHand project is funded by the European Union and is a collaboration between researchers from across the continent. It has produced a prototype motorized prosthetic hand that researchers say gives unprecedented sensory feedback.
Fredrik Sebelius, of Lund University, in Sweden, is one of those working on the project. He told CNN that the SmartHand is able to exploit the fact that many amputees experience what he terms a "phantom hand."
"If you push the skin on an amputee's forearm, they feel like you are pushing on their phantom fingers," Sebelius told CNN.
When an amputee imagines moving a "phantom hand," signals are sent down nerve fibres in the remaining part of the amputated arm to activate muscles that would have moved the fingers.
Myolelectric signals from those muscles are recorded by electrodes applied to the forearm and then transmitted to motors in the artificial hand.
It's a technique that has been used in prosthetic limbs for decades, but Sebelius says the SmartHand gives much more control than other systems.
It also allows sensory information to be detected and transmitted from several sensors in each prosthetic finger, meaning users can actually "feel" objects they hold in the SmartHand.
"The big difference between our system and others is the sensory feedback", Sebelius told CNN.
RELATED TOPICS
"Sensors in the prosthesis pick up tactile information, which is relayed to actuators on the arm that pass on the sensory feedback, and this hasn't been done before,"
Sebelius gives the example of a pressure sensor on the artificial index finger sending a signal to forearm. By targeting the area of the forearm that activates the part of the brain associated with the index finger, the signal from the finger is "felt" by the brain.
He says the prosthesis could be commercially available within two years, but that the current technology is only suitable for amputations below the elbow. Upper arm amputees don't have enough muscles associated with hand movement to control the SmartHand.
Martin Twiste, senior lecturer of prosthetics and orthotics at the University of Salford, in England, told CNN that he did not know of any commercially available prosthetic hands that gave this kind of sensory feedback.
But he said the challenge with relaying sensory information from a prosthetic hand is sending the signals to the right place.
"Any sensory information from the prosthetic hand has to be fed back to the residuum (remainder of the amputated arm) and then to the brain," he told CNN. "The difficulty is where do you feed it back to?"
"If you have several electrodes on the residuum it's very difficult to place the electrodes accurately enough for the amputee to distinguish, say, the index finger from the middle finger."
One potential solution for upper arm amputees being explored by U.S. firm Deka Research and Development is to control an artificial arm using foot pedals.
Another method uses "Targeted Muscle Reinnervation," a technique developed by Dr Todd Kuiken at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. This involves transferring the remaining nerves from an amputated limb to other muscles -- for example the pectoral muscle in the chest.
That means that when someone thinks about moving their amputated hand, they activate the muscle in their chest, and the myolelectric signals from that muscle can be used to control a prosthetic hand.
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory have developed a prototype prosthetic limb that uses this technique as part of a U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency-sponsored project.
But another solution is to directly attach electrodes to nerve bundles in the remaining part of the amputated arm, recording signals from the nerves, rather than from muscles.
Some of the SmartHand researchers have been working on this technology and Sebelius says developing this kind of "neural interface" is the long-term goal of the project.
Although neural interfaces have been trialled in animals, Sebelius says there are a number of problems that have to be overcome before the technology can be made commercially available for humans.
"The neural interface has to be implanted in the body, which brings problems of biocompatibility," Sebelius told CNN.
"A common problem is for the interface to be rejected by the body, then you get a lot of tissue forming around the interface and it doesn't function correctly."
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/11/06/artificial.hand.feel/index.html#cnnSTCText
© 2009 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
By Mark Tutton
CNN
November 6, 2009
· Prototype artificial hand allows amputees to "feel" objects they hold
· Sensors in the fingers send signals to the forearm, which stimulates the brain
· The long-term goal is to attach sensors directly to nerves, via a "neural interface"
London, England (CNN) -- Researchers are working on a breakthrough in artificial limb technology -- a prosthetic hand that can actually feel.
The SmartHand project is funded by the European Union and is a collaboration between researchers from across the continent. It has produced a prototype motorized prosthetic hand that researchers say gives unprecedented sensory feedback.
Fredrik Sebelius, of Lund University, in Sweden, is one of those working on the project. He told CNN that the SmartHand is able to exploit the fact that many amputees experience what he terms a "phantom hand."
"If you push the skin on an amputee's forearm, they feel like you are pushing on their phantom fingers," Sebelius told CNN.
When an amputee imagines moving a "phantom hand," signals are sent down nerve fibres in the remaining part of the amputated arm to activate muscles that would have moved the fingers.
Myolelectric signals from those muscles are recorded by electrodes applied to the forearm and then transmitted to motors in the artificial hand.
It's a technique that has been used in prosthetic limbs for decades, but Sebelius says the SmartHand gives much more control than other systems.
It also allows sensory information to be detected and transmitted from several sensors in each prosthetic finger, meaning users can actually "feel" objects they hold in the SmartHand.
"The big difference between our system and others is the sensory feedback", Sebelius told CNN.
RELATED TOPICS
"Sensors in the prosthesis pick up tactile information, which is relayed to actuators on the arm that pass on the sensory feedback, and this hasn't been done before,"
Sebelius gives the example of a pressure sensor on the artificial index finger sending a signal to forearm. By targeting the area of the forearm that activates the part of the brain associated with the index finger, the signal from the finger is "felt" by the brain.
He says the prosthesis could be commercially available within two years, but that the current technology is only suitable for amputations below the elbow. Upper arm amputees don't have enough muscles associated with hand movement to control the SmartHand.
Martin Twiste, senior lecturer of prosthetics and orthotics at the University of Salford, in England, told CNN that he did not know of any commercially available prosthetic hands that gave this kind of sensory feedback.
But he said the challenge with relaying sensory information from a prosthetic hand is sending the signals to the right place.
"Any sensory information from the prosthetic hand has to be fed back to the residuum (remainder of the amputated arm) and then to the brain," he told CNN. "The difficulty is where do you feed it back to?"
"If you have several electrodes on the residuum it's very difficult to place the electrodes accurately enough for the amputee to distinguish, say, the index finger from the middle finger."
One potential solution for upper arm amputees being explored by U.S. firm Deka Research and Development is to control an artificial arm using foot pedals.
Another method uses "Targeted Muscle Reinnervation," a technique developed by Dr Todd Kuiken at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. This involves transferring the remaining nerves from an amputated limb to other muscles -- for example the pectoral muscle in the chest.
That means that when someone thinks about moving their amputated hand, they activate the muscle in their chest, and the myolelectric signals from that muscle can be used to control a prosthetic hand.
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory have developed a prototype prosthetic limb that uses this technique as part of a U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency-sponsored project.
But another solution is to directly attach electrodes to nerve bundles in the remaining part of the amputated arm, recording signals from the nerves, rather than from muscles.
Some of the SmartHand researchers have been working on this technology and Sebelius says developing this kind of "neural interface" is the long-term goal of the project.
Although neural interfaces have been trialled in animals, Sebelius says there are a number of problems that have to be overcome before the technology can be made commercially available for humans.
"The neural interface has to be implanted in the body, which brings problems of biocompatibility," Sebelius told CNN.
"A common problem is for the interface to be rejected by the body, then you get a lot of tissue forming around the interface and it doesn't function correctly."
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/11/06/artificial.hand.feel/index.html#cnnSTCText
© 2009 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
What You Should Know...
"If all you see is the disability...you might be missing a lot. People with disabilities are just people." - Meredith Vieira, NBC News
DISABILITY AWARENESS - Meredith Vieira, NBC News
The federal government defines a person with a disability as someone who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more "major life activities." According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 49.7 million Americans have a disability, which includes people of all ages. About two-thirds of these individuals have a severe disability. People with disabilities represent all races, colors and creeds.
Disability Rights
When the 1973 Rehabilitation Act was passed, it was the first time in history that the law protected the rights of people with disabilities. Two years later, in 1975, another law was passed to ensure equal access to public education for students with disabilities. Despite changes in rehabilitation and education law, people with disabilities could be denied entrance to public places before the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. This landmark federal anti-discrimination law ensures equal access to employment opportunities and public accommodations for people with disabilities. With this act, Congress identified the full participation, inclusion and integration of people with disabilities into society as a national goal. However, the fight for disability rights is far from over. Advocates for people with disabilities promote bipartisan legislation and policy that will further the ability of people with disabilities to live independently, contribute to society, pursue meaningful careers and enjoy self-determination. After all, disability rights are civil rights.
Discrimination
People with disabilities often suffer from being labeled by their disability and are faced with prejudice. Since people with disabilities are sometimes separated from the mainstream due to their special needs they may also struggle with inclusion. Others often make assumptions and judge people with disabilities without knowing the facts or getting to know the person. Suffering from a disability does not make a person inferior; all people deserve respect.
Overcoming Attitudinal Barriers
As children, we are curious - pointing to anything unfamiliar and asking questions. We have few, if any, inhibitions. As adults, we learn to censor our queries, feeling uncomfortable with anything unfamiliar. It is human nature and not unusual, therefore, to be concerned about interactions with people who use wheelchairs, who are blind, who are deaf, or whom we find difficult to understand. We may be concerned that we will say the wrong thing, ask an inappropriate question, or unintentionally offend. We do not want to appear uninformed or insensitive. We might feel intimidated by communicating with someone with a disability because we are unaware of appropriate etiquette. However, communicating with a person with a disability is quite easy; just approach them with respect and courtesy.
What you can do...
Positive language empowers those with disabilities. Avoid generalizations and offensive labels when speaking to or about people with disabilities.
The person comes first
When writing or speaking about people with disabilities, it is important to put the person first - to focus on the person, not the disability. It is important to use words that reflect individuality, equality or dignity - for example: the person who is blind, the child who is deaf, the individual with a disability.
Communicate with respect and courtesy
When speaking with a person with a disability, talk directly to the person, not his or her companion. Extend common courtesies such as shaking hands and handing over business cards.
Listen - don't pretend
If the person has a speech impairment and you are having difficulty understanding what he or she is saying, ask the individual to repeat, rather than pretending to understand.
Wait for permission
If you believe that an individual with a disability needs assistance, go ahead and offer the assistance - but wait for your offer to be accepted before you try to help.
Be respectful
If you wish to get the attention of a person who is deaf, tap the person gently on the shoulder or arm. Look directly at the person, and speak clearly in a normal tone of voice.
Do not distract service animals
If you encounter an individual with a service animal, such as a dog, please do not touch or distract the animal. Service animals are working, and it breaks their training to interact with others when they are on duty.
Wheelchair etiquette
If you are having a conversation with a person who uses a wheelchair, if at all possible put yourself at the person's eye level. Never lean on or touch a person's wheelchair or any other assistive device. A person's assistive device is part of the person's personal space, and it is jarring or disturbing for anyone to have his or her personal space invaded.
Stay positive
Believing that your child with a disability has a bright future is one of the ways to help assure that they will.
http://www.themoreyouknow.com/disability-awareness/
U.S. Department of Laborwww.dol.gov/odep
© 2009, NBC Universal. All rights reserved.
DISABILITY AWARENESS - Meredith Vieira, NBC News
The federal government defines a person with a disability as someone who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more "major life activities." According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 49.7 million Americans have a disability, which includes people of all ages. About two-thirds of these individuals have a severe disability. People with disabilities represent all races, colors and creeds.
Disability Rights
When the 1973 Rehabilitation Act was passed, it was the first time in history that the law protected the rights of people with disabilities. Two years later, in 1975, another law was passed to ensure equal access to public education for students with disabilities. Despite changes in rehabilitation and education law, people with disabilities could be denied entrance to public places before the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. This landmark federal anti-discrimination law ensures equal access to employment opportunities and public accommodations for people with disabilities. With this act, Congress identified the full participation, inclusion and integration of people with disabilities into society as a national goal. However, the fight for disability rights is far from over. Advocates for people with disabilities promote bipartisan legislation and policy that will further the ability of people with disabilities to live independently, contribute to society, pursue meaningful careers and enjoy self-determination. After all, disability rights are civil rights.
Discrimination
People with disabilities often suffer from being labeled by their disability and are faced with prejudice. Since people with disabilities are sometimes separated from the mainstream due to their special needs they may also struggle with inclusion. Others often make assumptions and judge people with disabilities without knowing the facts or getting to know the person. Suffering from a disability does not make a person inferior; all people deserve respect.
Overcoming Attitudinal Barriers
As children, we are curious - pointing to anything unfamiliar and asking questions. We have few, if any, inhibitions. As adults, we learn to censor our queries, feeling uncomfortable with anything unfamiliar. It is human nature and not unusual, therefore, to be concerned about interactions with people who use wheelchairs, who are blind, who are deaf, or whom we find difficult to understand. We may be concerned that we will say the wrong thing, ask an inappropriate question, or unintentionally offend. We do not want to appear uninformed or insensitive. We might feel intimidated by communicating with someone with a disability because we are unaware of appropriate etiquette. However, communicating with a person with a disability is quite easy; just approach them with respect and courtesy.
What you can do...
Positive language empowers those with disabilities. Avoid generalizations and offensive labels when speaking to or about people with disabilities.
The person comes first
When writing or speaking about people with disabilities, it is important to put the person first - to focus on the person, not the disability. It is important to use words that reflect individuality, equality or dignity - for example: the person who is blind, the child who is deaf, the individual with a disability.
Communicate with respect and courtesy
When speaking with a person with a disability, talk directly to the person, not his or her companion. Extend common courtesies such as shaking hands and handing over business cards.
Listen - don't pretend
If the person has a speech impairment and you are having difficulty understanding what he or she is saying, ask the individual to repeat, rather than pretending to understand.
Wait for permission
If you believe that an individual with a disability needs assistance, go ahead and offer the assistance - but wait for your offer to be accepted before you try to help.
Be respectful
If you wish to get the attention of a person who is deaf, tap the person gently on the shoulder or arm. Look directly at the person, and speak clearly in a normal tone of voice.
Do not distract service animals
If you encounter an individual with a service animal, such as a dog, please do not touch or distract the animal. Service animals are working, and it breaks their training to interact with others when they are on duty.
Wheelchair etiquette
If you are having a conversation with a person who uses a wheelchair, if at all possible put yourself at the person's eye level. Never lean on or touch a person's wheelchair or any other assistive device. A person's assistive device is part of the person's personal space, and it is jarring or disturbing for anyone to have his or her personal space invaded.
Stay positive
Believing that your child with a disability has a bright future is one of the ways to help assure that they will.
http://www.themoreyouknow.com/disability-awareness/
U.S. Department of Laborwww.dol.gov/odep
© 2009, NBC Universal. All rights reserved.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Autism Study Could Find Answers in Magic
Autistic People Lack Joint Attention Skills and Can't Be Fooled by Magicians' Tricks
By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES
ABC News
Nov. 10, 2009
The magician placed a coin atop an airtight rubber seal on a cup and -- abracadabra -- the shiny piece fell to the bottom of the cup.
But he didn't fool 8-year-old Stephen Shore, who was the only one among his fellow Boy Scouts who saw through the magic trick.
"People didn't see the slit in the piece of rubber," said Shore, now 48 and an assistant professor of special education teacher at New York's Adelphi University. "I went up and just kind of pushed my finger into the slit."
Illusions are the stock and trade of magicians but researchers at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Ariz., want to know why people like Shore, who fall along the autism spectrum, are not so easily fooled.
Shore has lived his entire life with autism, a neurological disorder often marked by joint-attention deficits, or difficulty reading social signals; the same kind that a magician deliberately uses to throw attention away from the deception.
"Someone on the autism spectrum is looking exactly where the magician doesn't want him to look," Shore said.
Scientists Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen Macknik, co-authors of the upcoming book
"Neuro Magic," are seeking funding to begin research that they hope will use magic as a tool for the diagnosis and treatment of autism -- despite some parents' fear that such research is too limited in scope.
"What magicians do is get people to attention with an incredible degree of depth and labor," said Macknik, director of Barrow's Laboratory of Behavioral Neurophysiology.
"Misdirection is a bit of a misnomer -- that the magician is trying to get you not to pay attention," he said. "But that's not the case. They want to control where you are especially paying attention."
An estimated 1 in 150 children -- or about 1 percent of all children -- are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders, a group of developmental disabilities that can cause significant social, communication and behavioral challenges, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
The CDC considers autism an urgent public concern and says the sheer numbers warrant a concerted national response.
But, so far, there are no medical tests so doctors must rely on a child's behavior to make a diagnosis, usually by age 2. Early detection is key, experts say, so children can get intervention therapies.
Martinez-Conde, the study's lead investigator, has devoted her research to eye movements in the field of visual neuroscience.
Humans share information and grasp the thoughts and intentions of others through eye contact and gestures. Long before infants speak, they communicate and learn by following the gaze of others and use their own eye contact and gestures to direct those around them.
To read more go to http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Autism/autism-diagnoses-treatments-found-study-magic/Story?id=8988702&page=2
To read page 3 go to http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Autism/autism-diagnoses-treatments-found-study-magic/Story?id=8988702&page=3
To read page 4 go to http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Autism/autism-diagnoses-treatments-found-study-magic/Story?id=8988702&page=4
External links are provided for reference purposes. ABC News is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites. Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures.
By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES
ABC News
Nov. 10, 2009
The magician placed a coin atop an airtight rubber seal on a cup and -- abracadabra -- the shiny piece fell to the bottom of the cup.
But he didn't fool 8-year-old Stephen Shore, who was the only one among his fellow Boy Scouts who saw through the magic trick.
"People didn't see the slit in the piece of rubber," said Shore, now 48 and an assistant professor of special education teacher at New York's Adelphi University. "I went up and just kind of pushed my finger into the slit."
Illusions are the stock and trade of magicians but researchers at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Ariz., want to know why people like Shore, who fall along the autism spectrum, are not so easily fooled.
Shore has lived his entire life with autism, a neurological disorder often marked by joint-attention deficits, or difficulty reading social signals; the same kind that a magician deliberately uses to throw attention away from the deception.
"Someone on the autism spectrum is looking exactly where the magician doesn't want him to look," Shore said.
Scientists Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen Macknik, co-authors of the upcoming book
"Neuro Magic," are seeking funding to begin research that they hope will use magic as a tool for the diagnosis and treatment of autism -- despite some parents' fear that such research is too limited in scope.
"What magicians do is get people to attention with an incredible degree of depth and labor," said Macknik, director of Barrow's Laboratory of Behavioral Neurophysiology.
"Misdirection is a bit of a misnomer -- that the magician is trying to get you not to pay attention," he said. "But that's not the case. They want to control where you are especially paying attention."
An estimated 1 in 150 children -- or about 1 percent of all children -- are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders, a group of developmental disabilities that can cause significant social, communication and behavioral challenges, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
The CDC considers autism an urgent public concern and says the sheer numbers warrant a concerted national response.
But, so far, there are no medical tests so doctors must rely on a child's behavior to make a diagnosis, usually by age 2. Early detection is key, experts say, so children can get intervention therapies.
Martinez-Conde, the study's lead investigator, has devoted her research to eye movements in the field of visual neuroscience.
Humans share information and grasp the thoughts and intentions of others through eye contact and gestures. Long before infants speak, they communicate and learn by following the gaze of others and use their own eye contact and gestures to direct those around them.
To read more go to http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Autism/autism-diagnoses-treatments-found-study-magic/Story?id=8988702&page=2
To read page 3 go to http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Autism/autism-diagnoses-treatments-found-study-magic/Story?id=8988702&page=3
To read page 4 go to http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Autism/autism-diagnoses-treatments-found-study-magic/Story?id=8988702&page=4
External links are provided for reference purposes. ABC News is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites. Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Service Dog a Calming Presence For Entire Family
Chancer trained to deal with child who has fetal alcohol syndrome
By Helena Oliviero
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
North Fulton County News
November 6, 2009
Eleven-year-old Morasha Winokur never knows what to expect from her brother, Iyal, when riding the school bus home together.
Iyal Winokur, 11, hangs out with his service dog Chancer at his Roswell home. Iyal has fetal alcohol syndrome and can have tantrums. Chancer helps to calm him.
Morasha Winokur, 11, wrote a book about life with her brother. Both were adopted from Russian orphanages.
Iyal Winokur was diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome when he was 4.
Chancer is believed to be the first dog trained to help a child with fetal alcohol syndrome. The dog nuzzles Iyal Winokur's neck or puts his paw on him when he has a tantrum.
Or he might get in her face and yell.
What is predictable is this: Once they get to their Roswell home, Iyal will see his dog, Chancer, and settle down.
For Morasha and her family, Chancer has made home a little more peaceful for the family and for Iyal, 11, who has fetal alcohol syndrome.
Before the dog arrived, Iyal was fidgety and prone to outbursts, often directed at his sister.
“He would say my name over and over. Morasha. Morasha. He would sing it. He would yell it,” Morasha said. “But now, he is more interested in Chancer.”
Chancer is believed to be the country’s first-ever service dog trained to deal with a child who has fetal alcohol syndrome, which is caused by women who drink alcohol while pregnant.
Morasha shares her experience of growing up with Iyal and how life has changed with Chancer in a book she wrote: “My Invisible World: Life with My Brother, His Disability & His Service Dog.”
The book, which Morasha decided to start writing three years ago, was published by Better Endings New Beginnings and recently hit book stores across metro Atlanta.
“I wanted to educate people. I want people to know women shouldn’t drink alcohol when they are pregnant,” Morasha said. “And I wanted to share our story.”
She writes of Iyal: “If he wants attention, he is like a big baseball mitt. All the attention goes directly to him and everyone tries to catch his ball and hold on. In fact, he gets so much attention that there are times I feel like no even realizes I am there. This is when my invisible world gets really big, and I feel really small.”
A diagnosis
When Donnie, a TV producer at the time, and Harvey Winokur, a rabbi, met in 1997, they were both in their early 40s and eager to start a family. They got married less than three months after their first date and, after a few months of failed fertility treatments, went to plan B: adoption.
Working with an agency that focuses on Russian adoptions, they waited only a few months before they were given a video of Morasha and Iyal, born just two days apart and living in separate orphanages. In the videos, each lasting only about three minutes, Morasha and Iyal, both just more than a year old, appeared malnourished and very small for their age. Donnie and Harvey thought all the babies really needed was a loving home.
Once home, Iyal started walking almost immediately. Morasha took a bit more time. Many people mistook the two for twins and for the first two years they seemed like twins. They played with the same toys; they read books in matching rocking chairs.
But when Iyal started preschool, his parents noticed troubling behavior. He began to have frequent angry outbursts and tantrums.
And then one day a report came home from the preschool: Iyal got on a bike and purposely ran into another child.
“I knew that was not right. That was not acceptable,” mother Donnie Winokur said.
A developmental pediatrician diagnosed Iyal with FAS when he was 4 years old.
FAS is considered the extreme end of a spectrum of disorders known as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs). The group of disorders can range from mild to severe and can include abnormal facial features, poor coordination, hyperactive behavior, poor memory and low IQ. Iyal’s condition is considered to be in the severe range.
“At first, the diagnosis is just words on a paper,” said his mother, who is featured in a video about the disorder made by the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and posted on its Web site, and is also the executive director of the newly created Georgia chapter of the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (NOFAS). “And there’s no substance until you start living with it and you start having different fears and different levels of grieving. And you live your life like you are in constant anticipation of a hurricane.”
Over time, the age and developmental gap between Morasha and Iyal has widened. Though both are in the sixth grade, Iyal is in special education classes and has a teacher’s aide who works with him full time.
He reads at about the third-grade level, but his mother worries he might never be able to live independently as an adult. Morasha’s worries are more immediate. Her brother’s unpredictable behavior is so demanding, she gets left out.
“Iyal will get his way,” their mother acknowledges. “I tell Morasha to go with it. It’s hard for her. It’s not fair. Life is not fair. But it’s still OK. And everybody deserves to be loved and have a family.”
Still, the Winokurs were determined to find a way for the whole family to cope with Iyal’s disability.
So two years ago, Donnie Winokur saw a brochure about service dogs and contacted 4 Paws for Ability. The Ohio-based organization, which trains about 100 dogs a year, mostly for autistic children, had never trained a dog for FAS. But the executive director, Karen Shirk, agreed to give it her best shot.
A dog to the rescue
The Winokurs sent the trainer video footage of Iyal in full-fledged tantrums, sobbing and thrashing about, and unable to sit still at the kitchen table.
After watching the video, Shirk picked Chancer, a golden retriever with deep brown eyes, for Iyal. She believed Chancer’s calm demeanor would make him a good fit.
“We needed a dog of a larger size and not the kind of dog that would feed off of Iyal’s emotions,” said Shirk. “A dog that wouldn’t be afraid of Iyal’s meltdowns and a dog that would go with the flow. And that was Chancer.”
The Association of Pet Dog Trainers is unaware of any other dogs trained to assist a child with FAS.
Shirk said she’s already training two more FAS dogs out of requests from parents who heard about Iyal’s dog.
To train Chancer, Shirk used Iyal’s tantrums as “signals” or “commands” for the dog. Chancer was trained to disrupt erratic behavior by “nuzzling” Iyal’s neck or putting his paw on Iyal when he had a tantrum. But if Iyal thrashes about violently, Iyal’s mother will order Chancer to stay back so he won’t get hurt.
When Iyal seems jittery or unable to sit still, Chancer will lay his 90-pound body across Iyal’s legs to help calm him down. Chancer also gives Iyal lots of sloppy kisses.
“Chancer was happy. His brown eyes sent signals of dog happiness. ...” Morasha wrote in her book.
Since Chancer joined the family, the outbursts have declined, as well as the intensity. Iyal started opening up about his feelings and his illness.
“He would say: ‘Why does God make me break things?’ And he said, ‘Why did my birth mother drink alcohol?’ ” Donnie Winokur said.
And then one day, he showed concern for Chancer.
“Did Chancer’s mommy drink alcohol when Chancer was in her tummy?” he asked his mother.
A calm family
On a recent afternoon, Morasha and Iyal eat a bowl of cereal after arriving home on the school bus. Iyal fusses because he wants chocolate, but he settles on Reese’s Puffs cereal.
After they finish the snack, Morasha calls a friend.
Iyal goes directly to Chancer.
Chancer licks Iyal’s face. Iyal hugs his dog.
“Happy, you make me happy,” Iyal says to his dog.
Iyal then retreats to a room downstairs to play video games. With Chancer at his feet, Iyal seems content.
And so does the entire family.
“Chancer has softened the hard edges,” said Donnie Winokur. “We needed another character in the play. ... And that was Chancer.”
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) are caused by a woman drinking alcohol during pregnancy.
FASDs refers to conditions that can range from mild to severe and can include abnormal facial features, poor coordination, hyperactive behavior, poor memory and low IQ.
It is estimated that fetal alcohol syndrome, a severe form of a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, occurs in about 1 of every 1,000 births. But the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports the number of all alcohol-related conditions resulting from prenatal exposure of alcohol could be as high as 1 in every 100 live births.
A woman who drinks any alcohol throughout the pregnancy is at risk since there is no known amount of alcohol that is safe to drink while pregnant, but larger amounts of alcohol and binge drinking are more harmful than drinking smaller amounts.
To see the CDC video of Iyal’s story, go to www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/fasd/videos/index.html
Source: CDC, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and American Academy of Pediatrics.
Bita Honarvar, bhonarvar@ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/news/north-fulton/service-dog-a-calming-188966.html
© 2009 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Helena Oliviero
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
North Fulton County News
November 6, 2009
Eleven-year-old Morasha Winokur never knows what to expect from her brother, Iyal, when riding the school bus home together.
Iyal Winokur, 11, hangs out with his service dog Chancer at his Roswell home. Iyal has fetal alcohol syndrome and can have tantrums. Chancer helps to calm him.
Morasha Winokur, 11, wrote a book about life with her brother. Both were adopted from Russian orphanages.
Iyal Winokur was diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome when he was 4.
Chancer is believed to be the first dog trained to help a child with fetal alcohol syndrome. The dog nuzzles Iyal Winokur's neck or puts his paw on him when he has a tantrum.
Or he might get in her face and yell.
What is predictable is this: Once they get to their Roswell home, Iyal will see his dog, Chancer, and settle down.
For Morasha and her family, Chancer has made home a little more peaceful for the family and for Iyal, 11, who has fetal alcohol syndrome.
Before the dog arrived, Iyal was fidgety and prone to outbursts, often directed at his sister.
“He would say my name over and over. Morasha. Morasha. He would sing it. He would yell it,” Morasha said. “But now, he is more interested in Chancer.”
Chancer is believed to be the country’s first-ever service dog trained to deal with a child who has fetal alcohol syndrome, which is caused by women who drink alcohol while pregnant.
Morasha shares her experience of growing up with Iyal and how life has changed with Chancer in a book she wrote: “My Invisible World: Life with My Brother, His Disability & His Service Dog.”
The book, which Morasha decided to start writing three years ago, was published by Better Endings New Beginnings and recently hit book stores across metro Atlanta.
“I wanted to educate people. I want people to know women shouldn’t drink alcohol when they are pregnant,” Morasha said. “And I wanted to share our story.”
She writes of Iyal: “If he wants attention, he is like a big baseball mitt. All the attention goes directly to him and everyone tries to catch his ball and hold on. In fact, he gets so much attention that there are times I feel like no even realizes I am there. This is when my invisible world gets really big, and I feel really small.”
A diagnosis
When Donnie, a TV producer at the time, and Harvey Winokur, a rabbi, met in 1997, they were both in their early 40s and eager to start a family. They got married less than three months after their first date and, after a few months of failed fertility treatments, went to plan B: adoption.
Working with an agency that focuses on Russian adoptions, they waited only a few months before they were given a video of Morasha and Iyal, born just two days apart and living in separate orphanages. In the videos, each lasting only about three minutes, Morasha and Iyal, both just more than a year old, appeared malnourished and very small for their age. Donnie and Harvey thought all the babies really needed was a loving home.
Once home, Iyal started walking almost immediately. Morasha took a bit more time. Many people mistook the two for twins and for the first two years they seemed like twins. They played with the same toys; they read books in matching rocking chairs.
But when Iyal started preschool, his parents noticed troubling behavior. He began to have frequent angry outbursts and tantrums.
And then one day a report came home from the preschool: Iyal got on a bike and purposely ran into another child.
“I knew that was not right. That was not acceptable,” mother Donnie Winokur said.
A developmental pediatrician diagnosed Iyal with FAS when he was 4 years old.
FAS is considered the extreme end of a spectrum of disorders known as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs). The group of disorders can range from mild to severe and can include abnormal facial features, poor coordination, hyperactive behavior, poor memory and low IQ. Iyal’s condition is considered to be in the severe range.
“At first, the diagnosis is just words on a paper,” said his mother, who is featured in a video about the disorder made by the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and posted on its Web site, and is also the executive director of the newly created Georgia chapter of the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (NOFAS). “And there’s no substance until you start living with it and you start having different fears and different levels of grieving. And you live your life like you are in constant anticipation of a hurricane.”
Over time, the age and developmental gap between Morasha and Iyal has widened. Though both are in the sixth grade, Iyal is in special education classes and has a teacher’s aide who works with him full time.
He reads at about the third-grade level, but his mother worries he might never be able to live independently as an adult. Morasha’s worries are more immediate. Her brother’s unpredictable behavior is so demanding, she gets left out.
“Iyal will get his way,” their mother acknowledges. “I tell Morasha to go with it. It’s hard for her. It’s not fair. Life is not fair. But it’s still OK. And everybody deserves to be loved and have a family.”
Still, the Winokurs were determined to find a way for the whole family to cope with Iyal’s disability.
So two years ago, Donnie Winokur saw a brochure about service dogs and contacted 4 Paws for Ability. The Ohio-based organization, which trains about 100 dogs a year, mostly for autistic children, had never trained a dog for FAS. But the executive director, Karen Shirk, agreed to give it her best shot.
A dog to the rescue
The Winokurs sent the trainer video footage of Iyal in full-fledged tantrums, sobbing and thrashing about, and unable to sit still at the kitchen table.
After watching the video, Shirk picked Chancer, a golden retriever with deep brown eyes, for Iyal. She believed Chancer’s calm demeanor would make him a good fit.
“We needed a dog of a larger size and not the kind of dog that would feed off of Iyal’s emotions,” said Shirk. “A dog that wouldn’t be afraid of Iyal’s meltdowns and a dog that would go with the flow. And that was Chancer.”
The Association of Pet Dog Trainers is unaware of any other dogs trained to assist a child with FAS.
Shirk said she’s already training two more FAS dogs out of requests from parents who heard about Iyal’s dog.
To train Chancer, Shirk used Iyal’s tantrums as “signals” or “commands” for the dog. Chancer was trained to disrupt erratic behavior by “nuzzling” Iyal’s neck or putting his paw on Iyal when he had a tantrum. But if Iyal thrashes about violently, Iyal’s mother will order Chancer to stay back so he won’t get hurt.
When Iyal seems jittery or unable to sit still, Chancer will lay his 90-pound body across Iyal’s legs to help calm him down. Chancer also gives Iyal lots of sloppy kisses.
“Chancer was happy. His brown eyes sent signals of dog happiness. ...” Morasha wrote in her book.
Since Chancer joined the family, the outbursts have declined, as well as the intensity. Iyal started opening up about his feelings and his illness.
“He would say: ‘Why does God make me break things?’ And he said, ‘Why did my birth mother drink alcohol?’ ” Donnie Winokur said.
And then one day, he showed concern for Chancer.
“Did Chancer’s mommy drink alcohol when Chancer was in her tummy?” he asked his mother.
A calm family
On a recent afternoon, Morasha and Iyal eat a bowl of cereal after arriving home on the school bus. Iyal fusses because he wants chocolate, but he settles on Reese’s Puffs cereal.
After they finish the snack, Morasha calls a friend.
Iyal goes directly to Chancer.
Chancer licks Iyal’s face. Iyal hugs his dog.
“Happy, you make me happy,” Iyal says to his dog.
Iyal then retreats to a room downstairs to play video games. With Chancer at his feet, Iyal seems content.
And so does the entire family.
“Chancer has softened the hard edges,” said Donnie Winokur. “We needed another character in the play. ... And that was Chancer.”
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) are caused by a woman drinking alcohol during pregnancy.
FASDs refers to conditions that can range from mild to severe and can include abnormal facial features, poor coordination, hyperactive behavior, poor memory and low IQ.
It is estimated that fetal alcohol syndrome, a severe form of a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, occurs in about 1 of every 1,000 births. But the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports the number of all alcohol-related conditions resulting from prenatal exposure of alcohol could be as high as 1 in every 100 live births.
A woman who drinks any alcohol throughout the pregnancy is at risk since there is no known amount of alcohol that is safe to drink while pregnant, but larger amounts of alcohol and binge drinking are more harmful than drinking smaller amounts.
To see the CDC video of Iyal’s story, go to www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/fasd/videos/index.html
Source: CDC, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and American Academy of Pediatrics.
Bita Honarvar, bhonarvar@ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/news/north-fulton/service-dog-a-calming-188966.html
© 2009 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
HUD OFFERS $20 MILLION TO HELP SENIORS AND PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES CONTINUE TO LIVE INDEPENDENTLY AT HOME
News Release
HUD No. 09-166
Lemar Wooley (202) 708-0685
www.hud.gov/news/
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is offering $20 million in grants to help elderly residents and non-elderly residents with disabilities the services they need to continue to live independently in their own homes. HUD is making these grants available through the its Service Coordinator Program that will support the hiring of service coordinators to help frail and at-risk elderly individuals and persons with disabilities access health care, meals and other critical support services.
"HUD is helping to provide older Americans and those with disabilities with safe, affordable housing. These grants will help provide the services they need to allow them to remain in their homes, connected to their communities and friends, rather than face unnecessary institutionalization," said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan.
These grants will be awarded to owners of privately owned multifamily housing developments that receive money from HUD to house low-income individuals. The owners or their management companies will use the funding offered today to either hire or contract service coordinators with backgrounds in providing social services, especially to the frail elderly and people with disabilities, to assist their residents with special needs.
HUD will award grants to approximately 100 applicants.
Applications may be downloaded from HUD's website. Applications are due on or before November 5,2009.
http://www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm?content=pr09-166.cfm&CFID=6805004&CFTOKEN=67772646
HUD No. 09-166
Lemar Wooley (202) 708-0685
www.hud.gov/news/
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is offering $20 million in grants to help elderly residents and non-elderly residents with disabilities the services they need to continue to live independently in their own homes. HUD is making these grants available through the its Service Coordinator Program that will support the hiring of service coordinators to help frail and at-risk elderly individuals and persons with disabilities access health care, meals and other critical support services.
"HUD is helping to provide older Americans and those with disabilities with safe, affordable housing. These grants will help provide the services they need to allow them to remain in their homes, connected to their communities and friends, rather than face unnecessary institutionalization," said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan.
These grants will be awarded to owners of privately owned multifamily housing developments that receive money from HUD to house low-income individuals. The owners or their management companies will use the funding offered today to either hire or contract service coordinators with backgrounds in providing social services, especially to the frail elderly and people with disabilities, to assist their residents with special needs.
HUD will award grants to approximately 100 applicants.
Applications may be downloaded from HUD's website. Applications are due on or before November 5,2009.
http://www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm?content=pr09-166.cfm&CFID=6805004&CFTOKEN=67772646
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Stats Show Autism Rising, But Who’s Really Autistic?
By Michelle Diament
For Disability Scoop
October 6, 2009
Earlier this week the federal government released new data indicating that autism is diagnosed in 1 percent of American children, far more than the 1 in 150 children previously thought to be affected.
But a new documentary suggests that the rising number of autism diagnoses does not actually represent an increase in the number of kids who have the developmental disorder. Rather, the filmmakers say that autism is becoming an umbrella term latched onto by parents and diagnosticians alike in their efforts to get services for children whose needs are not easily defined.
“Autistic-Like: Graham’s Story” follows the experiences of filmmaker Erik Linthorst as he and his wife, Jennie, struggle to find a proper diagnosis and treatment for their son Graham, now 5. (Click here to view the trailer >>)
Though Graham is diagnosed with autism, even diagnosticians admit that many of the boy’s behaviors are merely autistic-like. Meanwhile, some of Graham’s characteristics – like his ability to establish eye contact – aren’t consistent with autism at all.
Ultimately, Graham is more appropriately diagnosed with a sensory processing disorder, but the Linthorsts are encouraged to keep the autism diagnosis so that Graham is assured government-funded early intervention and special education services.
Linthorst spoke with Disability Scoop about what it means for a child to be autistic-like and why it matters if kids like Graham are diagnosed with autism.
Disability Scoop: What does autistic-like mean?
Erik Linthorst: That phrase summed up the experience that we had with Graham from the get-go. When we went to our pediatrician she said he looks like he has autistic-like behaviors, but I don’t think he has autism. He looked like he had sensory processing disorder, but she said that diagnosis won’t get you the help he needs and an autism diagnosis will.
We left thinking, so does he have autism or does he not? All we know is that he has autistic-like behaviors and that’s the best way to describe Graham.
Disability Scoop: In Graham’s case, what about him is autistic-like and what about him is definitely not?
Erik Linthorst: The part that’s definitely not is that he’s got this gleam in his eye. He makes good eye contact and he’s social. At the same time, he developed these repetitive behaviors that were very autistic-like. He loved to spin wheels and just stare at them. He became obsessed with patterns and lines along the floor. Those were very autistic-like behaviors and because he was spending so much time engaged in these behaviors, he began to fall off the developmental ladder and he started to miss his milestones.
Disability Scoop: In the film you suggest that the diagnostic rate of 1 in 150 children (now likely lower) might be too high. Why?
Erik Linthorst: If you met Graham today or even back when he was in intensive therapy, anyone who was savvy about children’s development would look at him and say this kid clearly doesn’t have autism. Yet he had an autism diagnosis. He was one of those 1 in 150, but he didn’t have autism.
I talked to a lot of other parents and I was alarmed to find that many parents had a very similar story. The doctor was saying your child doesn’t have autism, but if you want help, here’s what you have to do. You need to take this diagnosis. The result is that a lot of kids that otherwise wouldn’t qualify for an autism diagnosis — or maybe legitimately shouldn’t qualify for an autism diagnosis — are qualifying because it’s the only thing that will get them services.
The average person sees that the CDC is lowering the stat to 1 in 100 and thinks that these numbers are because of increased incidence of a disease and that may not be the case.
To read further click here: Next Page>> Page: 1 2
http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2009/10/06/autistic-like/5684/
Copyright © 2009 Disability Scoop, LLC. All Rights Reserved. For reprints and permissions click here.
For Disability Scoop
October 6, 2009
Earlier this week the federal government released new data indicating that autism is diagnosed in 1 percent of American children, far more than the 1 in 150 children previously thought to be affected.
But a new documentary suggests that the rising number of autism diagnoses does not actually represent an increase in the number of kids who have the developmental disorder. Rather, the filmmakers say that autism is becoming an umbrella term latched onto by parents and diagnosticians alike in their efforts to get services for children whose needs are not easily defined.
“Autistic-Like: Graham’s Story” follows the experiences of filmmaker Erik Linthorst as he and his wife, Jennie, struggle to find a proper diagnosis and treatment for their son Graham, now 5. (Click here to view the trailer >>)
Though Graham is diagnosed with autism, even diagnosticians admit that many of the boy’s behaviors are merely autistic-like. Meanwhile, some of Graham’s characteristics – like his ability to establish eye contact – aren’t consistent with autism at all.
Ultimately, Graham is more appropriately diagnosed with a sensory processing disorder, but the Linthorsts are encouraged to keep the autism diagnosis so that Graham is assured government-funded early intervention and special education services.
Linthorst spoke with Disability Scoop about what it means for a child to be autistic-like and why it matters if kids like Graham are diagnosed with autism.
Disability Scoop: What does autistic-like mean?
Erik Linthorst: That phrase summed up the experience that we had with Graham from the get-go. When we went to our pediatrician she said he looks like he has autistic-like behaviors, but I don’t think he has autism. He looked like he had sensory processing disorder, but she said that diagnosis won’t get you the help he needs and an autism diagnosis will.
We left thinking, so does he have autism or does he not? All we know is that he has autistic-like behaviors and that’s the best way to describe Graham.
Disability Scoop: In Graham’s case, what about him is autistic-like and what about him is definitely not?
Erik Linthorst: The part that’s definitely not is that he’s got this gleam in his eye. He makes good eye contact and he’s social. At the same time, he developed these repetitive behaviors that were very autistic-like. He loved to spin wheels and just stare at them. He became obsessed with patterns and lines along the floor. Those were very autistic-like behaviors and because he was spending so much time engaged in these behaviors, he began to fall off the developmental ladder and he started to miss his milestones.
Disability Scoop: In the film you suggest that the diagnostic rate of 1 in 150 children (now likely lower) might be too high. Why?
Erik Linthorst: If you met Graham today or even back when he was in intensive therapy, anyone who was savvy about children’s development would look at him and say this kid clearly doesn’t have autism. Yet he had an autism diagnosis. He was one of those 1 in 150, but he didn’t have autism.
I talked to a lot of other parents and I was alarmed to find that many parents had a very similar story. The doctor was saying your child doesn’t have autism, but if you want help, here’s what you have to do. You need to take this diagnosis. The result is that a lot of kids that otherwise wouldn’t qualify for an autism diagnosis — or maybe legitimately shouldn’t qualify for an autism diagnosis — are qualifying because it’s the only thing that will get them services.
The average person sees that the CDC is lowering the stat to 1 in 100 and thinks that these numbers are because of increased incidence of a disease and that may not be the case.
To read further click here: Next Page>> Page: 1 2
http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2009/10/06/autistic-like/5684/
Copyright © 2009 Disability Scoop, LLC. All Rights Reserved. For reprints and permissions click here.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Helen Keller Statue to be Unveiled at Capitol; First of Person with Disability
By Ashley Hayes - CNN
(CNN) — It was a moment vividly depicted in the movie about her life: 7-year-old Helen Keller, holding one hand under a water pump as her teacher spelled “W-A-T-E-R” into her other hand.
In that moment, Keller — an Alabama native who lost her sight and hearing to illness as a toddler — understood that there were meanings hidden in the manual alphabet shapes her teacher, Anne Sullivan, had taught her to make with her hands. The moment was shown in the play — later made into a movie — “The Miracle Worker.”
On Wednesday, a statue commemorating her 1887 breakthrough will be unveiled in the U.S. Capitol’s National Statuary Hall — the first statue in the Capitol of a person with a disability, as well as the first of a child, according to the Alabama governor’s office.
“It’s always good to realize how much of an impact people with disabilities have made on the history and landscape of our country,” said Nancy Starnes, director of external affairs for the Washington-based National Organization on Disability. “I’m excited that they’re going to be doing this. I think it’s going to be a wonderful addition.”
Keller, born in Tuscumbia in northwest Alabama, learned to speak at the age of 10 by putting her hands on Sullivan’s mouth when she talked. She wound up graduating from Radcliffe College, then the women’s branch of Harvard University, and became a prolific author and speaker who was endowed with numerous honors including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She died in 1968.
http://www.enableamerica.org/disability-news-2009-10-06-helen-keller-statue.html
Source: cnn.com
© 2002 - 2009 Enable America, Inc.
(CNN) — It was a moment vividly depicted in the movie about her life: 7-year-old Helen Keller, holding one hand under a water pump as her teacher spelled “W-A-T-E-R” into her other hand.
In that moment, Keller — an Alabama native who lost her sight and hearing to illness as a toddler — understood that there were meanings hidden in the manual alphabet shapes her teacher, Anne Sullivan, had taught her to make with her hands. The moment was shown in the play — later made into a movie — “The Miracle Worker.”
On Wednesday, a statue commemorating her 1887 breakthrough will be unveiled in the U.S. Capitol’s National Statuary Hall — the first statue in the Capitol of a person with a disability, as well as the first of a child, according to the Alabama governor’s office.
“It’s always good to realize how much of an impact people with disabilities have made on the history and landscape of our country,” said Nancy Starnes, director of external affairs for the Washington-based National Organization on Disability. “I’m excited that they’re going to be doing this. I think it’s going to be a wonderful addition.”
Keller, born in Tuscumbia in northwest Alabama, learned to speak at the age of 10 by putting her hands on Sullivan’s mouth when she talked. She wound up graduating from Radcliffe College, then the women’s branch of Harvard University, and became a prolific author and speaker who was endowed with numerous honors including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She died in 1968.
http://www.enableamerica.org/disability-news-2009-10-06-helen-keller-statue.html
Source: cnn.com
© 2002 - 2009 Enable America, Inc.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Russia's Disabled Suffers Neglect and Abuse
By Richard Galpin
BBC News, Moscow
Vadim Voevodin was attacked outside his own home.
The BBC has obtained shocking evidence of the abuse and prejudice which campaigners say is widespread against the estimated 13 million people with disabilities in Russia.
Many are like prisoners inside their own homes, unable to go outside because of the lack of basic facilities in the towns and cities, while tens of thousands of children with disabilities go without any education.
Vadim Voevodin, who has suffered more than most, is behind a campaign to improve life for those with disabilities in Russia, and as we sat inside his tiny Moscow apartment, he showed me a shocking video.
In the black and white CCTV footage a man kneels on the ground outside his apartment, under attack.
He tries to fight back but is pushed down and held in a neck-lock.
But this is no banal brawl between two angry able-bodied men.
The man on the ground is Mr Voevodin, and he is kneeling because he is paralysed from the waist down.
He has just been dragged from his wheelchair after answering a knock on the door from a local resident who came with the intention of beating him up.
Two years after this brutal attack Mr Voevodin still lives in fear, and the two small rooms which he calls home are packed with surveillance equipment.
CCTV cameras and microphones protrude from every corner and a bank of monitors, video recorders and computers dominate an entire wall.
But the electronics are not only there because of his fears about security; the apartment is also the nerve-centre of his campaign.
And that is because he has no other choice of location.
He said he has not been able to go outside for the past 10 years because his front door is too narrow to get through in a wheelchair and, even if it was wider, he would not be able to get into the lift to go down to the ground-floor because it is too small.
And if he ever made it onto the city's streets he would face a maze of obstacles - steep kerbs , flights of steps, cars parked on pavements and a public transport system almost all of which is inaccessible for those with disabilities.
But even all this is not what troubles him the most.
'Undeclared war'
On his website he has posted a series of photographs of associates whom he said have died because of the acute prejudice within Russian society against those with disabilities.
"The situation for people with disabilities here is now worse than in Soviet times, it's like an undeclared war against us," he said.
"A wheelchair user I know, who was an active fighter for the rights of people with disabilities… was left to die in a hospital ward.
"There was another incident in Saratov. One of our members had a stroke and when they rang up the hospital they said they did not take invalids on Mondays. She died that day.
"In the last 10 years, 40 of my colleagues have died."
It is extremely difficult to verify these claims, but there was a swift denial from the authorities.
"The attitude in our health system is the same for everyone whether for people with disabilities or for people who are normally healthy," said Igor Gordeev of the social defence department of Moscow's city government.
"There is the Hippocratic Oath for doctors and they should follow it."
Mr. Gordeev also insists the Moscow authorities are now spending $300m (£190m) to improve facilities in the city for those with disabilities.
At a large school in central Moscow there are the first signs of a change in attitude within the general population. The school is one of a handful involved in a project to include children with disabilities in the city's schools.
Most are still either educated in separate schools or at home - which according to the government's own figures means 170,000 children with disabilities in Russia do not receive any education at all.
Twelve-year-old Natalya, who was born deaf and has limited speech, has settled into her new school well. Students at Natalya's new school are no longer bothered about her deafness.
She said: "I like it very much here. I am more keen to learn here than in my previous [separate] school. Here I only get excellent marks."
Resistance
Some of the children in her class admitted they had never seen a person with disabilities before.
"I have changed my attitude to these people and I now think they are normal," said one pupil.
"I don't think they are different or that there is anything wrong with them."
A senior teacher said initially there had been resistance from some parents who said they did not want their children studying with people with disabilities.
But that resistance has now faded away.
It is a small beginning.
But the challenge of overcoming decades of neglect is formidable, and for now most of those with disabilities here remain isolated and vulnerable.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8302633.stm
© MMIX MMIXMMIX
British Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcasting House,
Portland Place,
London,
W1A 1AA
BBC News, Moscow
Vadim Voevodin was attacked outside his own home.
The BBC has obtained shocking evidence of the abuse and prejudice which campaigners say is widespread against the estimated 13 million people with disabilities in Russia.
Many are like prisoners inside their own homes, unable to go outside because of the lack of basic facilities in the towns and cities, while tens of thousands of children with disabilities go without any education.
Vadim Voevodin, who has suffered more than most, is behind a campaign to improve life for those with disabilities in Russia, and as we sat inside his tiny Moscow apartment, he showed me a shocking video.
In the black and white CCTV footage a man kneels on the ground outside his apartment, under attack.
He tries to fight back but is pushed down and held in a neck-lock.
But this is no banal brawl between two angry able-bodied men.
The man on the ground is Mr Voevodin, and he is kneeling because he is paralysed from the waist down.
He has just been dragged from his wheelchair after answering a knock on the door from a local resident who came with the intention of beating him up.
Two years after this brutal attack Mr Voevodin still lives in fear, and the two small rooms which he calls home are packed with surveillance equipment.
CCTV cameras and microphones protrude from every corner and a bank of monitors, video recorders and computers dominate an entire wall.
But the electronics are not only there because of his fears about security; the apartment is also the nerve-centre of his campaign.
And that is because he has no other choice of location.
He said he has not been able to go outside for the past 10 years because his front door is too narrow to get through in a wheelchair and, even if it was wider, he would not be able to get into the lift to go down to the ground-floor because it is too small.
And if he ever made it onto the city's streets he would face a maze of obstacles - steep kerbs , flights of steps, cars parked on pavements and a public transport system almost all of which is inaccessible for those with disabilities.
But even all this is not what troubles him the most.
'Undeclared war'
On his website he has posted a series of photographs of associates whom he said have died because of the acute prejudice within Russian society against those with disabilities.
"The situation for people with disabilities here is now worse than in Soviet times, it's like an undeclared war against us," he said.
"A wheelchair user I know, who was an active fighter for the rights of people with disabilities… was left to die in a hospital ward.
"There was another incident in Saratov. One of our members had a stroke and when they rang up the hospital they said they did not take invalids on Mondays. She died that day.
"In the last 10 years, 40 of my colleagues have died."
It is extremely difficult to verify these claims, but there was a swift denial from the authorities.
"The attitude in our health system is the same for everyone whether for people with disabilities or for people who are normally healthy," said Igor Gordeev of the social defence department of Moscow's city government.
"There is the Hippocratic Oath for doctors and they should follow it."
Mr. Gordeev also insists the Moscow authorities are now spending $300m (£190m) to improve facilities in the city for those with disabilities.
At a large school in central Moscow there are the first signs of a change in attitude within the general population. The school is one of a handful involved in a project to include children with disabilities in the city's schools.
Most are still either educated in separate schools or at home - which according to the government's own figures means 170,000 children with disabilities in Russia do not receive any education at all.
Twelve-year-old Natalya, who was born deaf and has limited speech, has settled into her new school well. Students at Natalya's new school are no longer bothered about her deafness.
She said: "I like it very much here. I am more keen to learn here than in my previous [separate] school. Here I only get excellent marks."
Resistance
Some of the children in her class admitted they had never seen a person with disabilities before.
"I have changed my attitude to these people and I now think they are normal," said one pupil.
"I don't think they are different or that there is anything wrong with them."
A senior teacher said initially there had been resistance from some parents who said they did not want their children studying with people with disabilities.
But that resistance has now faded away.
It is a small beginning.
But the challenge of overcoming decades of neglect is formidable, and for now most of those with disabilities here remain isolated and vulnerable.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8302633.stm
© MMIX MMIXMMIX
British Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcasting House,
Portland Place,
London,
W1A 1AA
Monday, October 12, 2009
An Event Honoring The Employer of the Year and Disabled Employees!
Employing the Disabled is a Great Idea!!!!
Celebrating the National Disability Employment Awareness Month!
Gateway Services To Have Awards Reception
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Business News –News Tribune – Serving North Central Illinois
PRINCETON — In honor of National Disability Employment Awareness Month, Gateway Services Inc. will hold its annual awards reception on Thursday, Oct. 22 at First United Methodist Church, 316 S. Church St., Princeton, beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Anyone wishing to join in the celebration of individuals with disabilities making great strides in achieving personal goals, honoring businesses and organizations for their support of individuals with disabilities, and honoring the Employer of the Year is welcome to attend. There is no cost. Cake, punch and coffee will be servedr Reservations may be made with Brian Casford at (815) 875-4548 by Friday, Oct. 16.
This year’s theme: “Expectation + Opportunity = Full Participation.”
Real jobs with real wages allow individuals to be a real part of the community by making their own choices.
Many times these choices lead to purchasing their own homes and cars, joining churches and organizations, and even furthering their education.
Individuals with disabilities who have made great personal achievements in the past year will receive the Strove Toward and Achieved Results Award, the highest award Gateway bestows upon people with disabilities.
http://www.newstrib.com/articles/business/business-daily/default.asp?Article=CB4D0E66AFCB4DFF9A6602769324BF4C932D2F310C735052
Copyright © 2009 NewsTribune, LaSalle, Illinois. All rights reserved.
Celebrating the National Disability Employment Awareness Month!
Gateway Services To Have Awards Reception
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Business News –News Tribune – Serving North Central Illinois
PRINCETON — In honor of National Disability Employment Awareness Month, Gateway Services Inc. will hold its annual awards reception on Thursday, Oct. 22 at First United Methodist Church, 316 S. Church St., Princeton, beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Anyone wishing to join in the celebration of individuals with disabilities making great strides in achieving personal goals, honoring businesses and organizations for their support of individuals with disabilities, and honoring the Employer of the Year is welcome to attend. There is no cost. Cake, punch and coffee will be servedr Reservations may be made with Brian Casford at (815) 875-4548 by Friday, Oct. 16.
This year’s theme: “Expectation + Opportunity = Full Participation.”
Real jobs with real wages allow individuals to be a real part of the community by making their own choices.
Many times these choices lead to purchasing their own homes and cars, joining churches and organizations, and even furthering their education.
Individuals with disabilities who have made great personal achievements in the past year will receive the Strove Toward and Achieved Results Award, the highest award Gateway bestows upon people with disabilities.
http://www.newstrib.com/articles/business/business-daily/default.asp?Article=CB4D0E66AFCB4DFF9A6602769324BF4C932D2F310C735052
Copyright © 2009 NewsTribune, LaSalle, Illinois. All rights reserved.
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Spanish Actor With Down's Syndrome Wins Top Award
AFP/File
Sat Sep 26, 3:19 pm ET
SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain (AFP) – A Spanish actor with Down's syndrome, Pablo Pineda, picked up the best actor prize at the San Sebastian film festival on Saturday for his touching portrayal of a man with the disability.
In the movie "Yo, Tambien" ("Me Too") Pineda plays a 34-year-old man with Down's syndrome who earns a university degree and then falls in love with a colleague at work.
Pineda's character, Daniel Sanz from Seville, is the only person with Down's syndrome to obtain a university diploma in Europe, and the film tells the story of him starting out in his first job in regional social services.
The character's story mirrors the actor's own life. Pineda has a university degree in special education and he gives a convincing and moving portrayal of Sanz as he adapts to the demands of his first job.
To play Sanz with a range of emotions from joy to disappointment and sadness "called for a lot of introspection, I had to relive some very difficult moments," said Pineda after the feature-length film by directors Antonio Naharro and Alvaro Pastor was screened at the festival.
Pineda's co-star Lola Duenas, who plays the work colleague that his character falls in love with, also captured the spotlight at the festival in northern Spain, winning the best actress award.
In 1996, Belgian actor Pascal Duquenne was awarded best actor at the Cannes film festival along with Daniel Auteuil for their roles as a duo in the film "Le huitieme jour" ("The Eighth Day").
Deaf American actress Marlee Matlin meanwhile won an Academy Award in 1986 for her portrayal of a deaf woman in "Children of a Lesser God".
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090926/ennew_afp/entertainmentfilmfestivalspaindownsyndrome_20090926192002
Copyright © 2009 Agence France Presse.
Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Inc.
Sat Sep 26, 3:19 pm ET
SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain (AFP) – A Spanish actor with Down's syndrome, Pablo Pineda, picked up the best actor prize at the San Sebastian film festival on Saturday for his touching portrayal of a man with the disability.
In the movie "Yo, Tambien" ("Me Too") Pineda plays a 34-year-old man with Down's syndrome who earns a university degree and then falls in love with a colleague at work.
Pineda's character, Daniel Sanz from Seville, is the only person with Down's syndrome to obtain a university diploma in Europe, and the film tells the story of him starting out in his first job in regional social services.
The character's story mirrors the actor's own life. Pineda has a university degree in special education and he gives a convincing and moving portrayal of Sanz as he adapts to the demands of his first job.
To play Sanz with a range of emotions from joy to disappointment and sadness "called for a lot of introspection, I had to relive some very difficult moments," said Pineda after the feature-length film by directors Antonio Naharro and Alvaro Pastor was screened at the festival.
Pineda's co-star Lola Duenas, who plays the work colleague that his character falls in love with, also captured the spotlight at the festival in northern Spain, winning the best actress award.
In 1996, Belgian actor Pascal Duquenne was awarded best actor at the Cannes film festival along with Daniel Auteuil for their roles as a duo in the film "Le huitieme jour" ("The Eighth Day").
Deaf American actress Marlee Matlin meanwhile won an Academy Award in 1986 for her portrayal of a deaf woman in "Children of a Lesser God".
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090926/ennew_afp/entertainmentfilmfestivalspaindownsyndrome_20090926192002
Copyright © 2009 Agence France Presse.
Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Inc.
Monday, October 05, 2009
A Proclamation From the White House
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release – September 30, 2009
NATIONAL DISABILITY EMPLOYMENT AWARENESS MONTH, 2009
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
Fair access to employment is a fundamental right of every American, including the 54 million people in this country living with disabilities. A job can provide financial stability, help maximize our potential, and allow us to achieve our dreams. As Americans, we possess a range of vocational opportunities to make the most of our talents and succeed in a chosen career; those with disabilities are entitled to the same opportunities. During National Disability Employment Awareness Month, we recommit ourselves to implementing effective policies and practices that increase employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities.
In the past half-century, we have made great strides toward providing equal employment opportunities in America, but much work remains to be done. As part of that continuing effort, we must seek to provide opportunities for individuals with disabilities. Only then can Americans with disabilities achieve full participation in the workforce and reach the height of their ambition.
My Administration is committed to promoting positive change for every American, including those with disabilities. The Federal Government and its contractors can lead the way by implementing effective employment policies and practices that increase opportunities and help workers achieve their full potential. Across this country, millions of people with disabilities are working or want to work. We must ensure they have access to the support and services they need to succeed.
Recognizing the need for equal employment opportunities, we must also strengthen and expand the educational opportunities for individuals with disabilities. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act substantially increased funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and provided more than $500 million for vocational rehabilitation services, including job training, education, and placement. If we are to build a world free from unnecessary barriers, stereotypes, and discrimination, we must ensure that every American receives an education that prepares him or her for future success.
Each day, Americans with disabilities play a critical role in forging and shaping the identity of our Nation. Their contributions touch us all through personal experience or through that of a family member, neighbor, friend, or colleague. We grow stronger as a Nation when Americans feel the dignity conferred by having the ability to support themselves and their families through productive work. This month, we rededicate ourselves to fostering an inclusive work culture that welcomes the skills and talents of all qualified employees.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 2009, as National Disability Employment Awareness Month. I call on all Americans to celebrate the contributions of individuals with disabilities to our workplaces and communities, and to promote the employment of individuals with disabilities to create a better, more inclusive America, one in which every person is rightly recognized for his or her abilities and accomplishments.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.
BARACK OBAMA
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Presidential-Proclamation-National-Disability-Employment-Awareness-Month/
Pursuant to federal law, government-produced materials appearing on this site are not copyright protected.
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release – September 30, 2009
NATIONAL DISABILITY EMPLOYMENT AWARENESS MONTH, 2009
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
Fair access to employment is a fundamental right of every American, including the 54 million people in this country living with disabilities. A job can provide financial stability, help maximize our potential, and allow us to achieve our dreams. As Americans, we possess a range of vocational opportunities to make the most of our talents and succeed in a chosen career; those with disabilities are entitled to the same opportunities. During National Disability Employment Awareness Month, we recommit ourselves to implementing effective policies and practices that increase employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities.
In the past half-century, we have made great strides toward providing equal employment opportunities in America, but much work remains to be done. As part of that continuing effort, we must seek to provide opportunities for individuals with disabilities. Only then can Americans with disabilities achieve full participation in the workforce and reach the height of their ambition.
My Administration is committed to promoting positive change for every American, including those with disabilities. The Federal Government and its contractors can lead the way by implementing effective employment policies and practices that increase opportunities and help workers achieve their full potential. Across this country, millions of people with disabilities are working or want to work. We must ensure they have access to the support and services they need to succeed.
Recognizing the need for equal employment opportunities, we must also strengthen and expand the educational opportunities for individuals with disabilities. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act substantially increased funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and provided more than $500 million for vocational rehabilitation services, including job training, education, and placement. If we are to build a world free from unnecessary barriers, stereotypes, and discrimination, we must ensure that every American receives an education that prepares him or her for future success.
Each day, Americans with disabilities play a critical role in forging and shaping the identity of our Nation. Their contributions touch us all through personal experience or through that of a family member, neighbor, friend, or colleague. We grow stronger as a Nation when Americans feel the dignity conferred by having the ability to support themselves and their families through productive work. This month, we rededicate ourselves to fostering an inclusive work culture that welcomes the skills and talents of all qualified employees.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 2009, as National Disability Employment Awareness Month. I call on all Americans to celebrate the contributions of individuals with disabilities to our workplaces and communities, and to promote the employment of individuals with disabilities to create a better, more inclusive America, one in which every person is rightly recognized for his or her abilities and accomplishments.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.
BARACK OBAMA
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Presidential-Proclamation-National-Disability-Employment-Awareness-Month/
Pursuant to federal law, government-produced materials appearing on this site are not copyright protected.
Obama Announces Nearly $100 Million For Autism Research
By Michelle Diament
For Disability Scoop
September 30, 2009
The National Institutes of Health is awarding nearly $100 million in grants — the most ever — to research the causes of autism and look for treatments.
The funding is part of $5 billion that’s being awarded by the NIH to study autism, cancer and heart disease, among other conditions. The grants represent half of the NIH funding allotment from the federal economic stimulus package enacted earlier this year.
Collectively, the grants are “the single largest boost to biomedical research in history,” President Barack Obama said at the NIH Wednesday.
The grants also represent the largest single amount of money allotted for autism research.
The funding for autism research will go toward studying the DNA of people with autism and their parents and establishing better diagnostic screening tools. Researchers will also look at prenatal and early life risk factors for autism, test early interventions and adapt treatments known to work with young children so that they can be effective with older kids and adults.
“What we learn will hopefully lead to greater understanding, early interventions, more effective treatments and therapies to help these children live their lives and achieve their fullest potential, which is extraordinary,” Obama said.
http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2009/09/30/nih-autism-grants/5604/
Copyright © 2009 Disability Scoop, LLC. All Rights Reserved. For reprints and permissions click here.
For Disability Scoop
September 30, 2009
The National Institutes of Health is awarding nearly $100 million in grants — the most ever — to research the causes of autism and look for treatments.
The funding is part of $5 billion that’s being awarded by the NIH to study autism, cancer and heart disease, among other conditions. The grants represent half of the NIH funding allotment from the federal economic stimulus package enacted earlier this year.
Collectively, the grants are “the single largest boost to biomedical research in history,” President Barack Obama said at the NIH Wednesday.
The grants also represent the largest single amount of money allotted for autism research.
The funding for autism research will go toward studying the DNA of people with autism and their parents and establishing better diagnostic screening tools. Researchers will also look at prenatal and early life risk factors for autism, test early interventions and adapt treatments known to work with young children so that they can be effective with older kids and adults.
“What we learn will hopefully lead to greater understanding, early interventions, more effective treatments and therapies to help these children live their lives and achieve their fullest potential, which is extraordinary,” Obama said.
http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2009/09/30/nih-autism-grants/5604/
Copyright © 2009 Disability Scoop, LLC. All Rights Reserved. For reprints and permissions click here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)