From the Denver Post:

Sissy Spacek stars this weekend in Pictures of Hollis Woods, a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie based on an award-winning children’s novel by Patricia Reilly Giff. (Sunday, 8 p.m., NBC)

She plays a retired art teacher with Alzheimer’s who builds a relationship with a girl who has lived in foster care.

“I was taken by the poetry of it, and the parallel story,” Spacek said. “It is so rare that you see something that encompasses Alzheimer’s in a children’s story.”

Monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for more than 54 million Americans will increase 2.3 percent in 2008, the Social Security Administration has announced.

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a federal income supplement program funded by general tax revenues that is designed to help people who are disabled, elderly or blind, and who have little or no income.

The maximum federal SSI payments for 2008 will be $637 per month for an eligible individual, and $956 per month for an eligible individual with an eligible spouse. To be able to qualify for SSI, a person with a disability other than blindness may not be earning more than $940 per month. Details here.

From the Phoenix, Swarthmore College’s online student newspaper:

Swarthmore has reached an out-of-court settlement with the Justice Department after an evaluation of the college found that some facilities and programs do not meet the ADA criteria for accessibility. The college will not face a monetary penalty.

College officials agreed to prepare a plan to make its facilities and programs more accessible to people with disabilities within six years.

From the [London] Times:

Most people with mental health problems are routinely subjected to physical and sexual abuse or theft by their neighbors, a new study indicates.

Nearly three quarters of those suffering from conditions such as depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia have been victimized in the community at least once in the past two years, with one in ten being sexually assaulted, according to a report by the mental health charity Mind.

(more…)

From ABC News:

[Editor's note: Disability cliches in original ABC copy are highlighted. Sorry; couldn't resist.]

“Medical Condition Won’t Stop Model From Competing; ‘America’s Next Top Model’ Contestant Makes It to Final Five, Despite Disability“

Heather Kuzmich made it to the final five competitors on “America’s Next Top Model,” despite suffering from Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism.

After being eliminated from the show, Kuzmich spoke to Diane Sawyer on “Good Morning America.”

Asperger’s is a relatively unknown disorder, making Kuzmich one of the first people to bring the issue into the public spotlight.

“It actually was a big step for me when I first got on the show. I came out the first few moments and just told everyone,” she said.

She said it took courage to come right out and talk about her condition, but she did it so that she wouldn’t be misunderstood.

“I wanted people [to know] and not just look at me like I’m a freak of nature. I also wanted to show other girls who possibly had this disability that it’s possible to do modeling and to do what they want to do.”

(more…)

Named for movement leader Ed Roberts, center is awarded $10 million in final funding

From the Oakland Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle:

BERKELEY – The last $10 million to build the Ed Roberts Campus, a one-stop service center for people with disabilities, has been earmarked by the city of Berkeley and several transportation agencies.

The campus is named in honor of Berkeley’s Ed Roberts, who had polio and was an early leader in the city’s independent-living movement as well as a student who helped pave the way for disabled student services at the University of California, Berkeley.

(more…)

From the [Valparaiso, Indiana] Times:

Valparaiso’s Heather Kuzmich, 21, won’t be ‘America’s Next Top Model.’ She was eliminated from the final pool of contestants on the CW Network show this week after she was not able to successfully navigate a fashion tour in Shanghai. Kuzmich had attracted national attention when she identified herself as having Asperger’s syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder.

On this week’s show, contestants were given directions and an allotted amount to time to find and visit assigned designer boutiques in Shanghai. While the other contestants were able to make it to three and four designer’s offices, Kuzmich became lost, found only one designer, and was 40 minutes late returning to the judges.

Kuzmich, a 2005 Valparaiso High School graduate and now a student at Illinois Institute of Art in Chicago, was tearful during her departing interview at the show’s close.

“I wanted to prove I could do this,” she said.

“And I’ve learned to be more confident and less self-conscious.”