From the Associated Press/USA Today:

A report to be released Thursday by the National Federation of the Blind finds that fewer than 10 percent of the 1.3 million Americans who are blind read Braille, and just 10 percent of children who are blind are learning it.

In the 1950′s, more than half of the children who were blind were learning Braille.

The reason for the change: increased reliance on audio texts, voice-recognition software, or other technology, as well as haphazard programs for teaching Braille.

The National Federation of the Blind says using technology as a substitute for Braille fosters illiteracy. The organization cites studies saying those who know Braille are more likely to earn advanced degrees, find good jobs, and live independently.

Carlton Walker, an attorney, said she had to lobby teachers to teach her daughter Braille instead of using audio books. “If that were good enough for everybody, why do we spend millions of dollars teaching people to read?” she said.

(Associated Press photo)

From the San Jose [CA] Mercury News:

The Agnews Developmental Center in San Jose is expected to close at the end of the week after the last resident leaves, reflecting a statewide shift in priorities for caring for people with intellectual disabilities.Where once the focus was large centralized institutions, the state has been moving care to smaller homes within neighborhoods in recent years.

The sprawling 81-acre Agnews facility opened more than 120 years ago and has 46 buildings. It was originally an asylum for people with mental illness, and held some 800 residents with developmental disabilities at its peak.

After a state law was passed to place developmentally disabled in the least restrictive housing, residents began to be relocated to community homes. Eventually there were not enough residents left to justify the huge expense of operating centers like Agnews – $200,000 for each resident annually versus $80,000 in a community-based home.

The transition into the community has been “a very positive experience for the majority of clients,” according to a family representative. The future of the state-owned property has not been decided. Four other institutions remain in California.

(Historical photo from San Jose Mercury News)

From the Southtown Star (Chicago Sun-Times News Group) with video:

A six-minute YouTube video released by the Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities features former residents of the Howe Developmental Center alleging abuse at the institution.

A man is shown saying, “They were mean … They beat me up. They beat me up for no reason.” A woman describes being tied up.

“We want to make sure their faces weren’t lost in this and their voices weren’t lost,” Sheila Romano, executive director of the Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities, said of current and former Howe residents.

The troubled state institution for 300 people with intellectual disabilities lost its Medicaid certification two years ago, stripping it of nearly $30 million in federal funding. The Illinois Department of Human Services last fall announced it wants to shutter the center and allow residents the choice to use the funding for community-based services. A U.S. Department of Justice investigation is ongoing.

Gov. Pat Quinn has the final say on whether or not Howe closes, and he has yet to reveal his plans.

Writing in Inside Higher Ed, Linda Kornasky urges professors with invisible disabilities to share their disability status with their students.

My experience with both options of negotiating my [invisible] disability – retaining privacy and coming out – has shown me that, although coming out is not a necessity for me to perform my job as a professor and has even brought about occasional awkward moments, coming out as a professor with a disability is more than worthwhile in so far as it fosters positive identity politics among my students with disabilities.

… By coming out – refusing the less ethical choice of passing – professors with invisible disabilities can educate students to become truly democratic citizens prepared to explore individual identity from all perspectives.

Linda Kornasky is associate professor of English at Angelo State University in west Texas.

From the [UK] Guardian:

A UK investigation into six deaths has found that the national health system failed to protect patients with intellectual disabilities and left families who complained about the health care “drained and demoralized.”

Among those who died was Martin Ryan, a 43-year-old man with Down syndrome. He was admitted to a hospital following a stroke, and went without food for 26 days. By the time the error was caught, he was too weak to be helped. The report said it was likely Ryan’s death could have been avoided “had the care and treatment provided not fallen so far below the relevant standard.”

Ann Abraham, the health service ombudsman for England, said: “The recurrence of complaints across different agencies leads us to believe the quality of care in the NHS and social services for people with learning disabilities is at best patchy, and at worst an indictment of our society.”

See also:

• Man with Down’s syndrome dies after starving for 26 days in hospital-[UK] Guardian
• Will ‘shocking’ care be addressed? – BBC News

(file photo from BBC News)

Declines to support full funding for IDEA

Kareem Dale, White House special assistant for disability policy, yesterday sought to deflect widespread criticism of the president’s joke linking his poor bowling score to the Special Olympics. Dale asked the disability community to be patient with the administration without offering specifics about future plans.

“Obviously there was no intent in the comments, no intent or ill will by President Obama,” Dale said in an interview with Disabilityscoop.com.

“When you look at the comments, they were off-handed comments. The president certainly was sorry about it; he immediately apologized. But when you look at his overall record for people with disabilities in this administration and things he’s already done in terms of appointing three people in the White House, in terms of the SCHIP legislation signing, stem cell research, what he’s already done, I think his record speaks for itself and I think that’s the message that folks should take away from it.”

Later in the interview, Dale declined to reiterate the president’s earlier commitment to full funding for the IDEA. “I think that once the budget comes out and we will certainly be looking at all of the options related to funding,” he said.

He said the president is working to include people with disabilities in the administration, but declined to provide specifics about what the administration will do to end Medicaid waiting lists or address the massive underemployment of people with disabilities. An excerpt:

“It’s always hard to accomplish every single solitary thing by the letter that you say you’re going to accomplish. But I think in the first two months we’ve accomplished an extraordinary amount and we’re continuing to work hard. So I would just encourage the disability community, as hard as it is sometimes, to be patient with us and recognize the great accomplishments of the first two months and just look forward to other things to come down the road.”

See earlier post: Arc to Obama: We want change, not just an apology

(Photo from PR Newswire)

From The Hill:

California First Lady Maria Shriver is advocating for Alzheimer’s education and research this week in Washington, and also promoting the HBO film series she produced, “The Alzheimer’s Project.”

She spoke at a breakfast meeting of having to reintroduce herself to her father, R. Sargent Shriver, who was diagnosed with the condition in 2003. He no longer recognizes his daughter.

Sargent Shriver was a special assistant to President Lyndon Johnson, and served as the Democratic Party’s vice presidential nominee in 1972.

“I don’t mind having to reintroduce myself – at least I still have my dad,” Maria Shriver said at the breakfast.

… “The emotional, spiritual and financial cost of this disease is mind boggling to the nation.”

See also:

• Alzheimer’s costs triple that of other elderly — AP/Washington Post
• Why I got my DNA tested for Alzheimer’s — Terry Moran, ABC News
• 10 things you should know about Alzheimer’s — US News & World Report
• Alzheimer’s cases growing; Problem worsens as population ages — Chicago Sun-Times