By Alan Judd in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

The suicide of 13-year-old Jonathan King highlights concerns about a lack of regulation of what are called “psychoeducational” schools for children with  behavioral problems.

Authorities say the schools offer a cost-effective way for allow such children to be educated in their communities. Some parents and advocates question their disciplinary tactics, especially physical restraint and seclusion.

Jonathan hanged himself in a stark 8-by-8 concrete-block “time out” room in his Georgia school, using a belt provided by a teacher. The boy, who had ADHD, had been repeatedly locked up there for misbehaving. Georgia educates about 5,600 students with disabilities at 24 “psychoeducational” schools. The state does not regulate restraint or seclusion of students.

Earlier posts here.

Related posts here.

(Photo from Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

From the [Newark, NJ] Star-Ledger and Asbury Park Press:

Nearly 300 patients stranded inside New Jersey’s psychiatric hospitals for more than a year because of a lack of housing and outpatient treatment services will be discharged over the next five years, under a lawsuit settlement announced by a disability advocacy group and the state Department of Human Services.

The 2005 lawsuit contended New Jersey’s five psychiatric hospitals routinely and illegally confined hundreds of patients every year who are medically ready to leave but languish because they don’t have an affordable place to live with nearby treatment services.

The 1999 U.S. Supreme Court Olmstead decision affirmed the right of people with disabilities to live in their communities rather than in institutions.

From an article on the website of the Asperger’s Association of New England:

“We hope this movie becomes the Rain Man of Asperger’s,” said Dania Jekel, executive director of the Asperger’s Association of New England. “When people talk about autism they say, ‘Oh, you mean like Rain Man?’ So maybe when people talk about Asperger’s they’ll say, ‘Oh, you mean like Adam?’”

Earlier posts start here.

Andrew O’Hehir writes in Salon that films like the newly released “Adam” are dull because they “take their educational function so seriously, that they don’t have any time or energy left to be, you know, movies.”

He labels the film “a subdued, minor-key weeper, utterly conventional and glum, in which an Asperger’s/non-Asperger’s couple teach each other valuable life lessons.”

An excerpt:

Autistic and Asperger’s characters in movies are only beginning to move beyond the “Sidney Poitier phase,” in which members of previously despised or misunderstood minorities are presented as symbols, saints or seers — whose most important function is to provide other, more relatable and “normal” characters with the opportunity for moral and spiritual growth. African-Americans, gays and American Indians have already enjoyed this dubious cinematic-shaman role, which is undeniably superior to old-fashioned bigotry but a long way short of actual equality.

See also:

Marshal Fine, Huffington Post

It would be simple to cynically dismiss Adam as condescendingly feel-good, but that’s a lazy reading of a film that is full of heart and wit. Give it a chance and you’ll find yourself drawn into this character’s life in ways that will both touch and amuse you.

Alonso Duralde, MSNBC

Given the challenges involved in having an intimate relationship with someone who has Asperger’s Syndrome, a love story on that subject certainly has the potential to be both moving and eye-opening. But “Adam” isn’t that story; it’s merely a Very Special Episode of a TV series I never wanted to watch.

Earlier posts start here.

(Fox Searchlight photo)

From WCBS-TV, New York:

A nonprofit flower shop in New Jersey that supports people with disabilities has been vandalized repeatedly, with windows shot out and tires slashed. In the most recent attack, vandals painted a swastika on a van used to transport employees with disabilities.

Police are investigating the incidents at Vaseful, a shop in New Brunswick that develops training and employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

The newly released film ‘Adam,‘ starring Hugh Dancy and Rose Byrne, is the tale of a young man with Asperger’s whose life is changed when a beautiful woman moves into his New York apartment building.

Excerpts from some reviews:

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

Subtlety and nuance mark both the film’s dialogue and performances. It’s hard to see how Dancy and Byrne could be any better … “Adam” is a most welcome summer treat.

Rick Warner, Bloomberg

The film succeeds largely because Dancy pulls it off with grace and virtually none of the crowd-pleasing gimmickry that marred Dustin Hoffman’s performance as an autistic savant in “Rain Man.”

Rex Reed, New York Observer:

Far from just another exotic Disease of the Week, Asperger’s is an incurable neurological disorder similar to autism that turns outwardly normal-looking people into high-class idiot savants. I know at least two people with Asperger’s. They are incapable of thinking of anyone or anything outside of themselves. (more…)

By Carrie Budoff Brown in Politico:

Legislators and political commentators are sparring over a provision tucked deep inside the House health care reform bill that would provide Medicare coverage for an end-of-life consultation once every five years, and more frequently for a life-threatening illness.

House Minority Leader John Boehner and Republican Policy Committee Chairman Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.) have issued a statement saying the measure “may start us down a treacherous path toward government-encouraged euthanasia.”

Betsy McCaughey, a former New York lieutenant governor and conservative health expert, said the measure amounts to pressure on vulnerable elderly and chronically ill people. “… it is not offering a service. It is pressuring them,” McCaughey said. “I would not want that to occur when I am not at my parents’ bedside.”

Proponents of the measure say it would not make the consultation mandatory. They say critics are using irresponsible rhetoric to drive a wedge between senior citizens and Democrats.

Earlier post here.