Press release from the Department of Labor:

The federal government has launched a new website called Disability.gov, offering comprehensive information about programs and services geared to the more than 50 million Americans who have disabilities.

The new website aggregates information from 22 federal agencies and contains thousands of links. It was unveiled in conjunction with the 19th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Formerly known as Disabilityinfo.gov, the site includes mechanisms for encouraging interaction and feedback, and new ways to organize, share and receive information. It is organized into 10 subject areas: benefits, civil rights, community life, education, emergency preparedness, employment, health, housing, technology and transportation.

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

California’s budget deal includes a provision to overturn a two-year-old policy that requires students with disabilities to pass the state exit exam for graduation. Gov. Schwarzenegger is expected to sign the pact.

State education officials are still sifting through the agreement to figure out how the new policy would apply to the potentially tens of thousands of students with disabilities who were denied their diplomas over the past two years.

Critics of the exam said the new legislation was the right course of action, albeit belated.

The exit exam “has been an unmitigated disaster for thousands of children with disabilities,” said Sid Wolinsky, Disability Rights Advocates’ director of litigation. “They’ve earned (a diploma) by every possible measure except this one-size-fits-all standardized exam.”

Wolinsky’s organization says 16,000 disabled students fail to pass the exit exam each year. Many of them met all other requirements for graduation.

Earlier posts here.

Josie Byzek, managing editor of New Mobility magazine, says President Obama “bombed” in his speech on the 19th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Byzek says Obama fed into stereotypes and failed to recognize the civil rights struggles faced daily by people with disabilities. (Video of his remarks on CSPAN here.) An excerpt:

If this clip is indicative of Obama’s disability policies, then it’s clear Obama believes most of the hard work is already done (if it was ever that important to begin with), and mainly all we need now is better medical treatment, either through stem cell research or health care. Obama’s greatest praise is for the appeasers who never complain, and he gave just a passing pat on the back for the advocates who brought the ADA into being. Job done, he seems to say. No need for that type of unpleasantness any more.

But, oh yes, while we’re in a magnanimous mood, why don’t we beef up ADA enforcement a bit, says the tone of Obama’s speech. Too, let’s give lip service to the rights of Americans to live freely in the community. Maybe then they’ll stop handcuffing themselves to my house.

Once again I can only conclude that Obama has a crip problem.

Earlier posts here and here.

Editor Carl R Weinberg introduces the Magazine of History’s disability history issue with the observation that the concept of disability offers a “new way to look at history.”

Weinberg says many adults today grew up with a minimal consciousness of the rights and perspectives of people with disabilities. He urges teachers to incorporate an awareness of disability into a wide range of historical topics.

Even with our expanded awareness of disability rights today, it is still a revelation and not an easy one to grapple with that at least some activists for disability rights find offense in the common expression of denigration, “That’s so lame.” But the very difficulty we may have in considering “lame” offensive also conveys an important historical lesson: social change is difficult, painful, and contentious. (more…)

Writing in the Boston Globe, James T. Brett and Marylou Sudders take Massachusetts to task for failing to provide community support services for people with mental illness. The authors chaired a state investigation of the Department of Mental Health’s adult psychiatric inpatient system. An excerpt:

Much of what we heard was troubling. The system was described as responsible for sentencing individuals to lifelong disability and creating an impoverished underclass through poverty, crisis-focused care, treatment that relies mainly on medication, and a lack of community supports.

… We urge Governor Patrick to hear above all else the voices of our citizens living with serious mental illness and their loved ones. The system is not working. Difficult fiscal times are not an excuse to warehouse people with mental illness or to dismantle critical community supports. Rather, it is an opportunity to ensure every precious dollar is spent in a manner that assists individuals to recover, live, and be served in the most appropriate setting possible. If as a society we believe that mental illnesses are as legitimate as physical illnesses, then it is time to stop treating people with mental illness as second-class citizens.

James T. Brett is president and CEO of the New England Council. Marylou Sudders is president and CEO of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and a former commissioner of the Department of Mental Health.

From the New York Times:

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic say the strict gluten-free or dairy-free diets often favored by parents of kids with autism may not be warranted, and may actually cause problems.

The study is published in the journal Pediatrics. Lead researcher Samar H. Ibrahim suggested that the diets be used only after appropriate diagnostic testing.

“There is actually no trial that has proven so far that a gluten-free and casein-free diet improves autism,” she said. “The diets are not easy to follow and can sometimes cause nutritional deficiencies.”

From the [Minneapolis-St. Paul] Star Tribune:

Psychologist Sue Pederson says she and her colleagues at the Fraser Child & Family Center in Minneapolis may have found a new way to reach students with Asperger’s:  iPods that cue them on navigating in society.

The devices may carry videos with scripts known as “social stories” that are used to teach basic social skills. Other useful information: “To-do” lists, suggested conversation-starters, and slide shows about acceptable behavior.

Experts say the iPod programs work well because many kids with Asperger’s are more comfortable with electronic gadgets than with people, and because the devices are inconspicuous. Researchers are developing similar software for cellphones, pocket organizers and other devices.

Earlier post here.