From the Baltimore Sun:

The organization governing school sports in Maryland has changed its rules to allow students with disabilities to participate alongside their peers in some cases.

The decision, believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, follows a successful federal lawsuit by Paralympic athlete Tatyana McFadden, who four years ago won the right to compete in mainstream school track meets. The state’s general assembly then passed a law requiring Maryland schools to design programs to accommodate athletes with disabilities.

Under new language adopted by the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association (MPSSAA) this week, students with disabilities may participate in mainstream sports programs if they meet eligibility requirements, do not present a risk to themselves or others, and do not change the nature of the game or event.

The MPSSAA also called on school systems to establish sports programs for students with disabilities who do not qualify to participate in mainstream athletic programs.

From the New York Times:

Internet-based social networks are playing a vital role in the lives of people with chronic illness, researchers say, allowing them to share information and provide emotional support to one another.

“It’s really literally saved my life, just to be able to connect with other people,” said a man with multiple sclerosis.

Research released this week found that people with chronic illnesses are more likely than others to blog, participate in online discussions about health problems, and seek social connections on the Web, even though they are less likely to have Internet access. The research was conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project and the California HealthCare Foundation.

From the Boston Globe:

Advocates in Massachusetts say the state’s decision to close the Fernald Development Center will trigger a loss of dental care for some 2,100 people with disabilities who have long been ignored by private dentists.

“Where will they go?” said Marilyn Meagher, who heads the advocacy group Fernald League for the Retarded Inc. “These are extremely handicapped people. It is going to be very devastating for them.”

The Waltham dental clinic is located on the Fernald campus, which is set to close June 30. Officials for the state and for Tufts University, which runs the clinic, said they are working to make sure that people will still be able to access dental care at other Tufts clinics.

From the New York Daily News:

A space crunch fueled by the creation of charter schools in New York City is disproportionately squeezing students with disabilities, say parents and advocates. They say less space means that kids with disabilities may have less one-on-one instruction time, therapy sessions in the back of classrooms, and cramped conditions for students who use wheelchairs.

At eight of the 15 buildings making room for new or expanding schools next year, at least a quarter of students receive special education services.

School officials say each of the district’s charter proposals “leaves special education students with ample space.”

A review of Texas state records released to the Houston Chronicle shows that 36 people who have been convicted of or charged with felonies have been working with people with intellectual disabilities in state institutions.

Disability advocates say the disclosure demonstrates that weaknesses remain in state efforts to screen employees who work with people with disabilities, despite efforts to strengthen screening in the wake of the “fight club” incidents that came to light last year. Police found that residents of the state institution in Corpus Christi were repeatedly goaded into combat for the entertainment of state employees. The incidents were discovered when police found a lost cellphone that contained videos of the fights.

From the Toronto Star:

Canadian athletes shattered records at the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games, bringing home 19 medals, ten of them gold. The unrivalled hero of the games was Canadian alpine skier Lauren Woolstencroft, whose five gold medals set a new record for female athletes in the Winter Paralympics.

Canadian athletes said they were helped by increased public funding, which gave them access to the same coaching, equipment and sports medicine as their Olympic counterparts. An excerpt:

… these Games, which opened on March 12 at a sold-out B.C. Place with the theme “One Inspires Many,” were never just about medals and records.

They were about inclusion and acceptance of athletes – and all people – with disabilities.

… While the high profile of Paralympians is sure to fade with the end of the Games, it’s hoped that their legacy is a new awareness – among both the able-bodied and people with disabilities – that there’s no such thing as a barrier to being physically fit.

Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium estimated that television viewership was way up, with 13.6 million Canadians watching at least a portion of the coverage of the Games. But critics continued to complain that coverage had been inadequate, especially in comparison with the television coverage of the Olympics.

From the [Morris County, NJ] Daily Record:

A group of Northern New Jersey high school students is organizing to encourage more effective integration of students with disabilities alongside their typical peers.

Even though federal law encourages the inclusion of students with disabilities, members of the group say they often see missed opportunities in both academic and social settings throughout the school day.

The two dozen teenagers are planning a rally this spring and have spoken to the state’s Board of Education, calling for better integration as well as a statewide curriculum focusing on disability rights.

Students need to learn to work and play together in school in order to help tackle the reality of the adult world — a 70 percent unemployment rate in New Jersey for people with disabilities, said … Stephanie Jennis, a Montville eighth-grader.

“If we’re taught from kindergarten awareness of disabilities, by the time we’re adults and become employers we will know how to modify things to employ people with disabilities,” Stephanie Jennis said.