Guest commentary:

What Kind of Advocacy

Do Americans with Disabilities Really Need?

By Paul K. Longmore

Ever since Sarah Palin’s acceptance speech, the “needs” of children with disabilities have gotten a lot of press. Palin pledged to be a “friend and advocate” for those children. News stories have reported the excitement of parents and other people in the disability rights constituency that disability issues are finally getting some attention. Some of them have decided to support the election of Palin and John McCain. But do the Republican candidates offer the kind of advocacy Americans with disabilities really need? I don’t believe they do, and I want to explain why I am voting for Barack Obama and Joe Biden instead.

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The Paul W. Bryant Museum at the University of Alabama has posted a Dateline NBC segment about the relationship between former Alabama head football coach Gene Stallings and his son, John Mark Stallings.

The piece was done in conjunction with the publication of the elder Stallings’ 1997 book, “Another Season.”

From the report:

It’s a love story, really, with a powerful message: that what may seem to be a tragedy can turn out to be a blessing.

John Mark Stallings, 46, died this week. He had Down syndrome.

Earlier post here.

From the New York Times:

Pediatrician Melvin D. Levine, author of the bestseller “A Mind at a Time” and other books about children with learning disabilities, has been accused of sexually abusing boys in his care. While there are no criminal charges against Levine, left, five lawsuits have been brought and accusations have been made on behalf of another 43 male patients.

Dr. Levine vehemently denies both the accusations and ever sexually touching a patient. He declined to be interviewed for the Times article, which recounts the chronology of the accusations and interviews an accuser who asks that his name not be published.

Review of Thomas Quasthoff’s The Voice

By Carolyn See in the Washington Post:

Internationally acclaimed German concert baritone Thomas Quasthoff writes a memoir about his childhood and rise to fame that is “at once jaunty and “pedantic.” Quasthoff was one of thousands of children born with deformities after their mothers took the drug thalidomide some fifty years ago.

Novelist Carolyn See describes the Quasthoff narrative as an unsympathetic, invigorating portrayal of his intense childhood in a body cast, his close relationship with his brother, and the prejudice he encountered along the way to success.

The author refuses to give value to suffering. He saves his attention for art and fun and work, which makes this book a joy to read.

Writing in Newsday, reviewer Justin Davidson says Quasthoff’s tale is uplifting “only in the narrowest sense” because his experiences can’t be generalized to others with disabilities who don’t share his talent.

“I am not here to assuage the guilt of a society that equips certain office buildings with special entrances but otherwise punishes the physically incapacitated with constant disrespect,” Quasthoff writes. “What good are my experiences for someone with a thalidomide disability if he cannot sing? … No good at all.”

Previous post, including a video performance by Quasthoff, is here.

From columnist Beverly Beckham in the Boston Globe, high praise for two books:

“Gifts - Mothers Reflect on How Children with Down Syndrome Enrich Their Lives,” edited by Kathryn Soper, and

“Road Map to Holland - How I Found My Way Through My Son’s First Two Years With Down Syndrome,” by Jennifer Graf Groneberg.

Both women have sons with Down syndrome.

At a workshop at the recent convention of the National Down Syndrome Congress, a woman who had a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome said “Gifts” saved her daughter’s life. Until she read the book, she said, she and her husband were sorry for and frightened by people with disabilities.

“Gifts” took them beyond the stereotypes and showed them that “disabled” is a loaded and omissive word with all the bad left in and all the good left out.

“Road Map to Holland” does the same thing.

Two books of love stories. Two books that are already changing the way people think.

From the Cape Cod Times:

Connor Gifford, a 26-year-old man with Down syndrome, has co-authored a book of American history. “America According to Connor Gifford,” which he penned with the help of documentary filmmaker Victoria Harris, left, recounts familiar stories told in Gifford’s unique voice. The book emphasizes his profound sense of civil rights.

“This isn’t just a cute book. It’s subversive in that it’s a profoundly deep book that sneaks up on you,” Harris says. “Connor has the capacity to make sense of who we are, and he can bring home this point that we have got to stop repeating the same mistakes and the only way we can do that is by knowing our history.”

In the prologue, Gifford explains that he is deeply grateful for the gift of Down syndrome.

“I was so blessed, and that’s why I thank God for my gift,” Gifford says. “I am sensitive to things like you don’t mistreat somebody who is, let’s say, black, or Indian, or Mexican. We all have something in ourselves that we can say to the world, ‘Look out world, here I come.’”

(Cape Cod Times photo)

From the Wall Street Journal, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Seattle Times:

Reviews of “The Condition” by Jennifer Haigh.

Seattle Times: The place and the season are familiar: the beaches of Cape Cod during summer. Also familiar is the cast of characters: an upscale, dysfunctional family. However, the similarity with typical summer fluff ends there. Jennifer Haigh’s new novel, “The Condition,” is a serious work of fiction and, surprisingly, a page-turner as well. Haigh (”Baker Towers”) has previously won both the PEN/L.L. Winship Award and the PEN/Hemingway Award, and this novel showcases her considerable talent.

Wall Street Journal: The condition that gives the novel its title is Turner Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that prevents females from physically maturing. The discovery of Gwen’s plight ultimately fractures the family: Paulette’s protective instinct leads her to try to carry on as though nothing has changed, putting her in direct conflict with Frank, who desperately searches for new developments in medical research that might aid Gwen.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: … The central question of the story — how a child whose genetic condition keeps her physically immature can finally be allowed to grow up — is compelling. So is the personal growth of the McKotch family members as they confront it.