Editors at the Regina [Saskatchewan] Leader Post write that Avery Ottenbreit’s harness, which she had previously used on a WestJet flight, couldn’t have prevented her from assuming the “help” position because she wasn’t physically able to do this in any case.

It goes without saying that Avery and her family deserve an apology from somebody for the frustration and stress in getting her home from the conference she attended.

That conference, by the way, was sponsored by the Active Living Alliance and dealt with teaching young people with handicaps about living actively in today’s world.

About doing the things that other Canadians do every day without a second thought.

And about how doors should not be closed to those living with profound physical challenges.

Related post here.

From Canada.com, the Regina [Saskatchewan] Leader-Post, the Ottawa Citizen,

Avery Ottenbreit, a 15-year-old with cerebral palsy and quadriplegia who was on her first solo trip away from home, was stranded for a day in the Ottawa airport after WestJet Airlines barred her from her scheduled flight. Officials with the airline said the harness that she used to keep her upright in the seat, shown at left, was unsafe for air travel.

Disability advocates contended that the girl’s harness was a personal disability aid, and that the denial of its use could be considered discriminatory.

“I think that by making this decision, WestJet needs to realize that this is a human rights issue with her rights to travel and they have a duty to accommodate her,” said Faith Bodnar, executive director for the Saskatchewan Association for Community Living.

WestJet officials were unavailable for comment. Because she was barred from flying on a commercial flight, Avery was flown home in an air ambulance. She had been attending a conference for youth with disabilities.

(Photo from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, StarPhoenix)

From The New York Times:

D. J. Gregory has walked every hole of every PGA Tour event so far this year and plans to keep walking until Nov. 9, the final day of the Children’s Miracle Network Classic.

Gregory has cerebral palsy and walks with a cane, his upper body swaying to accommodate a stiff-legged gait. He proposed the idea of “The Longest Walk in Golf” to the PGA Tour to raise awareness and money for United Cerebral Palsy.

The planned walk will cover 44 tournaments, 3,168 holes, and some 880 miles of hills. When Gregory was a child, his parents were told that he would never walk.  His PGA-sponsored blog is here.

“I never had the idea that I would do this to be an inspiration,” Gregory said. “It’s a personal challenge, and I love doing it because I love golf. The thing I would say to people is, go for your dream. Don’t listen if somebody tells you that you can’t do it.”

(New York Times photo)

See also:

Man crosses Michigan on stilts (Detroit Free Press)

Gaining life skills, one putt at a time (Baltimore Sun)

From The Washington Post:

Long after other Western countries have begun to include people with disabilities in society, Russia is just beginning to explore the task. It is an uphill climb, given the nation’s long history of isolation and exclusion.

People with disabilities are literally almost invisible in Russia, isolated in homes, special schools and sheltered workshops. It is a rare event to see a person in a wheelchair or a blind person or someone with Down syndrome out and about on the streets of a Russian city.

“This is an issue we did not talk about at all for a long time,” President Dmitry Medvedev said last month at a meeting with government ministers and advocates for the disabled. “We have the . . . task of providing disabled people with comfortable living conditions and creating a developed rehabilitation system so that they can take a full part in life.”

Muscovite Vera Samykina (above) has never been in a regular classroom and was educated at home. The majority of Russian children with disabilities receive no education at all.

(Washington Post photo)

From the [UK] Times:

Doll manufacturers are starting to turn out all types of “disability dolls,” with prosthetic limbs, hearing aids, blindness and Down syndrome (left). In addition to reaping potential financial benefits, dollmakers say they are hoping to build the confidence of children with differences, as well as educate children about disability and help to remove stigma.

The chief executive of the Down’s Syndrome Association in the UK cautions parents, saying the dolls lack a research basis and vary widely in quality and accuracy. Other professionals worry that they will serve to further isolate and stigmatize children who have lifelong conditions like cerebral palsy or Down syndrome.

Parents’ opinions:

Rosa Monckton: [Daughter] Domenica’s childhood is as full of joy, pain and sorrow as any other. She should be defined by her common humanity rather than by her Down’s syndrome. She does not want to live in a parallel world peopled with Down’s syndrome dolls distinguishable from the rest. She does not want to be defined by her facial features, or by the gap between her big toe and the rest of her toes being wider than most, or that she is half the height of her peers. Still less would she want these differences portrayed in a series of sickly looking, politically correct mannequins.

Simon Barnes: People with Down’s syndrome are people, not syndromes. The more such people we bump into in our daily lives, the less of a big deal it becomes. The Downsie doll is just one more minor symptom of a major change. The doll is ‘orrible, but I like it. The thought behind it, anyway.

From the New York Times:

Kendall Bailey, a 19-year-old breaststroker who has cerebral palsy and autism, qualified to represent the United States in the Beijing Paralympics this fall. But the U.S. Paralympics organization then formally requested that he be declared ineligible to compete because he has intellectual as well as physical disabilities — a request that was withdrawn after Connie Shaw, his mother strongly objected.

Mrs. Shaw has been left with questions similar to those of other parents who fight bureaucracies they think are interfering with their disabled children’s rights and dreams. Was U.S. Paralympics really trying to protect Kendall when it formally requested that he be rendered ineligible for the Beijing Games? Or did team officials file the appeal simply not wanting the distraction of handling a 6-foot-6-inch 19-year-old with an elementary-school mind and a nursery-school temperament?

Mrs. Shaw said she thinks the U.S. Olympic Committee was acting out of ignorance.

(more…)

From the Detroit News:

Neil Sauter is now approaching the end of his planned eight-week, 830-mile hike across Michigan on stilts.

Sauter has a mild form of cerebral palsy that affects his legs. He received a college scholarship from Michigan Rehabilitation Services because of his disability and decided he would return the favor some day.

“I always knew I would give back to the cause for what it had given to me,” he said. “I believe in this. They give to me and I give back. It’s an endless cycle.”

He has already raised $12,000 for United Cerebral Palsy of Michigan, surpassing his goal of $10,000.