By reviewer Neil Genzlinger in the New York Times:

“A Nervous Smile,” a play premiering in New York, departs from the “sunny side” of disability to explore the “darker side,” as characters plot to escape the overwhelming demands of caring for their teenage children with cerebral palsy.

Genzlinger says the words written by playwright John Belluso, who died in 2006 at 36 and used a wheelchair himself because of a bone disorder, “have an extra level of perspective: they are him reflecting on what a burden he must have been to those responsible for his care.”

“This plan will work out fine,” [the character] Eileen tells the others, “as long as we all possess the will to walk toward the things we desire and away from the things we pity.”

Genzlinger praises the play as possessing “an honesty as commendable as it is brutal.”

(New York Times photo)

From the Washington Times:

An informal support network is organizing to assist prospective parents who have received prenatal diagnoses of disabilities. The dilemma of these parents was not widely discussed until last fall, when GOP vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin talked about refusing to abort her son Trig, who has Down syndrome.

Parents now say they feel pressure from doctors and others to terminate their pregnancies. The Prenatally and Postnatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act, signed last year by President Bush, was designed to provide women with accurate information about their child’s condition. But doctors are dubious about whether the measure has had much of an impact on the way medicine is practiced.

“The medical community has not been aware of alternatives,” says Dr. Byron Calhoun, vice president of the obstetrics and gynecology department at West Virginia University in Charleston. “The only alternative parents are given is termination of pregnancy or they’re told they are on their own.”

… “People think your life is over when you have a handicapped child,” [said Dan] LaHood. “It’s a cultural view to eliminate them as undesirable. They don’t know what the demands are and what the rewards are.”

See also:

• Strength for the journey; A family’s experience with the birth of a daughter with Trisomy 18 — Macon Telegraph
• Isabella will always be treasured little sister; Girl with Trisomy 18 lives for eight days — Fredericksburg [VA] Free Lance-Star

Los Angeles Times columnist Sandy Banks writes that she expected to find “see, it could be worse” object lessons when she attended a California retreat for the mothers of children with disabilities. Instead, she found mothers coping “just like every other mother.”

An excerpt:

These women are not saints or martyrs. But they see gifts where others might see only hardships.

“Write this column for them,” [Diane Simon Smith, a therapist and founder of the retreat] told me, as the mothers packed their cars to head back to their families. They are not looking for pity or praise, just acceptance of their challenges.

“We’re not special,” she said. “We’re just human beings, doing what we do with love.”

From People magazine:

(Newstands only; article not available on the magazine’s website.)

Families across the country are searching for loved ones with disabilities who were sent away to institutions years ago, often without warning or explanation.

Kevin Hopkins, 53, of Springfield, Virginia, is seeking his stepsister Janet, who was sent to an institution 42 years ago. “She was my best friend,” he said. “I just wish I could know where she was and see her again.”

Shawna Gagnon, 49, of Montgomery, Alabama said her sister Zena (Xena) was taken to a California hospital 43 years ago “where people hollered and were tied to the beds.”

Filmmaker Jeff Daly, creator of the documentary “Where’s Molly?”, has been working to find family links for the estimated 250,000 Americans who live in group homes or state institutions with no family contacts. He and the nonprofit ArcLink have built a relative search database that has already fostered more than 100 reunions.

(People photo)

Judith Graham writes in the the Chicago Tribune Triage blog that a new Illinois law will require insurance companies to provide “habilitative” therapies for youngsters with developmental disabilities to gain new skills. Previously, coverage was limited to children receiving “rehabilitative” therapies to recover lost skills.

Coverage will be extended to children with cerebral palsy, autism, Down syndrome and other developmental disorders. The law will require insurers to pay for speech, physical and occupational therapies for such children up to the age of 19.

Similar laws are on the books in Maryland and the District of Columbia. The Illinois measure will take effect on Jan. 1, 2010.

From the Kansas City Star:

When the Kansas City Royal’s Kauffman Stadium opens for the season this month, the facility will be more welcoming to fans with disabilities.

The Royals and architects worked closely with a special advisory group of disability advocates to meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, a law which didn’t exist when the stadium was first built. Among the changes:

• There are more than double the number of wheelchair seating spaces than before, even in suites.
• There are more family restrooms.
• Every concession area has counters low enough to accommodate people in wheelchairs.

(Kansas City Star photo)

From the [Nashville] Tennessean:

The metropolitan Nashville public school district is working to include more students with disabilities in typical classrooms. The move follows a state mandate, prompted by lagging special education scores and a scathing report by a local special education task force last fall that said students with disabilities were unnecessarily segregated.

Of its 8,200 students in special education, the district reported that 48 percent this year will spend the bulk of their day in regular classrooms, up from 36 percent last year. The state average is 54 percent. Federal law requires that students with disabilities be educated in the least restrictive environment.

Dan Reschly, professor of education and psychology of special education at Vanderbilt University, called Metro’s improvements dramatic and said there is little research that supports segregation as an effective model for educating special-needs students.

(Photo from Tennessean. Leisa Hammett, left, has had difficulties getting daughter Grace Goad into general education classes. Grace has autism.)