Peter V. Berns, executive director of the The Arc of the United States, is calling on President Obama to use the controversy around his Special Olympics remark as an opportunity to advance public understanding and acceptance of people with intellectual disabilities. The comments come in a letter to the president posted on the organization’s website.

People with intellectual and developmental disabilities “understand that public attitudes, misinformation and negative stereotypes are the biggest obstacle to their inclusion in the community,” Berns said. “Join us in breaking down the attitudinal barriers that stand in the way of full inclusion.”

Berns called on Obama to convene a White House meeting to address the following:

• The 700,000 individuals and their families on waiting lists for home and community based services;
• Recent reports of abuse and neglect of people with intellectual disabilities in Iowa and Texas;
• The institutional bias of the Medicaid system and the lack of adequate funding for community care; and
• The need to address long term care and support.

(File photo from [UK] Guardian)

Sam Gill, who has an older brother with Down syndrome, writes in Politico.com that president Obama’s official apology for his Special Olympic remark conveys an attitude which “perfectly sums up public policy towards people with disabilities: benign, thoughtless neglect.”

He says Obama should work to implement his bold campaign agenda and change public policy by investing in programs that provide more opportunities for employment and independence for people with disabilities.

Until our national attitude towards disability changes, it will be impossible to provide real opportunities for economic success and civic participation. Before his appearance on Leno, the president made all the right moves on disability. Now our nation needs his leadership — in actions and in words.

From the Press of Atlantic City and the East Brunswick Home News Tribune, editorial praise for a proposal to close five of New Jersey’s state-run institutions for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The opposition to this plan has been painfully parochial. Unions and state Sen. Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May, Cumberland, have voiced criticism because jobs will be lost if developmental centers are closed (although [Assemblyman Louis] Greenwald, D-Camden, says some of those workers would be redeployed to community residences).

Jobs, of course, are always an issue, particularly in this economy. But are Van Drew and the others really suggesting that New Jersey’s policy for caring for the disabled should be determined by how many state jobs are created?

The goal should be the most humane, effective — and cost-effective — care. New Jersey desperately needs more community-based alternatives for the disabled. Greenwald is on the right track and deserves praise for even tackling this often-ignored issue.

By columnist Jacquielynn Floyd in the Dallas Morning News:

Several branches of Our Children’s House at Baylor, a Dallas area hospital, are making it possible for kids with disabilities to visit with Santa in a relaxed, stress-free environment. The Santas are greeting kids in quiet, low-key settings with soft music. An appointment list allows the kids to avoid the lines and crowds that are common in shopping malls.

“If it’s a child that doesn’t want to be touched, they can just stand in front of him,” said a therapist. “The mall Santas know about kids, but they don’t know about our kids.”

An excerpt:

To see so many lovely kids who face such profound obstacles in life was sobering, but it was as clarifying as a cool drink of water. Their problems may be complicated, but their sweet innocence is not.

Related stories:

Santa project helps autistic kids make magic memories – Kansas City Star

Sensitive Santa meets disabled kids — Kentucky Post

(Photo from Kentucky Post)

From Divinity [the magazine of the Duke University Divinity School], The Independent Weekly [Durham, NC], and the Charlotte News & Observer:

Jean Vanier (far left) is the founder of L’Arche communities, in which people with developmental disabilities live alongside nondisabled people. Stanley Hauerwas (left) is a Duke Divinity School Professor of Theological Ethics.

Together, they have written a book arguing that the inclusive model of the L’Arche communities offers a message of hope for peace in a violent world.

Vanier founded the first L’Arche community in 1964 after touring an institution for people with intellectual disabilities and being horrified by the conditions. The faith-based L’Arche communities have spread to 135 locations in 36 countries, including 16 in the United States.

Vanier writes that people are usually afraid of weakness but that life in a community among people with disabilities can lead to genuine transformation. “We cannot really enter into relationship with people who are broken unless somehow we deal with our own brokenness,” writes Vanier. “The heart of L’Arche is to say to people, I am glad you exist.”

“Living Gently in a Violent World” is published by IVP books.

See related post.

From the Des Moines Register:

Cy Arnett and three other men with intellectual disabilities rock out at a karaoke bar in Des Moines each week. Between performances, they live in a group home.

Bar owner Billy Bryant said at first some of the regulars at Billy Joe’s Pitcher Show didn’t understand the “Greased Lightning boys,” as they’re called. “To be honest, it was a little disturbing for them,” he said.

He moved the crew to Sundays, where there were fewer customers, and thought he’d only  let them stay until the big audiences came back for football season. But then … an excerpt:

… Bryant watched as the boys and their followers grew. He soon realized what the day means to them. They dress up, celebrate birthdays, and look forward to Sunday all week.

… He decided the boys could stay.

“I didn’t have the heart to turn them down,” he said. “There’s no place else for these kids to go.”

(Travis Leach, left, Cyron Arnett and Steven Jenkins rock out during karaoke at Billy Joe’s Pitcher Show in West Des Moines; Des Moines Register photo)