From the [Toronto] Globe and Mail:

Experts say as many as 50 percent of children with developmental disabilities may also have mental health issues like anxiety, depression or obsessiveness. But  the second conditions often go undiagnosed as kids have difficulty communicating with doctors.

Symptoms of mental health issues may also be mistakenly attributed to the developmental disability by doctors and loved ones.

“They’ll say it’s because of his developmental disability that he’s not interested in the world around him and prefers to sit and watch television all day,” says social worker Susan Morris, clinical director of the dual diagnosis program at Toronto’s Center for Addiction and Mental Health.

Chris Knight of Canada’s National Post [Toronto] writes from the Sundance festival that a number of  films featured this year explore disability-related topics. Their common theme? “Love heals,” he says.

Among them are “Son of Sunshine” (Tourette’s syndrome); “Mary and Max” (Asperger’s syndrome); “Adam” (Asperger’s syndrome); and “Helen” (depression).

“Over the Hills and Far Away,” a documentary (above), follows a British journalist and his American psychology-professor wife as they search for a cure for their son’s autism. The quest leads them to a shaman in Mongolia. In a more comic vein, there’s “Shrink” (Kevin Spacy as a psychiatrist to the stars).

See also:

• Sundance film festival site
• Sundance: Yes, documentaries still rule — Entertainment Weekly

(Movie still from Sundance site)

From the New York Times:

Patronizing and negative language directed toward elderly people can lead to negative health consequences, researchers are finding.

In studies by Yale researchers, older people exposed to negative images of aging, including words like “forgetful” and “feeble,” performed worse on memory tasks and showed higher levels of stress. In another study by researchers from the University of Kansas, patients with dementia were more aggressive and less cooperative when health care workers addressed them with language like “good girl,” “dear” and “sweetie.”

The Kansas researchers concluded that “elderspeak” sends a message to older people that they are incompetent, which begins a cascade of negative effects including decreased self-esteem, depression, withdrawal and dependent behaviors.

From [UK] Times: (Editor’s note: Link no longer working as of 3 p.m. Eastern)

In the wake of a court decision that found a mother guilty of murdering her daughter with cerebral palsy, parents of children with disabilities say they face daily battles with schools and social services to be given the help they need. During the trial of Joanne Hill, the court heard testimony that Hill was motivated by shame over her daughter Naomi’s condition. (Photo above.)

Joanne Hill admitted to killing her daughter, but denied murder on the grounds of mental illness, including depression.

Parents of children with disabilities described losing social safety nets, including being abandoned by spouses, being ignored by social services, losing services when relocating, losing jobs, and becoming homeless.

… Hill’s is not an isolated case. While most parents love their disabled children unconditionally, they are also worn out by endless battles for the services they are entitled to.

The controversial debate of terminations in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill returns to Parliament in the coming weeks. Some parents say that if they had known how difficult life was to be with disabled children they might have reconsidered their choice.

(more…)

NPR features a series on students with disabilities preparing and transitioning to college with the following segments:

Q&A: Prepping Kids With Disabilities For College—NPR

Roger Diehl (photo left), a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who has Asperger’s, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and depression, and his mother Sita Diehl, who runs Tennessee’s National Alliance On Mental Illness (NAMI), answer questions about getting ready for college.

Roger emphasizes the importance of focusing on the individual strengths and interests of students while learning social rules. Sita says social support is essential, particularly family and good friends, when considering placement.

See earlier post on Roger Diehl here.

10 Tips For College Students With Disabilities—NPR

Clinical psychologist and author Kathleen G. Nadeau shares strategies from her book, “Survival Guide for College Students with ADHD or LD” for developing learning and organization strategies to cope with learning disabilities at college.

Learning To Thrive With Attention Deficit Disorder—NPR

Emily Algire shares her story of transitioning to college as a student with attention deficit disorder (ADD).

“I think she’s got very good self-awareness” says [Emily's mother Betty] Overby. And all the tools she’s been taught for coping with her ADD are helping her feel strong.”

Editor’s note: Are Emily and Betty any relation to NPR correspondent Peter Overby?

(NPR photo)

NPR follows 18-year-old Roger Diehl as he starts his freshman year at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Roger was an A-student throughout high school, but the prospect of leaving his Nashville home to go to college has been especially challenging for him and his family. Roger has ADHD and autism, and has had recurrent bouts of clinical depression.

He and his family have made college plans that build in supports for him, and have obtained legal documents that will allow a family member to make medical and financial decisions on Roger’s behalf if he becomes incapacitated. “I actually feel that it’s adding to my independence, because I feel they’ll be more responsive to my wishes than someone I don’t know,” he said.

Also on NPR: Why my autistic son misbehaves — commentary by Jennifer Hendrick

Blogging on the New York Times site, television personality Dick Cavett describes his recent trip home to Nebraska to talk about his experiences with depression. To his surprise, he got a lot of laughs.

I was able to say to them, I know that everyone here knows that feeling when people say to you, “Hey, shape up! Stop thinking only about your troubles. What’s to be depressed about? Go swimming or play tennis and you’ll feel a lot better. Pull up your socks!” And how you, hearing this, would like nothing more than to remove one of those socks and choke them to death with it. (Laughter mixed with some minor cheering.)

… (Such inane advice of the “socks up” variety, by the way, can only be excused by the fact that if you’ve never had it you can never begin to imagine the depth of the ailment’s black despair. Another tip: Do not ask the victim what he has “to be depressed about.” The malady doesn’t care if you’re broke and alone or successful and surrounded by a loving family. It does its democratic dirty work to your brain chemistry regardless of your “position.”)

(New York Times photo)