Writing in the Sacramento Bee, Dr. Louis A. Vismara says he’s working with a group to develop a planned community on 577 acres in the Sacramento area. It would serve vulnerable adults including people with autism, senior citizens and those with other disabilities.

A founder of the MIND Institute at UC Davis and the father of a teenaged son with autism, Vismara says he has “personal heartache” over California’s lack of preparedness for the tsunami of children with autism who are now approaching adulthood.

He envisions a community with some 3,000 “green” homes as well as shopping, jobs, parks and recreational activities. An estimated 20 percent of the housing would be designated for people with autism and other disabilities, he said, and jobs would be found at area farms and community gardens. An excerpt:

Living in close connection with the diverse group of people who will be drawn to this community will lend immeasurable richness to residents’ lives, allowing them to tap deeply into their own humanity. It’s the life many of us say we want, and it’s the life I envision for Mark now and after I’m no longer able to care for him.

With this community, Sacramento could lead the way in creating smart and sustainable development that can be replicated across the state and throughout the nation. It will keep Sacramento where the MIND Institute placed it in the fight against autism: at the cutting edge.

This community could be a real jewel for Sacramento. Our sons and daughters deserve no less.

From the Los Angeles Times:

An apartment complex in Monrovia, CA, has sent eviction notices to all of its residents with disabilities, some of whom have lived in the affordable housing complex for more than a decade.

The facility’s managers told tenants that there had been a mistake and they never should have been allowed to move in. The complex was supposed to have been reserved for seniors only, they said.

People with disabilities have valued the complex for its quiet and relative safety, proximity to jobs and transportation, and warm, neighborly atmosphere. Residents and family members have filed a complaint with the California Department of Fair Employment and House, alleging discrimination based on age and disability.

From the Boston Globe:

Lose the Training Wheels bike camps helped kids with disabilities across the nation learn to ride two-wheeled bicycles this summer.

The program boasts an 85 percent success rate in teaching young people with disabilities how to ride a bike.

“We take a huge ‘I can’t’ and turn it into a huge ‘I can,’ ” said Tom Hamilton, executive director of Lose the Training Wheels, who also served as bike mechanic … “Most parents discover that the success their children find here infuses them with confidence.”

(more…)

From the Detroit News:

Researchers at the University of Michigan say children with autism and Down syndrome who learn to ride two-wheeled bikes are more likely to stay physically active, leading to many health benefits.

The research, which focuses on a five-day bike camp, is funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Lead researcher Dale Ulrich said preliminary results show that learning to ride a bike also helps the children become more social, verbal and independent. Ulrich is director of U-M’s Center for Physical Activity & Health in Pediatric Disabilities.

Earlier post here.

See also: Atlanta Journal-Constitution photos from Lose the Training Wheels Bike Camp session, held earlier this month.

(Detroit News photo)

From the Boston Herald:

The Westwood Respite Center, which provides support to 68 families of adults with disabilities in eastern Massachusetts, is expected to close its doors next weekend. The reason: massive cuts in the budget of the Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services. The center offers a place for adults to develop independent-living skills and socialize with peers.

People like Ellen Burns, who has been visiting for the past 15 years, are devastated. “I need a life,” she says. “I get lonesome.”

Her mother is outraged.”The zoo has gotten funding back. People with disabilites are not on the same level?” said Peggy Burns. “Where are their priorities?”

See also:

A wild idea: Help needy — by Peter Gelzinis in the Boston Herald

An excerpt:

“Look, I was happy when the governor came out and said that no animals were going to die,” Cheryl said. “I happen to be an animal lover, too. But I just think it would be nice if people, who find themselves in the same situation as my daughter, could get a little of the same attention.

“But then, I suppose that only happens in a perfect world, doesn’t it?”

– Quote from Cheryl Perry, whose daughter Ava was shut out of a Massachusetts adult services program because of budget cuts. Ava is blind and has Down syndrome.

(Photo of Cheryl and Ava Perry from the Boston Herald)

Writing in the [White Plains, NY] Journal News, Esther Gueft says people with disabilities constitute one of the nation’s largest minority groups, yet their needs are consistently overlooked.

This is the year of the “minority.” An African-American is president, and there could be a Hispanic justice on the Supreme Court. The list goes on. Color barriers are falling. But what about the minority that cuts across all racial, religious and cultural barriers? Where are they?

…They live in your house, next door, down the street and across town. Because of their differences, they are only now emerging thanks to laws that were enacted just under 20 years ago.

… What can we do to integrate this special minority, which we will join as we age through illness, accident or injury? Access to appropriate housing and support services is key to permitting disabled adults [to] gain the independence they need.

From the Washington Times:

Twenty-three-year-old Melissa Gurman (left) says she “accomplished her college dream” when she graduated in May from George Mason University’s Learning Into Future Environments (LIFE) program, a postsecondary program for students with intellectual disabilities.

Students in the LIFE program learn independent living skills and take courses for basic literacy, math, and other subjects. The program costs $16,000 per year, not including room and board. The 2008 Higher Education Opportunity Act will soon help students with intellectual disabilities offset the costs of postsecondary education with federal loans or scholarships.

Debra Hart of the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) at the University of Massachusetts-Boston says some 200 similar programs have sprung up across the nation, most within the past 10 years. She says research suggests that students like Gurman who receive some form of postsecondary education are more likely to find a job and earn higher pay than peers who don’t.

(Washington Times photo)