The [UK] Guardian presents a special package of news and commentary linked to the upcoming event Beyond Boundaries Live 2009, scheduled for July 4 and 5 in Hampshire. Inspired by a reality TV show featuring people with disabilities, the event is billed as “the UK’s largest lifestyle event for people with disabilities.”

Featured activities include beep baseball, wheelchair customization, adapted SCUBA diving, a fashion show, functional electrical stimulation, adapted skiing, and more.

Among the Guardian’s stories:

The quest for equality By Ben Furner. Significant steps have been made in the past 15 years to create a genuine state of equality in which disabled people can thrive. But this is no time to be complacent.

The future: in whose hands? By Ian Cook. One in five UK adults has a disability — meaning the disabled voice is becoming ever more varied. But are policymakers listening?

A sporting chance By Mark Gould. Too many disabled people are denied the chance to keep fit by poor facilities and a lack of support from their peers. How can this be remedied?

Individual thinking By Emma Bowler. Independent care for disabled people has evolved as far as it can in its current guise. But are providers ready to take the next step?

Willing and able By Emma Bowler. The disabled population’s desire to work is not matched by the number of jobs available. What is being done to redress the balance?

‘Unfortunately, many people don’t seem to understand what a learning disability is – and that includes the producers of Britain’s Got Talent’

Writing in the [UK] Guardian Joe Public Blog, Ciara Evans says the producers of Britain’s Got Talent should have given better support to Susan Boyle. The singer was hospitalized last week for “emotional exhaustion” after filming the show’s final episode.

An excerpt:

Some people have suggested that people who have a learning disability, such as Susan Boyle, should be stopped from going on Britain’s Got Talent. This would mean denying 1.5 million people with a learning disability in the UK the chance to take part and have the same opportunities as everyone else. This makes no sense and is discriminatory.

What is clear is that the Britain’s Got Talent team at ITV need to provide support for all their contestants based on their individual needs.

… Susan Boyle has the potential to be an international superstar – she just needs the right support to get there.

Ciara Evans, who has learning disabilities, is a spokesperson for Mencap, a leading UK charity for people with learning disabilities.

(Photo from the [UK] Guardian.)

But critics wonder: Who’s being served?

From the Washington Post:

Virginia schools are expanding the use of “portfolio” testing, once used only for students with serious cognitive disabilities. Now they’re being used for students with learning disabilities and those with emerging English language skills.

Many educators say the expensive portfolio method provides a surer way to measure kids’ achievement. Others are wary of their relatively high pass rates, which help educators reach academic benchmarks. “It benefits the state, not the child, to say they are at grade level when they are not,” said a mother of a student with disabilities.

Government inquiry rumored

From the [UK] Telegraph, Associated Press, and Reuters/Washington Post:

Producers of the television program, “Britain’s Got Talent,” are getting public criticism for failing to provide support to contestant Susan Boyle, who has learning disabilities.

Boyle received global approval for her first performance on the show in April, but struggled in recent weeks under mounting media attention and pressure. On Sunday, after placing second in the final show, Boyle was hospitalized at the Priory Clinic in London with “emotional exhaustion.”

… John Whittingdale MP, chairman of the Commons culture, media and sport committee, said the programme-makers had questions to answer about their duty of care to such a vulnerable contestant.

“There is at the very least an argument that it could be investigated by Ofcom [UK Office of Communications] as a potential breach of the broadcasting code — that they failed to protect her. If such things are not part of the code, then perhaps they should be. When you are dealing with people who find it difficult to cope with media pressure, then the programme-makers who have brought it about have a responsibility to ensure they are properly looked after,” Mr Whittingdale said.

… Mencap, the learning disability charity, said the makers of Britain’s Got Talent should have provided Boyle with extra support.

(more…)

From Forbes, WLS-TV Chicago, Reuters UK:

A new study in the journal Pediatrics reports that writing disorders are just as common as reading disorders, although they are not well researched or understood. Writing disorders are more frequently seen in boys.

Researchers found that between 7 percent and 15 percent of the children studied had the condition, depending on the criteria used.

Educators define written-language disorder as the inability to write near the level expected based on a person’s age, intelligence and education. People who have the condition may have problems with such skills as grammar, spelling, paragraph organization and handwriting.

While the majority of children with a writing disability also had a reading disability, researchers said one quarter of those diagnosed with a writing problem did not have trouble reading.

From the New York Times, Education Week (subscription required), National Law Journal:

The Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday in a case that seeks to determine when taxpayers must pay for private school education for students with disabilities. White House lawyers backed a family’s argument that their child’s private school costs should be covered even though he had not first received special ed services in public school.

The case involves an Oregon student whose school tested him and said he did not have a learning disability that justified special education services. An independent evaluation later revealed that the student had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and his parents sued for public funds to cover his private school costs.

The school district says the federal Individuals With Disabilities Education Act allows reimbursement for a special education student’s private school tuition only if the child has previously received publicly financed special education services.

During oral arguments, Justice John Paul Stevens suggested that school districts might have an incentive to refuse to provide special education services if they are only required to pay for private programs for students who previously received publicly funded services.

A similar case ended in a 4-4 Supreme Court deadlock in 2007 when Justice Kennedy recused himself for reasons that were not disclosed.

Earlier post here.

A Q&A from the Washington Post with editor’s note:

Quinn Bradlee discusses his new memoir, “A Different Life,” and website. Bradlee has velocardiofacial syndrome (VCFS) and multiple learning disabilities, and is the son of Washington Post veterans Ben Bradlee and Sally Quinn.

An excerpt:

Q: Is the book meant to be about being learning disabled, or about the trials of youth in general?

A: When I first set out to write the book, it was a book about me. It is about my experience. . . . It was never meant to be a guide, I guess, for people with learning disabilities. But that seems to be what it’s turning into.

Q: In it you describe smoking marijuana and your first sexual experience. Why did you decide to be so open?

A: I’ve always been open my whole life. I want to educate people. The more open I was, the more other people would build their self-confidence to be open about their problems. Because everybody has problems. . . . The more and more people get confident and share their stories, then we can educate people and then people won’t look at us so weird.