From the Des Moines Register, AP/Chicago Tribune:

A measure on the Iowa ballot next month will ask voters to remove the term “idiot” from the state constitution.

Using language that has been in place since 1857, the Iowa constitution says a person who is an “idiot or insane person”  is prohibited from voting. If the measure is approved, that portion will be changed to read “a person judged mentally incompetent.”

Rep. Betty Grundberg, a Republican from Des Moines who has a daughter with mental illness, has been pushing for the constitutional amendment since 1997. “I think what we have to do is recognize that people with disabilities are normal people except that they have a disability,” she said. “You don’t call people idiots.”

Melissa Kite, deputy political editor of the [UK] Guardian, reports that Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s eyesight is causing concern among his aides. “There is mounting anecdotal evidence that Mr. Brown is battling a serious disability,” she wrote.

Brown lost the vision in one eye after a rugby accident as a teenager, and recently said in an interview that he has been having increasing problems with the other eye. He recently had a cataract removed. An excerpt:

The Prime Minister’s close friends have revealed that he can only see extremely large print and has needed guidance at public events. There were suggestions that if Mr Brown falls or bumps into something his damaged retina could fail and he would go blind completely.

(Telegraph photo)

From MSNBC.com, CNN, CBS, AP and elsewhere:

Sarah Palin tried to shift the campaign’s focus to abortion Saturday, using arguments that stressed a connection between her prolife stance, people with disabilities, and religion.

In an address in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Palin spoke at length of her own attachment to her son Trig, who has Down syndrome, and accused Barack Obama of  “unconditional support for unlimited abortions.”

“Most troubling though, most troubling even, is that as a state senator, Barack Obama wouldn’t even stand up for the rights of infants born alive during an abortion,” she said. “These infants, often babies with special needs, they’re simply left to die.”

About her son, she said:

“Yes, every innocent life matters. Everyone belongs in the circle of protection. Every child has something to contribute to the world, if we give them that chance. There are the world’s standards of perfection … and then there are God’s, and these are the final measure.

“Every child is beautiful before God and dear to him for their own sake, and as for our beautiful baby boy, for Todd and for me, he’s only more precious because he is vulnerable. And in some ways, you know I think that we stand to learn more from him than he does from us.”

Full text of Palin’s Johnstown remarks on abortion are here.

(AP photo)

From WKYC-TV [Cleveland], and Foxnews.com:

At a campaign stop Friday in North Olmstead, Ohio, Sarah Palin drew a connection between her pledge to advocate for people with disabilities and her opposition to abortion.

“With John McCain and me in the White House, they’ll (people with disabilities will) be a priority, because every life is going to be cherished, and we’ll make sure that needs are met and that we’re manifesting our commitment to those who have challenges that others perhaps have not had to face yet,” she said in an interview with WKYC-TV.

The comments came in connection with Palin’s appearance in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the opening of a center for adults with disabilities. The Michael T. George residence was built by Cleveland-area businessman Tony George and named for his five-year-old son, who has Down syndrome.

… “My belief and John McCain’s belief is that a culture of life is best for America where every innocent human life is recognized as having great potential and great promise to make this world a better place.”

Video here.

(Screenshot from WKYC-TV)

Editors of the Minneapolis Star Tribune offer praise and caution over the mental health parity law passed last week. An excerpt:

The new law’s costs and impact need to be monitored carefully. Worrisome side effects to watch for: reduction in the number of employers offering insurance or narrowing by insurers of the range of products they offer, a regrettable outcome often accompanying state regulation. At the same time, the new law is a bold and pioneering step — one that will help end the discrimination and stigma faced far too long by families grappling with mental illness.

From the White House Press Office:

On Wednesday, October 8, 2008, the President signed into law:

… S. 1810, the “Prenatally and Postnatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act,” which authorizes the Department of Health and Human Services to establish a grant program to collect and disseminate information regarding Down syndrome or other prenatally or postnatally diagnosed diseases and to coordinate the provision of support services for those who receive a diagnosis of one of those diseases.

Earlier post here.

From the Tampa Tribune:

Florida citizens who suffer from developmental disabilities are enduring heartbreaking cuts in services that will force many into group homes and institutional care settings. It is a heartless situation that state lawmakers cannot allow to stand.

Because the Legislature has failed to own up to the real cost of providing care for the developmentally disabled, thousands of Florida families are losing services that have allowed them to keep their relatives at home.

As a result, the lives of many disabled people will be uprooted. And Florida taxpayers will have to pay more money, not less, for their care.

… Gov. Charlie Crist should lend his voice to their cause. With no monied lobbyists in Tallahassee, the developmentally disabled need the governor to speak for them.