From the New York Times:

Heba Said Ahmed (left) won a gold medal for power lifting at the recent Paralympic Games in Beijing, and broke a world record.

But when she left Beijing and returned home to Egypt, Ahmed once again faced a society that views her as a second-class citizen because she cannot walk, a disability caused by a childhood bout of polio. An excerpt:

“I want to prove to society that I am better than what they think of me,” she said. “In Egypt, they think a handicapped person should just stay in bed.”

It is hard to overstate how different Ms. Ahmed is from many of those around her. It is all about attitude. Egypt is filled with people who face adversity, most often a function of poverty and systemic indifference. It is a class-based society with an unwritten contract that many people believe condemns them to live as they were born, poor and marginalized. There is a pervasive feeling of impotence, a collective belief that fighting back is futile.

But Ms. Ahmed never refers to fate; she talks about choices. She does not talk about obstacles; she talks about challenges.

… “There is no such thing as a handicap,” she said. “A handicap is in your thinking, or in your heart.”

From the Washington Post:

A planned four-acre development at Gallaudet University represents a dramatic shift in philosophy at the nation’s only institution of higher learning for deaf students. For the first time in its 144-year history, the school is designing buildings and streetscape with the express purpose of bringing together deaf and hearing people.

Officials say the changes at the campus in Northeast Washington are driven by cultural shifts, as a younger generation of students desires more integration into the broader world. Historically, the school’s separation was prompted by public stigma against deaf people, and a corresponding belief that they were better off immersing themselves in their own culture.

“It would create a connection to the city and tear down the walls,” said Hansel Bauman (above left), an architect retained by Gallaudet to help design the project. “It’s a sea change in thinking.”

Gallaudet drew national attention two years ago, when students shut down the campus to demonstrate against the selection of a new president.

(Photo: Hansel Bauman and Fred Weiner, Gallaudet’s executive director for preogram development. From the Washington Post )

From Florida Today, tcpalm.com:

A survey commissioned by the Florida Institute of Technology found that 24 percent of Americans believes autism is caused by vaccines, even though no scientific evidence supports such a link.

Sixty percent of those polled said the presidential candidates should include a plan for curing autism in their platforms, and eighty-three percent said that finding the cause and cure for autism should be a national priority. The survey was based on telephone interviews with 1,000 randomly selected adults across the country, conducted by GDA Education Research of Mount Pleasant, S.C.

Results of the survey were released to kick off Florida Tech’s second annual autism conference, “The Many Faces of Autism.”

Mary Beth Kunkel, dean of Florida Tech’s College of Psychology and Liberal Arts, described the finding as a surprise given the number of federal studies exonerating the mercury preservative thimerosal, once used widely in children’s vaccines, but rarely, if ever, included in vaccines today.

See also: Press release from Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida.

From the Boston Globe, Colorado Springs Gazette and elsewhere:

Diana Chavez and Luis Herrera (at left) were among the protesters in Colorado Springs as members of the National Federation of the Blind picketed the opening of the film “Blindness” on Friday.

In addition to Colorado springs, there were news reports of protests in Boston, Des Moines; Denver;  Jacksonville, Florida; Rochester, Minnesota; Asheville, North Carolina; Dayton, Ohio; and elsewhere. Organizers said picketing was planned for 78 locations in 38 states.

Protesters handed out fliers and carried signs proclaiming the film a “travesty” and saying that “Stereotypes are the real evil.”

The film, which stars Julianne Moore, depicts a society  that is hit by an epidemic of blindness; chaos and depravity result. Protesters said the movie exacerbates stereotypes and stokes public fears.

“The difficulty of being blind comes from this low expectation of people who are blind,” said Mika Pyyhkala, who protested in Boston. “That causes more problems than any technical or direct blindness. This movie doesn’t portray the reality of what it’s like.”

See also:

Blind critics of film seem unenlightened — by Pete McMartin in the Vancouver Sun

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From Government Executive magazine:

Christine Griffin, a member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, says the federal government is doing a “terrible job” in employing people with disabilities. She said the ranks of disabled employees in fiscal 2007 amounted to only 0.9 percent of the federal workforce, down from a meager 1.2 percent in fiscal 1996.

It’s not only that few people with disabilities are getting in the door at federal agencies, Griffin said. They also are not rising through the ranks.

… “You can’t have anything that the rest of America has unless you have a job and you have money,” said Griffin, who uses a wheelchair. “They look at us and say, ‘Isn’t it great they get to go to a restaurant?’ But it hasn’t changed their views of what I’m capable of doing. . . . I see employment for people with disabilities as critical to changing society’s view of us as people, as human beings. . . . That’s where this revolution is going to take place.”

From the Tallahassee Democrat:

People with disabilities want to work but find lots of obstacles in their way, says Bryan Vaughan, executive director of the Florida Governor’s Commission on Disabilities. Even when employers have an opening and are willing to hire a person with a disability, prospective employees must then find accessible transportation and appropriate housing.

As a result, people with disabilities have very low employment rates. A recent report by Cornell university found that the employment rate for people with disabilities was just 37.7 percent nationwide, and 39.1 percent in Florida.

From a press release on Yahoo Business:

A national study by the Bobby Dodd Institute in Atlanta found an overwhelming majority of those surveyed feel that people with disabilities face barriers to hiring in the American workplace. The study also found that more than one-quarter (26 percent) of respondents say they are uncomfortable when interacting with people with disabilities or even avoid interaction.

The survey was conducted by 2008 Kelton Research, based on 1,000 nationwide online interviews among adults 18 years or older.

“The challenge that workers with disabilities are facing isn’t their disability,” said Wayne McMillan, president and CEO of BDI. “The challenge is dispelling myths and preconceptions about accommodations and competency. In reality, this population performs at a high level and can provide a tremendous value in the workplace.”

In an effort to combat stigma and communicate the advantages of hiring people with disabilities, the BDI website offers free disability awareness training.

See also:

• Presidential Proclamation for Disability Employment Awareness Month — White House press release
• Work helps Katie Bowman be a ‘totally different person’—Tallahassee Democrat
• Workers with disabilities contribute to many workplaces — By Jim DeBeaugrine in the Tallahassee Democrat

From BBC, AP/MSNBC:

The National Federation of the Blind has announced plans to stage protests against the movie “Blindness” at 75 theaters across the country when it opens this weekend.

The NFB says the movie, a Miramax Films release starring Julianne Moore, reinforces inaccurate stereotypes by portraying blind people as helpless, perpetually disoriented and unable to care for themselves.

“We face a 70 percent unemployment rate and other social problems because people don’t think we can do anything, and this movie is not going to help — at all,” said Christopher Danielsen, a spokesman for the NFB.

Based on a novel by Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago, the film depicts a mysterious epidemic that causes residents of a town to go blind, resulting in a collapse of the social order. Blind people are portrayed as quarantined in a mental asylum, attacking each other, soiling themselves and trading sex for food.

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From the Jackson, TN, Sun:

Residents of North Madison County in Tennessee have organized in opposition to a proposal to build group homes there for people with developmental disabilities, arguing that the homes would drive down property values and bring undesirable people into their neighborhoods.

The homes are planned to replace an aging, institutional-style facility that is being closed in the wake of a federal lawsuit over the treatment of people with disabilities in the state.

Related op-ed: Developmentally disabled have rights, just like everybody else — By Peter Watson. An excerpt:

To me, the issue is, do these people have a right to live in a decent home in a decent neighborhood? To me, the answer is yes.

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