From the BBC:

The United Nations is celebrating the coming into force of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) — a landmark agreement that aims to give the world’s 650 million disabled people full equality. The measure took effect earlier this month after the 20th nation ratified it, in this case Ecuador.

So far some 25 countries have ratified the convention — starting with Jamaica in March last year. The largest nations that have already ratified it include India, Mexico, the Philippines and South Africa. Spain, Hungary and Slovenia are the only EU nations on the list so far.

… disability campaigners in the UK are critical of their government’s “reservations” on residential care, segregating education, employment in the armed forces and freedom of movement for disabled people with regard to nationality and immigration

… It is estimated that about 10 percent of the world’s population lives with some sort of disability, making disabled people the world’s largest minority. This figure is likely to increase as a result of medical advances and the world’s aging population, according to the World Health Organization.

… In some countries, disabled child mortality is as high as 80 percent even when the general level of mortality for the under fives has dropped below 20 percent.

See earlier posts:

• Op-ed: Washington’s phobia of global treaties
• World leaders urged to act on disability rights

From Northumberland [Ontario] Today:

Ontario Lt. Gov. David Onley, who himself had polio and uses a motorized scooter, says there are strong economic reasons for employing and serving people with disabilities. An anticipated labor shortage, tied to the graying of the baby boomers, makes it vital for employers to take another look at the approximately 15 percent of the population who have disabilities, he said

Contrary to what many employers think, usually there is little that needs to be changed or expense incurred to bring a skilled disabled person into the workplace, Mr. Onley said.

Onley cited the following benefits for employers hiring people with disabilities:

– Studies show they meet or exceed job performance requirements;

– Retention is high and absenteeism is low;

– There is a network of agencies and services to assist such hiring; and

– When you hire persons with disabilities, you build an inclusive, effective and productive work force.

An upcoming book by Ruth Schwartz Cowan, professor of history and sociology of science at the University of Pennsylvania. On Harvard University Press.

From the publisher’s website:

The secrets locked in our genes are being revealed, and we find ourselves both enthused and frightened about what that portends. We look forward to curing disease and alleviating suffering-for our children as well as for ourselves-but we also worry about delving too deeply into the double helix. Abuses perpetrated by eugenicists-from involuntary sterilization to murder-continue to taint our feelings about genetic screening.

Yet, as Ruth Schwartz Cowan reveals, modern genetic screening has been practiced since 1960, benefiting millions of women and children all over the world. She persuasively argues that new forms of screening-prenatal, newborn, and carrier testing-are both morally right and politically acceptable. Medical genetics, built on the desire of parents and physicians to reduce suffering and increase personal freedom, not on the desire to “improve the human race,” is in fact an entirely different enterprise from eugenics.

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… here’s a partial and unofficial transcript of the BBC interview with Tomato Lichy (left). The artist and designer is advocating for the right of deaf people to use reproductive technology to select for deaf children, which would be prohibited under the British government’s Human Fertilization and Embryology (HFE) bill, set to pass the House of Commons this spring. Reaction to the interview is here.

The interview by John Humphrys was first broadcast on the Today program on BBC Radio Four.

Humphrys: Do you not have an obligation to the child that may be born that that child should be able to hear if at all possible?

Lichy: If you see deafness as a disability, yes. But I don’t view deafness as a disability. I feel very positive about the language, about the culture and about the history of deaf people, and I’m very involved in the deaf community

And also, we already have a deaf child. If we say to her in the future we had a deaf embryo but the government told us we couldn’t have that one, how would she feel about it as a deaf person herself if the government had forced us to do that?

Humphreys: You may feel very positive about your deafness, and you are absolutely of course entitled to feel that, but surely you’re not entitled to make that decision on behalf of an unborn child?

Lichy: I’m nor religious myself, but people say to me: God created me as a deaf person, why would you oppose God? These children are created, these embryos are created, they should have equal chances in life. I mean really for me the core issue is that the government is saying that deaf people are not equal to hearing people.

Despite the fact that over time we’ve had more and more rights for disabled people, now they’re seeking to establish a legal principal that deaf people are inferior to hearing people. And there may be more laws once this gap opens. I think we have to stop that principle being established that deaf people are inferior to hearing people.

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A disability in the family; Film shows parents’ response to a child with cerebral palsy

From the Washington Post:

New Hampshire photojournalist Dan Habib documents his family’s journey with son Samuel, who has cerebral palsy.

In the film, we learn that in many ways, Samuel is much like any other 7-year-old. He likes hot dogs and tee ball, and is debating between careers as an astronaut or a race car driver. Like a good New Englander, Samuel roots for the Boston Red Sox, and he loves watching games with his big brother, Isaiah, 11.

… As for Samuel’s education, Habib is pro-inclusion, meaning that he wants Samuel to attend the same types of schools that Isaiah does … Habib’s views presented a challenge for him as a journalist, because he wanted to show both sides of the inclusion issue. An emotional interview with Carol Ward, a horticulture teacher at a public high school, reveals the strain that the policy can have on teachers.

“I did not have any formal or informal training to have these students in my class,” Ward says in the film. “I have cried many times about this year. I don’t know what to do. I don’t want another year like this year.”

Related links:

• The film’s website
• Dan Habib’s guest blog at the Washington Post’s On Balance
• Earlier post

John S. Clarke, publisher of the Delta Democrat Times in Greenville, Mississippi, notes that his state ranks third in the nation for overall disability rate. (West Virginia and Kentucky are slightly higher.)

He says long-term disability negatively affects the economic health of the state, and urges residents to take better care of themselves. Among his proposals to reduce the disability rate: a mandatory driver’s education course, better diet and exercise habits, enforcement of traffic and drug laws, and less smoking.

Citing a recent explosion in autism cases, Newsday’s editorial page calls for an accurate accounting of the number of autism diagnoses so that resources can be allocated effectively.

… the lack of standard reporting requirements for schools or pediatricians means that agencies and schools don’t know what they face, even in the immediate future. There is a glaring lack of hard data – actual figures – on the incidence of autism among children and adults in specific regions and communities on Long Island.

Without such information, it’s hard to plan for services or to provide funds for them – even though it’s apparent that the problem is growing to such an extent that some advocates call autism a major health care crisis with no end in sight.

An obvious lack of coordination between state, county and local agencies dealing with various services for autism begs for the creation of an inter-agency council that can share information and get a clearer picture of what’s needed. Standardized reporting and diagnostics must be adopted by schools and health services. Some pediatricians are loath to report autism for fear of breaking privacy laws, because autism is not a communicable disease.

The paper reports that the CDC is monitoring only 11 states for autism, and New York is not among them.

Autism is described in the editorial as a “lifelong heartbreak” and a “disorder that can wreck the lives of so many” — language that is sure to offend some autism activists.

See also: Hunting the gene that traps children in their own world: Parents and scientists are hoping that a new detailed analysis based on human genome will bring a big breakthrough within a year. From the Times (UK)