From WSAV-TV in Savannah:

The budget proposed by Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue includes deep cuts in service programs for people with developmental disabilities. Even without the proposed cuts, Georgia presently has more than 6,700 people with developmental disabilities on waiting lists for needed services, including housing, personal assistance, transportation and mental health care.

Advocates for Georgians with developmental disabilities have started a campaign called Unlock the Waiting Lists to try to reduce the number of people waiting for these services.

(With video)

From the Toronto Star and Toronto Sun:

Canadian disability rights advocate Mona Winberg, 76, died this week from complications with pneumonia. Winberg was born in Toronto with cerebral palsy and in 1972 became the first person with a disability to serve as the president of the Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy (OFCP).

Winberg wrote a weekly disability column for Toronto Sun from 1986 to 1999. The paper hired her after she challenged editors to explain why they didn’t report on disability issues. She also lobbied successfully for accessibility in transportation, addressed audiences across Canada, and was awarded the Order of Canada, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

Perhaps most significantly, “she lived independently until the very end,” said niece Deena Baltman. “This was something that was incredibly important to her … her view was that at most facilities out there, frankly, she would be put in a diaper and stuck in a corner.”

In a statement, Ontario Lieutenant Governor David Onley hailed Winberg as a “constant source of inspiration.”

(photo supplied to Toronto Star)

From the Fayetteville [NC] Observer:

Advocates say the death of Amalie Shean, who was struck and killed by a car while operating her wheelchair on a major thoroughfare, exposes longstanding transportation problems in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

The city had eliminated the bus stop closest to Shean’s home on December 1 as part of transit changes that were intended to streamline routes and improve overall service.

The change meant Shean no longer met the bus stop distance requirement to qualify for federally subsidized handicapped-accessible van service. She was killed as she was apparently going to a nearby grocery store, less than two weeks after the transit changes were put in place.

The advocates say the city acted too hastily in changing the bus routes and van service, which is now the subject of a federal complaint against the city.

See also:

From Newsday:

The case of Edwin Rivera, who has cerebral palsy and was left on a freezing bus overnight, has drawn attention to the troubling number of students who have been left on buses. The problem plagues both students with and without disabilities.

The incidents are worrisome enough that schools have revamped procedures and equipped buses with alarms and cameras to protect kids from being abandoned. Legislation, prosecutions and lawsuits have also taken aim at the problem.

… Mike Martin, executive director of the Albany-based National Association for Pupil Transportation, estimates he hears of as many as 75 incidents annually, but has yet to hear “a truly legitimate excuse.”

From the New York Daily News, WCBSTV:

Walter Gibbs, the bus driver who says he unknowingly left a man with cerebral palsy on a freezing bus overnight, was found to have a police record with 28 arrests that span drug charges, grand larceny, and assault of a police officer.

Gibbs has not been indicted in the incident that occurred on his second day on the job, but police sources said he never should have been hired “[Gibbs] has no business driving a school bus or being anywhere near any kids, no matter what age,” said one. Bus matron, Linda Hockaday, has been charged with reckless endangerment.

The website for the bus company , Outstanding Transport, says all of its drivers are “randomly drug tested, fingerprinted, background checked and with no criminal background.” The owner of the bus company defended Gibbs yesterday.

Earlier post here.

From the AP, New York Daily News, New York Times, Newsday,  CNN:

Edwin Rivera, a 22-year-old man with cerebral palsy and an intellectual disability, was treated for hypothermia after being left strapped into a school bus in Brooklyn in freezing temperatures for more than 17 hours over New Year’s Eve.

The bus matron, Linda Hockaday, 51, was fired Thursday and charged with reckless endangerment, a felony that carries a maximum sentence of seven years. Prosecutors allege in the complaint that Hockaday knew Rivera was still on the bus but did not tell the driver. She didn’t want to retrace the bus route and take Rivera home because she had to get to an appointment, according to the complaint.

Rivera was supposed to be dropped off at his home Wednesday afternoon after attending a special needs day program. His parents reported him missing about 9:30 pm Wednesday night, and police officers found him at 10:30 am strapped in his seat at the bus depot on Thursday morning. Temperatures ranged between 15 and 30 degrees during the night.

See also:

Driver suspended after disabled man left on Fairhaven bus – [New Bedford, MA] Standard-Times

From the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News:

An audit filed in federal court this week concludes that Detroit Metro Airport’s main terminal fails to provide proper access to travelers with disabilities, and could be in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The 100-page document was filed on behalf of five Detroit plaintiffs who are suing Metro Airport and Northwest Airlines Inc. for not making proper accommodations for passengers with disabilities. It claims that problems exist from the parking garage to the gates, including slopes too steep for wheelchairs, improper signage, and areas that are accessible only by moving walkways not designed for wheelchair use.

The suit also alleges that Metro Airport and Northwest Airlines dropped disabled passengers to the floor, failed to provide boarding assistance to the disabled, and damaged wheelchairs by tossing them in baggage storage. It seeks enforcement of ADA regulations, but no monetary damages.

Earlier post here.