From the Boston Globe, Galveston County [TX] Daily News:

Charles Sabatier, who became a nationally known advocate for disability rights after being wounded in Vietnam, has died of cancer. He was 63.

“My goal is equal citizenship,” he told the Globe in 1988 as he prepared to step down as executive director of Boston’s Commission for Persons with Disabilities. “Nothing less is acceptable. We’re looking for equitable treatment, although not necessarily identical. A disabled person should have the same options as everybody else. I came within an inch of giving my life for this country. The idea of being denied equal opportunity because it might not be cost-effective is utterly reprehensible to me.”

As head of Boston’s disability commission, Sabatier improved access around the city and helped get an elevator installed in Faneuil Hall. A lawyer, Sabatier also challenged degrading treatment on airlines and served as senior policy adviser in the federal Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy.

From Chicago Breaking News and the Chicago Tribune:

The Senate has unanimously confirmed Iraq war veteran and former Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth as an assistant secretary for public and intergovernmental affairs in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Duckworth was injured when the Blackhawk helicopter she was piloting during the Iraq conflict was hit with a  grenade.

(Associated Press photo)

But few are accessible

From MSNBC with video:

People with disabilities say video games offer them an avenue for making vital community and social connections. Yet game developers generally have been slow to make the games accessible, citing expense, scheduling pressures, and just plain ignorance.

Technology allows gamers with disabilities to “have a community that they build and have meaningful relationships with other people outside their home,” said Nissa Ludwig (above), a top-ranked bass player in “Rock Band.”

“And they continue working on social skills, and they don’t lose the ability to find joy in other people, which I watched my grandparents do as they were shut in,” she said. Ludwig has a progressive metabolic disorder that makes it difficult to walk.

(Photo from MSNBC video)

Writing in the New York Times, former Marine infantry officer Tyler E. Boudreau says the Pentagon should reconsider its recent decision not to award the Purple Heart to veterans and soldiers who have post-traumatic stress disorder.

He suggests that a new decoration be created to recognize those “whose minds and souls have been sundered by war.” An excerpt:

Sadly, as long as our military culture bears at least a quiet contempt for the psychological wounds of war, it is unlikely those veterans will ever see a Purple Heart. That is too bad, I think, because they do deserve all the honor the physically wounded receive.

See also: Counting the Walking Wounded — op-ed by Lawrence M. Wein in the New York Times

From the Boston Globe:

The New England chapter of Paralyzed Veterans of America offers support and physical activity to about 1,000 veterans with disabilities through sports and recreation, including bowling, basketball, and skiing, .

“Athletics do a lot for a person’s mental health, but maybe more so for us,” said Paul Kenney [photo left], 55, an Army veteran. “You tend to think you’re on your own, but in a group like this you gain access to the experiences of people going through the same thing.”

Often, information is exchanged about physical and medical issues, including infections, personal hygiene, and medications, that prove more valuable than anything gleaned from a doctor’s office.

“We learn a lot from each other,” Kenney said. “It’s made a tremendous difference in my life.”

From USA Today:

Retired general Eric Shinseki, President-elect Barack Obama’s choice to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, promised to cut wait times for disability claims and find Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with hidden psychological or brain-damage wounds to offer treatment.

Shinseki addressed the backlog of disability payment claims by saying, “I don’t know why six months (of processing time) is what we live with. I need to get inside of this.”

(Reuters photo)

From CNN, Los Angeles Times and elsewhere:

A new federal report concludes that Gulf War Syndrome is a real and debilitating condition suffered by more than 175,000 American veterans, or roughly one in four who served in the 1990-1991 conflict.

Gulf War Syndrome is characterized by memory and concentration problems, persistent headaches, fatigue, muscle and joint pain, chronic digestive problems, respiratory symptoms and skin rashes. No effective treatment or cure has been found.

The report was chartered by Congress because many members thought veterans were not receiving adequate care. It says the condition was probably caused by exposure to toxic chemicals and anti-nerve gas vaccinations.

See also: Op-ed: A grateful nation needs to do more – By Tim Rutten in the Los Angeles Times

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