Disability News | PatriciaEBauer.com

Exclusion of student with DS from college class sparks concern

Patricia Bauer — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 14:37:03 +0000

Protest continues to mount over a decision by Southern Oregon University to exclude a non-credit student with Down syndrome from an introductory ceramics course. The decision comes almost 35 years after the enactment of federal legislation that opened public school doors to students with disabilities. More than 700 people have signed an online petition urging [...]

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Obit: Paul Steven Miller, law professor and disability advocate

Patricia Bauer — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 15:05:22 +0000

From the New York Times: After graduating at the top of his class at Harvard Law School in the 1980s, Paul Steven Miller was rejected by more than 40 law firms before he was able to find work. The reason: Miller was born with achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism. One hiring partner told him that [...]

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US Airways ejects man with wheelchair: ‘Too disabled to fly’

Patricia Bauer — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 06:16:20 +0000

From ABC News, CNN, Grand Rapids [MI] Press: Johnnie Tuitel, a motivational speaker who uses a wheelchair, says he was forced to leave a recent US Airways flight before takeoff because flight personnel had decided that he was “too disabled to fly.” Tuitel, who has cerebral palsy, said the incident occurred last month while he [...]

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Georgia settles ADA suit over confinement of people with disabilities

Patricia Bauer — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 03:37:10 +0000

From the Los Angeles Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, AP/New York Times: In a decision that is being hailed as a historic step toward enforcing the rights of people with disabilities, the state of Georgia has reached an agreement with the Justice Department to move many people with mental illness or developmental disabilities out of state psychiatric [...]

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More colleges welcome students with intellectual disabilities

Patricia Bauer — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 14:30:32 +0000

From AP/Boston Herald: While college programs for students with intellectual disabilities were almost nonexistent as recently as a decade ago, there are now more than 250 of them spread across campuses in more than three dozen states and two Canadian provinces. Experts say the change has come about in response to demand from the first [...]

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Government crackdown on autism â€˜therapies’

Patricia Bauer — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 01:13:20 +0000

From the Chicago Tribune, ABC News, Washington Post The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned eight companies to stop marketing unproven over-the-counter chelation”therapies” as treatments for autism, cardiovascular diseases, Alzheimer’s and other conditions. The products’ distributors have claimed they cure a range of diseases by removing heavy metals from the body. “These products are [...]

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Touchdown video seen round the world

Patricia Bauer — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 17:04:17 +0000

Steve Kelley, Seattle Times columnist, reflects on Ike Ditzenberger, the 17-year-old high school football player with Down syndrome whose touchdown run was captured on video and circulated around the globe. At last count, the Youtube clip documenting Ike’s effort had gotten more than 2.36 million views. Writes Kelley: Ditzenberger’s touchdown, which he accomplished with the [...]

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Abortion of surrogate fetus with DS sparks ethics debate

Patricia Bauer — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 16:11:31 +0000

Doctor says Canadian bio-parents demanded termination; Surrogate mom refused, then relented ‘Should the rules of commerce apply to the creation of children?’ From the Vancouver Sun, [UK] Daily Mail: A Canadian surrogate mother reluctantly terminated her pregnancy at the insistence of the fetus’ biological parents after it was learned that the fetus had an elevated [...]

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Columnist: Documentary dismantles stereotypes about DS

Patricia Bauer — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 06:08:21 +0000

Boston Herald columnist Lauren Beckham Falcone on HBO’s documentary about a young married couple with Down syndrome: “Monica & David” is more than a love story; it is a reverential, nuanced movie that shows that people with developmental disabilities want the same things everyone wants out of life: Love. Work. Companionship. Independence. These things aren’t [...]

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Canadian nonprofit brings innovation to adult living

Patricia Bauer — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 03:39:20 +0000

On National Public Radio, a feature about a Vancouver nonprofit organization that is reimagining traditional ways of providing support to adults with disabilities. The group, called Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network (PLAN), helps to set up and nurture long-term support networks for individuals. It also spearheaded a successful nationwide effort to set up tax-deferred savings plans [...]

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