From the Washington Post:

At a town hall meeting this week in Las Cruces, New Mexico, presidential candidate John McCain backed off his earlier comments linking vaccines with autism and called for research to find answers. He also called for more funding for special education, but offered no specifics. From the transcript:

… a terrible thing that’s happened in America recently, as I know you all know, is the rise of autism. We don’t know. We don’t know what causes it. There’s a huge debate going on now about vaccinations. And I’ve read and studied and gotten briefings, and I don’t know all the answers.

But I do know it’s a fact that autism is on a dramatic rise in the United States of America. And we’ve got to find the cause of it.

But, meanwhile, we’re going to have to increase funding for special education. I mean, it’s just — it’s just a fact. And that’s expensive, but it seems to me the kind of country we are, that that should have one of our priorities, along with our most gifted.

See earlier posts:

• Reaction to McCain comments on autism, vaccines
• ‘What studies show is not reflected in what candidates say’

Beverly Beckham, writing in the Boston Globe about “Tropic Thunder,” says the movie is

the worst thing to come along for the developmentally disabled since public schools used the dunce cap to humiliate. Because in 107 minutes the word “retard” (or “retarded”) is said 17 times. This gives a green light to the movie-going public: If “retard” can be tossed back and forth on the big screen, getting laughs, getting legitimized, why not use it on the schoolyard or at the water cooler?

… It seems at first glance to be an equal-opportunity insulter.
But it isn’t. Body parts cannot take offense to what is being said. And excrement is only excrement. These words are just crass. Nothing more. “Retarded” is personal. “Retarded” targets people. “Retarded” hurts. This is why advocates for the mentally disabled are speaking out.

… “Retarded” is a stereotype too long perpetuated by Hollywood. No much different from Step ‘n’ Fetchit. Condescending. Controlling. And however unintentional the result may be, this new “don’t take it seriously” version of the retarded man is serious because it stirs up and serves up some very old themes.

See also:

• Second thoughts on Tropic Thunder boycott — Pamela Wilson of Bellaonline.com originally supported the boycott. Upon further reflection, she says she wants everyone in her community to see ‘Tropic Thunder’ so they will understand what offends the disability community.

If everyone sees this movie, many more will appreciate the concerns we bring to their attention. Everyone capable of reflecting on what they have seen has the capacity to understand our protest. We want other parents, human rights activists and others in marginalized communities to experience the language and imagery of the movie so they can make informed decisions about whether to restrict their children’s access to it.

It may be too much to expect from the writers of Tropic Thunder to comprehend that merely using language that demeans, humiliates and intimidates people with disabilities is a form of bullying. But I have higher expectations of people in our community who hear our stories, and hear from our sons and daughters. We must continue protesting, sharing our perspectives, and standing firm against attacks on people with intellectual disabilities. Our children and families are full members of our communities and we want businesses to know we consider their needs while expecting them to consider ours.

• Can we all stop using the R-word? — Paula Scafe in the Austin American-Statesman
• What’s in a word? Plenty — Charita Goshay in the Norwich [CT] Bulletin
• Those insulted at ‘Thunder’ don’t get joke — Chris Hicks in the [Salt Lake City] Deseret News

From the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal’s health blog, Associated Press:

A federal judge in New Jersey has ordered a drug developer to supply an experimental drug to a 16-year-old with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, even though the company says the boy is not an appropriate candidate for the drug.

The family of Jacob Gunvalson had argued that they had been misled by officials at PTC Therapeutics into believing that their son would be allowed to take part in a clinical trial. Cheri Gunvalson, Jacob’s mother, said she helped the company obtain federal grants to research the disease.

The company denied that promises had been made, and said that allowing Jacob Gunvalson access to the drug could impede research and harm the drug’s chances of getting FDA approval. The company said it plans to appeal the ruling by U.S. District Judge William J. Martini.

Earlier post here.

From the Asheville [NC] Citizen-Times, UPI, Science Daily:

A study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill finds that families of children with disabilities are having trouble making ends meet — even families with incomes that place them within the middle class. Families reported having difficulties paying for basics like food, housing and health care.

“The bottom line is that U.S. families raising children with disabilities are reporting severe hardships at rates that are chilling, including families that are solidly middle-class,” said lead investigator Susan L. Parish. “We were shocked to find such high rates of hardship among upper-income families.”

The study, which is published in the journal Exceptional Children, is based on 2002 data from the National Survey of American Families that analyzed 28,141 households.

From Youtube.com:

At a town hall meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina, Senator Barack Obama was questioned by woman who identified herself as the mother of a child with Down syndrome who had leukemia and had undergone open heart surgery. She said her son’s name is Adam.

Q: The doctors in the hospital were commenting that I was lucky that he was getting any benefits at all, because he wasn’t really going to be anything in life. He was just going to be a dependent on everybody’s social security. My question, sir, is what are you going to do about changing the word retardation, disabled, genetically altered, for our children and for our future children, for everybody here in the United States, to make a difference in their lives, to include them, sir.

Obama: … In terms of terminology — I think the word retardation is a bad word. That’s old. We need to put that to bed …

…. I have said that as president, my goal will be to achieve full funding of special education. Because no child is disposable, every every child is special, and we should make sure that we’ve got the resources in place without taking money from other children in order that they can learn and succeed and achieve their full potential. So God bless Adam. We love Adam, and thanks very much for the wonderful question.

Writing in the [UK] Guardian, David Tolleson says the movie “Tropic Thunder” sends the harmful message to millions of moviegoers that discrimination against people with disabilities is socially acceptable.

For a population that has been subject to millennia of discrimination and abuse, even to the point of death, it is a major setback, courtesy of Hollywood.

Unfortunately, the damage doesn’t end with the frequent use of the word “retard” and the shockingly awful images of Simple Jack. More troubling is a segment of the film involving Stiller and Matthew McConaughey. When Stiller’s character says he wants to adopt a child, McConaughey looks at a photo of himself with his arm around a boy vacantly staring into space — clearly meant to have an intellectual disability — and says: “At least you get to choose yours. I’m stuck with mine.”

The message is clear — avoid having a child with a disability at all costs. For parents worried about bringing a child with a disability into a world where they may be taunted, or worse, Tropic Thunder may provide one more reason to terminate a pregnancy. Sad for many reasons, but particularly since studies show that overwhelmingly parents and siblings of individuals with disabilities actually rate the experience of having a loved one with special needs very positively.

… we still have work to do before widespread discrimination ends and all people are valued for the diverse and wonderful attributes they bring to our world.

Tolleson is the executive director of the National Down Syndrome Congress.

See also:

• Why is Ohio retarded but Connecticut isn’t? — Kim Stagliano, Huffington Post
• Going full insensitive: Movie’s humor is flawed by careless insensitivity – Winston-Salem [NC] Journal
• Plot no excuse for taking potshots— Tamara Dietrich, Newport News [VA] Daily Press
• Letter: A heightened awareness of how a word can hurt — Chicago Tribune
• Letter: Special people don’t need hurtful words – Quincy [MA] Patriot-Ledger
• Letters: Bid to ban use of ‘r-word’ — Houston Chronicle

Associated Press in the Houston Chronicle:

The federal Department of Justice has notified the state of Texas that it is investigating the state’s institutions to determine whether residents’ civil rights are being violated.

Texas houses some 5,000 people with intellectual and other disabilities in 13 large institutions, called state schools or centers. Public records of the institutions have shown more than 450 incidents of verified abuse or neglect in fiscal year 2007.

An analysis of state records by the Associated Press this year found that more than 800 employees of the institutions had been suspended or fired for abusing patients since 2004.

A spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services said today that the state will cooperate with the investigation.