Light posting for the next few weeks

I'm going to be on vacation with the wife and kids. I'm going to try and continue to post as a loyal service to my thousands of readers. But I'm sure it will be light.

This is one of the sights we are going to see on our trip. They've added an exciting new feature. Check it out.

Stealing From the Blind

A former client of the Rehabilitation Services Commission pleaded guilty on Wednesday to three counts of theft from her employer, an Elyria attorney who is blind.

Carl Rose, the employer in this case, hired Nancy Haylor at the urging of the Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission.

Shortly thereafter, Ms. Haylor started writing a series of checks to herself amounting to over $21,000. Mr. Rose fired Haylor after bills weren't being paid, and a subsequent look into his finances led to the finding of embezzlement. She faces up to 5 years in prison.

Rose is suing the Rehabilitation Services Commission over an arrest on Haylor's record from 2001 that he never knew about. Rose feels RSC should have informed him that she was arrested for stealing a night deposit from the Elyria Holiday Inn.

RSC's position is that it is the employer's obligation to run the check. There is no mention in the story as to whether RSC even knew about her criminal record.

Either way, Ms. Haylor has not done the disability community - especially those concerned with improving the employment rate for people with disabilities - any favors.

"That's my story. Tell the people to remember it."

Floyd Brown is serving a sentence for murder in a North Carolina mental institution. He was convicted of killing Katherine Lynch in 1993.

The hard thing is figuring out if he did it.

Brown has an IQ in the 50s. There is no physical evidence - none - that ties him to the crime. There are no eyewitnesses that tie him to the crime. The only physical evidence in the case - the bloody stick that was used to beat her to death - has mysteriously vanished.

And with it has possibly gone the only chance to clear his name. He is 43 years old and has spent 14 years in prison for a crime he may not have committed, but certainly confessed to.

Or did he?

Lynch was a civil rights activist who had worked as a maid at a YWCA in Washington, according to her sister. She had moved back to North Carolina to live near her family after retiring.

Sheriff's deputies found her body in her bedroom, her face bludgeoned.

The week after the murder, locals say, the community was eager for an arrest.

Investigators focused on Brown in response to a tip from a resident who said he spoke to a man who claimed to have witnessed Lynch's murder. Like Brown, the resident said, that man hung out at the county courthouse. It was a slim connection, but enough to direct scrutiny at Brown.

According to what Brown told his family at the time, two detectives took him to the blood-stained scene of the crime and tried to hand him a heavy stick.

When interviewed about it years later, the detectives said they couldn't remember if that happened or not. Tough luck for him.

There are lots of unanswered questions about this case, including the confession - the only evidence that ties him to the murder.

1. They interrogated him for several hours, but there is no audio or video recording of it. He describes intimidating police techniques it is unlikely he could have transferred from police shows to his own life.
   
2. He signed away his right to counsel, when it is obvious he doesn't understand what that means.
3. He describes the murder victim as his "favorite cousin." He is not related to Ms. Lynch, and his family said the two did not know each other.
   
4. The confession said he killed her on the 19th of July, when the murder took place on the 9th.
5. He said he woke up at 6:00 in the morning. He can't tell time.
   
6. He said he watch the "Andy Griffith" show with the victim in her living room before he killed her. Crime scene photos do not show a television in the room.
   
7. He said he hit her in the right arm. He doesn't know his right from his left.
   
8. He said in the confession he checked her pulse and her breathing. Experts say those are skills he does not have.
   
9. The confession shows a mastery of concepts that are beyond him, such as what "a.m." and "p.m." are. Despite 14 years of training and therapy, he still has no idea what year it is.
   
10. In his confession, he said he saw someone drive by in blue Chevrolet. He cannot identify car brands.
    
11. He said he went to his classes in Hamlet, North Carolina. Mr. Brown can't tell you what state he lives in.

You get the point.

(Attorney Mike Klinkosum) and co-counsel Kelley DeAngelus had planned to argue to a jury last summer that, given Brown's limitations, he couldn't have beaten Lynch to death, cleaned up a trail of bloody evidence, walked a half-mile home, calmly caught the van to his vocational center within an hour of when police say Lynch was murdered and never, in 14 years, wavered in his account of that day.

"He's just not that smart," says Staten, Brown's sister.

And it goes on to get worse from there, including having the two detectives getting in trouble for corruption in unrelated cases.

His attorneys will continue to fight for his freedom. He was given an offer for time served, provided he reiterated his guilt. The offer was rejected because Brown was not able to understand the dual nature of it, and weigh the pros and cons. So, the fight continues.

"Tell people my name, F-l-o-d B-o-n-w. That's my name," Brown says. "They done lost my evidence. That's my story. Tell the people to remember it."

Perry Woman Guilty Of Killing Disabled Son

Lisa Henry, a Lake County mother of son with cerebral palsy, was convicted of murdering him by setting the house on fire.

The jury deliberated for five hours before convicting her on charges of aggravated murder, murder, child endangering and aggravated arson.

Henry's three young grandchildren were also home at the time the fire was set, but survived.

Her defense: Her son died of natural causes, which caused her to go insane and set the house on fire. She pleaded insanity on the arson charges, not guilty on the others.

The prosecution charged that she doused her son in gasoline, lit the fire, and then tried to kill herself by slashing her own wrists.

Henry contends she went into to check on Michael, aged 24, and he was dead. She then snapped, wrote a suicide note, and set the house on fire. She claimed under oath she did not recall anything from that morning after finding her son dead.

When defense attorney David McGee asked her why she would endanger her 1-, 2- and 3-year-old grandchildren, Henry replied, "I would never hurt my grandchildren intentionally, never. I don't have any recollection of it at all."

Henry said she also doesn't remember leaving a suicide note or calling her husband, John, at work about 9 a.m. that day telling him to come home before it was too late.

"My mind was not right then," she testified.

Her case was not without evidence. An expert at Case Western testified she was insane at the time of the fire and that her amnesia was genuine.

The head of the burn unit at Metro Hospital testified that Michael's lungs upon autopsy do not look like those of a man who died in a fire.

But yet, she set a fire and a man with cerebral palsy who, by reading the accounts in the paper, probably could not have gotten out of the house himself, is dead.

Did she set the fire that killed him?
Did she set the fire to cover up the fact that she killed him?
Did she set the fire, as the prosecution alleges, because she was worried that a family member was going to report her for the condition of her home?
Did she set the fire because she was so distraught over the fact he was dead?

Apparently the jury couldn't get past the fact that she set a fire. Apparently they thought it was more likely that the fire was set intentionally to either commit murder or cover one up, than it was that it was just an irrational act by a distraught mother.

The verdict, and the prosecution in general, is not setting well with the family:

Henry's sister-in-law Pam Dosky and other family members watched in disbelief and wept after the verdict was read.

"Every one of them is corrupt," Dosky said of the investigators and prosecutors. "And there is not a damn thing we can do about it. From Day One they were in my brother's face at the hospital and at the house. How could anyone in their right mind convict that woman? I've never seen such an injustice in my life."

The lawyer in the case, David McGee, said an appeal is planned.

"I have never in my 25 years in the justice system seen a murder conviction on such little evidence," McGee said in the courtroom after the trial ended.

Florida Couple Awarded $21 Million for 'Wrongful Birth' of Child with Disabilities

Want to cause tension and dissension in disability groups? Try bringing up cases such as the one coming out of south Florida, where a couple has been awarded over $20 million for the 'wrongful birth' of a child with disabilities. These are not easy cases. Caring for severely disabled children is a hard, lifelong, expensive struggle. But people also don't like having people in their group being "wrongfully born."

Daniel and Amara Estrada have two children born with Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome. Because of the syndrome, the Estrada children:

will never be able to communicate with their parents. They have birth defects including small heads, webbing of the toes and undescended testicles. The children can't eat on their own, although they might be able to someday after significant therapy. Both have feeding tubes.

The physician in the case, genetics specialist Boris Kousseff, M.D., did not diagnose their first child with SLO. If he had done so, the suit alleged, he could have advised the parents that there was a 25% chance of the next child having the syndrome. Also, a test would have showed whether the syndrome was present in fetus.

If the test had been positive, the Estradas would have had an abortion to terminate the pregnancy.

When the verdict was read, Daniel and Amara Estrada wept and embraced. They took turns thanking and hugging the children's grandparents and their lawyers.

"Be strong, and fight for your kids," Amara Estrada tearfully told reporters.

"It's always about the kids," Daniel Estrada said.

Because of Florida law, it may be difficult to collect. State law limits negligence claims against state agencies to $200,000. The Estradas will fight to get more out of the state legislature.

State Sen. Victor Crist, R-Tampa, leads the committee that will determine whether the Estradas deserve more than the $200,000 cap.

Typically, Crist said, a group of legal experts will hear testimony and compare the jury award to similar cases. The legal experts will return to the legislative committee with a recommendation. The Legislature votes on about 100 such claims a year, Crist said.

This case might prove more difficult because of the abortion issue.

"In the 15 years I've been in the Legislature, I haven't seen that kind of issue," Crist said. "This has a potential moral question that could become a potential political issue. I don't know what the Legislature will do with that."

California Supreme Court Allows Parents of Child With Disabilities To Sue For Wrongful Death

In 2002, Katie Janeway, a 14-year old girl with developmental disabilities, drowned in a swimming pool at a camp for children with disabilities run by the city of Santa Barbara. The parents are suing the city for wrongful death due to negligence.

And if the facts as currently known are true, it might not be a good thing for people with disabilities if they win. Obviously, this is a tough one.

According to the article in the Santa Barbara Independent, Katie attended Adventure Camp from 1999 to 2002. On the day Katie died, she was swimming in the Los Banos del Mar pool. According to the article, Katie went swimming only one hour after having had a seizure. According to city attorney Stephen Wiley, this was not unusual for her:

“Katie had seizures often,” Wiley said. “Her parents didn’t want to restrict activities just because she had seizures.”

Her one-on-one counselor was watching Katie swim and indicated under oath that she looked away for approximately 15 seconds. When she looked back, she couldn't see Katie. She jumped in the pool, but didn't find her until five minutes later. Katie died the next day.

Her parents sued for wrongful death, despite having signed a waiver to the extent that the family assumed “full responsibility for and risk of bodily injury, death or property damage.” The family's case is that the waiver doesn't cover "gross negligence."

The city fought to have the case thrown out all the way to the California Supreme Court, but the court ruled the parents should have their day in court. The parents still have to prove that the city was grossly negligent in this case, which seems a high hurdle to me.

The Janeway family, represented by attorney Roland Wrinkle, alleges it was gross negligence that Katie received spotty supervision from Malong and the city. Wiley disagreed, noting that the pool was operated in total compliance with all safety regulations. The only fault Wiley could see was that Malong was distracted and looked away, a circumstance “pretty clearly not gross negligence,” Wiley said.

The reason this is an important case is that organizations without deep pockets that provide recreational or therapeutic services to people with disabilities may be hesitant or unable to pay the increased insurance premiums that may come with providing services to this population. If you can be sued for wrongful death, even in the face of a signed waiver, costs are going to go up. If costs go up, many organizations will stop providing services all togehter. That is way various organizations on different ends of the spectrum (you don't get two groups further apart than the Sierra Club and NASCAR) joined the city's fight, thus far to no avail.

I don't think the Janeways will win, and I really don't think they should. If the facts as known are true, then it doesn't seem like gross negligence to me. This case, or even the idea of this case, may make it difficult for great organizations to do good works that have even the slightest chance of injury or worse.

It's hard not to pull for the disability side - especially when it's for parents who have lost a child. But if programs and services to children with disabilities across the board are negatively affected because of it, then their victory could mean a loss for many others.

Strickland Signs Order Giving Home Health Workers Right To Unionize

There has long been a desire to increase the standards and pay of home health care workers. Ohio Governor Ted Strickland signed an order this week that, he claims, will do just that. He signed an executive order giving home health care workers the right to unionize.

The Republicans in the legislature decried the politics of it all, being that Strickland has the strong support of the unions in Ohio. But the real question is, does the signing of an executive order make the right legal and binding?

I know that was my first question- mostly because I had never heard of this type of administrative act before. The Governor claims that similar orders have been signed in Illinois, Michigan and Iowa. One issue, according to the Republicans, is that a Governor's order only applies to state and local employees - not independent contractors receiving federal dollars. But that issue is way beyond my level of expertise.

The Plain Dealer, however, questions the politics of the move, noting the support he received from unions. They felt that the issue deserved debate, and an executive order sidesteps that issue.

The governor says collective bargaining will translate into a more highly qualified work force. Perhaps it will. Still, the question remains: If the idea is such a good one, why didn't Strickland trust the people of Ohio to recognize its value on their own?

While on the DD Council, there was always talk of how to "professionalize" home health care workers. If this improves services to people with disabilities, that, in the end, is the most important thing.

Ohio Last In Pay To Disabled Veterans

Ohio ranks 50th in disability payments to veterans according to a report issued by U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Ohio pays an average of $7,500 per year to its disabled veterans. The national high is $12,000 in the state of New Mexico.

The V-A blames demographic factors beyond its control, including whether a state has more Vietnam veterans and whether a veteran had legal help when making a claim.

But the study released to The Associated Press finds that roughly one-third of the problems can be blamed on poor V-A standards and inadequate training. The study finds that regional V-A offices may have too much power in setting disability pay for veterans.

McCarron Trial Moved Back To October

The trial of Karen McCarron, the Illinois physician on trial for killing her 3-year old autistic daughter, Katie, has been moved back until October.

Florida Man with Disabilities Waits Year In Jail for Community Placement

Well at least his short-term housing needs were met.

Robert Chane Burrell has mental retardation along with other disabilities, including confusion and dimentia. He was arrested in 2004 after breaking into a woman's 2001 BMW, drinking her soda, and checking out her CD collection.

He was deemed incompetent to stand trial and was placed in a hospital in an attempt to restore his competency (The secondary gains issues in these cases are always staggeringly obvious to everyone but the justice system).

Finally in June of 2006, they deemed he would not be able to become competent to stand trial and was released, with one condition:

that Burrell not be released until the Agency for Persons With Disabilities could place him in an assisted-living facility. Caseworker Rita Diefenderfer began the process of searching for placement.

Well, I will spare you the details, but various organizations kept taking their shots until someone in the Public Defender's office found a nursing home placement for him over a year later.

Not good.

Documents show Young initially said it was her agency's responsibility to place Burrell in a facility. A month later, in September, court records show, Young "disavowed all responsibility" because her agency didn't place people in nursing homes.

Young said Tuesday the statement was not accurate.

The agency is limited in what services it can provide under the Medicaid waiver and cannot provide nursing home care, she said.

Burrell's condition in two years had deteriorated greatly, and his needs changed significantly, resulting in a shift in responsibility of his case, Young said.

"We were concerned about him," Young said. "We were not brushing him off. We were not able to do the placement."

Gunflint Trail as Beautiful as Ever

Sorry about the one week between posts - I apologize to my thousands of readers.

Last Wednesday I went out of town with a my two sons, my neighbor and his two sons, and my wife's brother. Our destination was the Gunflint Trail.

We went to northern Minnesota to camp out in the wilderness. You drive from Columbus to Indianapolis to Chicago to Eau Claire, north to Duluth, and then you hug Lake Superior as you drive northeast to Grand Marais.

Out of Grand Marais you take a 50-mile one-way highway known as the Gunflint Trail. My uncle and cousin run an outfitting operation at the very end of the Trail known as Way of the Wilderness.

We camped twelve miles away from the nearest cabin. My kids saw a moose swim across the bay. We saw a bear with her young cub scurry up a tree when they heard us. We saw a bald eagle soar and come to rest in a tree, surveying the wilderness around her. In short, it was amazing.

Earlier this year, the Gunflint Trail had a forest fire that was covered in the media all through Minnesota and, to a small degree, nationally. Having gone up there, I can say that even the small percentage of land that was burned had its own beauty and mystique.

There is no reason to stay home and a million reasons to go.

Now back to the disability stuff.

Sign Me Up

According to Legistorm, an Internet non-profit aimed at educating the public about congressional expenditures, members of Congress and their staffers took some interesting trips.

One member of Congress got the local airport to pay for her trip so that she could learn about airport baggage hold security systems. The obvious place to go to learn of such things is five days in London and Amsterdam. You can't learn about those issues in St. Louis.

Three staffers from Maryland flew to Cleveland to hear about the proposal for federal funding from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

But the one I like was the unnamed staffer who was willing to sacrifice and go on to deluxe cruise ships in order to learn first hand how they are in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Over steak and lobster.

I'm putting Congress on notice: I am willing to serve my country.

People with Disabilities "Have a Home" at Walgreens

Many thanks to Walgreens for recognizing the business opportunity in hiring people with disabilities. At a South Carolina distribution center, 40% of the work force has a disability, and the warehouse is set up to accommodate their needs. As a result, the center is 20% more profitable and efficient than any other center in the country.

Well done.

Parents Sue Over Child's Death After Autism "Treatment"

One story I have monitored but never really written much about is the theory that childhood vaccines are linked to autism. I have six children, all of them fully vaccinated, but it is a thought that has crossed my mind. My youngest, who is 7 months old, is going through them now. It is clearly something to give you pause.

But a case in Pittsburgh shows that this issue is volatile at so many levels.

Some autism advocates believe that autism is causes by a preservative containing mercury that was once used in vaccines. Chelation is a drug produced by ApotheCure that is designed to for people who have heavy-metal poisoning.

Mawra and Rufai Nadama, the parents of a son with autism, went to Dr. Roy Kerry in Pittsburgh for Chelation treatments. According to their lawsuit, in 2005, five-year old Tariq went into cardiac arrest immediately after receiving Chelation treatments at Kerry's office. They are also suing the drug manufacturer, ApotheCure.

The Nadamas are suing for wrongful death.

Coschocton MR/DD Clients Contributing To The Community

One of the big challenges of running an employment program in the MR/DD system (beyond securing contracts with companies) is finding productive things for clients to do in the periods between contracts.

Diane Williams, habilitation manager at Hopewell Industries, came up with the idea of conducting a survey of the clients to see what their ideas and interests were.

On any given downtime day clients can choose from up to 18 activities that have included: music, exercise, recycling, weather, video making, gardening, volunteering, crafts, sign language, sewing, sports and scrap booking.

One of the more interesting responses was in the area of fund raising. As a result, the participants have sold flowers for Mother's Day and Memorial Day and have recycled plastic products to earn money. To date $800 has been raised and donated to the animal shelter and the county hospital.

"They become contributing members and are giving back to society," she said.

Lack of Assistive Technology Lands Marriott in Court

Here's another story about how if employers would use more assistive technology, they could keep good employees and themselves out of the courtroom.

For five years Peter Gillard worked as a switchboard operator for the The Inn at Bay Harbor in Bay Harbor, Michigan.

In this position, Gillard, who is legally blind and has no light perception in one eye, was responsible for answering incoming calls to the hotel, responding to guest requests and handling other administrative duties.

In December of 2003, the resort was bought out by Marriott and continued under the Marriott Renaissance chain name. That is when the trouble started.

First, Marriott changed his job title from Switchboard Operator to a "Delighted to Serve Agent."

They should be sued just for that alone. No grown-up outside of the Magic Kingdom should have to work with that job title. But I digress.

His job duties were essentially the same, but the new phone system had caller ID, which allowed the "Delighted to Serve" Agents to refer to guests by their names. The Agents also were required to input room-service orders.

Since Mr. Gillard couldn't see the Caller ID or read the computer screen, they felt he couldn't do that job, so they fired him. He went to the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, and they have filed suit in the U.S. District Court for Western Michigan.

The EEOC alleges that the hotel failed to provide an effective accommodation for Gillard, and fired him prior to the property’s spring shutdown in April 2004 — violating an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provision which requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for workers with disabilities.

“I believe the specific reason given (for termination) was that he was not able to perform the functions of the job,” EEOC trial attorney Trina Mengesha said. “We believe that there are accommodations that could easily be made.”

OK, Marriott. Let's go through this.

It's called Talking Caller ID. It's available on lots of phones or as a shareware product that can be added. It even has its own webpage.

For the inputting of room service orders? How about a screen reader and a mouse? That should do the trick.

According to their website, the Inn at Bay Harbor offers:

The Lifestyle of Yesterday. The Luxury of Today. Rekindling the romance and style of the great turn-of-the-century Northern Michigan inns.

And no blind people.

For less than $1000, you could have bought and implemented the AT necessary to keep this good employee on the job. Also, it's not just a good idea - it's the law.

See you in court.

Inaugural Accessible Golf Pro-Am Set for July 16th in Toledo

The National Alliance for Accessible Golf has scheduled the first-ever Accessible Golf Pro-Am for Toledo on July 16th. The event is being held at the Toledo Country Club the day after the conclusion of the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic in nearby Sylvania, Ohio.

The National Alliance for Accessible Golf is "a charitable organization working to ensure the opportunity for all individuals with disabilities to play the game of golf."

The event is also convenient scheduled to coincide with the end of the Nationwide Tour Event in Columbus to be held at the Scarlet and Gray courses. The event is featuring stars from both tours, including Danielle Ammaccapane, Brad Elder, Michelle McGann, former Buckeye Chris Smith (top right), and others.

Sponsorship levels are at $25,000, $15,000 and $7,500. The cost for an individual to play is $3000.

It sounds like a great event, but with six kids, there is no way I can pay $3,000 for a round of golf with Jeff Klauk.

For a round with Paula Creamer?

Maybe.

America The Beautiful

From the one and only, Ray Charles.

Happy Birthday, America.

Strickland Vetoes Scholarship Program for Students with Disabilities

The answer is 'Yes', Governor Strickland will (and did) veto the proposed pilot program for scholarships for students with disabilities.

According to the Governor: (hat tip to the Arc of Ohio):

This item would create a Special Education Scholarship Pilot Program that would, starting in fiscal year 2009, provide vouchers for students in grades K-12 who have an individualized education program (IEP) to attend private schools, other public school districts, or public entities that are not school districts. The administration believes that funding private schools with public tax dollars deprives the state and its taxpayers of proper oversight and accountability of these programs. Further, by draining funds that would otherwise be used to support public schools, such a program serves to harm the vast majority of students, including disabled students, who attend public schools.

The administration is committed to working with the Department of Education and parents to review alternative policies to best meet the needs of all children with disabilities.

Indeed, the administration has increased funding for special education by more than 8 percent in each year of the biennium. However, this program does not serve that goal. Therefore this veto is in the public interest.”

Eric Parks, Rest in Peace

Eric Parks, who recently retired as a Commissioner at the Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission, passed away from heart failure on Friday night at the age of 58.

Eric was very near the end of his service at RSC when he resigned his position two weeks ago. He was a valuable member of the Commission and a leader in Ohio's blind community. He is survived by his wife Traci.

According to his obituary,

A celebration of life will be held 7 p.m. Tuesday at the SCHOEDINGER WORTHINGTON CHAPEL, 6699 N. High St., where friends may call 2 hours prior to service. In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to University & Northwest Sertoma Club or Columbus Speech and Hearing, 510 E. North Broadway, Columbus, Ohio 43214.

Rest in peace.