Happy New Year

From Dan Fogelberg, 1951- 2007.

Same Auld Lang Syne

Making Fun Of The Special Olympics

This is a video by a comedian named Stephen Lynch. He writes "funny" songs - including those that make fun of people with disabilities. Specifically, those who participate in the Special Olympics. (And, for the record, he is among those people who don't know the difference between the Special Olympics and the Para-Olympics).

I think comedy is part of life - and people with disabilities are part of life. So they should be part of what's funny about life as well. But making fun of them for simply being who they are is not funny to me. There are ways to do it - and I don't think this guy has figured it out at all.

What's worse, from his comments, he realizes he's being offensive and cruel. He does it anyway.

And the crowd sings along.

Autistic Boy Attacked In His Sleep - By His Aunt

Bizarre case out of the state of Florida - and not for the squeamish among us.

A 14-year old autistic boy in Florida was attacked with a knife by his own aunt while he slept. She took out a dagger and stabbed the boy in each of his eyes. She then turned the knife on herself and stabbed herself in the eye.

He had to have one eye removed and had surgery on the other eye to address the injuries. He will have to use a device to help him focus with his one remaining eye.

He was living with his aunt and grandmother. His parents had recently moved to Orlando and work as ride operators at Disney World. He will now join his parents in Orlando. For reasons unknown, the relatives waited more than 10 hours to call 911 and report the attack.

Lisa Babington, 40, is being held on a charge of premeditated murder (I think the paper meant premeditated attempted murder). There is no word on her condition or any possible motive for the attack.

"This is so heinous, I can't believe she would do it, but she did," William Babington said of his sister. "I may eventually forgive her, but not right now, it's too soon."

Michigan: Making Stadium Accessible A "Wasted Resource."

The University of Michigan, in her fight against the Americans with Disabilities Act, has pulled out the oldest anti-disability canard: lack of demand.

According to the University of Michigan there aren’t a lot of people with disabilities who want to go to football games in Ann Arbor. So, in turn, they don’t see any reason why they should have to make their 111,000 seat football stadium accessible, as defined by the ADA. Besides, it would cost them revenue.

"We are interested in providing accessible seating to certainly meet demand. We don't want to create a position where (bench) seats are lost and then the demand for accessible seats isn't there. It's just a wasted resource,” said Jason Winters, chief financial officer of U-M's athletic department.

It could cost Michigan $2 million each year in ticket sales, so they don't want to do it. They say the ADA only applies to new seats, not to the bowl. Meaning people with disabilities will NEVER get to sit in quality locations in Michigan Stadium. And old Blue is just fine with that.

Read the report of the Office of Civil Rights. People in wheelchairs are being carried down to their seats, rather than being relegated to your disability seats in the hinterlands. Students in wheelchairs have to stay in the same nosebleed, end zone seats for all four years, as their friends get closer and closer to the action each year.

You have about 1/10^th of the required disability seats. They are only in the endzones, high away from the action. And none of the walkways that take you to those seats are accessible.

A wasted resource?

Take a walk in an older neighborhood, one without any curbcuts. Do you think you will see any people in wheelchairs? Why would they live there? They can’t get around. But if you keep saying, “We’ll change it when they live here,” you’re never going to change it, because they are never going to live there.

If you ride a bus that is not wheelchair accessible, you’re not going to see any wheelchairs.

Deaf people don’t go to speeches where there are no interpreters.

Blind people don't use computers at the library that don't have screen readers.

Why should we accommodate these people who are never around?

I think all of the higher-ups in the Michigan Athletic Department and the President’s Office need to do an age-old, disability awareness experiment. Sit them down in a nice, new, lightweight wheelchair from Invacare, right in the middle of campus. And them tell them to go to Michigan Stadium and try to get to a disability seating section.

Better yet, do it on a Saturday, when Michigan is playing Michigan State. See what it is like. Then come back and see if people in wheelchairs represent a “wasted resource.”

The Christmas Song - The Darling Family's Gift To Christmas

My grandfather, Robert Darling, was a high school English teacher in the Chicago Public School System. He was known as "Old Man" Darling to the students. He taught at Hyde Park High School in the early 1940s.

He was an early proponent of kids staying in school - he felt that a college education was the key to a successful future. Every chance he got, he would encourage kids to pursue higher education.

One day a kid came to my grandfather and wanted to talk. He was about 16 years old and a talented musician. He was so talented, in fact, he had an offer to go west with a band as a drummer. It was a great opportunity , but he didn't want to just leave school without talking to someone about it.

My grandfather started into his regular spiel about how the world was changing, how it was a new day, and how education was the key to success. As he was giving this speech, he was reaching into his file cabinet and pulling out the student's file.

He kept talking while he was gazing at the student's grades. Upon looking at his well-below average grades, he suddenly stopped, looked at the young man and said, "Of course, college isn't for everybody. Maybe you ought to think about going west with the band." And the student did.

The student's name? Mel Torme. He went on to a legendary jazz career as a performer, but he is perhaps best known for a holiday song he wrote: "The Christmas Song." Immortalized by Nat King Cole, I always think of my grandfather when it is played on the radio.

And I present it to you --- In a very indirect way, the Darling family gift to Christmas. If it wasn't for my family, there may never have been any chestnuts roasting on an open fire.

Merry Christmas.

Lawsuit? What lawsuit?

A few weeks ago, Ohio State finished off a Big 10 championship by pounding Michigan 14-3. It was the Buckeyes 6th win the past 7 years against our arch rival.

Two things happened in short order:

1. Head coach Lloyd Carr announced his retirement, assuring everyone that it had nothing to do with having lost 6 times in the past 7 years to their arch rival; and

2. They began a massive reconstruction project at Michigan Stadium

This was very unwelcome news to some interested parties: the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Education and the Michigan chapter of the Paralyzed Veterans of America. Both are parties to a lawsuit alleging that Michigan Stadium is in substantial non-compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Michigan has offered no detailed plan to make the stadium accessible. They have certainly offered no plan to make the stadium compliant with the ADA. The best they have done is offered to increase disabled seating to 592 – roughly half of what is required under federal law.

That must be good enough for UM, because they have plowed ahead with construction plans anyway. They seem to be acting like they truly do not care that they are being sued.

That dispute is apparently having no effect on construction workers who have steadily installed huge retaining walls between the Crisler parking lot and the stadium as the first stages of the $226 million renovation project get under way.

The activity runs from dark mornings to past dusk, seven days a week, said Diane Brown, U-M's spokeswoman for facilities and operations. Such an ambitious schedule is necessary in order to complete the project in time for the 2010 football season as well as getting the stadium ready to play host to games next season with construction still in progress, Brown said.

The lawyer for the plaintiffs think the move is, to put it politely, unwise.

Richard Bernstein, counsel for the paralyzed-veterans group, criticized U-M for beginning the project with legal questions still pending. "It's not a good idea to move forward with massive construction and building when you don't know the (decision),'' he said. "You don't know exactly what you have to do.''

Michigan is acting like this is going to go away by offering a donation to charity and a couple sets of season tickets. I have more faith in the plaintiffs than that.

Michigan is dead set against complying with the ADA. They aren’t going to let some penny-ante disability group alter their plans. And their goal is to make modest, cosmetic accessibility improvements which will NOT make the place accessible. And after it is built, what can you do them? Nothing.

U-M spokeswoman Kelly Cunningham said the construction that has started in recent weeks is unrelated to the lawsuit.

That's the problem. Everything they are doing is unrelated to the lawsuit. Better tell those ushers to keep up their off-season workout regimen. They are going to need to be in shape to keep carrying people with disabilities down to their seats.

Law Student With Disabilities Files Suit - Against Law School

One thing that law students often lack coming out of school is real world experience. Lisa Rittenhouse is trying, in her own way, to change that.

Lisa Dawn Rittenhouse has filed suit – against her own law school. Now there is a turn of events.

Ms. Rittenhouse is claiming that she is being discriminated against – in part – because of her disabilities. She is also claiming (reverse) racial discrimination after being denied in her application for readmission to law school despite her below average grades.

Ms. Rittenhouse was a first year law student at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. She claims she has had ADHD since she was 5 and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when she has 13. Ms. Rittenhouse is white.

Her grade point average after her first year in law school was 1.948. Students at SIU Law must maintain a 1.95 to remain eligible and continue in school. Students may, however, petition the school for a readmission exception.

Ms. Rittenhouse’s suit alleges that there were six students in her class that failed to make the minimum grade point average. Five of the six students were granted readmission – only Ms. Rittenhouse was denied.

Four of the five who were granted readmission were minorities. Two of those, it is alleged in the suit, had grades so low that they shouldn’t have even been eligible to apply for readmission. All of the students had grade point average below Ms. Rittenhouse's. None of the others students had disabilities.

Ms. Rittenhouse is suing for $1.5 million in damages. SIU, through its spokesperson, offered no comment.

Springfield Rotary Club Gets Christmas Right For Kids With Disabilities

Best wishes go out to the Springfield Rotary Club for their commitment to children with disabilities at Christmas.

For 85 years, the Rotary Club has thrown a party for children with disabilities. What makes this party extra special, however, is their commitment to make sure that the gift that is given to each child fits with the child’s abilities.

This group, in the spirit of an IEP for education needs, creates a gift plan for the child, matching the traits of the child to the specific aspects of the toy.

The goal of all this is clear.

"What we're trying to do is give a party in a setting specifically geared for MD kids, where their disabilities will not even enter their minds or make them feel differently than any other party-goers," Jane Deer, executive director for the club's Services to People with Disabilities program said.

The party is meant to be a place "where being vision- or hearing-impaired or in a wheelchair or any combination of factors won't prevent them from having a great time."

Court Rules School Can Force Student To Remain In Special Ed

99% of court litigation around IEPs happens when parents want particular services for their children and can't get the school to provide them. Many times schools take the position of "professionally disagreeing" with what services are needed, while parents think the schools are just unwilling to pay for what is needed and required under the IDEA.

Not in Boston.

In Norfolk, Massachusetts, a judge ruled that the Cohasset School District can compel a student to remain in special education services, against the wishes of the child and the child's family.

Peggy and Kevin Lewis, the boy's parents, wanted to take their son out of the special education services he has received since the first grade. The school felt he needed to remain in special ed, filed suit against the parents, and won.

Naturally, the school praised themselves.

Cohasset schools Superintendent Denise M. Walsh praised the ruling.

"It reinforces to our professional staff that they never lost the focus on putting that child first and at the center of all decisions," Walsh said. "They believe every child is a winner and every child can be successful. I'm very proud of them."

I really disagree with this quote. It's fine to say that there was a professional disagreement over important issues, and we were willing to pursue it further. But to say that the school "never lost the focus of putting the child first," and that "they believe every child is a winner," is to tacitly assert that the parents, by contrast, do not feel this way. It may well be that the parents were also putting their child first, and want their child to win in life.

Peggy Lewis, the boy's mother, said the ruling was a setback for parental rights.

“This is truly devastating to all parents who have children on an IEP,” she said, referring to the individual education plans school districts develop for each special education student. “What it means in fact when you sign an IEP for your child, you sign away your parental rights ... Don’t sign on the dotted lines.”

School Suing Parents To Get Services For Student

In most fights between parents and schools regarding the IDEA, parents are suing the schools to try and ensure their child gets all the services they need.

In Massachusetts, at least in one case, it’s the other way around.

Peggy and Kevin Lewis have a 13-year old son who has received special education services since the first grade. They now believe he no longer needs the services and pulled him from the program.

The school district feels he needs to continue and are actually suing the parents to keep him in special education.

‘‘He wants off; we want him off, and that’s final,’’ said Peggy Lewis, who did the same with an older son when he entered eighth grade at Cohasset Middle School-High School.

In Massachusetts, schools have to cede to the will of the parents on plans, except if the plan would endanger the health or safety of the child, or be overly disruptive to other children.

There are so many parents fighting to get services for their children, it is odd to see a school district fighting parents to get services for the child.

Stay tuned.

"I can only go on what I would want for myself."

Robert Latimer will have at least two more years in a Canadian prison to think about his crimes.

In 1993, while the rest of his family went into church, Robert placed his 12-year old disabled daughter in his Chevy pickup truck. He got out and ran a hose from the exhaust pipe to the main cabin. He then sat down and waited until his daughter was dead.

Tracy had cerebral palsy and, according to her father, was in tremendous pain.

She could not walk, care for herself or communicate verbally. But she went to a special day program on school days, was described by her teachers as a lover of music who knew how to laugh, despite multiple surgeries to release muscle tension and adjust limbs.

Her father decided that she had had enough, and ended her life. And in so doing, set off a firestorm of legal battles and engaged a society on the issues of the rights of the disabled and the value of life.

Briefly, he was convicted of murder in the 2^nd degree in 1994, and it was upheld on appeal. He was eventually awarded a second trial where he was also convicted, but the jury recommended and the judge awarded a light sentence – an “exemption” to the usually mandatory 10-year sentence. Ultimately a Court of Appeals threw out the judge’s sentence and imposed the 10-year sentence. It was upheld on appeal the Supreme Court and he began serving in 2001.

His recent attempt at parole was denied because, among other things, he still has no remorse for what he did. Reports can be found now that state he was upfront about killing her; this is not true. He first told the police that she died in her sleep, and he maintained this story until they found such high level of CO₂ in her blood. He then admitted what he had done.

Asked how he felt when he took his daughter's life, The Canadian Press reports Latimer said: "It was a very personal thing and wasn't a big guilt trip. I still don't feel guilty now. I would expect she would not have wanted any more pain. I can only go on what I would want for myself."

There are websites and YouTube videos set up supporting him. He even has his own website, put up by friends who wish to help him get his side of the story out to the public. He states that he simply felt his daughter was suffering and he wanted to end it.

There are also, thankfully, websites out there who are taking the side of the victim (and of people with disabilities) in this case. She was described in court testimony as a cheerful girl who derived enjoyment from the activities and services she was receiving in her life. A recent back surgery had gone very well and doctors were optimistic about continuing to improve her physical situation.

Roughly 10% of people with cerebral palsy are in the same severe category as Tracy. That, my friends, is a lot of people. It is estimated that 2 out of every 1000 births results in a child with cerebral palsy. That would mean that 1 out of every 5000 births would have children born as CP in the same category as Tracy.

Disability and religious groups were outraged, saying that to give a reduced sentenced for the intentional killing of a child with a disability would be to devalue the life of that child and encourage similar acts against other disabled children. On the other hand, over 70% of Canadians polled feel he should be given a reduced sentence.

Disability writer Helen Henderson wrote a recent column after the denial of parole, concluding:

The way in which those without disabilities regard the lives of people with disabilities may or may not bear any relation to reality.

Forty years ago, when I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, if I'd thought too much about not being able to walk I might have decided I'd rather end it all. Today, from the vantage point of an electric scooter, I know the part of life I value most started after the diagnosis.

We will never know how Tracy Latimer felt. Her father silenced her.

Man Clocked For Speeding - In His Wheelchair.

A man in Germany got a speeding ticket in his wheelchair.

Not that I’m condoning reckless driving, or breaking the law in any fashion. The laws are here to protect us, and if everyone would abide by them, the world would be a safer, kinder place.

But if your wheelchair can go 40 mph, sometimes you’ve just got to open it up.

If this guy set up a defense fund, he could easily raise the 300 Euros to pay off the fine.

"A Disgraceful Breach of Trust"

I used to work in field of workers’ compensation; my job was to help people who had been injured on the job get back to work.

In that line of work you meet a lot of investigators who have outrageous stories of people claiming to be too disabled to work while being caught working or doing activities that would concretely refute that notion.

A man in New York – out on disability benefits – won the annual race up and down the stairs of the Empire State Building, for example.

In Ohio in 1992, a man with a small country restaurant put out a sign advertising “Clinton Burgers,” knowing that Presidential candidate Bill Clinton would be driving by in his bus. It worked: Clinton stopped and had a burger, and the guy made national news.

Two problems:

1. He was on workers’ compensation, alleging he was too disabled to work; and
2. He didn’t have a license to run a restaurant.

The latest great story, however, comes from England. John and Catie Walker were sentenced to 15 months and 8 months, respectively, for fraudulently claiming that Mr. Walker was too disabled to work.

John Walker of Sefton, England claimed in 1999 that he had fibromyalgia and other severe disabilities that required 24-hour care from his wife.

The government, however, began to question the severity of his conditions. Mrs. Walker was working full-time as a taxi driver. If she had a full-time job during the day, it is difficult to see (a) how he needed full-time care and (b) why she was being paid to (not) provide it.

There was also another minor piece of evidence that might lead one to question whether Mr. Walker was as disabled as he had implied on his applications for benefits:

He was the mayor.

Ok, to his credit, he may be a man of the people; I don’t know of any mayors in America whose wife is a cabbie. But come on; you can’t be that stupid.

The presiding judge said: "It is apparent that as the two of you postured in your civic finery being chauffeured around in your publicly funded limousine then, and for some years before, you systematically cheated the community which had honoured you.”

"It is a disgraceful breach of trust."

President Bush Asks Charlie Weis To Serve On National Disabilities Board

Charlie Weis is the head football coach at Notre Dame and he’s having a bad year.

It started way back in January watching the Irish getting demolished by Louisiana State in the Sugar Bowl. Looking back on it – that was the highlight of the year. At least they were in the Sugar Bowl.

Brady Quinn went on to the Cleveland Browns and everything fell apart. Notre Dame – the most storied program in college football – had its worst year ever.

They lost 38-0 to Michigan after Michigan had been humiliated by Appalachian State. They lost to Navy and Air Force. They hadn’t lost to Navy in over 40 years.

Things are looking up though.

One thing few people know about Charlie Weis is his commitment to people with disabilities. His daughter, Hannah, has developmentally disabilities. Charlie and his wife started a non-profit organization to help children like Hannah, and last year they broke ground on a developmental disabilities center in South Bend.

And any year President Bush asks you to serve on a national board is a good year. The President and First Lady Laura Bush asked Charlie to serve on the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities.

Mind you, this is not the normal way it happens. People that want to be appointed lobby their Congressmen or Senators to lobby the President to pick them. Rarely does the President himself ask someone to serve on a board - let alone a disabilities board.

Mr. Weis says he’s leaning toward saying yes. I probably would have said yes on the spot. Quite an honor - and a good way to end the year. He would definitely be in a great position to continue to help children with disabilities.

McCarron Prosecution Needs More Time

The trial of Karen McCarron has been postponed yet again. This time it was requested by the prosecution.

The defense turned over a critical mental health evaluation mere days before the scheduled December 4, 2007 start date, giving the people no time to review the report and have the defendant seen by the people’s own psychiatrist.

The judge reluctantly granted the motion. Even though it was a prosecution motion, it was caused by the actions of the defense, who have been looking at every turn to delay the beginning of this trial.

McCarron is accused of murdering her 3-year old daughter Katie, who had autism.

The new trial date is set for January 3. Consider it tentative at best.