Your quick, once-a-day look at disability rights,
self-determination
and the movement toward full community inclusion around
the world.
Wednesday, May 22, 2002
Year III, Edition 091
This edition includes 7 news items, each preceded by a number (#) symbol.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"'What we need to make sure is that we take
steps quickly enough to ensure that the problems that occurred in the last
election don't occur in the next election."
--Senator John Edwards of
North Carolina, on the U.S. Department of Justice decision to file suits
against Florida counties and cities in two other states for violating the
rights of voters in the 2000 presidential election (First story)
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# ACCESSIBILITY / LAWS
Justice Department Claims States
Violated Voters' Rights In 2000
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily
Express
May 22, 2002
WASHINGTON, DC -- The U.S. Department of Justice
announced Tuesday that it will file lawsuits against counties in Florida, and
cities in Missouri and Tennessee, for allegedly violating voters' rights during
the November 2000 presidential election.
Assistant Attorney General Ralph Boyd told Senate Judiciary Committee members that the suits will claim that, among other things, discriminatory treatment was given to minority voters, that voters with limited understanding of English were not given bilingual assistance, and that proper access was not provided for voters with disabilities.
The department received more than 11,000 complaints from voters after the general election. Boyd said those complaints were reduced to 14 active investigations and the five potential lawsuits. The suits will be filed within the next two months.
The official results of the extremely close vote were delayed for several weeks because of disputes over how certain Florida counties counted their votes. The disputes went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court before being resolved and George W. Bush was declared the winner in Florida and the nation.
Disability rights groups have been active since before the 2000 election, pushing for accessible polling places and voting machines so voters can exercise their right to cast a secret ballot.
The Chicago Sun-Times ran this story:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/elect/cst-nws-elect22.html
---
# INSTITUTIONS / ABUSE
Employee Ignored Dying Son's Condition,
Parents Claim
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
May 22,
2002
WAUKESHA, WISCONSIN -- David W. Collins lived at the Oconomowoc
Developmental Training Center from August 1989 until he died October 25, 2000
at the age of 19.
Collins, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, mild mental retardation and obsessive compulsive disorder, died in a local hospital two days after he apparently drank methanol, a poisonous chemical commonly found in solvents and antifreeze.
This Tuesday, Collins' parents filed a lawsuit against the nursing facility that houses children with developmental disabilities claiming it failed to protect him and adequately care for him. The suit also names employee Kathie Geboy as a defendant. They are seeking unspecified damages.
Court documents allege that Collins ingested methanol on October 23. Geboy started her shift at 11 p.m. and checked Collins every 30 minutes as required. At one point, Geboy noticed Collins found blood on his bedding and on the floor and noticed that his nose had been bleeding. She was not able to wake him. But when Geboy's shift ended at 7 a.m. on October 24, she left without reporting the matter to her supervisors.
Two hours later Collins was taken to a local hospital. He died the next day.
Geboy still works at the nursing home the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Wednesday. She refused to comment on the suit.
Connor's death occurred ten months after 17-year-old Joshua Sharpe died from being restrained by a Oconomowoc Developmental Training Center supervisor. Sharpe's death was later ruled an accident.
---
# INSTITUTIONS
State Officials Tell
Parents Institution Will Stay
May 22, 2002
CONWAY, ARKANSAS--
Officials with the state Department of Human Services told parents of residents
at Conway Human Development Center that the facility will not close.
Dr. David Fray, director of the Developmentally Disabled Services Division of the Arkansas Department of Human Services and DHS Deputy Director John Selig met with the parents Monday in the gymnasium at CHDC.
"We're here to reassure you first of all," Fray said. "I want to reassure you that there are no plans to close any human development centers, especially here at Conway."
Recent budget cuts resulted in reduced services and staff at institutions across the state as well as community-based supports.
CHDC is Arkansas' largest institution, housing about 600 people with mental retardation that range from age 9 to age 65.
Earlier the year, the state Attorney General's office looked into complaints alleging that CHDC did not provide adequate medical care to residents and failed to prevent sexual abuse. Investigations revealed that the facility did not report a number of critical incidents as required.
More details are available from Tuesday's Log Cabin Democrat:
http://www.thecabin.net/stories/052102/loc_0521020019.shtml
---
# ACCESSIBILITY
Airline Refused Seat For Man Without Care
Provider
May 22, 2002
ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA -- An anonymous man
paid a taxi driver nearly $3,000 this past weekend for a three-day trip --
because an airline refused to seat him without a care provider.
Officials with Qantas airlines told the man, who uses a wheelchair, that he needed to have a care provider with him in order to travel on the airline. A spokeswoman said it was Qantas policy that anyone requiring constant care needed to travel with a care provider on a flight.
Yellow Cab driver Ken Marshall said he was approached by a federal police officer at the Brisbane airport and asked if his maxi-taxi had wheelchair access. Marshall transported the man to his home in Adelaide, after being paid up front.
---
# LAWS
Ms. Wheelchair Risks Losing Benefits
By Dave
Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
May 22, 2002
DES MOINES, IOWA -- On
April 20, Ruth Evans was named Ms. Wheelchair Iowa. Since then, local donors
have given Evans $2,600 to travel to Rockville, Maryland to compete in the
national Ms. Wheelchair pageant on July 30.
Now officials with Iowa's Department of Human Services are threatening to cut her Medicaid coverage and $115 in monthly food stamps, if she does not provide proof that the donations will be spent only on getting to the national pageant.
"People who receive benefits know the rules", said Roger Munns, spokesperson for DHS. "It's not as though we keep those things secret."
Munns added that people who receive medical benefits and food stamps are allowed to solicit donations, but the money should be handled through a third party and should not involve cash.
Evans, 48, lives alone but receives in-home care at a cost of about $1,500 a month.
Officials apparently found out about the money donated to Evans from an article in the Des Moines Register that described her efforts to raise awareness of disability-related issues.
Evans' situation has gotten the attention of her boss, U.S. Senator Tom Harkin.
"It is outrageous that, because of the generosity of Iowans, the government would make Ruth choose between representing her state in a national competition or receiving needed medical and food assistance," Harkin told the Register Tuesday.
---
# TODAY'S FEATURED WEBSITE
LD Online: Learning Disabilities
Information and Resources
"The leading Web site on learning disabilities for parents, teachers and other professionals"
"LD OnLine is a service of The Learning Project at WETA, Washington, D.C., in association with The Coordinated Campaign for Learning Disabilities."
---
# ONE YEAR AGO (From the May 22, 2001 Inclusion Daily
Express)
EDUCATION
District Struggles As It Moves Toward
Inclusion
May 21, 2001
HERNANDO, FLORIDA--After a century and a
half of segregated public education in the United States, trying to change to
inclusive schools can be like trying to push a school bus up a mountain: It's
hard work, it takes a long time, you cannot do it alone, and you can find every
reason not to do it.
This week the St. Petersburg Times is running a special series on inclusive education and how a school district north of Tampa is struggling to make it happen.
May 20: "No easy answers -- Twenty-five years ago seriously impaired
children were kept at home or placed in an institution. Today they attend
public school."
http://www.sptimes.com/News/052001/Hernando/No_easy_answers_.shtml
May 20: "Teacher mothers her handicapped students"
http://www.sptimes.com/News/052001/Hernando/Teacher_mothers_her_h.shtml
May 21: "Making headway in the mainstream"
http://www.sptimes.com/News/052101/Hernando/Making_headway_in_the.shtml
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Dave
Reynolds, Editor