INCLUSION DAILY EXPRESS
International Disability Rights News Service

http://www.InclusionDaily.com
Your quick, once-a-day look at disability rights, self-determination
and the movement toward full community inclusion around the world.

Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Year V, Edition 932

Today's front section features 8 news and information items, each preceded by a number (#) symbol.
Click on the"Below the Fold" link at the bottom of this section for 33 more news items.

QUOTES OF THE DAY:
"This behavior is not only unfair, it's unlawful and downright unpatriotic."

--Attorney Victoria Ni, who represents a group of military families that are suing an on-base housing provider at Fort Lewis, Washington for discriminating against them because they have family members with disabilities (First story)

"You just can't allow people to take their sons or daughters out to the garage, fit a pipe to their mouths and gas them with carbon monoxide because they think it's the right thing to do. That can never be the right thing to do."
--Winnipeg Sun columnist Tom Brodbeck, responding to public sympathy for so-called "mercy killers" (Fifth story)

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# HOUSING / LAWS

Fort Lewis Families Accuse Base Housing Provider Of Discrimination

By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
May 11, 2004

TACOMA, WASHINGTON--Four legal firms have joined seven Fort Lewis families in a federal suit accusing an on-base housing provider of discriminating against them because they have family members with disabilities.

The families are seeking class action status in the suit filed in U.S. District Court Monday against Equity, a corporation that was granted the contract with the U.S. Army in 2000 to replace, repair and manage base housing at Fort Lewis. The case could have wide-ranging implications because Equity and its partners, the largest owners and managers of residential properties in the country, provide rental housing at more than 20 other military bases and sites.

The plaintiffs claim that Equity violated the Fair Housing Act, the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and other federal and state anti-discrimination laws. The suit seeks unspecified damages but demands immediate changes be made to the company's policies and procedures.

According to a statement by Disability Rights Advocates, a California-based non-profit law firm representing the families, Equity failed to make reasonable accommodations to housing units as requested, asked unlawful questions about individuals' disabilities, refused to rent to families with members that have disabilities, and harassed and intimidated individuals with disabilities.

"What they're asking for is something any tenant would regard as a very modest request and ought to be allowed," said Sid Wolinsky, an attorney with Disability Rights Advocates.

The suit also accuses Equity of retaliating against families for requesting accommodations, including several instances where the company allegedly complained to a soldier's chain of command, thereby threatening the soldier's position and career in the Army.

"It is outrageous that Equity is discriminating against military families with disabled family members at a time when so many of them have sent soldiers to risk their lives fighting in Iraq," said Victoria Ni, a staff attorney with Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, a Washington, DC national public interest law firm involved in the case.

The Army reports that 13 percent of military families at Fort Lewis -- or about 3000 people -- have at least one member with a disability, the second highest of any Army base.

A company spokesman denied the claims, saying Equity is proud of its record of accommodating people with disabilities at Fort Lewis and its other properties.

Related:
"Fort Lewis families sue over housing" (Seattle Times)

http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/04/red/0511b.htm
Disability Rights Advocates
http://www.dralegal.org

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# INSTITUTIONS

Alabama Receives Kudos For De-institutionalization Efforts, Even From Former Critics

By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
May 11, 2004

DECATUR, ALABAMA--Novella Parson used to be a staunch fighter for keeping Lurleen B. Wallace Developmental Center open, and her brother housed there.

Now that her brother, Stan, has been moved, she says she may have to apologize to Mental Health and Mental Retardation Commission Kathy Sawyer, who pushed for the eventual closing of Wallace Center.

"I have a smile on my face so far," Parsons told the Decatur Daily.

"My biggest problem now is the time it takes to drive to Tuscaloosa, although the department does offer to pay for gas, lodging and meals. But so far, I've heard no horror stories," Parsons said.

According to the Decatur Daily, Parsons' opinion appears to be shared by families of the other people who were moved from Wallace Center. About half of those were transferred to Partlow Developmental Center, while most of the rest were placed in community-based homes. One moved back home to live with family.

In its February issue, the civic journal Governing praised the state of Alabama as a leader in mental health care for its efforts to shut institutions and move people into the community.

"Deinstitutionalization has failed in many parts of the country because states have failed to build their community-based mental health systems to adequately support people with mental illness," said Michele Mariani, co-author of the special issue of Governing. "Alabama should be commended for its foresight in leaving teams of specialists in areas that used to be served by hospitals and would have been seriously underserved otherwise."

Wallace Center was closed after it lost federal funding following years of documented abuse and neglect of its residents. In its last six years, five residents at the institution died under unusual circumstances.

Related:
"Life after the Wallace Center" (Decatur Daily)

http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/040510/wallace.shtml
"Editorial: Mental health department draws praise from journal" (Decatur Daily)
http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/opinion/editorials/040510b.shtml
"Trouble In Alabama's Institutions: Lurleen B. Wallace Developmental Center" (Inclusion Daily Express Archives)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/institutions/al/wallace.htm

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# CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Panel Readies To Issue Police Use-Of-Force Recommendations

By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
May 11, 2004

DENVER, COLORADO--A task force looking into the Denver Police Department's use-of-force policies and its investigations of lethal incidents is expected to issue its recommendations later this week.

Mayor John Hickenlooper formed the 38-member panel in January following community uproar over the shooting last July of Paul Childs III by Officer James Turney.

The 15-year-old Childs, who had mental retardation and a seizure disorder, was shot four times by Turney when he failed to follow orders to drop a kitchen knife he was holding against his own chest. Two other officers on the scene were armed with non-lethal Tasers.

It was the second time in less than two years that Turney had shot and killed a black teenager with disabilities.

Last month, Turney was suspended for 10 months without pay. An investigation found that he had not violated any laws, but that he had put himself into a lethal confrontation with Childs that could have been avoided.

Hundreds of officers protested Turney's suspension, saying the disciplinary action was politically motivated.

Some advocates on the Mayor's panel claim that the Police Protective Association, a union which represents 1,300 officers, has deliberately slowed down its process. They told the Denver Post that they need another month to complete their work properly.

Related:
"Police-reform ideas on way" (Denver Post)

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2140106,00.html
"The Death of Paul Childs III" (Inclusion Daily Express Archives)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/crime/childs.htm

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# EDUCATION / LAWS

Private School Must Reinstate Student With Epilepsy

By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
May 11, 2004

NAIROBI, KENYA--The government has ordered a private school to reinstate a student it had expelled because she has epilepsy.

According to a brief story in Monday's East African Standard, the Cedar Groove Academy in Kiambu had removed Ivy Wanjiru because of her disability.

Education assistant minister Beth Mugo demanded the girl be allowed to return without conditions.

"The empowerment of the girl-child is on top in the list of government priority," Mugo said, explaining that the Constitution does not allow discrimination on the basis of disability or health.

Mugo said the academy had been licensed by the government to operate and therefore could not be allowed to ignore access laws which promote the government's commitment to have all "eligible" children in school.

"Although it is not the intention of the government to interfere with private enterprises, we cannot allow the flagrant disregard for the rule of law and regulations," said Mugo.

She warned that the government would take action against private schools which try to expel students on health or disability grounds.

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# EUTHANASIA / LAWS

"Murder By Any Other Name Still Murder"

May 11, 2004

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA--The following six paragraphs are excerpts from an opinion piece by Tom Brodbeck in Tuesday's Winnipeg Sun:

The story of the 86-year-old man who allegedly stabbed his 83-year-old wife to death in what's being dubbed a mercy killing at Seven Oaks General Hospital over the weekend reminds me a lot of the story of Florida man Roswell Gilbert. Gilbert, a retired electronics engineer from Ft. Lauderdale, shot his elderly wife in the head in 1985 after she suffered from severe Alzheimer's and osteoporosis for eight grueling years.

Gilbert, aged 75 at the time, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years in jail for his crime.

He garnered a lot of sympathy from the public, many of whom thought his sentence was too harsh.

The problem I have with applying leniency in so-called mercy killing cases is that you're leaving it up to one person to decide arbitrarily the fate of another. And it's usually without the real consent of the person being killed.

You just can't allow people to take their sons or daughters out to the garage, fit a pipe to their mouths and gas them with carbon monoxide because they think it's the right thing to do.

That can never be the right thing to do.

Entire article:
"Murder by any other name still murder" (Winnipeg Sun)

http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/04/red/0511a.htm
Related:
"Tracy Latimer's Death: Mercy or Murder?" (Inclusion Daily Express Archives)

http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/crime/latimer.htm

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# TODAY'S FEATURED EMPLOYMENT WEBSITE

Office of Employment Support Programs (U.S. Social Security Administration)

Welcome to the Office of Employment Support Programs (OESP) and to The Work Site. Since the establishment of our office in 1999 and The Work Site in 2000, our goal has been, and will continue to be, to provide a focus within the Social Security Administration on matters affecting the employment of Social Security beneficiaries with disabilities.

OESP is pledged to ensure that SSA delivers "world class" service to beneficiaries who want to work. This means that they will not only learn about our cash benefit programs, they will also receive accurate information about our employment support programs and where they can get the services they need to make a successful entry into the workforce.

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/work/index.html

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# EXPRESS EXTRA!!! From the Inclusion Daily Express Archives (Three years ago)

CRIME

'Confessed' Murderer Cleared By DNA Tests

By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
May 10, 2001

FT. LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA--At first, he didn't admit to doing anything.

But as time went on, and as detectives pressed with their questions, Jerry Frank Townsend started talking.

By the time the interrogations were over, Townsend had confessed to a string of previously unsolved rapes and murders of women and teenage girls in the Ft. Lauderdale and Miami area throughout the 1970s.

In spite of there being several inconsistencies between his statements and the physical evidence, a jury in 1980 convicted Townsend of two of the killings and sentenced him to life in prison. Two years later, he pleaded no-contest to two other murders.

Last month, analysis of DNA evidence taken from crime scenes cleared Townsend, now 49, of three of the murders to which he had confessed. DNA samples taken from the clothing and bodies of the victims positively identified another man who had been a suspect early in the investigations but who had been ruled out as a suspect after Townsend's confessions.

Earlier this week, Broward County prosecutors said they would ask a judge to vacate, or remove, the remaining murder convictions against Townsend. While there is no DNA evidence available in those cases to test, prosecutors said there has never been any physical evidence that backs up the confessions.

The new developments bring into question the tactics used by detectives to gain the confessions from Townsend, who is considered to have mental retardation and an IQ of 60. His defenders say he was a "human parrot" who would say or do anything to please authority figures. They pointed out that several times during his taped confession, detectives told Townsend he was "confused" and turned off the recorder when he started giving details that were not consistent with the facts in the case. After the recorder was turned back on, the details he gave were correct.

One case of which Townsend had been convicted was the murder of 20-year-old Terry Cummings, a McDonald's employee. Cummings' body was found dressed in her McDonald's uniform in a burned-out building in 1979. When Townsend initially confessed to her murder, he said she was a white woman wearing shorts and that he had killed her in an apartment.

Miami police are currently reviewing two cases to which Townsend had pleaded guilty in 1982. If he is cleared of those he could be freed in a matter of weeks.

Related:
"Jerry Frank Townsend Cleared Of Murder" (Inclusion Daily Express Archives)

http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/laws/townsend.htm

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# BELOW THE FOLD
Click here for the rest of today's disability-related news:
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/04/btf/05110439.htm

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