Inclusion Daily Express -- Local 'Coverage' Of Rally Mostly Ignores Rally

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Local 'Coverage' Of Rally Mostly Ignores Rally
Commentary by Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
February 21, 2007

AUSTIN, TEXAS--I've been asked at times why I don't provide a 'more balanced' perspective on the news; why I don't tell the 'other side', the viewpoints of those who, for instance, believe that there will always be a need for institutions -- for a 'continuum' of care.

My answer is that those positions already have well-funded megaphones, and that there needs to be more 'balance' on the side of those of us who are seeking freedom for people in large, segregated facilities.

A perfect example of that came this week.

On Monday, Lubbock-area newscasts reported that a coalition of disability rights groups rallied at the Texas capitol, calling for the state to close Lubbock State School. That call came two months after the U.S. Department of Justice released a strongly-worded report, detailing what it called substantial departures "from generally accepted professional standards of care" at the state-run institution which houses about 350 people with developmental and other disabilities.

After their visit in 2005, investigators determined that inadequate staffing and training accounted for much of the trouble at the facility, which failed to provide adequate health care, including nursing services, psychiatric services, general medical care, pharmacy services, dental care, occupational and physical therapy, and physical and nutritional management; to protect residents from harm; and to provide adequate behavioral services, freedom from unnecessary or inappropriate restraint; along with supports needed to help residents receive services in "the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs".

The surveyors determined that some of the deaths of 17 residents could have been prevented with better medical care and monitoring. They found that drugs were being used to control the behaviors of many residents that had no clear diagnoses of mental illness, and that various forms of restraint, including the dangerous facedown 'prone' restraint, were being used far too often -- even after they were found to be ineffective in changing behavior.

While local news headlines noted this week that members of the Disability Policy Consortium asked lawmakers to close Lubbock State School and move its residents into the community, most of the substance of those articles focused on the response of the institutions defenders.

A KCDB-TV story, entitled "Group To Rally For Lubbock State School Closure", featured just two paragraphs about the consortium and it's plans, and seven paragraphs about a resident's father who defends keeping the facility open.

In KAMC-TV's "Protestors Rally in Austin to Close Lubbock State School", the reporter included these two sentences: "Now disability advocates are showing their disapproval of the school . . . Demonstrators gathered in Austin Monday to push for the school's closure." The rest of the story, however, included 17 sentences from the institution's supporters.

Even the Austin American-Statesman, in "Disability rights groups urge closure of Lubbock State School", featured just three paragraphs about those disability rights groups, and four paragraphs from defenders, one of which said the advocates were "sticking their nose in some business that's not theirs."

And a KLBK-TV story, entitled "Could the Lubbock State School Be Forced to Shut Down?", included just four sentences about the disability consortium, and 25 about the institution's defenders.

Ironically, one of those sentences was a quote from Rosanna Davidson, the president of the Lubbock State School's Family Association, who said about the advocates: "It's very frightening they have the power to command the press and get all this attention. It's very, very distressing."

So, who, exactly, has the "power to command the press"?

Do your own Google News search on "Lubbock State School". See if you don't end up with the same picture, and decide for yourself whether we don't need more reporting on our side, for a change.

Related:
"Group To Rally For Lubbock State School Closure" (KCDB-TV)
http://www.kcbd.com/Global/story.asp?S=6090698
"Protestors Rally in Austin to Close Lubbock State School" (KAMC-TV)
http://www.kamc28.tv/news/default.asp?mode=shownews&id=2164
"Could the Lubbock State School Be Forced to Shut Down?" (KLBK-TV)
http://www.klbk13.tv/news/default.asp?mode=shownews&id=2070
"Lubbock State School in Danger of Closing" (KAMC-TV)
http://www.kamc28.tv/news/default.asp?mode=shownews&id=2152
"Disability rights groups urge closure of Lubbock State School" (American-Statesman)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/07/red/0221a.htm
"Report: Investigation of the Lubbock State School" (U.S. Department of Justice)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/07/red/0102d.htm
Disability Policy Consortium
http://www.dpctexas.org

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