Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

Special-needs troop has 5 new Eagles

Patti's Comments:  Congratulations to them all!!

Excerpt from Freep.com: (click for entire article)

When Gus Ferenczy learned his grandfather was an Eagle Scout decades ago in Hungary, he also wanted to earn the highest honor a Boy Scout can achieve.

"I saw the medals on his uniform ... I was really proud of him," the 38-year-old Chesterfield Township man said.

Now, Ferenczy can be proud of himself. He and four other longtime members of special needs Boy Scout Troop 330 in St. Clair Shores each earned the rank of Eagle Scout earlier this month -- years after starting the process. The other Eagle Scouts are David Brown of Grosse Pointe Woods and Artie DeKeyser, 53; Jeff Maci, 41, and Adam Phillips, all of St. Clair Shores. Brown and Phillips are both over 30, but specific ages weren't available.

"When I received the badge and medal, I was happy, very happy and very joyful," said Ferenczy, who had open-heart surgery and two strokes as a child. "I feel good inside. I'm very proud of my four other guys."

Prognosis: Numbers Rise in a Diabetes Forecast

Excerpt from The New York Times: (click for entire article)

The number of Americans with diabetes will nearly double over the next 25 years, while the cost of care will almost triple, as patients live longer and develop more of the disease’s long-term complications, a new analysis said.

The projections estimate that the population will rise to 44.1 million in 2034, from 23.7 million now, with medical spending increasing to $336 billion from $113 billion. The calculations were published in the December issue of the journal Diabetes Care.

The projections differ from earlier calculations by other researchers because they take the natural history of diabetes into account, as well as the fact that Americans are being told that they have the condition at younger ages. As affected people live longer, they will have more opportunities to develop complications, including end-stage kidney disease, amputations and blindness, the paper’s authors said.

“In 25 years, there’s going to be this convergence of the population getting older but also many people having had diabetes for a long period of time, and that will lead to higher costs,” said Dr. Elbert S. Huang, the lead author of the paper, who is part of a University of Chicago diabetes research team. “Duration of diabetes is as important a predictor of complications as glucose.”

Love You Hate You Miss You by Elizabeth Scott

Patti's Comments:  I just finished listening to this book on audio. It was amazing, but not an easy read. Not easy, because the emotions were all too real to me. The reader's voice was soothing but the story is not. I cheered for the characters, all of them, because they were real, flaws and all. Not a good book to read if you need to be cheered up, but a great read/listen anyway. Enjoy!!! I will certainly be checking our Elizabeth Scott’s other books!

Excerpt from Harmony Book Reviews: (click for entire article)

Summary: (Taken from BN.com)

Get this, I’m supposed to be starting a journal about “my journey.” Please. I can see it now: Dear Diary, As I’m set adrift on this crazy sea called “life” . . . I don’t think so.

It’s been seventy-five days. Amy’s sick of her parents suddenly taking an interest in her.

And she’s really sick of people asking her about Julia. Julia’s gone now, and she doesn’t want to talk about it. They wouldn’t get it, anyway. They wouldn’t understand what it feels like to have your best friend ripped away from you.

They wouldn’t understand what it feels like to know it’s your fault.

Amy’s shrink thinks it would help to start a diary. Instead, Amy starts writing letters to Julia.

But as she writes letter after letter, she begins to realize that the past wasn’t as perfect as she thought it was—and the present deserves a chance too.

Understanding what does and does NOT constitute an Emotional Disturbance

Excerpt from Examiner.com: (click for entire article)

When it comes to mental health services -- Any child with and IEP (Individual Education Plan) disabilities can qualify for mental health services. Be cautious of allowing the school to designate your child  using the ED (Emotionally Disturbed) category, because, using the ED category, academic or social needs may be ignored. Academic goals are likely to be non-existent.. Graduating from high school with an ED diagnosis may be detrimental to later career goals and may preclude entry into the armed services.

The Federal Law defines the Emotional Disturbance category as follows:

"Emotional Disturbance" means a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a child's educational performance...

The CLASS Act: A Flawed But Powerful Game-Changer for Long-Term Care

Patti's Comments:  He is right.  Now the question is: will we do the right thing? I doubt it…

Excerpt from Kaiser Health News: (click for entire article)

Congress may be about to make major changes in the way 10 million frail elderly and adults with disabilities pay for long-term care services. Buried in both the House-passed health bill and the Senate Democratic leadership measure, the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act would, for the first time, create a national long-term care insurance program.

Every worker would get basic coverage under CLASS, for care either at-home or in a nursing facility. They’d pay premiums for five years, and they’d have to need help with at least two activities of daily living (such as bathing or dressing) before they’d be eligible for benefits. While these would be modest (perhaps $75 a day), they would be available in cash. It is hard to overestimate how significant this could be for those Americans who need assistance and the 40 million family members and friends who care for them.

Disability 101: The prison of ‘special'

Excerpt from Summit Daily News: (click for entire article by Sandy Lahmann)

People with disabilities are sometimes referred to as having “special needs.” It's a term I despise. Being referred to as “special” has created a prison for those of us with disabilities.

The term was first used by parents of young children with disabilities. These parents wanted the world to see that their children, despite their disabilities, were special as well, just like every other child.

These parents wanted the world to know that children with disabilities (intellectual, physical, blindness or deafness) brought love and joy into the world, just like every other child.

Finally the world saw the gifts of love and joy the child with Down Syndrome, cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy brings to the world.

The only problem is that those children grow up. Society still has the expectation that adults with disabilities will have the same loving and joyful spirits they had as young children.

Society expects that all people with disabilities will be loving and joyful and cooperative and that our very presence will bring inspiration and hope. That is our role. Everyone around us can feel good because of our loving presence.

Bull hockey. It is our prison.

Eidelman honored by national developmental disabilities organization

Patti's Comments:  Congratulations! A happy news story this Monday — Yeah!

Excerpt from University of Delaware: (click for entire article)

Steven M. Eidelman, H. Rodney Sharp Professor of Human Services Policy and Leadership and senior fellow at the Center for Disabilities Studies at the University of Delaware, was named the 2009 recipient of the Pool of Bethesda Award, given by Bethesda Lutheran Communities.

The Pool of Bethesda Award annually recognizes an individual who has made national or international contributions of service and leadership in the field of developmental disabilities and accomplishments that positively impact the lives of people who have developmental disabilities.

“It is a great honor to be recognized with some of the who's who of the field of developmental disabilities,” Eidelman said. “It is flattering to see the leadership work that is done here at UD be recognized.”

Eidelman has led change in a variety of settings for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. He served as the past president of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Studies (AAIDD) and currently serves on its board of directors.

No More Executive Bonuses!

Patti's Comments:  AMEN!

Excerpt from The Wall Street Journal: (click for entire article)

These days, it seems, there is no shortage of recommendations for fixing the way bonuses are paid to executives at big public companies.

Well, I have my own recommendation: Scrap the whole thing. Don't pay any bonuses. Nothing.

This may sound extreme. But when you look at the way the compensation game is played—and the assumptions that are made by those who want to reform it—you can come to no other conclusion. The system simply can't be fixed. Executive bonuses—especially in the form of stock and option grants—represent the most prominent form of legal corruption that has been undermining our large corporations and bringing down the global economy. Get rid of them and we will all be better off for it.

The failings of the current system—and the executives who live by it—are painfully obvious. Although these executives like to think of themselves as leaders, when it comes to their pay practices, many of them haven't been demonstrating leadership at all. Instead they've been acting like gamblers—except that the games they play are hopelessly rigged in their favor.

County worker arrested for abusing elderly mother

Patti's Comments:  So sad!

Excerpt from ConnectMidMichigan.com: (click for entire article)

A Genesee County Drain Commission worker is in police custody after for abusing and neglecting his elderly mother.

Sheriff Robert Pickell reports David Ribarchik neglected to take care of his 75 year old mother, Milfred Ribarchik, leaving her alone in her chair for at least two months in her Maple Rd., Swartz Creek home.  The woman’s husband died last year, and she was left in Ribarchik’s care.

The sheriff reports Ribarchik left the home so filthy, Milfred could not get around with her walker and was forced to stay in her chair.  There was approximately four feet of garbage on the floor.  The toilet in the bathroom did not work, and the shower did not work either.  The sheriff says there were at least 500 beer bottles scattered across the house.

On November 21, 2009 Milfred fell out of the chair, and she remained there three days until someone called 911.  When the paramedics arrived they were appalled at the conditions.  Ribarchik was taken into custody.  He was arraigned Wednesday morning on first degree abuse charges.

The Sparkle Effect

Patti's Comments:  My kind of cheerleading!!

The Sparkle Effect, Inc., is a nonprofit corporation that provides guidance, peer mentoring, and online tools to enable high school students across the United States to create cheerleading squads for students with special needs and to fully integrate those squads into the high school sports curriculum.