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

Teen with Down syndrome wins student of the year award in Ireland

Excerpt from Media dis&dat: (click for entire article)

Nineteen-yea-old student Róisín De Búrca (pictured) has had a busy year. One of the few people in Ireland with Down syndrome to have completed a full Leaving Certificate last summer, she then became part of an even smaller group by proceeding on to further education. On top of that, De Búrca recently won Bank of Scotland’s student of the year award. “I felt proud of myself, something I can accomplish in life, something that belongs to me alone instead of the family,” she says.

De Búrca has just finished a Fetac Level 5 course in Business Administration at Galway Technical Institute (GTI). She chose this course because: “I wanted to see how the business environment worked and wanted to see if it was the subject I wanted to get into.” As a native Irish speaker, she spent two weeks on work experience in the office of an Irish-speaking creche, based in Muintearas in Leitir Mór. “It was easier working there because everyone knew me there and I was able to communicate through Irish because it is an Irish-speaking organisation,” De Búrca explains.

U.S. Governors Head for Washington to Press for Medicaid Funds

Excerpt from Bloomberg Businessweek: (click for entire article)

Governors of states including New York, Michigan and Pennsylvania will visit Washington to plead with Congress for additional subsidies to help pay for providing health care to the poor.

The event tomorrow, set up by Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, follows the Senate’s failure last week to move a bill forward that included $16 billion in extra funds for Medicaid, the state-run health-care program. The measure, which also was set to extend some jobless benefits, was blocked by Republicans opposed to its cost.

So Misunderstood! Category of Disability Part I

Patti's Comments:  I could not agree more.  Folks just do not get it!

Excerpt from Special Education Law Blog: (click for entire article)

Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or "IDEA," the category of disability plays one role only. To be eligible for special education and related services, a child must first have one of the enumerated disabilities and "by reason thereof" be in need of special education. IDEA Section 602(3).

That's it. Period. End of discussion.

Yet I have talked to many special education professionals who believe that services are determined by the category of disability. Once again, this is not correct. Once a child is eligible for special education and related services, she is eligible. Period. The question becomes what are the child's educational needs, {Needs too is a term of art -the question is what does the child need in order to achieve some (meaningful) educational benefit.}

New Mental Health Court on Staten Island will steer defendants to treatment

Excerpt from SI Live: (click for entire article)

It's a new approach to jurisprudence.

At Staten Island's new Mental Health Court, defendants indicted for nonviolent crimes driven by an underlying mental illness will be given a chance to complete a court-ordered supervised treatment program instead of serving jail time.

Officially opened yesterday in State Supreme Court in St. George, the court will provide mentally ill offenders with access to mental health and social service providers, as well as other services to help them avoid further criminal behavior.

Detroit International Bridge Co. not exempt from state and local laws, U.S. District Court judge rules

Patti's Comments:  Ha!

Excerpt from Crain's Detroit Business: (click for entire article)

The Ambassador Bridge is not a “federal instrumentality” a U.S. federal judge in Detroit ruled today — undercutting the defense used by the span's private-sector owner to fend off accusations his bridge company has behaved illegally in its effort to add a second span.

The ruling could force the bridge company to modify what's been built at the crossing site in recent years, including toll booths.

California town considers zoning exemption for disabled people making homes accessible

Patti's Comments:   Good, but this will not matter as no one will have any services left after the state budget process.

Excerpt from Media dis&dat: (click for entire article)

An extra step may be required for Barstow disabled residents wanting to add wheelchair ramps or other modifications to their homes.

The city planning department is developing an ordinance that would allow a disabled resident to apply for an exemption to a provision in Barstow’s zoning and land use code if it prevents them from accessing their homes.

Putting a wheelchair ramp or installing other modifications in a home currently requires a building permit, said City Planner Mike Massimini. But under the proposed reasonable accommodations ordinance if a person can show proof that he or she is disabled or is acting on behalf of someone who is disabled, depending on the request, another permit may not be necessary.

“In many cases it does not require a building permit,” he said. “Really it depends on the type of work.”

UN Calls Shock Treatment at Mass. School 'Torture'

Excerpt from ABC News: (click for entire article)

It may look like any leafy New England campus, but inside one Massachusetts  school for special needs children, the method of teaching at work is anything but ordinary.

The Boston-area's Judge Rotenberg Center educates and treats enrollees ages 3 to adult, all of whom are struggling with severe emotional, behavior, and psychiatric problems, including autism-like disorders. And for about half of the 250 students here, undesirable behavior means getting hooked up to a special machine and administered an electric shock.

The skin shock treatment, used only after both a court and the student's parents have approved, has drawn criticism for years. But after the release of a recent study by Mental Disability Rights International, Rotenberg has come under the scrutiny of no less than the United Nations, which is calling the school's practices "torture."

Illinois budget cuts may slice deep for services for people with disabilities

Excerpt from Media dis&dat: (click for entire article)

From the disabled who need help to stay in their homes to school districts trying to balance their own budgets, people who rely on state spending are bracing for Gov. Pat Quinn's budget scalpel.

Quinn said June 28 he's preparing to deal with the proposed spending plan approved by lawmakers last month and that cuts are coming, although he did not specify where they will land.

The only area Quinn identified was "bureaucracy," implying reductions in direct government expenses, such as employee costs. However, Quinn is limited on that front because of an agreement the administration reached earlier this year with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the largest of state government’s employee unions.

Granholm goes to Washington to urge Congress to act on Medicaid money

Excerpt from Crain's Detroit Business: (click for entire article)

Gov. Jennifer Granholm joined other governors in a Washington news conference on Wednesday to press Congress for action on federal Medicaid money, the absence of which would leave Michigan with a $560 million hole in its upcoming budget.

The bipartisan group of governors urged Congress to extend, for six months, a higher federal matching rate for Medicaid. Michigan is one of nearly 30 states counting on the federal Medicaid money in the upcoming fiscal 2011 budget. 

Lawmakers question Army on Arlington Cemetery

Excerpt from The Oakland Press: (click for entire article)

Angry lawmakers on Wednesday sharply questioned the Army on its confusion over the location of some veterans’ remains at Arlington National Cemetery, as service officials described the slow “laborious” process of ensuring every grave was properly identified.

Rep. Ike Skelton, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, called for a “100 percent survey” of the cemetery and its operations in the wake of the scandal.

“I’m angry, period,” said Skelton, a Missouri Democrat, at the start of Wednesday’s hearing.