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

Preparing for Your Special Needs Child’s Future By Planning for Your Departure

Excerpt from TACA: (click for entire article)

This article is about death. This is not a pleasant topic for anyone. This is not something that should not be avoided and carefully planned for anyone with children – especially children with special needs.

In the past year, five local autism families have had a parent die suddenly.  Any death can rock a family but an unexpected death can shatter the world of a child with autism, as even a simple change can be difficult.

In our community, we joke that parents of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) kids are never allowed to die.  We must live as long, or longer, than our children with autism to safeguard them.  But we have to be realistic, that wish is just not going to happen.

Program helps disabled artists keep their vision

Excerpt from 9 News: (click for entire article)

Artists tell stories with their hands. Their paintbrush, pencil or chisel shape images that offer new meaning to a feeling, a place or a time.

There are a group of artists in northern Colorado who never fail to reach others through their creativity.

Envision-Creative Support for People with Developmental Disabilities is a program which taps into artistic talent and important life skills.

Mentally ill flood ER as states cut services

Excerpt from Yahoo News: (click for entire article)

On a recent shift at a Chicago emergency department, Dr. William Sullivan treated a newly homeless patient who was threatening to kill himself.

"He had been homeless for about two weeks. He hadn't showered or eaten a lot. He asked if we had a meal tray," said Sullivan, a physician at the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago and a past president of the Illinois College of Emergency Physicians.

Sullivan said the man kept repeating that he wanted to kill himself. "It seemed almost as if he was interested in being admitted."

The Shame of Elder Abuse and the Silence of Washington

Excerpt from The Huffington Post: (click for entire article)

As we close the holiday season, we are reminded that one sad reality, elder abuse, takes no holiday. In fact, recent studies show that abuse of older adults, especially financial abuse, increases dramatically during the holiday season. Today, more than one in ten older adults will be victims of some form of elder abuse, with a collective loss of almost $3 billion a year.

Just before adjourning for the holiday, Congress passed a massive spending bill for the rest of this fiscal year. For the second year in a row, Congress failed to provide funding for the only comprehensive federal elder abuse prevention law -- the Elder Justice Act. This is both shameful and shortsighted. Less than two years ago, in a bi-partisan basis, Congress enacted the Elder Justice Act and signaled its recognition that elder abuse is a growing problem that requires a coordinated and comprehensive federal response to effectively combat it. This law simply authorizes funds. A second bill must be passed to actually put the law into action. President Obama asked Congress to provide $21.5 million in startup funds for the Elder Justice Act in his budget for 2012, and Congress ignored this request.

Fairness for Home Care Aides

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

Evelyn Coke spent 20 years as a home care aide helping the elderly and the sick, but she did not live to see fair labor laws applied to her work.

In a case that went to the Supreme Court in 2007, Ms. Coke, who died in 2009, sued her employer for years of unpaid overtime and lost, 9 to 0. This month, President Obama invoked Ms. Coke’s memory when he announced that the Labor Department had finally proposed changes to the provisions on which the court had based its decision.

At issue in Ms. Coke’s case was a 1975 labor rule that defined home care aides as “companions,” a class of workers that does not qualify for federal minimum wage and overtime protections. Ms. Coke’s lawyer, Craig Becker, argued that the rule was supposed to apply only to occasional domestic workers, like baby sitters, not home care aides — one of the nation’s fastest-growing occupations and one whose duties often include feeding, bathing and dressing clients. But the justices said that only Congress or the Labor Department could change the rule, not the court.

DOG CONCERNS: City Sued After Banning Service Dog

Excerpt from Who TV: (click for entire article)

An Aurelia couple, forced to give up their service dog, is suing the City claiming the ban on pit bulls violates the Americans with Disabilities act. 64-year old Jim Sak, a disabled Vietnam veteran and retired Chicago Police officer, moved to Aurelia with his wife to help take care of his mother in law. His dog, Snickers, has been with him for five years and is certified through the National Service Animal Registry. But city officials determined Snickers is a Pit Bull, and is banned from living in the city.

Sak, who suffered a severe stroke a few years ago, says he needs the dog. "If I fall on my back I'm a turtle. I just don't move." Sak explains, "I grab that collar...He'll pull me over by the table and chairs and I can pick myself up"

Restaurateur Finds Retention in Overlooked Corner: Intellectually Disabled

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

While businesses in China’s service sector often struggle to retain employees, Li Ping says he has had no turnover problems with his staff.

The Shanghai-based franchisee, who runs 500 Dairy Queen and Papa John’s Pizza outlets in China, hires many of his employees from a special training school in the city, called Ji Xun. It’s a school for the intellectually disabled.

Around 80 employees who have learning disabilities have been selling pizzas at 22 of Mr. Li’s Papa John’s stores or are crafting ice cream cakes at one of the Dairy Queen factories in Shanghai. They wear pins that say, “Please help me serve you better.”  It encourages customers to give feedback on the service, which may be a little slower than at other stores, Mr. Li said.

Navigating Love and Autism

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

The first night they slept entwined on his futon, Jack Robison, 19, who had since childhood thought of himself as “not like the other humans,” regarded Kirsten Lindsmith with undisguised tenderness.

She was the only girl to have ever asked questions about his obsessive interests — chemistry, libertarian politics, the small drone aircraft he was building in his kitchen — as though she actually cared to hear his answer. To Jack, who has a form of autism called Asperger syndrome, her mind was uncannily like his. She was also, he thought, beautiful.

So far they had only cuddled; Jack, who had dropped out of high school but was acing organic chemistry in continuing education classes, had hopes for something more. Yet when she smiled at him the next morning, her lips seeking his, he turned away.

How Classical Music Benefits Children With Learning Disabilities

Excerpt from Autism: (click for entire article)

We have long known about the ability of classical music to provide pleasure and stir up deep emotions. Undoubtedly, music has a powerful impact on the brain. Studies have shown that classical music can also help children with special needs through a variety of significant improvements including reduced stress, increased IQ, and improved ability to concentrate. Further, music can make children feel more positive and improve their creative thinking. The bottom line is that classical music can make a huge difference in the lives of those with disorders like autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, ADD and ADHD and mental retardation.

The Mozart Effect and the Power of Music

The term “The Mozart Effect” has gone mainstream, as now there are a variety of products including everything from CDs to toys that use Mozart’s music to improve a person’s ability to perform mental tasks. A wide variety of experts theorize that listening to Mozart can actually boost intelligence too. Don Campbell who wrote The Mozart Effect: Tapping the Power of Music to Heal the Body, Strengthen the Mind, and Unlock the Creative Spirit has declared that the Mozart Effect is “an inclusive term signifying the transformational powers of music in health, education, and well-being.”

EEOC Settles Cancer-As-Disability Claim

Excerpt from The Proactive Employer: (click for entire article)

An EEOC disability discrimination lawsuit filed last year against Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. ended with a settlement last week in federal court.

The Commission filed the suit in October 2010 on behalf of former Wal-Mart employee Charles Goods.  The lawsuit claimed that Wal-Mart violated federal law when the company fired the longtime employee as a result of his cancer-related disability and retaliated against him for complaining of discrimination.

The EEOC alleged that Wal-Mart denied Goods, who had worked as a forklift operator for 12 years at its East Tennessee distribution center, a reasonable accommodation after a surgery for thyroid cancer left him with limited strength and feeling in his right arm.