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

Bank Of America Charged With Disability Discrimination

Excerpt from Disability Scoop: (click for entire article)

The federal government is charging one of the nation’s largest banks with discriminating against those with disabilities.

Officials at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development alleged Monday that Bank of America held customers with disabilities applying for home mortgages to a different set of standards.

Specifically, they said the bank applied “unnecessary and burdensome requirements” to borrowers with disability income and even asked some loan applicants to provide information from their physicians.

Letterman, Stern Help Man With Asperger’s Socialize

Excerpt from Disability Scoop: (click for entire article)

David Finch has Asperger’s syndrome and struggled to identify with others socially. That is, until he started taking cues from the likes of Howard Stern and David Letterman.

Finch — who recently penned a book about his experience as an adult newly-diagnosed with Asperger’s — said he learned different things from each talk show host he observed.

Stern, for example, can keep a story going for 30 minutes or more on his radio show, continually peeking listeners’ interest by changing his tone. Even when interrupted, the shock jock uses humor to bring the conversation back to his story, Finch says.

Autism: It’s In The Eyes

Excerpt from Disability Scoop: (click for entire article)

There’s a lot that can be learned about autism by focusing on the eye movements of those who have the developmental disorder, researchers say.

In a new study believed to be the largest of its kind, researchers observed children with and without autism watching movie scenes of kids in age-appropriate social situations.

What they found were striking differences in eye movement between typically developing children and those with autism. What’s more, the researchers noted significant variations depending on where a child with autism fell on the diagnostic spectrum.

Adults With Disabilities More Likely To Be Victimized

Excerpt from Disability Scoop: (click for entire article)

Adults with disabilities are significantly more likely to be victims of violence than those who are typically developing, according to a new global analysis.

Those with disabilities experience physical or sexual attacks at one-and-a-half times the rate of their typically developing peers. Meanwhile, individuals with mental illness face a four times greater risk than the general population.

The findings come from a report published online Tuesday in the journal The Lancet that reviewed 26 studies examining the experiences of 21,500 people with physical and mental disabilities from seven countries — the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and South Africa.

Justice Moody’s Lament Unanswered: Michigan’s Unprincipled Retroactivity Jurisprudence

Excerpt from MichBar.org: (click for entire article)

It is now going on two decades since Justice Blair Moody, Jr. lamented that "there has been inconsistency in both analysis and result in the Supreme Court of Michigan’s application of its law-changing decisions," while calling for a "new and detailed look at both the factors which should enter into a retroactivity determination and the means by which this decision should be reached."2 It was his hope that his article would "provide a starting point for such reexamination and reanalysis."3

It is most unfortunate that Michigan retroactivity jurisprudence remains as "inconsistent" and "confused" as it was when Justice Moody urged that it was "time for the Michigan high court to take a long look" at that jurisprudence.4 If it was time for that look in 1982, it is certainly long past time in 2000. In an appropriate case, the court should examine the state of its retroactivity jurisprudence, to the extent that any real "jurisprudence of retroactivity" can be ascertained at present.

The statement by Professors LaFave and Scott quoted at the beginning of this article is an overstatement of a presumptive rule of the operation of case decisions, a rule that is most likely to be discarded in cases of law-changing decisions. All law-changing decisions, however, are not of one piece, and an appropriate retroactivity jurisprudence should set forth some different rules depending on the sort of authority the court is exercising in reaching the law-changing decision in question. Unlike the United States Supreme Court, the Michigan Supreme Court has explicit authority over practice and procedure, including the authority to promulgate and revise procedural rules of evidence.

Disability Round-Up

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

This week, learn about the disABLEDperson, Inc. 2012 national scholarship competition, learn what behavior problems "look like" and how to write observable, measurable behavior objectives, and find strategies to keep winter break boredom at bay.

Educators learn methods to teach autistic children

Excerpt from The Daily Cougar: (click for entire article)

Families for Effective Autism Treatment hosted a workshop for individuals who have experience in working with children with developmental disabilities.

The individuals learned different techniques and methodologies of Applied Behavior Analysis, the science of modifying behavior using modern behavioral theory.

The workshop consisted of a series of lectures led by Ellen Catoe of Texana Children’s Center for Autism, and break-out sessions, where the participants divided in to groups of five and applied the theories and methods of ABA through role-play.

Federal Appeals Court OKs Class Action Lawsuit for Families Denied Autism Therapy

Excerpt from Juvenile Justice: (click for entire article)

Last week, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals refused a petition from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan that would have overturned an earlier ruling allowing families denied certain autism therapy coverage to push forward with a class action lawsuit.

Last November, a judge’s ruling in Potter v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan gave clearance to parents to sue the organization for rejecting Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) as an insurable treatment, which Blue Cross deemed an “experimental” form of therapy.

The rejection of Blue Cross Blue Shield’s petition gives the go-ahead for two families to press forward with a class action suit, on behalf of all families denied therapy coverage by the organization.

Berenstain Bears co-creator Jan Berenstain dies

Patti's Comments:  Rest in Peace; what a legacy to leave!!

Excerpt from The Detroit News: (click for entire article)

Jan Berenstain, who with her husband, Stan, wrote and illustrated the Berenstain Bears books that have charmed preschoolers and their parents for 50 years, has died. She was 88.

Berenstain, a longtime resident of Solebury in southeastern Pennsylvania, suffered a severe stroke on Thursday and died Friday without regaining consciousness, her son Mike Berenstain said.

The gentle tales of Mama Bear, Papa Bear, Brother Bear and Sister Bear were inspired by the Berenstain children, and later their grandchildren. The stories address children's common concerns and aim to offer guidance on subjects like dentist visits, peer pressure, a new sibling or summer camp.

Romney Wants to Raise Age of Medicare Eligibility. Good Idea?

Excerpt from Elder Law Answers Blog: (click for entire article)

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has announced his support for raising the age of Medicare eligibility from 65 to 67. However, research suggests that such a move would increase out-of-pocket costs for younger seniors and raise health care costs overall.

Making baby boomers wait two more years before they’re covered by the highly popular Medicare program would indeed save the federal government $5.7 billion in 2014, according to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation. But at the same time, Kaiser says the change would mean that 65- and 66-year-olds, their employers, other Medicare enrollees, and states would have to cough up an extra $11.4 billion. It’s robbing Peter to pay Paul, except in this case Peter would pay double what Paul would get out of the deal.

The Kaiser study projects that the change would raise premiums by about 3 percent both for all other Medicare beneficiaries and for those covered by private insurance. Medicare premiums would go up because the program would lose its healthiest beneficiaries – 65- and 66-year-olds. At the same time, private insurers would suddenly get an influx of older beneficiaries, driving up their premiums as well. And this assumes the survival of the health reform law, which requires insurers to cover applicants despite preexisting conditions. If the law is repealed, as Romney and other GOP candidates recommend, large numbers of 65- and 66-year-olds would be uninsurable.