1) What’s Happening in the Nation’s Capital?
New Supreme Court Pick’s Disability Policy Yet to Be Seen
2) National News
MDRI Alleges Torture in the U.S.; Files Urgent Appeal to UN
New Hope for Supporters of Community Care for People with Disabilities
Shooting Beauty Documentary Stars People with Disabilities
3) State News
California Youth-Led Campaign Drives Introduction of New “Disability History Week” Resolution
Feds Sue over Treatment of Arkansans with Disabilities
4) Announcements and Additional Resources
It’s Normal Campaign: Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the ADA
New Supreme Court Pick’s Disability Policy Yet to Be Seen
President Obama has just announced his second Supreme Court nomination since taking office. Elena Kagan will replace Justice John Paul Stevens this summer, if she is confirmed. Kagan remains a bit of a mystery to many communities, because she rarely discusses her personal political opinions, and does not have a judicial record to review. That fact hasn’t stopped pundits and politicians from mining every detail of her life thus far, in an effort to anticipate the type of justice she will become. If you’d like to play along, below is a piece from the Washington Post on the newest SCOTUS nominee. If confirmed, she will be the youngest justice ever to serve and be part of the first Court that includes 3 women.
Source: “For Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, a history of pragmatism over partisanship”, Washington Post, by Robert Barnes
Just after Election Day the fall of her senior year at Princeton, Elena Kagan published an opinion piece in the campus newspaper, recounting how she had wept and gotten drunk on vodka at a campaign gathering for a liberal Brooklyn congresswoman who had unexpectedly lost a race for the Senate.
Ronald Reagan was heading to the White House, and Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman -- a champion for women's causes for whom Kagan had toiled 14-hour days as a campaign press assistant -- was leaving Capitol Hill. Kagan, then 20 and imbued with the liberal principles on which she had been raised, said she was flirting with despair that "there was no longer any place for the ideals we held. . . . I wonder how all this could possibly have happened and where on earth I'll be able to get a job next year." Read More.
MDRI Alleges Torture in the U.S.; Files Urgent Appeal to UN
Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) has found children and adults with disabilities tortured and abused at a “special needs” residential facility in Massachusetts and has filed an “urgent appeal” with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture to demand the United States government end the torture immediately.
MDRI’s latest report, Torture not Treatment: Electric Shock and Long-Term Restraint in the United States on Children and Adults with Disabilities at the Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC), documents the use of electric shocks on the legs, arms, torsos and soles of feet of people with disabilities – for weeks, months and sometimes years. JRC uses punishments as treatment and US advocates have been trying for decades to close the school and end these practices. The school also uses 4-point restraint boards, tying children to the boards while simultaneously shocking them for hours; mock assaults; food deprivation; shock chairs; isolation and long-term restraint. Residents at JRC are diagnosed with a variety of behavioral, intellectual and psychiatric disabilities such as autism, bi-polar disorder and learning disabilities.
Laurie Ahern, President of MDRI and author of the report, states, “The cruelty perpetrated against children and adults at JRC is psychological and physical abuse, couched in the name of ‘treatment.’ The severe pain and suffering leveled against residents there violates the United Nations Convention against Torture. And to the best of our knowledge, JRC is the only facility of any kind in the US – and perhaps the world –that uses electricity combined with long-term restraint and other punishments to intentionally cause pain to children with behavioral challenges and calls it treatment.” Read More.
New Hope for Supporters of Community Care for People with Disabilities
Source: WXXI, by Peter Iglinski
A new poll gives hope to those wanting to make it easier for people with disabilities to choose home-care over nursing homes. A poll by Harris Interactive found support for the Community Choice Act to be 66 percent. When people learned about the costs associated with the bill, support jumped to 89 percent.
WXXI's Peter Iglinski spoke with Bruce Darling, President and CEO of the Center for Disability Rights [and NCIL Board Member], based in Rochester. He asked Darling if he was surprised by the results of the poll. Hear the Interview (audio only, apologies).
Shooting Beauty Documentary Stars People with Disabilities
Shooting Beauty tells the inspirational story of an aspiring fashion photographer named Courtney Bent whose career takes an unexpected turn when she discovers a hidden world of beauty at a center for people living with significant disabilities. Shot over the span of a decade, this film puts you in Courtney's shoes as she overcomes her own unspoken prejudices and begins inventing cameras accessible to her new friends.
Courtney's efforts snowball into an award-winning photography program called "Picture This"—and become the backdrop for this eye-opening story about romance, loss and laughter that will change what you thought you knew about living with a disability—and without one. Watch the trailer (uncaptioned) and see upcoming screenings.
California Youth-Led Campaign Drives Introduction of New “Disability History Week” Resolution
A campaign led by young people with disabilities has resulted in the introduction of a new resolution authored by Assemblymember Jim Beall (D-San Jose), which aims to foster better understanding of the contributions people with disabilities have made to our society. ACR 162, co-authored by Assemblymember Jared Huffman ( D-San Rafael), would designate the second week of October as Disability History Week and encourage schools and colleges to incorporate disability history into their curricula.
“Teaching disability history will bring a united vision and shared understanding that people with disabilities are so much more than their circumstance,” said Kevin Dat Vu, a student at Fresno State University. “We want to educate youth that people with disabilities are just the same and can do exactly the same things.”
Part of a national youth-led movement to increase awareness of disability history, youth advocates in California launched their drive for a resolution recognizing Disability History week at a Youth Leadership Forum for Students with Disabilities in 2009. Their effort was supported by the California Foundation for Independent Living Centers and YO! Youth Organizing Disabled and Proud and comes after youth movements in several other states were successful in gaining recognition of Disability History Weeks. Nationwide, efforts to recognize disability history are supported by the federal Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy. Read More.
Feds Sue over Treatment of Arkansans with Disabilities
Source: AP, by Chuck Bartels
The federal government accused Arkansas in a lawsuit Thursday of leaving people with severe mental or physical disabilities with no choice but to go into state institutions. The Justice Department lawsuit accused Arkansas of a "systemic failure" that places people in institutions when the state should pursue less restrictive avenues for their care.
"The state gives individuals with developmental disabilities the draconian choice of receiving services in segregated institutions or receiving no services at all," the lawsuit states.
The federal government accused the state of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, which guarantees people with developmental disabilities the right to live in the most appropriate setting for their needs.
The state has six centers for [people with developmental disabilities] that, in all, care for about 1,100 people. "Arkansas illegally segregates hundreds of individuals in institutions across the state and places hundreds more at risk of needless institutionalization," said Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez, chief of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. "We are acting now to remedy discrimination against these individuals." Read More.
It’s Normal Campaign: Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the ADA
The Independent Living Resource Center San Francisco (ILRCSF) has launched an online campaign to gather support for the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In order to gain support of corporate sponsors we need to demonstrate that there are thousands of people with disabilities in every walk of life. We need to show large numbers in each of the three ways people can show their support which are:
We have also started a video competition “Reclaiming ‘Normal’.” People are encouraged to submit a short video (less than 10 minutes) addressing the statement: “Disability is a NORMAL part of the world we live in.” Get more information about submissions, due dates and prizes.
We need to have large numbers of people with and without disabilities involved in this campaign. Getting involved is easy. Let’s all join together and show the world how large this community is and that it is time we are members of every community.
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May 10, 2010