AAPD Disability Daily ~ The American Association of People with Disability ~ Your news. Daily. Unfiltered ~ Tuesday, 22 October 2013

AAPD Disability Daily ~ The American Association of People with Disability ~ Your news. Daily. Unfiltered ~ Tuesday, 22 October 2013

NATIONAL

Supreme Court To Weigh IQ Cutoff For ‘Intellectual Disability'. Disability Scoop (10/22) (David C. Savage)

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed Monday to clarify the legal standard for intellectual disability in the case of a Florida death row inmate who is illiterate and was once judged to have severe impairments.

The justices in 2002 struck down imposing the death penalty for murderers who are “mentally retarded,” ruling this was cruel and unusual punishment. However, the court did not set a clear standard for what is now commonly known as intellectual disability and left the states some leeway in the matter.

Now, the court will decide whether states may rely entirely on a single IQ test.

Florida, like nine other states, has used a cutoff score of 70 on the test to measure for intellectual disability. Those who score 70 or above cannot be deemed to have intellectual disabilities, even if psychologists testify the inmate does. Those below that score still may go to prison but cannot be executed.

Freddie Hall, the Florida inmate, was sentenced to die for the kidnap and murder of a woman he abducted from a grocery store in 1978 despite having organic brain damage and other disabilities. Though the judge in the case agreed Hall had intellectual disability, he imposed a death sentence anyway, citing the severity of his crime and the planning that went into it.

After the Supreme Court’s ruling in 2002 outlawing the death penalty for those with intellectual disability, Hall sought to be removed from death row. But a psychologist who tested him said Hall scored a 71 on the Weschler Adult Intelligence Test. As a result, under a new Florida law, he could no longer qualify having intellectual disability.

A divided Florida Supreme Court upheld his death sentence last year, but two dissenting justices objected to the use of a single cutoff score.

In appealing his case to the Supreme Court, a lawyer for Hall said his case illustrates the confusion in the law, because the defendant had become “unretarded” between the time of his original sentencing and now. He said the justices should intervene now to prevent the “prospect of executing a clearly mentally retarded human being.”

The court said it would hear the case of Hall vs. Florida during the winter and issue a decision by June.© 2013 Tribune Co.
Visit Tribune Co. at www.latimes.com
Distributed by MCT Information Services

~~~

STATE/LOCAL

Push renewed for forced mental health treatment. The Boston Globe (10/22) (Michael Rezendes)

Massachusetts is one of only five states that have not approved a law requiring certain people with severe mental illnesses to take prescribed medications or face involuntary hospitalization, according to a study by a prominent advocacy group.

The Virginia-based Treatment Advocacy Center maintains that the absence of such a law — an issue to be taken up on Beacon Hill Tuesday — contributes to homelessness, violence, and a state prison system where nearly a quarter of the men and more than half of the women are considered mental health cases.

Backers say the need for such a law was illustrated dramatically this summer, when Edwin Alemany was accused of abducting and murdering 24-year-old Amy Lord, a Web designer living in South Boston.

Alemany, 28, has been ruled competent to stand trial for allegedly murdering Lord and attacking two other women. But he was repeatedly hospitalized for a variety of serious mental health problems, including hallucinations, and had vowed to discontinue taking anti-psychotic and antidepressant medications prescribed for him while in the custody of the state Department of Youth Services, the Globe found.

“He came out with a huge pack of medicine, and he said, ‘I’m not taking these anymore,’ ” said one of Alemany’s brothers-in-law.

‘The problem often comes when someone with a history gets on the medications and things start going well and they feel they don’t need to take them anymore.’

The four other states that have not approved the use of court orders to make mental health outpatients take their medications are Maryland, New Mexico, Tennessee, and Connecticut.

Last December, Adam Lanza, a 20-year-old Connecticut man who allegedly had emotional problems, murdered 26 people, including 20 children, at the Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The Advocacy Center, a nonprofit group, maintains that without such a law, many people with serious mental health problems are not getting the care they need.

The group timed the release of its report on mental health care in Massachusetts with a Tuesday hearing on state legislation that would allow clinicians to petition the courts for an order requiring a person with a documented history of severe mental illness to take medications designed to reduce the risk they might pose to themselves and others.

“The problem often comes when someone with a history gets on the medications and things start going well and they feel they don’t need to take them anymore,” said State Representative Kay Khan, a psychiatric nurse and Democrat from Newton who has repeatedly filed a bill requiring such treatment. “That’s where the trouble can start, with the whole cycle repeating itself.”

Khan and other supporters of an assisted outpatient treatment law in Massachusetts point to models of success in New York and North Carolina, where, studies show, the laws have reduced cases of violence among persons living in communities with serious mental health problems.

New York’s Kendra’s law, named for Kendra Webdale, a young woman killed in 1999 after being pushed in front of a subway train by a person with untreated schizophrenia, is perhaps the most well-known example of an assisted outpatient treatment law.

A Duke University study published in July also said the state of New York has saved money as a result of its assisted outpatient treatment provision, primarily because Kendra’s law has prevented people with serious mental health problems from being re-hospitalized.

Under Kendra’s law, people under outpatient treatment orders may be arrested and involuntarily hospitalized if they fail to comply with their treatment plans.

Those opposed to the Massachusetts proposal say assisted outpatient treatment laws are not a panacea for what often seems like an epidemic of mass shootings committed by people with serious mental health problems.

The 2011 mass shooting in Tucson, in which US Representative Gabrielle Giffords was severely wounded, and the 2012 mass murder at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., occurred in states with assisted outpatient treatment laws.

Much of the opposition to Khan’s bill has come from people with severe mental illnesses and their supporters who fear the loss of civil liberties. They argue that patients should have the right to refuse to take anti-psychotic medications, which can have unpleasant side effects.

“We don’t want to be in a place where peoples’ rights are impacted,” said Lynda Cutrell, former president of the Massachusetts chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. “I have heard from many people who are afraid that this is going to involve something that is forced.”

On the other hand, Cutrell said, “we do absolutely know that we need change.”

She added that the organization is reviewing Khan’s bill with an eye toward taking a position on the legislation at a later date.

Anna Chinappi, spokeswoman for the state Department of Mental Health, said the state also has reservations about Khan’s bill, for the same reason.

“Any change in the mental health system that deprives people of their civil liberties based on disabilities requires thoughtful and careful consideration and further study,” Chinappi said.

Marylou Sudders, a former commissioner of the state’s Department of Mental Health who has opposed passage of an assisted outpatient treatment law for a decade, argues that it’s not necessary since judges already have the power to order outpatient treatment of people with severe mental health problems through the appointment of what is called a Rogers guardian.

But supporters of an assisted outpatient treatment law counter that Rogers guardianships are seldom used and can involved drawn-out hearings in the state’s probate courts.

Sudders said she also opposes adoption of an assisted outpatient treatment law because the state’s diminishing mental health budget won’t support one.

“We do not have the services and programs in place to serve individuals in outpatient treatment,” Sudders said. “You have to have the services in place. Then, if the services don’t work, we can have this conversation.”

Since 2001, state leaders have reduced the state mental health care budget by nearly $100 million, or more than 12 percent, according to the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group that adjusted the figures for inflation.

Kathryn Cohen, the legislative and policy counsel at the Advocacy Center, said it’s impossible to say whether an assisted outpatient treatment law in Massachusetts would have prevented Lord’s death, but she said there is little doubt the law would have applied to Alemany, requiring him to take prescribed medications and participate in a community treatment plan. “With a history of untreated mental illness, re-hospitalization, and violence, Alemany certainly would have qualified for [assisted outpatient treatment] in many states,” Cohen said.

Michael Rezendes can be reached at Michael.rezendes@ globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @RezGlobe.

~~~

Feds try to eliminate housing for the deaf -- at complex built for low hearing. Fox News (10/21) (William La Jeunesse and Jennifer Girdon)

Arizona is defying a federal order to eliminate apartments for deaf seniors at a housing complex built specifically -- for the deaf.

"I think it's about the most ridiculous thing I've heard in a while," said Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who attempted to negotiate the impasse. "There are a lot of stories of out-of-control regulators, but this just seems to be going to the extreme."

A 2005 federal study found that the U.S. had virtually no affordable housing for the deaf. So the federal government helped build Apache ASL Trails, a 75-unit apartment building in Tempe, Ariz., designed specifically for the deaf. Ninety-percent of the units are currently occupied by deaf and deaf-blind seniors.

But now, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development says Apache ASL Trails violates civil rights law -- because it shows a preference for the hearing-impaired.

"A preference or priority based on a particular diagnosis or disability and excluding others with different disabilities is explicitly prohibited by HUD's Section 504 regulations," says a HUD memo about the project. "There is no legal authority contained in any of Apache Trails funding to permit such a priority or preference." 

HUD is threatening to pull all federal housing aid to Arizona unless it limits the number of hearing-impaired residents to 18 people. The agency would not forcibly remove current residents, but wants many of their units to be blocked off to deaf residents in the future once they leave. 

However, when HUD approved and helped fund the project in 2008, it did so knowing that the property was specifically "designed for seniors who are deaf, hard of hearing and deaf blind."

"It's impossible to walk into this building and not see that real people were hurt and continue to be hurt," said Mary Vargas, an attorney for the residents.

The National Association for the Deaf has also stepped in, calling HUD's actions "atrocious" and "a tragic irony."

"HUD is forcing deaf and hard of hearing residents to live in isolation and firetraps," said the Association's CEO Howard Rosenblum in a letter to HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. "There is no statute or regulation that mandates any 25 percent quota."

State housing director Michael Trailor refuses to comply with the federal orders. 

"Quite frankly, the attorneys I dealt with at HUD I would characterize as ignorant and arrogant and much worse, they are powerful," Trailor told Fox News. "And if they worked for me, I would have fired them a long time ago." 

State taxpayers and the apartment's developer have spent $500,000 so far fighting HUD. After two years of negotiation, Trailor met with Donovan earlier this year hoping to resolve the dispute.

Trailor said: "He looked me in the eye and said, 'if you say we have taken too long to resolve this, you are right. If you say we haven't handled this very well, you're right. We're committed to solving this -- but to do so can you be patient?'"

Trailor asked "what patience means in terms of time," and was told it would be a matter of weeks.

"It's now been five months," he said.

All 74 units at Apache ASL Trails accommodate wheelchairs. Blinking lights signal when the doorbell rings and when utilities like the garbage disposal and air conditioning are running. A video phone lets residents "talk" with friends. 

"It's nice to have a life that's equivalent to other people that are not deaf," said resident Linda Russell. "This building is designed for deaf people, by deaf people, and we know what is best for our needs. And people that don't understand our needs, should not be putting themselves in decision-making positions for us."

HUD provided the Arizona Deaf Senior Citizens Coalition and its developer $2.6 million in funds and tax credits to build the complex in 2008. It is now fully occupied, with 69 of the 74 rented to deaf and deaf-blind residents. They meet daily in a large events room to talk, watch television and play games. The room is largely silent but the residents are animated and busy talking in sign language.

"I've been living here for two and a half years," said 74-year-old Rose Marie Pryce. "I love the deaf environment. We have a great time together. I have lots of friends. (If forced to move) I would be devastated. I would cry. I want to stay here, we need this place."

~~~

INTERNATIONAL

Ex-Patients Police Mexico's Mental Health System. The New York Times (10/21) by Karla Zabludovsky

MEXICO CITY — On a recent morning, a collection of people grappling with mental illness roamed the grounds of a psychiatric hospital here, stepping into dirty, dilapidated rooms; exchanging tales of anguish; and peppering administrators with questions.

But they were not patients. They toted notebooks, pens and cameras as they documented conditions at the crumbling hospital, part of a fledgling movement by former patients to hold the mental health system in Mexico accountable for a record of neglect and abuse that is considered among the worst in the Americas.

“We’ve become activists in order to protect our own rights,” said Raúl Montoya, executive director of Colectivo Chuhcan, an organization of people with psychiatric disorders demanding an end to the systemic problems.

In recent years, citizen groups have emerged in Mexico to fight for a wide range of causes, including broader access to public records, fair trials for those incarcerated under questionable circumstances and an obligatory evaluation system for teachers.

Now, a growing number of people with severe mental illnesses, a population that is largely mocked and ignored here, are joining the fray, pressing a well-documented issue. A 2010 report by Disability Rights International, a human rights group, found evidence of torture and other forms of cruel or inhumane treatment in Mexican psychiatric institutions.

In January, President Enrique Peña Nieto, promising to fulfill Mexico’s previous vows to clean up the mental health system, signed a bill intended to relieve overcrowding, improve treatment and reduce the stigma of mental illness by reintegrating people with psychiatric disorders into the general population.

But experts say that progress has been piecemeal, and that promises to improve the system repeatedly fall short. Often, money and attention focus on short-term or cosmetic improvements instead of the development of rehabilitation programs and other long-term care.

“Mexico, I have to say, is wasting some of its money,” said Dr. Robert L. Okin, a psychiatrist and an adviser for Disability Rights International, who visited several psychiatric hospitals last month to inspect conditions. “It’s rearranging the chairs of the Titanic.”

In one hospital, some staff members admitted that patients had no activities, their days spent in bed or scratching at the walls.

In another facility, construction was under way for three new buildings for outpatient visits and administrative offices. Yet a pilot program to help patients learn everyday tasks through regular restaurant and supermarket visits has served only six patients, and its expansion has been slow because of a lack of resources. The hospital also had plans for a halfway house for up to five patients, but it struggled to find basic necessities like furniture.

Formed in 2011, Colectivo Chuhcan began as a Disability Rights International project but has since broken off on its own. Its members encourage one another in their rehabilitation, give emotional support to psychiatric patients and mount information campaigns to eradicate the stigma related to mental illness. In August, they began touring psychiatric hospitals and pressuring the government to improve conditions.

Mental health issues are largely taboo and often misunderstood in Mexico. But hints of acceptance are emerging. Radio Abierta, a radio program in Mexico created by psychiatric patients, has been growing steadily since beginning in 2009. It allows guests, many of whom have psychiatric disorders, to own the airwaves for an hour a week, and it has expanded to include experts and students of psychology.

“These are no longer voices that no one listens to; they are empowered,” said Dr. Sara Makowski, a psychiatrist who founded and hosts the program, which fosters discussions about anything from soccer to Buddhism.

The show has its own version of humor — with slogans like “Once you join the crazy boat, it’s hard to get off it” — but also airs serious complaints.

“They bathed me with cold water; I object to this!” Jaime Gustavo, a patient at a hospital near the show’s makeshift recording site, recounted on one recent episode.

Dr. Makowski said fielding such complaints had led administrators at that hospital to cut off her access there. About 20 patients from the hospital participated in the program when it first aired; now, only about 5 contribute regularly.

Dr. Okin, too, knows how closed off mental institutions can be. During one of his hospital visits last month, a physician told him that he could not take photographs and threatened to have him arrested if he tried to do so.

Such restraints on access make observations by members of Colectivo Chuhcan all the more important, experts say.

“Having experienced the toxicity of these conditions, day in and day out,” said Dr. Okin, gives them “an unspoken understanding at a visceral level that we just don’t have.”

During a recent visit to an institution, Natalia Santos, Colectivo Chuhcan’s president, and two other members of the group took detailed notes about the belongings patients were allowed to have, their facial expressions and their extensive inactivity. They frequently asked patients how they felt and what they needed.

“Who better to do this work than someone who has this disability?” asked Ms. Santos, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and depression. “I can see that they are not well. Some reflect fear, others anger, others impotence.”

Some patients who recognized them from previous visits tried to tell them — some through moans and gestures — about cases of abuse in the hospital, and others simply craved an opportunity for human contact with outsiders.

The group looked shaken during the tour, overwhelmed by fetid smells and stepping along soiled walkways.

“Sometimes we stop to think that we could end up like that if we don’t control ourselves,” said Ms. Santos, who has been hospitalized twice. “I try to be strong.”

<img src="http://meter-svc.nytimes.com/meter.gif"/>

A version of this article appears in print on October 22, 2013, on page A4 of the New York edition with the headline: Ex-Patients Police Mexico’s Mental Health System.

~~~

Neuro Linguistic Programming: Mental health veterans therapy fear. BBC News (10/22)

Week In Week Out's Tim Rogers spoke to soldiers who claimed to feel worse after treatment

“Some have been made very unwell as a result of going there and have needed a lot of support from NHS and veterans charities” (Dr Neil Kitchiner, NHS All Wales Veterans Health and Wellbeing service)

But two veterans interviewed for the BBC's Week In Week Out programme claim it was the therapy they received at Healing the Wounds that made them feel suicidal.

Both men, one of whom went undercover for the programme, said they felt worse after their treatment.

Dr Neil Kitchiner, head of the NHS All Wales Veterans Health and Wellbeing service, said he has not seen evidence of the treatment working.

"None of them are cured as far as I've seen, after three days treatment," he said.

"Some have been made very unwell as a result of going there and have needed a lot of support from NHS and veterans' charities.

"We have asked them to stop it.

"We have shown the evidence from the NHS and from the NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) guidelines, we've shared our concerns with them and yet they continue to operate in the way they do."

Healing The Wounds was set up by Bridgend couple Kevin and Carol Richards and has raised almost £500,000 in the last three years.

They insist it is offering a safe and effective alternative therapy for veterans.

'Feeling suicidal'

But on the programme some describe feeling even worse after a three-day residential course during which veterans are sent to a hotel overnight.

One veteran, who did not want to be identified, said the course of therapy left him feeling suicidal.

"I did two full days and on the third I left and my wife came to collect me," he said. "When she came through the doors it was such a relief, I was left feeling worse than when I first went into Healing The Wounds."

The undercover veteran, who does not have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but described suffering some of the symptoms, was told by Carol Richards during therapy that it had taken her just 20 minutes to help one soldier who had seen many of his colleagues killed.

No attempt was made to contact the undercover veteran's GP to check his physical or mental health before therapy began.

Continue reading the main story

“Because there is no regulation anybody can set up as an NLP practitioner and the quality of their work is not monitored by anybody so that puts potential risks out in the field for anybody accessing those sorts of services”(Darren Millar AM

Chair, Assembly armed forces cross-party group)

Prof Neil Greenberg, co-director of the Academic Centre for Defence Mental Health at Kings College London, said: "If this group who are not medically qualified and don't know a person's whole treatment history, because they haven't got that, that could cause some real problems, it could be quite dangerous."

Healing the Wounds said it is collecting data to prove its treatment is effective, but Prof Greenberg says unless NLP is subjected to what are known as randomised clinical trials it cannot be established as an appropriate treatment for PTSD.

He added: "NLP has not been investigated by proper scientific trials to show it works.

"The key point is, just because someone feels good at end session, there is no guarantee they're going to feel good in the future.

"And given the fact we know psychological therapies have potential to harm we need to do those trails."

The programme also discovered that regulators have investigated the qualifications of a counsellor who had falsely been described as a clinical psychologist and a paramedic while helping vulnerable veterans for the charity.

John Yandle from Blaenavon claims Healing The Wounds did not check his qualifications before he began counselling people with PTSD who had turned to it for help.

The Health and Care Professions Council which polices the appropriate use of job titles including paramedic and clinical psychologist has ordered him not to use the titles in future.

Better regulation

Mr Yandle, who does have counselling qualifications, denied deliberately misleading people and says the charity had mistakenly referred to him as a paramedic on its website.

Darren Millar, chair of the Welsh assembly's cross-party group on the Armed Forces, is calling for better regulation of charities offering mental health services to veterans.

He said: "Because there is no regulation anybody can set up as an NLP practitioner and the quality of their work is not monitored by anybody so that puts potential risks out in the field for anybody accessing those sorts of services."

"What we need is some proper arrangements for oversight of the quality of the work being done by any charity that is giving some support to veterans.

"What is important is to measure the outcomes when any organisation is offering this sort of service to see if it is making a real difference in the lives of the people who contact it."

The Charities Commission has confirmed it is investigating Healing the Wounds and its links to The Forces Aid Foundation - set up by Kevin Richards and wrongly described as a charity on its website.

Mr Richards thanked the programme for pointing out the error and said it would amend its website.

The Welsh government said it has spent £500,000 on the All Wales Veterans Health and Well Being Service.

A spokesman added: "We are clear that where any body offers treatment for any condition, they should ensure that these are in line with evidence based guidelines.

"This is a stipulation for the NHS but an expectation for general good practice more broadly.

~~~

Offer Deaf Children Education in Sign Language. Human Rights Watch (10/17)

(Sydney) – Deaf children have a right to a quality education, like all other children, in a language and environment that maximizes their potential. In a video released on October 18, 2013, in conjunction with a global conference in Sydney on equality for deaf people, Human Rights Watch shows some of the challenges faced by deaf children and young people, and the opportunities sign language education offers them.

Worldwide, deaf children and young people are often denied an education, including in sign language. There is a lack of teachers well-trained in sign language, and in many cases parents do not know that their children have a right to go to school and that they can learn if only given the opportunity.

“Sign language is critical for deaf people to be able to communicate, express themselves, and learn,” said Shantha Rau Barriga, disability rights director at Human Rights Watch. “Depriving deaf people of the opportunity to learn sign language can condemn them to devastating isolation.”

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/WwksMw6Ar_s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Hundreds of deaf people, their families, government officials, and disability experts have gathered in Sydney for a major conference on October 16-18 organized by the World Federation of the Deaf.    

Human Rights Watch documented cases of deaf children and young people in Nepal, China, and northern Uganda who were denied their right to education in sign language. Some deaf children and young people interviewed did not attend school at all. Teachers and parents often have the misconception that deaf children lack the intellectual capacity to learn.

A deaf teacher featured in the video told Human Rights Watch: “Our disability only affects our hearing, not our minds. A deaf child’s mind is as good as a hearing child’s mind.”

The right to education in sign language for deaf people is safeguarded by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. Under this treaty, governments have an obligation to facilitate the learning of sign language and to promote the linguistic identity of the deaf community.

In concrete terms, this means employing teachers who are qualified in the national sign language, and training teachers at all levels of education to work with deaf pupils. Central to this approach is empowering deaf children, young people, and parents to help design and carry out education in sign language.

“Without the ability to use sign language on the most basic level, deaf people face significant barriers to being independent,” Barriga said. “Communication skills are fundamental to getting jobs and participating in the communities and family life.”

~~~

Companies paying fines instead of hiring people with disabilities. The Korea Times (10/22) (Nam HYun~woo)

Companies opted to pay 6.6 billion won in fines rather than meeting their obligatory employment quota for the disabled over the past three years, a lawmaker said, citing government data Tuesday.

Rep. Eun Su-mi of the main opposition Democratic Party said 23 companies with more than 300 employees hired only six disabled persons against their aggregate quota of 283 as of last December.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor submitted the data to the lawmaker as part of a National Assembly audit of the ministry.

Among the list, apparel giants such as Prada Korea, Zara Retail Korea and Giordano and domestic multiplex chain Megabox did not hire any person with disabilities. 

Private companies are obliged by the government to fill at least 2.5 percent of their payroll with the disabled. 

The quota is 3 percent for state, municipal and public entities. 

As of last December, the ratio of employment of the disabled stood at 2.35 percent in the private sector. 

For companies which meet the quota, the government provides incentives and imposes “disabled employment share” on those who fail to comply.

According to the data, the total amount of those receiving the incentives decreased in the 2009-2012 period. In contrast, there was an increase in the number of employers that paid fines for failure to fill the quota. 

“This shows that the country’s employment environment for persons with disabilities remains poor,” Eun said. “Most of the companies paid fines for three consecutive years, instead of hiring the disabled, showing they lack moral or legal sense.”

She said Korea’s quota for the disabled employment still remains at a level lower than that of other developed countries.

Meanwhile, Seoul National University Hospital and Samsung Electronics were among the employers that recorded the lowest ratio of disabled employees. 

The hospital had to employ 242 persons with disabilities as of last December to fill its mandatory quota, but it only hired 91. Samsung also had to hire 2,274, but it hired only 1,342.

namhw@ktimes.co.kr

~~~

EMPLOYMENT

OPINION: My Word: Workers with disabilities are ideal employees. Orlando Sentinel (10/22

~~~

SPORTS

Paralymics May Include Deaf Athlete Category By 2020 Tokyo Games. Swimming World (10/18)

TOKYO, Japan, October 18. THE International Paralympic Committee announced today that it is considering adding a deaf athlete category by the time of the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, according to Inside The Games. 

"It is an objective to get some events for deaf athletes into the Paralympics," IPC president Sir Philip Craven said. "There has been communication about events being brought back [and] discussions will be ongoing. There will be a minimum of seven years of discussions, so it is not something likely for 2016 but it could be in future years." 

Inside The Games has reported, however, that the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf believe that no process of inclusion is actually underway.

"ICSD has never been given a minimum amount of time for membership by the IPC," ICSD CEO Mark Cooper said. "In broad terms we asked before London 2012 about adding events for deaf athletes and were told then that there was not enough time to do so. We asked what the procedure currently was and were told that no procedure was currently in place and that we should await further clarification from the IPC." 

In 1996, deaf sports broke away from the initial Paralympic movement and have been running successful Deaflympics contests tailored towards deaf athletes. However, with the Paralympics gaining much more coverage with their cohesion with the Olympics, the Deaflympics have been under fire. UK Deaf Sport actually lost its annual grant of $68,000 from UK Sport according to Inside The Games. 

For a more swimming-centric thought about this possibility, Swimming World chatted with one of the best deaf swimmers of all time, Marcus Titus. There's a story in how immediately supportive he was of the concept. 

"I think that's pretty awesome!" Titus told Swimming World. "I would love to see that happen." 

~~~

HOUSING

Brothers Fight To Stay In Family Home. Disability Scoop (10/22) (Rita Price)

The house has been a mess for years, stuffed with seemingly all manner of paper, plastic, wood and metal. Stacks of videocassettes, broken electronics and knick-knacks spill onto the dirty, bowed floor. There’s no hot water, and the place smells bad.

Fred, Harry and Chris Klein can’t imagine living anywhere else. The brothers are struggling to understand why, for the first time in their lives, they might have to.

“The city says it isn’t a safe house,” Fred said. “I’ve been here 70 years and it hasn’t hurt me yet.”

He remained pleasant but resolute last week as a small army of local officials — code-enforcement officers, lawyers, even a judge — descended on the yellow frame house in Columbus, Ohio.

Columbus code and environmental violations dating to at least 2004 are coming to a head. And the three brothers, who have developmental disabilities, don’t have the roughly $75,000 the city says would be needed to bring their family home up to code.

“Maybe we need the mayor, or maybe the governor,” Harry said after Franklin County Environmental Judge Dan Hawkins toured the property on Thursday during an on-site hearing.

Code-enforcement supervisor Janine Aeh said the city has been patient, working along with the Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities, which provides services to two of the brothers.

“When we go in to vacate a house, it’s usually pretty ugly,” Aeh said of the process. “But with this one, it’s so unusual, that our policy procedure wouldn’t have been adequate. It would have been almost cruel.”

Fred is 70, Harry is 68, and Chris is 59. They are former ride operators at the old Gooding Amusement Park next to the Columbus Zoo, and the brothers jointly own the house that belonged first to their grandparents, then to their parents. During one of the Scioto River floods, Fred said, their father “left through the upstairs window in a boat.”

To say they are sentimental about their dilapidated home is an understatement. “I’ll fight for it,” Fred said.

Assistant City Attorney Kristen Kroflich thinks that’s likely a losing battle. “We don’t want to fine or jail them,” she said. “But it’s not habitable. The floor’s caving in, the walls are bowed, it’s a fire hazard.”

Former Environmental Judge Harland Hale had told the Kleins in May to leave the house and tend to their personal hygiene. The disabilities board was set to provide temporary quarters. At the time, the brothers agreed.

“We offered to put them up in a hotel rather than have them go into emergency respite, so that they could stay together,” said Fred Copsey-Pearce, a service coordinator at the disabilities board.

But Fred, Harry and Chris went no farther than next door, to their sister’s house. They use it as a base from which to work — at their own pace — to undo years of hoarding and prepare for a renovation that, if it could happen, would cost more than the house is worth.

“They need help,” said Gilbert Rigsby, a neighbor who doesn’t want to see the house razed. “I think a lot of us would be willing. They need the house where they were born and raised.”

Copsey-Pearce said the Kleins have been offered help many times over the years. But they are free, like most other adults, to make their own decisions. They do not have guardians, and they successfully manage their finances.

A central question, Copsey-Pearce said, is “At what point does a cluttered house become more than a cluttered house?”

Chris says they should be able to live as they choose. He’s angry about the contractors who came weeks ago to inspect the house and clear debris.

Kroflich said she has held off on seeking a demolition order because she wants the brothers to have an attorney. The Columbus Bar Association sent Jack D’Aurora to Thursday’s hearing, where he talked with Fred and Harry about representing them at no charge. Chris refused to participate.

Whatever the future, Fred said he and his brothers won’t face it separately. “We’ve been together all these years,” he said. “Just like married life. There ain’t no getting a divorce.”

© 2013 The Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio)
Visit The Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio) at www.dispatch.com
Distributed by MCT Information Services

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EDUCATION

Almost $1.8 Million in Grants Awarded to Help Older Adults with Disabilities.
The U.S. Department of Education (10/21)

The U.S. Department of Education today announced the award of almost $1.8 million in grants to help older adults with disabilities. The grant money was disbursed before the recent government shutdown and was not affected by the temporary lapse in funding.

The awards include: $924,999 to the Georgia Tech Research Corporation for a Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technologies to Support Successful Aging with Disability; and $875,000 to the University of Washington for a Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Promoting Healthy Aging for Individuals with Long-Term Physical Disabilities.

"As adults with disabilities age, they face the risk of developing additional health problems and conditions that create significant barriers to employment and quality of life," said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said. "Finding ways to promote healthy and successful aging for these individuals is essential."

The grants are being made by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), a component of the department's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.

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$4.6 Million in Grants Awarded for Research Projects Aimed at Helping Improve Lives of People with Disabilities. The U.S. Department of Education (10/21)

The U.S. Department of Education announced today the award of more than $4.6 million in grants to five institutions for research projects aimed at helping improve the lives of people with disabilities. The grant money was disbursed before the recent government shutdown and was not affected by the temporary lapse in funding.

"Through these projects, we hope to conduct research, develop projects and provide technical assistance and training – all aimed at helping better the lives of individuals with disabilities," said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. "All of these efforts are intended to fulfill the goal of inclusion, integration, employment and self-sufficiency for people with disabilities."

The grants are being awarded under the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERC) Program. The recipients will conduct programs of advanced research of an engineering or technical nature designed to apply technology, scientific achievement and psychological and social knowledge to solve rehabilitation problems and remove environmental barriers.

The grants include:

The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System (CFDA 81.133E-4) -- $925,000.

Regents of the University of Michigan (CFDA 81.133E-5) -- $923,442

Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) - (CFDA 81.133E-5) -- $924,937

Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) - (CFDA 81.133E-7) -- $924,939

Carnegie Mellon University - (CFDA 81.133E-8) -- $923,878

In recent years, a variety of products have been created through the RERC program to help people with disabilities, including accessible kiosks, voting booths and ATM machines. The program has also help fund "talking signs" for the blind community and hand-held hearing screening devices to screen for hearing loss in newborns, infants, young children and other difficult to test people.

The grants will be administered by the Education Department's National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR).

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American Association of People with Disabilities
2013 H Street NW, 5th Floor

Washington, DC 20006 United States

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