JFActivist

Obama deserves praise for signing hate crimes law

From the LA Times  (11/3/09):

Obama deserves praise for signing hate crimes law

By Kathi Wolfe

As a legally blind lesbian, I celebrated on Oct. 28 when the president signed the Matthew Shepard and James Boyd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act...

...In 1999, Eric Krochmaluk, a man with intellectual disabilities from Middletown, N.J., was kidnapped, choked, burned with cigarettes and abandoned in a forest...

...No one will be prosecuted simply for exercising the freedom of speech. And that is how it should be, even if that speech is ugly and bigoted.

But once someone commits a violent crime against us because of who we are, that person's bigoted intentions ought to be penalized. Judges and juries, at sentencing, often take into consideration the frame of mind of the criminal. They should do so with these crimes, too. The community has a right to say that bigoted violence is especially corrosive.

The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act won't end bias-based crimes. But it will put everyone on notice that such crimes will not be tolerated.

And for those of us who are vulnerable, it makes us a little less fearful today than we were yesterday.

That's something that all Americans should celebrate.

CA: Victory! Court Protects Teacher-Advocate-Whistleblower from Retaliation

Thank you Larry Komar for contributing this information:

A new decision, Susan Barker vs. Riverside County Office of Education, (9th Cir., 10/23/09), reversed a federal district court's decision to dismiss the teacher's retaliation suit on the grounds that she lacked standing under Section 504 and the ADA.   The 9th Circuit held that a teacher that complains to her administrators and files a complaint with the US Department of Education Office for Civil Rights for violations of the students' rights is protected from harassment and retaliation under both Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act.  

After Barker complained to supervisors that the special education services provided to students with disabilities at her school  violated the special education laws, and subsequently filed a complaint on behalf of her students with OCR for violations of Section 504, she was allegedly subjected to various acts of intimidation including failure to respond to her emails and calls, excluding her from important meetings, changing her to work sites further from her home, reducing her workload and refusing to allow her to fill in for other staff.   Based on the treatment she was receiving, Barker resigned, but alleged that she was "constructively discharged."   Notably, on June 16, 2006, the Office for Civil Rights "determined that the preponderance of the evidence showed that....(the school system) retaliated against Barker in violation of Section 504 and Title II...."   Holding that Barker had standing to sue under Section 504, the court wrote, "empathetic people who teach and interact frequently with the disabled are the most likely to recognize their treatment and to advocate on their behalf."   The court also found that her actions were protected under the anti-retaliation provisions of Title II of the ADA.   The case was remanded to the district court to allow her to go forward in attempting to prove the underlying allegations in her complaint.
 
This decision is a welcome victory affirming the right of school employees to speak out when they believe that the rights of children with disabilities are being violated.   Hopefully, it will encourage other school staff that are aware of serious problems in relation to the treatment of children with disabilities to bring these complaints to their school administrators or to the OCR.

>>> For More Information on this Case

1 in 10 People With Disabilities Have been Victims of a Hate Crime

From the Guardian (11/4/09):

Charity says 9% of disabled people have been victims of hate crime
Leonard Cheshire Disability included question on disability-related crime after high-profile incidents in which disabled people had been targeted
by Peter Walker

Almost one in 10 disabled people in the UK have been the victim of a hate crime, according to a leading disability charity.

For the first time, the 2009 version of an annual survey carried out by Leonard Cheshire Disability asked respondents whether they had faced a crime which they felt was motivated by their disability, with 9% saying they had.

"Even without a comparison for previous years, this is a shocking figure," said Eleanor Gore, from Leonard Cheshire, who compiled the review. "It's often hard to know how big a problem disability hate crime is as it tends to be very under-reported, and sometimes police and councils don't recognise it properly."

The charity said it had included the question after high-profile incidents in which disabled people had been targeted, notably the case of Fiona Pilkington and her 18-year-old daughter, Francecca. In September, an inquest jury criticised police and a council in Leicestershire for failing to help Pilkington after her family suffered years of abuse from gangs of youths. Pilkington killed herself and Francecca by setting the family car alight in a layby near their home...

>>>For the full article

The Secret World of Deaf Prisoners

From Mother Jones (10/2/09)

The Secret World of Deaf Prisoners
— By James Ridgeway

...The deaf face a nightmare when they fall into the criminal justice system. They live in a world apart to begin with; but in prison they are thrown into a dreaded new environment where they literally can’t understand the language of either their jailers or the other prisoners. When people who have never heard a spoken word try to speak, the sounds come out jumbled and weird—leading ill-informed jailers to think they are obstreperous or crazy. As a consequence, some deaf prisoners can end up in solitary.

I discovered numerous examples of abuses and violations of the rights of deaf prisoners as part of an ongoing investigative reporting project. But the most troubling discovery I made was how little has been done about the problem in the criminal justice system—and how little is known about it outside prison walls...

...The abuses begin as soon as a deaf prisoner enters the criminal justice system and faces accusers in court. Often the hard of hearing and deaf can’t hear the charges against them, don’t know what the trial is all about, don’t know why the guards are screaming at them, can’t hear bells or commands from others. If they are close enough to the judge and look hard at him, they can read his lips. But, as McCay Vernon points out, only 50 percent of spoken sounds can be translated into sign language.

On occasion, deaf persons will be given a court interpreter who knows sign language. But this can be a doubly frustrating experience: sign language can’t convey the legalistic, often arcane lingo used by defense lawyers, prosecutors and judges. Most deaf people don’t read lips. The idea they can hear normally, or at least hear enough to act as if they can hear normally, is a myth of the hearing world...

...Such anecdotes illustrate that deaf prisoners are faced daily with violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which mandates equal treatment for deaf and other disabled persons. There is even a provision under the Act to pay attorneys additional sums to bring cases to correct inequities suffered by deaf inmates—a provision which, like other parts of the act, is honored mostly in the breach...

>>> For the Full Article

URGENT: Save Long Term Services and Supports in Health Care Reform

From CCD (10/7/09):

URGENT: We understand that the CLASS Act is coming under attack as the Senate Finance and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committees begin to merge the two bills into one Senate health reform bill.  Please have lots of people sign and FAX the attached message (Download CLASS Act letter) to their Democratic Senator who serves on one of those Committees (Finance or Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP)).  This is urgent.  Please spread the word and get people to FAX these messages ASAP.

The message needs to be FAXed to Capitol Hill offices tonight (October 7) and Thursday morning (October 8). For your Senator's Fax info go to your Senator's website at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Whatever you can do would be great.  The CLASS Act and the CFC Option are complementary and CLASS supports the CFC Option.

First National Study on Crime Against Persons with Disabilities

Press Release from the Department of Justice (10/1/09):

FIRST NATIONAL STUDY ON CRIME AGAINST PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

Young and middle-age persons with disabilities experienced higher rates of violence than persons of similar ages without disabilities

     WASHINGTON – The first national study on crime against persons with disabilities was released today by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), Office of Justice Programs. In 2007 persons age 12 or older with disabilities experienced about 716,000 nonfatal violent crimes, including rape or sexual assault (47,000), robbery (79,000), aggravated assaults (114,000) and simple assaults (476,000). They also experienced about 2.3 million property crimes during the year.  

     Based on interviews for the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), the study identified six types of disabilities among persons who experienced criminal victimization: sensory, physical, cognitive functioning, self-care, go-outside-the-home and employment. A disability was defined as a long-standing (six months or more) sensory, physical, mental or emotional condition that makes it difficult for a person to perform daily living activities.

     To compare victimization of persons with and without disabilities, the study generated age-adjusted rates for persons with disabilities, who typically are older than persons without disabilities. The age-adjusted rate of nonfatal violent crimes against persons with disabilities was 1.5 times higher than the rate for those without disabilities (32 per 1,000 persons age 12 or older compared to 21 per 1,000).

     Examining specific age groups, the risk of violence was higher for young and middle-age persons with a disability than those of similar age groups without disabilities. Persons age 12 to 19 and those age 35 to 49 with a disability experienced violence at nearly twice the rate as persons of the same age groups without a disability. The rate of violence did not differ by disability status for persons age 50 or older.  Persons age 65 or older, with or without a disability, had the lowest rates of violent crime.  

     The age-adjusted rate of violent crime against females with a disability (35 per 1,000 persons age 12 or older) was almost twice the rate for females without a disability (19 per 1,000 persons age 12 or older). Males with a disability also experienced higher age-adjusted rates of violence than males without a disability (30 per 1,000 compared to 24 per 1,000).

     Sixteen percent of violent crimes against females with a disability were committed by an intimate partner, defined as a current or former spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend. Five percent of violence against males with a disability was committed by an intimate partner. Among persons without disabilities, intimate partners were responsible for 27 percent of nonfatal violence against females and 3 percent of nonfatal violence against males.

     More than half of violent crimes against people with disabilities were against those with more than one type of disability. Persons with cognitive disabilities had a rate of nonfatal violent crime higher than the rates for persons with other types of disabilities. 

     Nearly one in five violent crime victims with a disability believed that they became a victim because of their disability. Victims with disabilities perceived offenders to be under the influence of either alcohol or drugs in about a third of all violent crimes against them. Violent crime victims with or without a disability were equally as likely to face an armed offender, report the crime to the police or suffer an injury during the crime.

     The 2.3 million property crimes against households with a disabled person included 527,000 household burglaries, 107,000 motor vehicle thefts and 1.7 million thefts; however, these estimates are believed to be an undercount as information about a disability was obtained only for if the person interviewed reported a disability.

     Data in this report represent the first estimates of victimization of people with disabilities produced in response to the Crime Victims with Disabilities Awareness Act. Disability was measured in the NCVS using procedures developed for the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.  

     The report, Crime Against People with Disabilities, 2007 (NCJ 227814), was written by BJS statisticians Michael Rand and Erika Harrell. Following publication, the report can be found at
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/capd07.htm.

     For additional information about the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ statistical reports and programs, please visit the BJS Web site at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs.

# # #

     The Office of Justice Programs (OJP), headed by Acting Assistant Attorney General Mary Lou Leary, provides federal leadership in developing the nation's capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice, and assist victims. OJP has five component bureaus: the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; and the Office for Victims of Crime. In addition, OJP has two program offices: the Community Capacity Development Office, which incorporates the Weed and Seed strategy, and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART). More information can be found at http://www.ojp.gov.

>>> For the Report

LPA: October is National Dwarfism Awareness Month

From LPA (10/2/09):

LITTLE PEOPLE OF AMERICA RECOGNIZES OCTOBER AS

NATIONAL DWARFISM AWARENESS MONTH

 

October has been declared National Dwarfism Awareness Month by Little People of America.  Little People of America (LPA) is a national support organization for people with dwarfism and their families.  LPA provides peer, parent and medical support for the dwarfism community. 

LPA began in 1957 with actor Billy Barty and 20 short-statured friends.  The first LPA meeting was monumental for a group of people who were severely mislabeled and misunderstood by society.  Today, Little People of America is a thriving international organization providing much needed support, education, educational scholarships, and community outreach.

In declaring Dwarfism Awareness Month, LPA hopes to raise positive awareness around dwarfism, address common misconceptions, and increase opportunities for people with dwarfism around the country. 

“People with dwarfism are no different than any other person.  We may just need a well-placed stool.  Our members are children, college students, business professionals, doctors, engineers, mechanics, artists and teachers.  We can do anything an average-height person can do,” says Lois Lamb, LPA President and a person with dwarfism.

"Raising a child with dwarfism is new for most parents.  Being part of LPA has made a tremendous difference.  My daughter and I both have great friends and role models.  High school is not an easy time for most teens, but neither of us feels alone in dealing with any extra challenges," says Joanna Campbell, average-height mother of a teen with dwarfism.

More about LPA and dwarfism:

• There are over 200 distinct forms of dwarfism and skeletal dysplasias.
• People with dwarfism are generally not taller than 4' 10" at adult height. The typical height range is 2'8" to 4'5".
• Eighty percent of people with dwarfism have average-height parents and siblings.
• There are an estimated 30,000 people in the United States and 651,000 internationally with a type of dwarfism.
• In July 2009 the word "midget" was declared inappropriate and offensive. Preferable terms are: having dwarfism, short stature, little person, lp, and the medical terminology use of dwarf.  A person's name is always the most preferred.
• LPA has registered a complaint with the FCC over the use of the "m" word.  Our goal is to raise awareness around the offensive impact of the word in order to eliminate use of it in media, popular culture and in everyday language. 
• LPA has 6500 members across the United States and includes 70 chapters active in all 50 states.
• Skeletal Dysplasias affect bone growth, but generally do not affect cognitive abilities.
• LPA hosts an annual national conference each July which draws 2500 attendees for a week of activities, including educational and medical workshops, sports, and social networking and events.

For more information about National Dwarfism Awareness Month, please visit www.lpaonline.org or call 1-888-LPA-2001.  Events supporting National Dwarfism Awareness Month will be occurring throughout the United States all during the month.  Contact the chapter in your area, or the Regional Coordinator for Dwarfism Awareness Month listed on the website.

The National Dwarfism Awareness Month program is dedicated to increasing public knowledge about people with dwarfism. 

Mission of LPA    "LPA is dedicated to improving the quality of life for people with dwarfism throughout their lives while celebrating with great pride Little People’s contribution to social diversity.  LPA strives to bring solutions and global awareness to the prominent issues affecting individuals of short stature and their families."

The LPA National Office is located in Southern California. You may also contact Joanna Campbell, Executive Director at info@lpaonline.org or (714)368-3689.

School officials stripped, locked up 9 year old

From the Columbia Daily Herald (9/24/09):

Mom: School officials stripped, locked up son
By CHRIS GRAHAM

A Maury County judge has issued an emergency injunction against educators at Joseph Brown Elementary School after a developmentally disabled student was allegedly stripped down to his underwear and locked in a seclusion room.

“I don’t want this ever to happen to another child,” said Spring Hill resident Michelle Parks, mother of the 9-year-old boy. “My child’s rights have been stripped from him.”

Parks alleges she was called to the school Tuesday to pick up her son after he had acted out in his special education class taught by Tasha Walker.

After the mother got to the school, Parks said she was led to a door with a small window. When the door was opened she saw her son standing and crying in the middle of the room wearing only his underwear...

>>> For the Full Article
>>> The School Responds
>>> Community's Opinion
>>> The Law, An Attorney's Perspective

To read about the national conversation on this shameful practice read previous Justice For All posts on Seclusion and Restraints.

Action Alert: Support Disability Supports in Health Care Reform

From the Disability Policy Collaboration (Arc and UCP) :

The Fight is on for Long Term Services and Supports in Health Care Reform
Stand up for the Community First Choice Option and the CLASS Plan

Take Action!

The health care reform plans from the five Congressional committees developing health care reform legislation have all now been released.  And now begins the real fight for what stays in, gets added or taken out of those plans.

What is the Community First Choice (CFC) Option?

The CFC option was proposed by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) as a way to get the key provisions of the Community Choice Act in the health care reform bill.  The option would encourage states to provide Medicaid home and community based attendant services (rather than require them as the CCA would do). The CFC option would be a major step in helping to end Medicaid's institutional bias.

What is Happening with the CFC Option?

In the past few weeks, there have been serious discussions with the Obama Administration and in Congress about improved home and community based services. Disability advocates have held productive meetings with White House officials and Congressional leaders to press for including the CFC option in the health care reform bill.

The disability community is also working hard to get incentives for states to choose the CFC option through increased federal Medicaid payments. Right now the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is figuring out how much the increased federal Medicaid payments will cost. Once they release their cost analysis in the next week or so, the CFC option can be included as an amendment to the health care reform legislation in either the House or Senate or both.

But whether or not the CFC option gets included is up to us!

What is the CLASS Plan?

The Class Plan (formerly called the CLASS Act) would create a national voluntary long term care insurance program. It was developed to help people better prepare for their long term care needs and to help take pressure off of the Medicaid program.

What is Happening with the CLASS Plan?

The CLASS Plan is in the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee's version of the health care reform bill.  It has also gained approval from the House Energy and Commerce Committee and from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Unfortunately, the insurance industry has recently launched a full scale attack on the CLASS plan (despite the fact that it will reduce the federal deficit by $58 billion).  According to the American Council of Life Insurers, the CLASS Act will not adequately protect Americans who are in need of long term care, citing the high costs of nursing home care and round-the-clock home health care services as evidence.

By focusing on these extreme ends of long term care, the industry is mischaracterizing the typical needs of most people with disabilities and older Americans. What they most need is some assistance with things like getting up the stairs or getting dressed so that they can stay at home and not enter nursing homes or obtain full time care before they truly need it. The CLASS plan's cash benefit of about $27,000 per year can go a long way to meeting this need by paying for things like ramps and railings or a few hours a day of a home health worker.

Its time to take on the insurance industry and set the record straight on our long term care needs!

TAKE ACTION
Call your Senators and Representative.

Or

Send a fax to your Senators and Representative.  To get their fax numbers, click here and then enter your zip code to locate your elected officials.

See message points when you click on the "Take Action" link

Health Care Town Hall Jeers Woman with Disability

From the JFA Moderator (9/9/09):

Health Care Town Hall Jeers Woman with Disability

At a New Jersey Health Care Reform Town Hall, Marianne Hoynes was shouted down, boo-ed, and intimidated throughout her statement in support of Health Care Reform.  This story has gotten a flurry of internet, television and print media attention.  Unfortunately, not much of the coverage has focused on the content of Ms. Hoynes's comments.  Perhaps if they had, they would have realized she had something very important to say: the disability community is uniquely qualified to evaluate the effectiveness of health care.  It is our personal experiences that should serve as a reminder to everyone that our current system is broken and needs fixing, that passing health care reform is not some theoretical political or economic scheme--it is a matter of housing or homelessness, employment or joblessness and, in many cases, life and death.  

Watch the YouTube clip or read a transcript of her statement below.

>>> YouTube Video of Statement

>>> For More

Hello Congressman,

I have medicare. I think that a large majority of Americans have health care.  Why should we care about our fellow Americans that have none?  Why should my story matter to any of you? *jeers*

I remember a time in NYC when a woman screamed on the street as she was being attacked and murdered and no one came.  People heard her screams but no one helped her. *boos* We were all ashamed. When we heard those stories, we were all ashamed. What happens to the least of us in our society is the definition of who we are. *some cheering and booing* 

This country is a completely different place to live in when you get sick.  I was diagnosed with two incurable auto-immune diseases.  I live in fear every day that I will lose my home.  Not because I took on some irresponsible mortgage. NO.  I worked hard my whole life and my house is bought and paid for.  I'm afraid because the co-pay for one of my medications is $389 every two weeks. And I'm afraid I might not be able to afford my property taxes and I'll lose my home.

Please hear this voice of the disabled.  Don't let the insurance lobby win this fight. *loud cheers and jeers* Please protect me from the extortion of the pharmaceutical industry.  I am a citizen of the United States and I need congress to stand up for me because I cannot stand up for myself.

We all need reasonable health care coverage to be a basic human right not a privileged.

Thank you.