JFActivist

Advocates Outraged by Bejing Olympics Guide that Refers to Disabled as Stubborn, Unsocial, and Defensive

Excerpts from the Times Online (from the UK) (May 27):

Disabled groups outraged by Beijing snub

By Ashling O’Connor, Olympics Correspondent

Disabled groups reacted with outrage yesterday to an official guide for assistants at the Beijing Olympic Games that describes them as unsocial, stubborn and defensive...

...The section of the manual entitled “Skills for helping the disabled” goes on to say: “Some physically disabled are isolated, unsocial, and introspective. They can be stubborn and controlling . . . defensive and have a strong sense of inferiority.

“Sometimes they are overly protective of themselves, especially when they are called crippled or paralysed. Do not use ‘cripple’ or ‘lame’ even if you are just joking.”

The guide, distributed to 100,000 volunteers before the Olympics in August and the Paralympics in September, sparked outrage in among disabled groups...

...Read more.

Billboard Alert!

The billboard depicted here (which reads, "Think seatbelts are confining? Try a wheelchair. Buckle up") was erected by the Ravalli County DUI Task Force in Montana. The Task Force reports to the Ravalli County Board of Commissioners.

We are told that in general, the Task Force does good work, however, this billboard demonstrates that they could take stand some lessons on disability culture and etiquette.

REACT!

Advocates interested in sharing their opinions can do so in a number of ways:

• Email the commissioner of Ravalli County and tell him that while perhaps well-intended, the billboard is an insult to people with disabilities.
• Write a letter to the editor of the local newspapers. Send letters to the Ravalli Republic  Managing Editor, Perry Backus and to Missoulian using their online form.
• Post a reaction on the JFActivist blog.

Have you seen or heard an ad lately that you find shocking? Share it with the JFA Moderator.

"Mad Pride" Fights Stigma around Psychiatric Disabilities

From The New York Times (May 11):

‘Mad Pride’ Fights a Stigma
By GABRIELLE GLASER

IN the YouTube video, Liz Spikol is smiling and animated, the light glinting off her large hoop earrings. Deadpan, she holds up a diaper. It is not, she explains, a hygienic item for a giantess, but rather a prop to illustrate how much control people lose when they undergo electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, as she did 12 years ago.

In other videos and blog postings, Ms. Spikol, a 39-year-old writer in Philadelphia who has bipolar disorder, describes a period of psychosis so severe she jumped out of her mother’s car and ran away like a scared dog.

In lectures across the country, Elyn Saks, a law professor and associate dean at the University of Southern California, recounts the florid visions she has experienced during her lifelong battle with schizophrenia...

...Read more (free registration may be required).

Adult with Autism Debunks Myths during Autism Awareness Month

The following guest column appeared in The Advocate-Messenger (Danville, KY) last week and was written by a student with autism in support of neurodiversity and autism acceptance. It is powerful self-advocacy, and I hope you'll take the time to read the entire piece.

For those so inclined, email the newspaper that printed this piece and tell them you appreciate The Advocate-Messenger's decision to publish a piece during Autism Awareness Month from the perspective of someone with autism. Letters to the newspaper can be sent to letters@amnews.com. 

***********************************

From The Advocate-Messenger (April 9):

Guest Column: Autistic need support, not pity
By LIZZY MILLER
lizzy.miller@centre.edu

T.S. Eliot was right: April is the cruelest month.

So maybe the lilacs haven't bloomed yet, and maybe any dead land in the area has turned into mud by now, but the principle is the same: April is one of the most unintentionally cruel months of the 12.

It's Autism Awareness Month.

I, for one, am acutely aware of autism, and I don't need a special month to think about it, because I am autistic.

I am one of the autistic adults that the president of Autism Speaks - an "organization" that despite its name doesn't employ autistic people or allow their input - swears up and down don't exist...

...Read more.

Statement from the Autistic Self Advocacy Network on World Autism Day

These comments were delivered today to the Florida Autism Task Force's inaugural meeting by ASAN President Ari Ne'eman.

Thank you for this opportunity to address the first meeting of the Florida Autism Task Force on today, the first World Autism Day. My name is Ari Ne'eman and I am here today in my capacity as the President of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN), a volunteer non-profit organization run by and for adults and youth on the autism spectrum. ASAN works to promote the autistic culture movement and other opportunities for individuals on the autism spectrum to interact with each other as well as work to improve the representation of the autistic community in public policy deliberations about autism and disability affairs.

The autism spectrum is broad, diverse and subject to many stereotypes. Just as we work to combat generalizations about racial, religious, national or other minorities, it is only right to avoid a stereotyped view of autism. There are speaking and nonspeaking people on the autism spectrum; people currently capable of living independently and holding competitive employment and those with more significant support needs before those goals are conceivable to them. There are those of us who have held diagnoses since childhood and those of us who were identified later in life, serving to correct an inaccurate previous diagnosis that had placed us in the wrong educational or service-delivery infrastructure. To claim, as some continue to do, that we on the autism spectrum are all incapable of speaking for ourselves is an ignorant and damaging falsehood. Equally harmful is the idea that autistic people are all geniuses or savants, with Rain Man-esque abilities. As someone with an autism spectrum diagnosis myself, I hope to address some of these misconceptions, explain a bit more about our community and inform those assembled here today about the public policy priorities – and concerns – of the autistic self-advocacy movement. In doing so, I hope to communicate to you that, contrary to the unfortunate paradigm that has pervaded the media discourse about us, autism is not a tragedy. We are, as with any other minority, a community with unique needs, strengths, challenges and aspirations that are often distinct from the parent or professional voices that speak about us, without us. The true tragedy is the persistent discrimination, abuse and lack of access that continues to govern society's approach to us. On this, the first ever World Autism Day, we assert that it is this prejudice – not autism itself – that we have a true interest in combating, in the interest of ensuring for every person the rights of communication, inclusion, self-determination and respect.

I was diagnosed on the autism spectrum, specifically Asperger's Syndrome, at age 12. Growing up, I spent time in both inclusive and segregated educational placements. My own negative experiences with segregated educational environments led me to become an advocate for my own educational inclusion and later for the inclusion of other students with disabilities. These experiences motivated me to found the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, an international grassroots advocacy organization of adults and youth on the autism spectrum. ASAN's work has involved me in a number of areas of public policymaking that are important to people on the autism spectrum, some of which I will outline here.

In determining how best to develop a system that provides for the educational, service-delivery and other needs for individuals on the autism spectrum, it is imperative that self-advocates be recognized as the central stakeholder in this discussion. I'm happy to see Florida creating an Autism Task Force to identify what needs to be done in the areas of education, services, supports and research, however I am saddened that the task force did not provide for representation from people on the autism spectrum ourselves. During my time in Florida, I will be working to create a chapter of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. I encourage the members of the Task Force to communicate with us in their deliberations. Future policymaking bodies relating to the autism spectrum and disability issues more generally must include self-advocates. We know our own needs best and no policymaking process can be legitimate without including those who it purports to serve. Nothing About Us, Without Us!

One of the key areas of unmet need for the autistic community – the community of those of us actually on the autism spectrum, as opposed to the parents and professionals who make up the frequently discussed autism community – is in the area of diagnosis. As many of you familiar with the autism field are aware, we have been seeing a steady increase in the reported incidence of the autism spectrum, with the most recent update pointing to an incidence of 1 in 150 from a previous 1 in 166. The reason for this increase in reported incidence is not an "autism epidemic" or any other causation theory that seeks to promote the false idea of autism as a contagion or a force that "steals" an otherwise normal child. This disease-oriented model is not supported by either science or our own experiences. What we are seeing is an increase in awareness of the autism spectrum, resulting in more accurate diagnosis identifying individuals who previously were placed within the mental retardation, mental illness, learning disability or other educational and service-delivery infrastructure. This is a situation that I myself experienced, having been diagnosed on the autism spectrum after having an inaccurate ADD diagnosis for years prior. It is also something that is experienced by many other adults and youth on the autism spectrum in a far more damaging fashion, as a result of the frequent institutionalization and presumption of cognitive inability that far too many autistics continue to suffer from today.

The rapid increase in autism spectrum diagnoses has accompanied repeated broadening of the diagnostic criteria for the autism spectrum, incorporating more information about the diverse manifestations of our neurological type. In addition, the past few decades have resulted in a decrease in the stigmatization of parents of autistic children, as a result of the medical community moving away from the odious and damaging inaccuracy that autism is the result of "refrigerator mothers". This, combined with increased services and supports available for the autism spectrum, has resulted in more autism spectrum diagnoses. These increasing numbers, however, fail to take into account the substantial number of individuals on the autism spectrum who, as a result of a lack of health care access and/or professionals trained in the diagnosis of adults as well as problems with inaccurate diagnostic criteria, are unable to find the resources to acquire the diagnosis that would accurately describe their characteristics and enable them to qualify for services. It is necessary that we increase the availability of accurate information relating to the autism spectrum in reference to adults and youth.

There remains a shocking lack of awareness for the needs – and even the very existence – of autistic adults. In many circles, it is assumed that autism is something relevant only to children and as a result legislation and policymaking has been focused mostly on early childhood. However, there is a large population of adults and adolescents on the spectrum with needs that are not being met. In areas like employment accommodations and other aspects of disability service-delivery, adults on the spectrum are frequently unable to access the supports that are currently available, due to a lack of knowledge of our particular needs. Many of us, as is the case for others with less obvious, "invisible" disabilities, face pervasive employment discrimination as a result of communication difficulties. Vocational Rehabilitation agencies in many states are unaware of how to address these issues, due to the fact that while many of us have the skills for competitive employment, difficulties with transportation, the interview process and the social aspects of the workplace can often interfere with holding a job. It is important not only to educate the general public about autism, but also disability service-delivery professionals who are too often unfamiliar with our population.

Many adults on the autism spectrum continue to suffer in institutions, despite the Supreme Court decision of Olmstead v. L.C., promising community living options for adults with disabilities. In my work on New Jersey's Olmstead Implementation and Planning Advisory Council and with ASAN chapters across the country, I have seen a consistent lack of knowledge of the unique needs of adults on the spectrum when planning community living options. Many of us have difficulties with certain kinds of sensory environments – a lack of awareness of these issues on the part of those planning and implementing the transition into the community can result in problems with the de-institutionalization process. These and other aspects of community living show the need for significant representation of self-advocates in the policymaking process, to ensure both the legitimacy of the process and the creation of the most effective possible public policy strategies.

Autism training for law enforcement (as well as other emergency personnel) remains a key issue. Many of us possess significant difficulties with communication, particularly in high-stress and anxiety-provoking situations. What happens when a person who cannot speak out loud when under stress is approached by a police officer and asked for personal information? What about when a person fails to understand instructions given to stop or engages in an activity that is interpreted as aggressive? There have been numerous incidents of serious injury and even death as a result of a lack of knowledge on the part of law enforcement personnel about autism and other disabilities. This must be rectified and has been the source of legislation in a variety of states across the country. High-quality training for law enforcement and other emergency personnel does exist and it should be utilized in every locale.

For many adolescents on the spectrum and our families preparing to transition out of the school is a process with little guidance or support. When I was preparing to leave high school, my school did not provide sufficient information on the college applications process because it was assumed that as a special education student, my options were limited. While it is certainly the case that not every student on the spectrum – or every student generally – will be able to attend university, more of us are having that opportunity. It is necessary to see more of a focus on college transition for students on the autism spectrum in both high schools and universities. One of the areas that is frequently ignored in this process is that of "soft skills" related to day to day living. Many of ASAN's parent members frequently are told that issues relating to life skills are not the obligation of school districts, despite the fact that this type of education is just as necessary for students to succeed as the more traditional forms of academics. The communication and executive functioning difficulties that those of us on the spectrum face compound the traditional difficulties that new college students face. In fact, these issues – as well as the matter of transition more generally – are relevant for all students on the spectrum, whether or not college is a possibility. For a successful transition to a post-secondary environment of any kind, basic life skills need to be understood. It is essential that steps be taken to incorporate these elements into the school curriculum in an inclusive fashion.

In a broader sense, educational needs for students on the spectrum must be given additional focus. There has already been a productive discussion on the issue of early childhood educational methodologies. It is important to keep in mind that any educational intervention should be aimed at the acquisition of skills, not trying to enforce an arbitrary standard of normalcy. Efforts should not be aimed at the undesirable and impossible goal of trying to make autistic individuals non-autistic. Instead, education should be aimed at addressing the significant disabilities many of us face with the goal of improving quality of life. We also have to ensure that are educational methods avoid utilizing abusive and dangerous techniques in the name of treatment. The use of aversive interventions, the application of pain as a means of behavior modification, should be considered unacceptable in any society that aspires to be termed civilized. As a result of aversives and abusive restraint practices, many students and adults in institutions are injured or even killed each year. This must stop. We need a full ban on the use of aversives and non-emergency restraint as well as an end to out-of-state placements that put students in facilities that utilize these barbaric methods.

We also have to face up to the persistent problem of bullying and its negative effect on the mental health of all students. Students on the autism spectrum are particularly vulnerable to bullies due to the social literacy issues we tend to have. When I was in school, bullying was one of the reasons I spent a period of time away from my home school. This is a common situation for students on the spectrum and represents a grave obstacle to our legal right of a "free and appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment". I know that the success that I have achieved today would not have been possible had I not returned to an inclusive school setting where I learnt more about how to successfully adapt to the world around me. Yet, as a result of bullying, many students face serious emotional or physical injury if they remain in their home schools. This also must be stopped. Florida remains one of a handful of states without true anti-bullying legislation. I urge the legislators and activists here today to address this problem.

Finally, I turn to the more controversial area of research. Here, the autistic self-advocate community holds strong views that may clash with those of some of the interest groups assembled today. The persistent focus on both causation and cure in the autism research agenda has left promising areas of research ignored would could positively impact the quality of life for those of us on the spectrum. Despite extremely encouraging possibilities in the realm of Assistive and Augmentative Communication (AAC) technology for many individuals on the autism spectrum, research in this area is given little to no funding. The development of best practices in service-delivery and education is too often ignored. Mental health needs, restraint reduction, health care access, transition, adult supports and a variety of other educational and service/support needs could all benefit from more research into best practices and effective methodologies. Yet quality of life-oriented research in general is underfunded. If we spent one-tenth of the money and attention we currently lavish on the idea of an autism cure on communication technologies, countless, nonspeaking autistic people would be able to communicate today. The fact that we have not pursued promising avenues of research into communication possibilities should be a source of great concern to us as a society.

There are also concerns that we have about the type of research that is being funded. The autism spectrum represents a natural and legitimate part of human genetic diversity. As a result, efforts to identify genes associated with autism with the goal of developing a prenatal test, enabling the possibility of selective abortion, should be met with opposition from all those concerned about the issue of disability rights. Given the fact that 90% of fetuses that test positive for Down Syndrome are aborted and there exists a similar social stigma against the autism spectrum, I urge both private foundations and government research institutions to re-orient their funding away from research with eugenic applications. While we have no position about the broad issue of abortion, the issue of eugenics is of great concern to us.

Thank you for your time. If we as a society seek to fulfill the values we espouse, we must take practical steps to establish ourselves as a culture that respects neurological diversity in the same way that history has shown us to respect racial, religious, national and other forms of diversity. We on the autism spectrum can make significant contributions to the world around us and, with the right supports, services and education, we can and should be active and participating members of society. By pursuing the goals of inclusion, respect and access, we can make that a reality. I'd like to end with a quote from Jim Sinclair, the founder of Autism Network International (ANI), the first autistic self-advocate organization and a group from which much of the growing autistic culture developed from. ""The tragedy is not that we're here, but that your world has no place for us to be." Today, on the first World Autism Day, I encourage all of us to think about what we can do to change that unfortunate reality and pursue a policy of autism acceptance, now and into the future.

"Autistics don't want to be cured"

Alex Plank, a member of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) and founder of WrongPlanet.net, an online community for individuals on the autism spectrum, is featured today, "World Autism Day," in a Chicago Tribune blogger's post. His comments and perspective are a far cry from the autism "recovery" and "cure"-based focus of many news outlets on this day.

Excerpts of a phone interview with Alex are featured below (NOTE: the "me" is blogger Julie Deardorff):

Me: What's the harm in trying a different diet to alleviate some physical symptoms?

Alex: "(In searching for cures) you're saying there’s something wrong that needs to be fixed but people can't change the way they are. There's no harm in having a different diet. And I know people allergic to gluten. But in general, people with autism do improve, but not because of what parents think (they're doing). Before vaccines were a (supposed) cause, it was 'ever since Johnny fell off the pier' or "ever since Katie was in a car crash.' They always had an event. Researchers have found in reality, these correlations that people say exist are not the cause of autism improving or getting worse. It would have happened anyway. It's our innate proclivity to find patterns even when they don’t exist. (But) there’s a harm in trying to find some cure that doesn't exist when they should be accepting of their children for who they are. My parents were very supportive of the differences I had and helped me to succeed.

Me: (asking the same question again - I can't quite grasp the anti-recovery concept): If they do have symptoms, what's wrong with trying to alleviate some of them?

Alex: If there was some sort of implant that would make it so I could interpret people's body language, then yeah, I’d know body language but I’d still have same thought process. The way my brain works is inherent to me. It wouldn't be curing anything. The whole idea behind neurodiversity is that people's brains work differently. If autistic tendencies were’t in people, we'd spend all of our time socializing and not doing anything. Many brilliant people have autism and when you talk about wiping it off the map, it's damaging to people who feel it's part of their identity."

Me: Some parents who pursue biomedical or alternative therapies say it's no different than trying to treat cancer.

Alex: Cancer is a terminal illness. No one with autism dies and they don't necessarily have physical symptoms.


...Read the entire blog entry.

Advocates Outraged by Institution's Renaming "Lunatic Asylum"

From the Associated Press (March 21):

Asylum's renaming insults advocates

By VICKI SMITH, Associated Press

It's an intriguing and provocative name that translates to Web hits, phone calls and tour tickets: the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.

To some, the title acknowledges history by readopting one of the many names previously held by the long-vacant, 19th century mental institution known most recently as Weston Hospital.

But others say the new owners of the massive Gothic Revival hospital have gone too far, disparaging the suffering of former patients and reopening wounds with planned events like "Psyco Path" dirt bike races on the grounds.

They say words like "lunatic" and "retarded" have gone the way of "colored" and "Negro" and should never be resurrected...

...Read more.

Let People with Psychiatric Disabilities Become Part of the American Dream

From the National Council on Disability:
 

NEWS RELEASE
NCD #08–556
March 17, 2008
Contact: Mark S. Quigley
202-272-2004

National Council on Disability Says Let People with Psychiatric Disabilities Become Part of the American Dream

WASHINGTON—The National Council on Disability (NCD) today released a paper entitled Inclusive Livable Communities for People with Psychiatric Disabilities, calling on Congress and the Administration to fully include and integrate people with psychiatric disabilities into America’s livable communities. Let people with psychiatric disabilities become part of the American dream.

According to NCD Chairperson John R. Vaughn, “For the promise of full integration into the community to become a reality, people with disabilities need safe and affordable housing; access to transportation; access to the political process; and the right to enjoy whatever services, programs, and activities are offered to all members of the community by both public and private entities. Although previous NCD reports addressed people across the full array of disabilities, a main focus of accessibility was on environmental elements that primarily apply more to the ‘obvious’ disabilities than to ‘hidden’ disabilities like many psychiatric disabilities and mental illnesses. Information about the six identified elements of livable communities, other elements, barriers, and promising practices for people with psychiatric disabilities needs to be broadened to achieve all-inclusive communities.”

This paper focuses specifically on expanding the livable communities framework and elements to people with psychiatric disabilities and supports full inclusion that leaves out no one. Grounded in the six identified elements, a livable community

1.   Provides affordable, appropriate, accessible housing

2.   Ensures accessible, affordable, reliable, safe transportation

3.   Adjusts the physical environment for inclusiveness and accessibility

4.   Provides work, volunteer, and education opportunities

5.   Ensures access to key health and support services

6.   Encourages participation in civic, cultural, social, and recreational activities

When the focus shifts specifically to people with psychiatric disabilities, it becomes plain that without expansion this framework is insufficient to ensure the full integration of all people who have disabilities. The main barrier that people with psychiatric disabilities face is that a community that eliminates all the physical environment barriers still may not be fully accessible to people with psychiatric disabilities because of ingrained attitudes toward mental illness. Before people with psychiatric disabilities can even begin to take full advantage of the elements of the livable communities framework, they must be able to surmount an attitudinal barrier.

The attitudinal barrier is exemplified by outdated policies, programs, and beliefs about people with psychiatric disabilities as needing to receive all services within segregated settings in which mental health providers deliver housing, work, education, health care, and support services entirely within the mental health system. Abolishing this attitudinal barrier is necessary to ensure that people with psychiatric disabilities have access to the wider community and all that it may offer.

In this paper, by examining a variety of programs that show promise or have proved successful in achieving community integration for people with psychiatric disabilities, NCD recognizes the need for major changes in public policies to support further efforts for full integration and participation. Five core recommendations summarizing some needed federal-level changes follow.

Core Recommendation One: Congress should ensure that Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) appropriations continue to support anti-stigma campaigns and expand efforts to provide a funding base for self-help programs operated and run by mental health consumers and survivors, analogous to the funding provided under the Rehabilitation Act for operation of independent living centers. Consideration should be given to implementation through HHS/Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reauthorization or other federal mechanisms. Consumers/survivors should be included in the evaluation of ongoing anti-stigma campaigns and the design, development, and expansion of self-help program funding.

Core Recommendation Two: Implement changes in federal and state funding and policy to encourage housing models that are integrated, in accordance with individual choice, and delinked from mandatory health services, while providing ongoing flexible supports. Several federal agencies should examine policies and practices through a partnership effort. The work can begin with congressional action to ensure removal of contradictory or incompatible federal paperwork burdens and policy barriers. Congress should provide the funding needed for initial joint planning and reporting by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), HHS, and the Social Security Administration (SSA).

Core Recommendation Three: Congress and HUD, HHS, and SSA should work
to change federal and state funding and policy to eliminate the “benefits trap,” which discourages people with psychiatric and other disabilities from working, and to
ensure that work opportunities are available for the full range of jobs, with ongoing flexible supports.

Core Recommendation Four: HHS should be authorized to change Medicaid policy and regulations as implemented by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).  The agency should examine and consider the merits of existing models; for example, the Michigan state model reframes the definition of “medical necessity” to include “community integration,” and shifts funding to services based on “person-centered planning.” Such changes would allow a broader variety of recovery-oriented services to be eligible for Medicaid funding than is available currently.

Core Recommendation Five: Congress should ask the Government Accountability Office to assess and identify indicators of practices that seem to be working in HHS efforts to address cultural and linguistic issues through initiatives like the National Center on Cultural Competence (NCCC). In addition, Congress should allocate funds to expand the NCCC cultural and linguistic competence training model to ensure that as national demographics change, services to people from diverse racial and ethnic groups are provided in ways that meet their self-defined needs.

“By ensuring the expansion of the livable communities framework and recommendations to fully include and integrate people with psychiatric disabilities, American society can provide all citizens the opportunity to become part of the American dream,” Vaughn concluded.

NCD is an independent federal agency and is composed of 15 members appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. NCD provides advice to the President, Congress, and executive branch agencies to promote policies, programs, practices, and procedures that—

(A) guarantee equal opportunity for all individuals with disabilities, regardless of the nature or severity of the disability; and

(B) empower individuals with disabilities to achieve economic self-sufficiency, independent living, and inclusion and integration into all aspects of society.

For more information, please contact Mark S. Quigley, NCD’s Director of External Affairs, at 202-272-2004.

Follow-up on Online Town Hall Meeting with Creators of "Ransom Notes" Ad Campaign

From The Autistic Self Advocacy Network:


Thank you to everyone who joined us in asking important questions at the NYU Child Study Center's Online Town Hall Meeting this past week. A transcript of the session is available here. Unfortunately, the comments of many people with disabilities, family members, professionals and other supporters were not heard. The NYU Child Study Center has announced that they will respond to these statements by e-mail over the course of the next several weeks. We look forward to receiving those communications, as they come in. In addition, we have encouraged the NYU Child Study Center to post all of the comments and questions that were not published during the online town hall on their web site, to ensure open communication of the ideas presented there. The Town Hall was not intended solely to address individual concerns, but to provide an opportunity for NYU to show that it is willing to be accountable to the disability community, whose outrage forced a withdrawal of the Ransom Notes ads this past December. Showing an openness to publish all comments and questions is an important part of that accountability process.

One of our members is working to collect unpublished comments and questions that were sent in during the Online Town Hall but not published. These will be posted online at a date to be determined in the near future. If you attempted to ask a question or make a comment during the NYU Child Study Center's Online Town Hall and were unable to, please e-mail your thoughts to dkmnow@yahoo.com. That member's comments are available here, where he provides further instructions on how to submit your unresponded to questions and comments. We continue to encourage the NYU Child Study Center to provide a full and uncensored airing of the concerns of the disability community on its website and we will keep you informed. Our strength is in our ability to come together as a community. That was what led to our success in ensuring the withdrawal of the previous offensive advertisements, and that will be what will ensure our ability to change the public image of disability for the better. All those who believe in a basic respect for the dignity and humanity of people everywhere have common cause on this important issue.

As always, Nothing About Us, Without Us!

Regards,
Ari Ne'eman
President
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network

Advocacy Group Applauds Lowe's for Pulling Ads from Big Brother

From Salem-News.com (February 25):
   

Group Applauds Retailer for Pulling Ads From Big Brother

The group says their call for a boycott will continue until CBS apologizes.

(CLEARWATER, Fla.) - Family Network on Disabilities of Florida (FND) is today applauding the action of Lowe’s, the home improvement company. Lowe’s announced that they are pulling their advertising from the CBS show Big Brother because of the use of a slur against persons with disabilities by one of the contestants.

Rich La Belle, Executive Director of FND, stated: "Thank you, Lowe’s, for being a great corporate citizen and taking this courageous action."

The contestant Adam Jasinski, who claimed to be doing public relations work for the United Autism Foundation, refered to persons with autism as "r*t**ds" and, when called on it by another contestant, he repeatedly defends his actions...

...Read more.