tagged w/ Disabilities
-
By Eric W. Dolan
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) blasted House Republicans on Tuesday as they planned to kill the Senate compromise bill to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance.
If the payroll tax cut and employment insurance is not extended, 160 million Americans will see their taxes go up by $1000 in 2012 and 2.5 million jobless workers will lose unemployment benefits.
“Don’t blame Congress for not working together,” she said on the House floor. “Blame the House Republicans — who can’t even work with each other.”
“The one and only reason this House of Representatives is not voting for the bi-partisan Senate bill to provide relief to middle class taxpayers, seniors and disabled on Medicare and jobless Americans is because it would pass That’s right. The Republican scam was to bring up the bill, supported by 90% of the Senate, and kill it.”
“On the way to this slaughter, a funny thing happened,” Schakowsky continued. “Sensible Republicans basically said, ‘You want me to vote to abandon millions of struggling middle class Americans without the help they need this holiday season? No way!’”
Republican House Speaker John Boehner said Monday that his members agreed the payroll tax cut should be extended for a full year. Democrats had originally pushed for a one-year extension and a surtax on millionaires, but agreed to compromise on a short-term extension.
The House voted 229 to 193 along partisan lines to reject the compromise bill on Tuesday. The Senate is currently in recess and is not scheduled to return until January 23.
“The sanctimonious rhetoric you hear today from the Republicans is nothing but talk, baby-talk,” Schakowsky said. “If they don’t get their way exactly, they won’t play.”
“And so, Happy Chanukah to middle class Americans lighting the first candle tonight who won’t get their $1000 tax break. Happy New Year to our seniors and persons with disabilities who may lose their doctors.”
“Merry Christmas to the jobless Americans, desperate for work, looking for work, who barely survive on unemployment checks. The House Republicans are the Grinches who stole your Christmas.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/20/rep-jan-schakowsky-house-republicans-stole-your-christmas/
Watch video, uploaded to YouTube on December 20, below:
"I wonder if their Guilt is the reason they Hate Christmas???"By Eric W. Dolan
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) blasted... more
-
-
KB723
-
added this
-
1 month ago
- |
-
“Blade runner” Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee sprinter running on carbon-fiber blades, passed his first test with flying colors on his debut at the 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics. Pistorius swept past several able-bodied runners, finishing third in his heat to reach the semi-finals of the 400 meters Sunday. The South African, who has had to overcome huge legal and performance obstacles just to be allowed to race in Daegu, South Korea, on his prosthetic legs, delighted the crowd with a strong run of 45.39 seconds from an outside lane.
The crowd rose to the double amputee as he powered down the final straight before a band of his compatriots chanted “Oscar! Oscar!” to confirm the 24-year-old as one of the sentimental favorites of the championships. Describing his landmark race as a great relief, especially after the disruption of a false start by another of the runners, Pistorius said he had fulfilled a long-held ambition.
After crossing the finish line, Pistorius gave an appreciative bow to the South Korean crowd of about 10,000 for its cheers and support. After the race, Pistorius said, “I have worked extremely hard to be here” “It has been phenomenal to run. It has been a lot of pressure in the race, and there is a lot of work for tomorrow.” “It was a great opportunity for me to have a chance to run, this is a goal I’ve had for many, many years,” he told reporters. “I really don’t feel like a pioneer but I’m very honored to be in the position I am in . I hope to write a few more chapters, I’m still young.”
This piece includes color photographs, video of the race and a documentary short film.
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2011/08/28/“blade-runner”-oscar-pistorius-reaches-400-meters-semi-finals-at-world-championships/“Blade runner” Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee sprinter running on... more
-
-
“The Butterfly Circus” is an award-winning, inspiring short film directed by Joshua Weigel, which recently won the $100,000 grand prize at the Doorpost Film Project. “The Butterfly Circus” is the touching tale of a circus that travels across America during the Great Depression. As the troupe travels through the devastated American landscape, it lifts the spirits of audiences along the way. During their travels they discover a man without limbs being exploited at a carnival sideshow, but after an intriguing encounter with the showman of The Butterfly Circus, he becomes driven to hope against everything he has ever believed.
This piece includes a number of color photographs, as well as the very inspirational short film.
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2010/12/05/the-butterfly-circus-a-limbless-man-driven-to-hope/“The Butterfly Circus” is an award-winning, inspiring short film directed... more
-
-
This law would have two parts. One part would provide federal money to counties that provide quality transportation to people who can not drive. The other part would provide funding for research into affordable environment friendly vehicles. Read rest of article at above link.This law would have two parts. One part would provide federal money to counties that... more
-
-
"I'm a woman with a disability. I am HIV-positive and I am on ARVs (antiretroviral drugs). My life is very hard."
These were the first words Immaculate, a 52-year-old landmine survivor in northern Uganda, said to me when I met her in May. "It took long for me to declare my status. I felt I should just die," she said.
Margaret is another Ugandan with HIV who also has an amputated leg from a landmine accident.
"I cannot bathe near others," she told me. "My neighbors think that the water that comes off of me has HIV in it. They say I will get the community sick if they touch the water. There has been HIV sensitization in the community but there is no real change in attitudes."
As government and U.N. leaders, HIV advocates and members of civil society gather in Vienna, Austria, this week for the International AIDS Conference, the needs of women such as Immaculate and Margaret must be given priority in the design, implementation and funding of HIV programs and policies.
At least 10 percent of the world's population--as many as 660 million people--have a disability, according to the United Nations.
Read the rest: http://www.womensenews.org/story/commentary/100720/left-out-twice-living-hiv-and-disabilities"I'm a woman with a disability. I am HIV-positive and I am on ARVs... more
-
-
Three years ago I interviewed Gary and Judy Simon at their home in Stony Brook, NY in Suffolk County, Long Island. Gary and Judy have four adult children, two of whom have neurological disabilities. Judy is an atheist and Gary believes in a remote indifferent God, but both have strong Jewish identities.Three years ago I interviewed Gary and Judy Simon at their home in Stony Brook, NY in... more
-
-
Differences among brains are as enriching -- and essential -- as differences among plants and animals. Welcome to the new field of neurodiversity.
June 8, 2010 |
This is an edited excerpt from Neurodiversity: Discovering the Extraordinary Gifts of Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, and Other Brain Differences, by Thomas Armstrong, published by Da Capo Lifelong, a member of the Perseus Books Group.© 2010
Imagine for a moment that our society has been transformed into a culture of flowers. Now let’s say for the sake of argument that the psychiatrists are the roses. Visualize a gigantic sunflower coming into the rose psychiatrist’s office. The psychiatrist pulls out his diagnostic tools and in a matter of a half an hour or so has come up with a diagnosis: “You suffer from hugism. It’s a treatable condition if caught early enough, but alas, there’s not too much we can do for you at this point in your development. We do, however, have some strategies that can help you learn to cope with your disorder.” The sunflower receives the suggestions and leaves the doctor’s consulting room with its brilliant yellow and brown head hanging low on its stem.
Next on the doctor’s schedule is a tiny bluet. The rose psychiatrist gives the bluet a few diagnostic tests and a full physical examination. Then it renders its judgment: “Sorry, bluet, but you have GD, or growing disability. We think it’s genetic. However, you needn’t worry. With appropriate treatment, you can learn to live a productive and successful life in a plot of well-drained sandy loam somewhere.”
The bluet leaves the doctor’s office feeling even smaller than when it came in. Finally, a calla lily enters the consulting room and the psychiatrist needs only five minutes to determine the problem: “You have PDD, or petal deficit disorder. This can be controlled, though not cured, with a specially designed formula. In fact, my local herbicide representative has left me with some free samples if you’d like to give them a try.”
These scenarios sound silly, but they serve as a metaphor for how our culture treats neurological differences in human beings these days. Instead of celebrating the natural diversity inherent in human brains, too often we medicalize and pathologize those differences by saying, “Johnny has autism. Susie has a learning disability. Pete suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.”
Imagine if we did this with cultural distinctions (“People from Holland suffer from altitude deprivation syndrome”) or racial differences (“Eduardo has a pigmentation disorder because his skin isn’t white”). We’d be regarded as racists and nationalists. Yet, with respect to the human brain, this sort of thinking goes on all the time under the aegis of “objective” science.
The lessons we have learned about biodiversity and cultural and racial diversity need to be applied to the human brain. We need a new field of neurodiversity that regards human brains as the biological entities they are, and appreciates the vast natural differences that exist from one brain to another regarding sociability, learning, attention, mood and other important mental functions.
More at the link:Differences among brains are as enriching -- and essential -- as differences among... more
-
-
-
-
lvp
-
added this
-
1 year ago
- |
-
“Impoverished Places”is a dramatic, uplifting five-minute short film, which provides a sensitive, poetically touching evocation of our wishes for belonging and human connections. In the film, two dancers, one of whom has lived with Parkinson’s Disease for thirty years, enact a dramatic portrayal of the relationship between the finite and the infinite, while all the while reaching into their “impoverished places” to comfort and transform us.
The film stands as a bold reminder that people are capable of doing great things that can in turn inspire greatness in others. It quietly makes a strong statement supporting our social aspirations for peace and a soothing sense of communion that is stronger and deeper than the need to win in the competition of life. This, in turn, is interpenetrated with a hope for the kind of society in which people with developmental disabilities and the friends who assist them can work together in ways that enable each person to grow to his or her full potential.
This piece presents a number of color photographs, as well as the emotionally moving short film, “Impoverished Places.”
Please visit my website to view the photographs, and to watch this remarkable short film:
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2010/03/15/impoverished-places-an-inspiration-to-comfort-and-transform-us/“Impoverished Places”is a dramatic, uplifting five-minute short film,... more
-
-
“The Butterfly Circus” is a deeply touching short film directed by Joshua Weigel, which recently won the $100,000 grand prize at the Doorpost Film Project. In the depths of the Great Depression, the ringmaster of a renowned circus leads his troupe through the devastated American landscape, lifting the spirits of audiences all along the way. During their travels they encounter, Will, a quadriplegic who is living out his life in a cruel carnival sideshow. It’s only when Will joins up with the Butterfly Circus that he acquires a drive to hope against everything he has ever believed, finally being able to realize his true potential.
There are just no words that can really capture the emotional richness of this film. You'll have to see it to believe it, and maybe then to believe a little more in yourself as well.
This piece includes a number of high-resolution photographs, as well as the masterful short film, “The Butterfly Circus.”
Please visit my website to view the photographs, and to watch this wonderful short film:
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/the-butterfly-circus-a-drive-to-hope/“The Butterfly Circus” is a deeply touching short film directed by Joshua... more
-
-
Theo is a 14 year old boy who suffers from SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy), a terminal muscle wasting illness. This is a small insight into his personality and day to day life.Theo is a 14 year old boy who suffers from SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy), a terminal... more
-
-
"About three years ago, one of the most notorious online message board communities decided to create an unusual video game. It would be a Japanese-style erotic dating simulator starring girls with disabilities, a topic not unfamiliar to the 4chan group.
The genesis of Katawa Shoujo, an erotic visual novel set on a private campus for disabled high schoolers, can actually be traced back to a phenomenon that began several years ago on the 4chan /b/ board, where posters enjoy some of the Internet's strangest images and subject matter under cover of anonymity.
What started then, a seemingly sexualized interest in disabled girls by a fervent online community, could have just been twisted or shocking, as could the game that seemed to emerge from that interest. But what really happened involved more sadness and sentimentality than one might expect.
In 2006, stories began appearing from a poster claiming to be a male nurse who had just received as a patient a half-Japanese seven-year-old girl missing an eye and all her limbs save one arm, injuries from a car crash that had also left her orphaned.
The poster seemed aware that this situation would entertain the board users, an anonymous collective notorious for their often-shocking culture of extreme imagery and offensive humor. As one might expect of this group, the board users quickly made an occasion for pedophilic jokes and snark about the child's injuries. Less expected was the genuine sentiment that emerged as more stories and updates on the tragic patient from the ostensible nurse began to appear.
The story may not even have been true. At first, the board users were as interested in attempting to verify whether the poster, whom they dubbed "Nurse-kun," and his patient, to whom they widely referred as "ampu-chan," were real based on scant details. Eventually, however, many stopped being concerned with verity as they became immersed in the updates on the child's difficulty coping as she recovered in the care center.
Readers were captivated by glimmers of positivity – such as Nurse-kun's stories of the girl learning to play DS one-handed with her nurse's help. They became indignant on the child's behalf when she was the victim of a racist rant from an elderly World War II veteran receiving care in the same center. They closely followed the Nurse's growing investment in her well-being – which, despite the initial joke, he maintained was non-sexual. If the posts are to be believed, Nurse-kun ultimately succeeded in adopting the orphan whose plight had touched him so deeply, and then stopped writing.
The board users never stopped making sexual jokes. They were accustomed to the puerile body forms common in anime and gaming and to expressing themselves within an anonymous internet culture that thrives on extremes. It's clear at least some of them found, or pretended to find, an element of the erotic in the vulnerability of the amputee child. But the nurse's story certainly had its sincere followers, those who claimed to be moved and who offered well-wishes. They pressed for contact information so that they could send donations and gifts (the nurse understandably declined). The reason was probably muddled and a bit backward, but still the "saga of Nurse-kun" had struck a chord."
Interesting read.
FULL ARTICLE AT LINK:
http://kotaku.com/5461619/romance-with-disabled-girls-how-and-maybe-why-an-unusual-video-game-came-to-be"About three years ago, one of the most notorious online message board... more
-
-
“Une Histoire Vertebrale” (A Backbone Tale) is an award-winning animated short film by the French filmmaker Jérémy Clapin, which in the classic comic tradition manages to be sadly touching, romantic and funny at the same time. In our eternal race to find love and happiness, some unfortunate souls start with a handicap, as is the case of the sad little man we join in this film. A malformation of his backbone forces our hero to walk with his head held low, permanently fixed toward the ground.
How on earth is he supposed to search for happiness, to find his loved one, when all that his eyes can see are his own little feet? And who’s going love him, someone who looks so sad, terribly lonely, and very different from other people? The emotional state of this poor little fellow, his loneliness and quest to find another human being like him, reveals a profound analysis of the alienation and frustration of people: man needs to live with other men.
This piece includes a number of colorful illustrations from the film, as well as the wonderfully touching animated short, “A Backbone Tale.”
Please visit my website to view the colorful pictures and watch this beautiful animated short film:
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2009/11/21/a-backbone-tale-the-beauty-of-ugliness/“Une Histoire Vertebrale” (A Backbone Tale) is an award-winning animated... more
-
-
10 year old Shiloh Pepin who suffers from sirenomelia talks to Oprah about her "mermaid syndrome"
Click on picture for video.10 year old Shiloh Pepin who suffers from sirenomelia talks to Oprah about her... more
-
-
The Department of Defense is financing a $300,000 study that will pair dogs with soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan that are trained to recognize when they are about to have a panic attack by nudging them or nuzzling them. Service dogs have been helping those with mental illnesses since the late 1990's.The Department of Defense is financing a $300,000 study that will pair dogs with... more
-
-
Riam Dean, 22, was prevented from working on the shop floor at Abercrombie & Fitch in London because her prosthetic arm didn't match the store's 'look policy'. Now an employment tribunal has awarded Riam £9000.
Riam was sent to work in the stockroom at the store after a manager objected to her wearing a cardigan to hide her disability.
A panel at Central London Employment Tribunal found Riam was “unlawfully harassed for a reason that related to her disability” under the Disability Discrimination Act. The tribunal also found that the firm “failed to comply with its duty to make reasonable adjustments” for her disability.
She was awarded £7,800 for injury to her feelings, £1,077.37 for loss of earnings and £137.75 for wrongful dismissal.Riam Dean, 22, was prevented from working on the shop floor at Abercrombie & Fitch... more
-
-
Google’s Book Search program will help the blind and wheelchair-bound read more, a disability group told a federal judge Wednesday, giving Google some much needed support in its attempt to create the online library and bookstore of the future.Google’s Book Search program will help the blind and wheelchair-bound read more,... more
-
-
President Barrack Hussein Obama is set to sign the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities on July 24th, 2009. There are many greatly important ramifications contained in this convention; I have only begun to understand them. When I first began to read this lengthy document, the first thought that crossed my mind was, 'Finally! We will finally gain the recognition and rights that we deserve in America!” As I continued to read through the convention, I was stunned at the clarity and thought that has gone into the production of this convention. The points covered in it are incredibly valid, giving people with disabilities the very respect, honor, and place in societies they deserve.President Barrack Hussein Obama is set to sign the Convention on the Rights of People... more
-
-
We're very happy that this slideshow represents crossing the 1.1 million photo views from our Flickr photo collection. The Diabetes Junior Camp from the Southeastern Diabetes Education Services and Camp ASCCA earns the honor of crossing this milestone.
The Junior Camp is the final in our three week run of diabetes camps from Seale Harris, Southeastern Diabetes Education Services. It is one more example of Camp ASCCA's therapeutic recreation in a disability camp for special needs populations.
These tweens and early teens are two days into a week of therapeutic recreation and education sessions. From the high adventure ropes course to our splash pad and other aquatics activities, the
This series of camps and our longtime relationship with Seale Harris is a perfect example of the "umbrella organization" philosophy of Easter Seals.
Camp ASCCA cooperates with local, regional and national organizations to create residential camping sessions for all disabilities. From our adventure recreation weekends for Iraq and Afghanistan returning disabled soldiers with the Lakeshore and Shepherd centers to week long camps with local high school special education classes and various disability advocacy groups, Camp ASCCA works with all groups.We're very happy that this slideshow represents crossing the 1.1 million photo... more
-
-
Margaret Ann Medley, Dothan, started coming to Seale Harrs diabetes camps 15 years ago. To say the camp experience has been a remarkable part of her life is an understatement.
I don’t think anyone is surprised that Margaret Ann has flourished in college. A 2008 inductee into the Brevard College Institute for Women in Leadership, she has turned into quite the campus leader. Margaret Ann has also been active with the Brevard College Department of Theatre Studies and a participant in Brevard’s Voices of the River (VOR) program.
Read more at campascca.org/journal and asccafriends.orgMargaret Ann Medley, Dothan, started coming to Seale Harrs diabetes camps 15 years... more
-
