Inclusion Daily Express -- August 25, 2003

INCLUSION DAILY EXPRESS

http://www.InclusionDaily.com

Your quick, once-a-day look at disability rights, self-determination
and the movement toward full community inclusion around the world.

Monday, August 25, 2003
Year IV, Edition 135

This front page features 8 news and information items, each preceded by a number (#) symbol.
Click on the"Below the Fold" link at the bottom of this page for the rest of today's news.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"The state stands on a slippery slope. Without caution, the slope leads to a precipice and the precipice leads to death for Terri Schiavo and all like her. "
--Statement from the Florida Coalition for Disability Rights, asking Governor Jeb Bush to keep a judge from ordering removal of the feeding tube that is keeping Terri Schiavo alive (First story)

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# ADVOCACY / LAWS

Terri Schiavo Situation Critical; Advocates Hope For Gov. Bush Intervention
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
August 25, 2003

TAMPA, FLORIDA--Terri Schiavo's family, along with supporters of her right to continue living, were dealt three serious blows in recent days. They are hopeful, however, that help may come from Governor Jeb Bush before a judge orders Terri to starve to death.

Terri has been the center of a battle between her husband and guardian, Michael Schiavo, who claims she has been in a "persistent vegetative state" for the last 13 years and would want to die, and her parents, who believe she is responsive, aware of her surroundings, would benefit from rehabilitative therapies and should be allowed to continue living.

On Friday, the Florida Supreme Court refused for the second time to intervene on her parent's behalf. All seven of the justices signed the brief order, which noted that the court would not allow any future motions.

The ruling gives the green light to Pinellas County Circuit Court Judge George W. Greer to schedule the removal of the feeding tube that is providing Terri with food and water. That decision could come as early as September 11, when a visitation hearing is scheduled. Once the tube is removed, Terri would likely die in 10 to 14 days. Her parents want an assessment done to see if Terri can be spoon-fed.

Sunday night, Terri was moved back to Morton Plant Hospital with lung congestion and "a substantial infection", just a few days after she was released from the hospital. Terri's parents were not informed of the second hospitalization until Monday afternoon.

Later on Monday afternoon, an attorney for Michael Schiavo submitted a motion to Judge Greer asking that all medical treatment at the hospital be stopped and that Terri be moved back to the hospice that has been her home for the last five years, so she can "die in a peaceful setting with comfort care".

Attorney George Felos admitted in his motion that Terri Schiavo would likely recover from the infection because she is getting antibiotics intravenously at the hospital. Felos wrote, however, that "further treatment (other than comfort care) for the ward's infection and other medical conditions is unnecessary, unwarranted, inappropriate and futile" since it is inevitable that Greer will allow her to starve to death.

Terri's parents and supporters do have one last hope: Governor Jeb Bush.

The Florida Coalition for Disability Rights asked Bush to appoint a Guardian Ad Litem "to protect the best interests of Terri Schiavo as an individual" and "to ascertain Terri Schiavo's current status and potential for recovery."

"Erring on the side of caution so that the state never takes a human life improperly is a reasonable request," the FCDR said in a media statement. "The fundamental policy issue at stake is whether or not the state can deprive a person with a disability of life because their medical need has become too expensive or some members of the family are no longer willing to care."

"The state stands on a slippery slope. Without caution, the slope leads to a precipice and the precipice leads to death for Terri Schiavo and all like her."

Bush responded that his options are limited by the court's decisions, along with the fact that Terri already does have a legal guardian. According to the Associated Press, Bush said he is "looking at another option," but declined to elaborate.

"We're trying to find a way to intervene in a thoughtful way that recognizes ultimately the decision in court," Bush is quoted as saying Monday.

Related:
"Terri Schindler Schiavo Placed in Hospital in Critical Condition" (CNSNews.com)
http://www.InclusionDaily.com/news/03/red/0825b.htm
"Schiavo's husband wants medical treatment stopped" (Associated Press via Lakeland Ledger)
http://www.InclusionDaily.com/news/03/red/0825c.htm
"Terri Schiavo's Reasonable Doubt" (FCDR)
http://www.dimenet.com/hotnews/cgi/getlink.cgi?3351R
"Terri' Fight" (Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation)
http://www.terrisfight.org

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# SELF-ADVOCACY

"At Times, Being Disabled Can Be Godsend" by Deborah Kendrick
August 25, 2003

CINCINNATI, OHIO--Cincinnati Enquirer columnist Deborah Kendrick has been blind since childhood.

Through the years she has learned what she calls "workarounds", adaptations so she can live her life the way she wants.

Earlier this summer, she started experiencing another disability that limits the use of her leg.

Because of her life experience with blindness, Kendrick wrote Sunday, she is able to see her new disability from a "fresh perspective".

Entire article:
"At times, being disabled can be godsend" (Cincinnati Enquirer)
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2003/08/24/tem_alive24.html

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# HEALTH & SAFETY

Africans With Disabilities Caught In Crossfire
August 25, 2003

LOWER JOHNSONVILLE, LIBERIA--The following four paragraphs are excerpts from a story published Saturday by the Associated Press:

When Sao Setuah's family fled from Sierra Leone's brutal rebels in 1998, the wheelchair-bound boy, then 8, was left behind.

Five years later, Setuah found himself between bullets again, one of thousands cowering in a Liberian center for the disabled as Liberia's civil war raged around them, their lifeline to food and American aid severed.

Setuah's wide, easy grin is as crooked as his legs, injured in infancy in circumstances of which he knows little. After his family abandoned him, a priest brought him to Our Lady of Fatima Center, a Liberian clinic teaching skills and self-respect to 300 disabled Africans, run by an American Catholic nun.

In recent weeks, fighting between rebel and government forces engulfed the compound as insurgents swept toward Liberia's capital, Monrovia, only 20 miles to the southwest.

Entire article:
"Liberia's Disabled Tell Horrifying Tales' (Associated Press via The Guardian)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3060848,00.html

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# INSTITUTIONS / LAWS

CHDC Resident Dies Awaiting Guardianship Challenge
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
August 25, 2003

LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS--A woman who wanted to leave Conway Human Development Center -- and to challenge Arkansas guardianship rules regarding institutional placements -- has died, the Log Cabin Democrat reported.

Now, state attorneys want the legal advocacy group that represented the woman to drop a discrimination lawsuit against all six state-run institutions housing people with developmental disabilities.

The Disability Rights Center filed suit March 21 on behalf of the woman identified in court only as "Jane Doe". The woman wanted to move out of CHDC, but was not allowed to leave because her sister, who was her legal guardian, opposed the move.

Attorney Janet C. Baker was seeking class-action status for the suit, which would have made it apply to the 1,200 other people currently housed in Arkansas institutions.

The suit claimed the state violated the constitutional rights of institution residents that have guardians, because they do not currently have a voice in when they are admitted or released. It sought an order requiring residents be given legal representation or a hearing in front of a judge.

Jane Doe died on August 9. The cause of her death was not stated, although officials mentioned that she had been in "frail health".

State attorneys filed the motion to have the case dropped last Thursday, because "the claims stated by the plaintiff . . . do not survive her death."

Baker said her office might be able to find a replacement for Jane Doe in its suit.

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# EMPLOYMENT / CONTRIBUTION

Employment Initiative Fills In Gaps
August 25, 2003
FORT SASKATCHEWAN, ALBERTA--Friday's Fort Saskatchewan Record ran a story about Employment Initiative for Persons with Disabilities, a unique employment program that serves people who have 'fallen through the cracks' of traditional services.

One of those who has been helped by the initiative is Nikki Robak. As a result of her work with the initiative, Robak is now the owner and founder of the Sturgeon Outfitters Society. Robak says SOS helps any person in a time of need.

"I just want to give back to the community and make up for the all the years of disturbing behavior that my addictions caused," she said.

Entire article:
"Disability program shows signs of success in local region" (Fort Saskatchewan Record)
http://www.fortsaskatchewanrecord.com/story.php?id=71353

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# TODAY'S FEATURED WEBSITE
Office of Disability, Aging, and Long-Term Care Policy

The Office of Disability, Aging and Long-Term Care Policy (DALTCP) is charged with developing, analyzing, evaluating and coordinating HHS policies and programs which support the independence, productivity, health and long-term care needs of children, working age adults and older persons with disabilities.http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/home.shtml

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# EXPRESS EXTRA!!! From the Inclusion Daily Express Archives (Three years ago)

ADVOCACY
Activists Occupy State Office
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
August 24, 2000

DENVER, COLORADO--Dozens of disability rights activists took over the floor of a state office building for seven hours yesterday, in a successful attempt to get a meeting with the state's Human Services director to discuss independent living.

The group showed up about 11:30 a.m. at the 8th floor office of Human Services Director Marva Hammons, and started banging on their wheelchairs and chanting "Marva, where are you?". The group demanded to meet with Hammons about funding for the state's 10 independent living centers. Clients and staff of the ILCs, which help people with disabilities live on their own instead of in nursing homes, believe the state has shortchanged them by about $20,000. According to one protester, the advocates have been trying for months to talk with Hammons about the shortfall, but were told that she does not have time.

Officers from the Denver Police Department, the Denver Sheriff's Department and the Colorado State Patrol were called in when the protesters started blocking elevators and stairwells. Law enforcement officers soon left, after Human Services officials declined to have the demonstrators arrested.

Hammons was unable to meet with the group yesterday, because she was on a plane flying back from a conference in Alaska. She called her office upon landing at Denver International Airport about 6 p.m., and was informed of the situation. She then had her staff schedule a meeting with the group for Friday.

"We're leaving," Joe Ehman, one of the protesters, told the Rocky Mountain News after nearly seven hours of chanting. "It was a success. It was worthwhile. A bunch of people just have to get their voices back."

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# BELOW THE FOLD
Click here for the rest of today's disability-related news:
http://www.InclusionDaily.com/news/03/btf/082503_41.htm

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