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quick, once-a-day look at disability rights, self-determination
and the
movement toward full community inclusion around the world.
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
Year V, Edition 875
Today's 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 36 more news items.
QUOTES OF THE DAY:
"They are very nice to me, and we have a lot of
fun. They don't look at me any differently."
--Sara Childers, 12, vice
president of Girl Scout Troop 172. Sara has autism and has been included in the
troop with other girls her age -- who don't have autism -- for the past seven
years (Fourth story)
"Although we have been making progress, we still have further to go
and we can't lag behind public opinion."
--Jana Bennett, BBC's director
of television programming, announcing new quotas to increase the number of
people with disabilities in front of and behind the TV camera (First story)
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# EMPLOYMENT / AWARENESS
BBC Sets Quotas For TV Programs To
Include People With Disabilities
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily
Express
February 10, 2004
LONDON, ENGLAND--BBC television viewers
should notice more people with disabilities on programs in the coming months,
because of new guidelines set by network executives.
Jana Bennett, the corporation's director of television, announced new quotas which the four BBC networks are to use to increase the number of such actors and extras in dramatic programs, the numbers of contestants with disabilities in game shows, and the number of such participants in "factual" shows.
"One in four of the population is either disabled themselves or knows somebody with a disability and independent research last summer showed that audiences were overwhelmingly in favour of seeing more disabled people on screen," Bennett said in a BBC press release.
"Although we have been making progress, we still have further to go and we can't lag behind public opinion," Bennett said.
Bennett said that the BBC will also be launching a talent search and holding auditions for actors with disabilities across the country.
"We recognise that the widest possible range of voices, people and characters should be seen on our screens, and disabled people need to be shown less as minorities with issues, and more as people with lives as rich or as complex as the rest of society," she said.
The networks' goals, which also include recruiting writers, presenters, and directors, are to be reviewed every year.
Related:
"New drive to improve disability portrayal on BBC
Television" (BBC Press Release)
http://www.InclusionDaily.com/news/04/red/0210c.htm
---
# INSTITUTIONS / ABUSE
Fircrest Warned
Sixth Time For Risking Residents' Safety
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion
Daily Express
February 10, 2004
SHORELINE, WASHINGTON--Six times in
the last nine months, state inspectors have visited Fircrest School to see how
its 250 residents were being treated.
Each time, they have found that the institution failed to meet basic federal standards for safety and health, thereby putting residents in "immediate jeopardy" of harm.
And each time, inspectors have warned the institution that it could lose federal Medicaid money, which pays for nearly one-half of Fircrest's bills.
"I'm shocked, frankly," Ed Holen, director of the state Developmental Disabilities Council, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
A lack of adequate supervision was cited during most of those inspections. One resident with an eating disorder called pica -- who was supposed to have been monitored 24 hours a day -- was found to have eaten Styrofoam. Another ate 80 nickels. Still another nearly ate a latex glove.
Staff also failed to keep one resident from injuring herself until she needed surgery to repair a detached retina.
Other times staff lost track of residents who wandered off or bit other people.
Fircrest has been in trouble before. For most of the last decade, the federal Department of Justice monitored Fircrest because of its failure to protect residents from harm.
While some advocates are suggesting the Justice Department step in again to help ensure the safety of people housed at Fircrest, residents' family members, along with the labor union that represents the more than 700 state workers there, continue to fight to keep the aging facility open.
During the last legislative session, lawmakers debated the possible closing of Fircrest, which is one of five "residential habilitation centers" across the state housing a total of more than 1,000 people with developmental disabilities. The initial plan called for moving Fircrest residents to the other RHCs, to nursing homes, or homes in the community, then selling or leasing land on the 87-acre campus, valued at $30 million.
The measure was opposed by family members and the labor union.
The legislature did finally settle on a plan to move 60 residents out by June 2005. So far, only six have plans in place to leave Fircrest.
The Division of Social and Health Services recently adopted an emergency rule that would allow it to move residents from Fircrest without waiting for them or their guardians to appeal. Guardians are petitioning Governor Gary Locke this week to override the rule.
Related:
"Fircrest gets safety warnings" (Seattle
Post-Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/159413_fircrest05.html
"Washington
State's Institutions: Fircrest School" (Inclusion Daily Express
Archives)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/institutions/wa/fircrest.htm
---
# EDUCATION / ABUSE
Education Officials Defend Use Of Wire
Cage For Boy
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
February 10,
2004
PERTH, AUSTRALIA -- School officials called it a "quiet garden" or
"withdrawal facility" for an 11-year-old boy "to let off steam and calm down in
a way in which he could retain his dignity".
The boy's grandmother and guardian disagrees.
"It was a cage," Sheila Simons said of the small, fenced-in area where her grandson, Neil, spent much of his time over the past 18 months.
The mesh fence enclosure was built specifically for the boy, who has a disability similar to autism. It was installed behind the Kenwick School, a segregated facility serving children with intellectual disabilities, after a behavioral expert at Murdoch University advised the school to construct a "timeout" area for Neil.
"When I saw it I just cried. I cry every time I think of it," Simons told The Age news service.
"Neil was absolutely hysterical . . . He was saying, 'Mummy help me, Mummy help me'. I thought, what the hell are they doing to him?"
Records kept by Neil's teachers showed that between October 10, 2002 and this past fall the boy was placed in the enclosure -- sometimes nearly every day -- for periods up to 80 minutes at a time. The notes report that he sometimes urinated and defecated in the small grassy area which had no toilet facilities, and often injured himself trying to climb out.
The Western Australia Department of Education defended the use of such "low stimulation areas" for changing the behavior of some children.
"Cage is your term, and we'll be looking into this but I can tell you ... it is part of the policy that low stimulation areas be used where children with extremely challenging behaviour can be withdrawn for short periods of time," said John Brigg, the state's assistant director of student services.
Leila Bothams, the school district's director, also defended the practice by pointing to the outcome.
"It was a successful strategy," Bothams said.
The enclosure, which was the size of a small room surrounded by a 3.5 meter (11.5 foot) high fence, has since been dismantled.
School and state officials have refused to assure that similar enclosures will not be built in the future.
Related article:
"Fury over schoolboy locked in cage" (News
Interactive)
http://www.InclusionDaily.com/news/04/red/0210a.htm
---
# CHILDREN
Belonging To Scout Troop Is "Better Than Any
Therapy"
February 10, 2004
HOLLYWOOD, FLORIDA--Monday's South
Florida Sun-Sentinel ran a brief story about Girl Scout Troop 172 and its seven
members that have been together for the past seven years.
"The Girl Scouts are better than any therapy," said Pam Childers, whose 12-year-old daughter, Sara, has autism.
"Without a doubt, it has helped in her development socially, and through Girl Scouting she has good friends in a wholesome and nurturing environment where the girls help her and not laugh, tease and make fun of her," Childers said. "The biggest challenge Sara faces is dealing with prejudices, people who do not accept her differences or try to fit her into a mold that she will not fit into."
Devin Toombs, Troop 172's reporter, said of Sara: "She no different than the other girls, and even though she has a slight disability, we just treat her the same as everyone else."
Sara is now a vice president of the troop, which met for the first time when the girls were in first grade.
"They are very nice to me, and we have a lot of fun," Sara said. "They don't look at me any differently."
Entire article:
"Girl Scouts better than any therapy for autism,
Hollywood mother says" (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
http://www.InclusionDaily.com/news/04/red/0210d.htm
---
# EMPLOYMENT / TECHNOLOGY
"A Disability Doesn't Have To Block
Employment"
February 10, 2004
JUPITER, FLORIDA--The following
three paragraphs are excerpts from Allan Appel's disAbilities column for
Tuesday's TCPalm.com:
Imagine an unemployment rate above 70 percent.
According to the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities, that staggering number is reality for people with disabilities.
It's no wonder telecommuting and home-based businesses have established themselves as viable alternatives.
Entire article:
"A disability doesn't have to block employment"
(TCPalm.com)
http://www.InclusionDaily.com/news/04/red/0210b.htm
---
# TODAY'S FEATURED DISABILITY HISTORY WEBSITE
Remembering With
Dignity (Advocating Change Together)
Remembering With Dignity is a coalition of disability rights and advocacy organizations founded in 1994. We exist to honor people who lived and died in Minnesota's state institutions.
http://www.selfadvocacy.com/Remembering%20With%20Dignity.htm
---
# EXPRESS EXTRA!!!
Quote worth noting:
"We are called to play the good Samaritan on
life’s roadside; but that will be only an initial act. One day the whole
Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be beaten and
robbed as they make their journey through life. True compassion is more than
flinging a coin to a beggar; it understands that an edifice that produces
beggars needs restructuring."
-- Martin Luther King Jr.
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# DISCUSSION BOARD
Check in with other Inclusion Daily Express
readers:
http://members5.boardhost.com/InclusionDaily
---
# BELOW THE FOLD
Click here for the rest of today's
disability-related news:
http://www.InclusionDaily.com/news/04/btf/02100443.htm
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