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Friday, February 20, 2004
Year V, Edition 881
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 international news items.
QUOTES OF THE DAY:
"We want a change of attitude."
--Donald
Stancile, who claims that the Port Authority of Allegheny County puts new buses
on routes serving more affluent neighborhoods, leaving older, more run-down
buses on routes serving poorer communities (Second story)
"What they are doing is telling the nation's deaf what they can and
can't watch . . . I feel a little like we're revisiting Salem -- that they're
putting deaf people at the stake for the purposes of their philosophical
agenda."
--Jeff Rosen, general counsel for the National Council on
Disabilities, talking about the Bush administration's decision to disapprove
closed captioning for nearly 200 television programs (Fifth story)
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# INSTITUTIONS
Judge Puts Fircrest
Transfers On Hold
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
February
20, 2004
SHORELINE, WASHINGTON--A judge has put a halt -- at least
temporarily -- to the transfer of residents from Fircrest School to other
state-run institutions and the community.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that King County Superior Court Judge Terry Lukens on Friday granted a temporary restraining order sought by a group of guardians who don't want Fircrest's 250 residents moved.
Luken's order puts on hold next Monday's scheduled transfer of four residents to another facility and Wednesday's scheduled move of three more residents.
Officials from the Department of Social and Health Services will have to show cause in court next Friday why the restraining order should not be extended for a year.
The Friends of Fircrest filed for the restraining order on Tuesday, claiming that the RHC (residential habilitation center) is the best place for its residents, and that the state should not be able to move them without their guardians' permission. The pro-institution group joined the state employees union which represents 700 Fircrest employees in filing a lawsuit against the state to stop the consolidation of its institutions and the eventual closure of Fircrest.
During the last legislative session, lawmakers looked at closing Fircrest and consolidating services to save the state money, in part because the 87-acre campus is valued at around $30 million. The Legislature finally settled on a plan to move 60 residents by June 2005, and to have the state prepare for its eventual closure at a later date. Governor Gary Locke further ordered DSHS to transfer more than 30 of those residents by the end of March, 2004.
So far, only 12 have been transferred. Only one went to a community placement.
DSHS recently adopted an emergency rule that would allow the department to move residents from Fircrest without waiting for them or their guardians to appeal.
"We will do everything we can to ensure their health and safety and make sure they have a good life," Marybeth Poch, Regional Administrator with the department's Division of Developmental Disabilities, told KOMO-TV. "It's very expensive to operate the institutions," she added.
It could be more expensive to operate Fircrest if federal funding is cut.
Two weeks ago the Post-Intelligencer reported that inspectors have visited Fircrest six times since last May and have found each time that the institution failed to meet basic federal standards for safety and health, thereby putting residents in "immediate jeopardy" of harm. Lack of adequate supervision was cited most often.
Each time, officials warned the state that the facility could lose federal Medicaid money which pays for nearly one-half of Fircrest's bills.
Related:
"Judge blocks transfer of residents from Fircrest"
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/161560_fircrest21xx.html
"Washington
State's Institutions: Fircrest School" (Inclusion Daily Express
Archives)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/institutions/wa/fircrest.htm
---
# ADVOCACY / TRANSPORTATION
Bus 'Hostage Taker' Leads Protest
On New Bus Use
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
February
20, 2004
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA--Donald Stancile was back in the news
Friday, after he lead a protest against the Port Authority of Allegheny County
for what he considers an unfair use of new buses.
Stancile, president of ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), accused the Port Authority of putting new buses on routes serving more affluent neighborhoods, while leaving older, more run-down buses to serve the lower-income areas.
"Some of the problems we see in the lower-to-moderate income areas are buses that are raggedy, buses with lifts that don't work, and drivers that really don't have compassion for people that are challenged," Stancile said in an interview.
Stancile made national headlines last month when he was arrested for taking hostage a Port Authority bus. The 53-year-old had parked his motorized wheelchair in front of the bus and refused to move after the bus driver refused to manually operate a hydraulic lift that would not open automatically. Stancile spent a night in jail for his act of civil disobedience.
According to a brief story in Friday's Tribune-Review, a magistrate later dropped the disorderly conduct charge against Stancile and reduced a misdemeanor obstructing traffic charge to a summary offense, the least serious infraction.
ACORN has received a number of complaints about "broken lifts, buses that break down and problems in driver training" in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.
"We want a change of attitude," Stancile said Thursday.
Related article:
"Group: New buses should be put in needy areas"
(Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/pittsburgh/s_180462.html
---
# INSTITUTIONS
Governor Abolishes Nursing Facilities In
Community Integration Effort
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily
Express
February 20, 2004
SENDAI, JAPAN--All people with mental
disabilities currently housed in nursing facilities throughout Miyagi
Prefecture will soon be living in their own homes, it was announced Friday.
Governor Shiro Asano said that the prefectural government would close all nursing homes as soon as possible in an effort to integrate people with disabilities into society and help them become more self-reliant. About 200 million yen (about $1.8 million US) has been set aside in the fiscal 2004 budget for projects aimed at helping people with mental disabilities be more included in the community.
Approximately 1,845 people are housed in 28 private and tax-payer funded nursing facilities, the Mainichi Shimbun reported.
"The prefectural government will abolish care homes for mentally handicapped residents and create an environment in which they can live in regional communities," read a statement Asano was scheduled to present during a symposium on Saturday.
"Those with serious mental handicaps can live in their regional communities as long as appropriate measures are implemented to support them and make their life fruitful. These have been demonstrated by various projects previously implemented (by many local governments and other entities)," the statement read.
Some of the money will be targeted toward private welfare organizations to hire staff to help current residents become more independent.
---
# CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM / DEATH PENALTY
Texas Courts In
Quandary Over Mental Retardation Claims
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion
Daily Express
February 20, 2004
AUSTIN, TEXAS--When the U.S. Supreme
Court decided in June 2002 that executing inmates with mental retardation
violates the Constitution's ban on "cruel and unusual punishment", it did not
tell the states what mental retardation is, how to measure it, or when juries
or judges should hear about a defendant's claim that he or she has it.
This has left individual states and courts in a bit of a quandary as they try to figure out where their current laws do and do not match with the high court's decision. Some state laws try to rule out mental retardation before the death penalty is even considered, for example. In others, evidence of mental retardation is not considered until the final penalty phase.
In Texas, which has a history of performing more executions than any other state, dozens of death row inmates have brought forward claims that they have mental retardation. Of those, more than 40 have been delayed or sent back to the courts for review.
The mental retardation claims have bogged down the court systems to the point where legal experts on both sides of the issue now say the Texas Legislature should change the law so that mental retardation is determined early in the process in capital cases in order to reduce the burden on federal and state appeals courts.
There are about 450 prisoners on death row in Texas, according to the Washington Times.
Related:
"Texas appeals courts in jam" (Washington
Times)
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040216-121910-3342r.htm
"The
Death Penalty and Mental Retardation in the US" (Inclusion Daily Express
Archives)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/laws/deathpenalty.htm
---
# ACCESSIBILITY / ADVOCACY
"Advocates For Deaf Charge
Censorship In Closed Captioning"
February 20, 2004
WASHINGTON,
DC--The following six paragraphs are excerpts from a story in Friday's Chicago
Sun-Times:
The Bush administration has cut off its closed captioning for nearly 200 TV shows, prompting charges of secret censorship to promote an ideological agenda.
"Bewitched" and "Scooby-Doo" are out.
So are "The Simpsons," "Law and Order," some American Movie Channel documentaries, "A&E Investigative Reports" and "X-Men Evolution."
"What they are doing is telling the nation's deaf what they can and can't watch," said Jeff Rosen, general counsel for the National Council on Disabilities, an independent federal agency.
"They put a fast one over on all of us because they didn't go to public notice and comment. They just secretly did it."
Kelby Brick, associate executive director of the National Association for the Deaf, agreed: "The department is now applying puritanical values to its funding."
Entire article:
"Advocates for deaf charge censorship in closed
captioning" (Chicago Sun-Times)
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-deaf20.html
Approved/Disapproved
Television Programs (National Association of the Deaf)
http://www.nad.org/openhouse/action/alerts/captioningcensorship/list.html
---
# TODAY'S FEATURED WEBSITE
The Autistics.org Website
The purpose of the autistics.org project is to connect autistic people with the services we need to live whole and happy lives. The immediate goal of autistics.org is to build a global database of information and resources by and for persons on the autistic spectrum.
The autistics.org project is primarily by and for autistics, not parents of autistic children, though family members and professionals may find this website helpful.
---
# EXPRESS EXTRA!!! From the Inclusion Daily Express Archives -- Three years ago:
ACCESSIBILITY
Hawking's Visit Had Powerful Impact On
Accessibility
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
February 20,
2001
CHENNAI, INDIA--In academic circles, British physicist Stephen
Hawking is considered one of the most influential scientists of our time.
In India, he is now being considered one of the most influential people among the disability community -- even though this may not have been his intention.
A month ago, Professor Hawking, who has what is commonly known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease" and uses a wheelchair, visited India. While there, he traveled to several universities and even met with President K.R. Narayanan.
Before the visit, disability rights advocates pointed out that many of the places Hawking planned to visit were not accessible. The Archaeological Society of India (ASI) didn't see too much of a problem with this. They had selected a number of people to physically carry the famous scientist from place to place.
Finally, at the last minute, ASI and the Ministry of Family Welfare and Social Justice changed their minds and ordered ramps to be built. Not only that, they put the Institute for the Physically Handicapped in charge of the project.
Now, several people who have been leading the way for accessibility for years are hopeful that Hawking's visit signaled a turning point in the struggle for a more accessible India.
---
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---
# BELOW THE FOLD
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disability-related news:
http://www.InclusionDaily.com/news/04/btf/02200442.htm
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