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Inclusion Daily Express News Highlights

By Dave Reynolds, from Inclusion Express
www.InclusionDaily.com

Accessibility: Judge Orders US Treasury To Make Paper Money Accessible To Blind Americans; Barriers To Courthouse Access Violate Due Process Rights, Advocates Claim; Safeway Stores To Install Privacy Key Pads At Check-Outs; Pennsylvania Becomes More "Visitable"; Advocates Argue Canada's Airlines Should Stop Charging For Attendants; Michigan Advocates Threaten Legal Action Over U-M Football Stadium Design

Community Living: Settlement Means Community Supports For Tens Of Thousands of Texans; Community Advocates Oppose Kansas Plan To Reopen Psych Unit

Crimes Against People With Disabilities: Canadian Study Finds Women With Disability At Greater Risk Of Domestic Violence; Bones In German Mass Grave Believed To Belong To Victims of Nazi Euthanasia Program; U.N. Official Says North Korea Transfers People With Disabilities To 'Special Camps'; Teen Says Kids Locked Him Inside Burning Shed; British Judge Lets 'Mercy Killer' Husband Walk Free; UK Ethics Panel, Church, College Recommend Withholding Treatment For Littlest Preemies; Jury Convicts Illinois Mother Of Trying To Kill Daughter; Site Of Wisconsin Girl's Fatal Restraint To Remain Closed; Three Years After Killing Son, Dad Walks Free

Criminal Justice System: Portland Man Should Have Been Flagged As Patient Before Fatal Police Confrontation; Chicago To Pay $1 Million For False Murder Confession; Appeals Court Rules Cops And City Not Responsible For Waco Man's Taser Death

Education: Gallaudet Protesters Chalk One Up For Civil Disobedience; Class Of 2007 Can Graduate Without Passing California Exit Exam; New Jersey Parents Say State Illegally Segregated Children With Down Syndrome

Employment: Low Employment, Low Wages Still Plague Americans With Disabilities; EEOC Claims Denny's Policies Violated Workers' Rights; Wal-Mart Compensatory Damages Were Too Punitive, Judge Rules; Appeals Court Orders UPS To Change Hearing Test Requirement For Deaf Applicants; Critics Worry Minimum Wage Bill Would Close New Zealand's Sheltered Workshops

Institutions: Fewer Older Americans Use Nursing Homes; UK Mental Health Groups Say Rape Reports By Women In Psych Wards Are Not Taken Seriously; Advocates Celebrate 'Institution-Free' New Zealand; Ten Perish In Early Morning Missouri Facility Fire; Class Action Decision Could Help Thousands Leave Illinois Nursing Homes

Progress: Measure To Restore Intent Of ADA Introduced In US House; Gonzales Says Bush Administration Settled 90 Percent Of ADA Cases; Detroit Airport Responds To Advocate Concerns; Mt. Everest Amputee Pioneer Tom Whittaker To Receive Honor From Queen; Medicare To Pay More For Motorized Equipment; Third Kansas Woman Talks After Years Of Silence; Wearable Technology -- Have Shirt, Will Travel; Charlotte Wyatt Celebrates Third Birthday In Hospital; Driver Returns To Formula One Five Years After Accident

In other news: Australian Advocates React To 'Idol' Judge's 'Prehistoric' Remark; Get Ready For The "Crippendales"; University Doctors Deliberately Stunted Six-Year-Old's Growth; Famous Farrelly Brothers To Adapt 'Stupid' British Comedy; British Court Service Settles Discrimination Complaint From Deaf Advisor; Iraqi Paralympic Athlete And Coach Kidnapped At Gunpoint; Venezuelans To Enjoy New Rights

ACCESSIBILITY:

Washington, DC--A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Treasury Department to find a way to design paper currency so that blind people can independently tell the difference between denominations. The American Council of the Blind, which filed the suit four years ago, has proposed several ways for paper money to be made accessible, including printing bills in different sizes, or adding embossed dots, foil, or raised ink.

San Bernardino, CA--Five wheelchair users are suing San Bernardino County and its Superior Court alleging that the county's 11 courthouses have systemic accessibility problems -- such as inaccessible parking, courtrooms, witness stands, clerks' offices, filing windows, libraries, restrooms, cafeterias, and elevators -- that create "a real life obstacle course for people with disabilities", in violation of California's Constitution, the ADA, and both the First and Fifth Amendments.

Sacramento, CA--Advocacy groups representing blind Americans praised Safeway for its plans to install equipment to protect the privacy and security of shoppers with vision-related disabilities at checkout counters in all grocery stores nationwide. The devices have tactile keys arranged like a standard telephone keypad, so that shoppers who have difficulty reading touch screens can privately and independently enter their PIN and other confidential information.

Harrisburg, PA--Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell signed into law a bipartisan measure that allows municipalities, school districts and counties to offer tax credits to homeowners who make homes more "visitable". Senate Bill 1158 creates a tax credit of up to $2,500 for those who wish to add such accessibility features as wider doorways, larger bathrooms, and reinforced walls to install grab bars to new or existing homes.

Toronto, Ontario--The Canadian Transportation Agency board is considering a complaint filed against Air Canada by two people with physical disabilities, and an overweight woman, who were forced to pay for an additional seat. An attorney for the Council of Canadians with Disabilities told the panel that it is unfair and discriminatory for airlines to force travelers with disabilities to purchase a second ticket for an attendant.

Ann Arbor, MI--Members of the Michigan Paralyzed Veterans of America are threatening to sue the University of Michigan over a $226 million plan for "improving" the school's football stadium that would place wheelchair accessible seating in the very back, top row. The group pointed out that the ADA requires old facilities that are significantly altered or renovated to place accessible seating in different locations throughout the stadium so they are similar to the general seating. University officials argue the plan is not a 'renovation': It's a 'repair'.

COMMUNITY LIVING:

Austin, TX--Tens of thousands of Texans with intellectual and other disabilities could come off the state's waiting list for community-based services, now that a four-year-old lawsuit filed by advocates and parents has been settled. The Arc of Texas and Advocacy, Inc. filed the suit in 2002 on behalf of 15 people with disabilities and their families, who claimed that the state violated the individuals' rights by failing to provide in-home and community-based supports in a timely manner, thereby putting them at risk of institutionalization.

Topeka, KS--Community advocates in Kansas expressed opposition to state plans to spend $400,000 to reopen Willow Cottage, a now-closed unit at Parsons State Hospital, and move between 10 and 22 people with developmental disabilities into it. The push came as Kansas looked to the federal government for money to move people with disabilities and seniors out of nursing homes and other institutions through a Money Follows the Person grant. Part of the problem, it seems, is that the state plans to use the MFP project to focus on private nursing homes rather than state-run facilities.

CRIMES AGAINST PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES:

Winnipeg, Manitoba--A University of Manitoba study has found that women with disabilities are 40 percent more likely than other women to be targets of violence at the hands of their husbands or male partners. The report, published in the September issue of the journal of Violence Against Women, found that the perpetrators' characteristics -- such as dominance, jealousy, possessiveness and aggression -- accounted for the difference in rates of domestic violence between the two groups

Menden, Germany--Skeletons of children believed to have had physical and intellectual disabilities have been found in an unmarked grave near a hospital where Nazis performed euthanasia during World War II. Excavators found bones of 20 children ranging from 1 to 7 years of age buried alongside skeletons of five adults in the mass grave. Prosecutors said there was reason to believe the remains belonged to victims of the Nazi euthanasia program, which was practiced publicly from 1939 to 1941, and secretly at the hospital until the end of the war in 1945.

Pyongyang, North Korea--People with disabilities living in North Korea's capital are routinely gathered up by the government, then sorted according to disability, and sent off to special camps known as "Ward 49", according to a United Nations human rights official. Along with subjecting people to "subhuman conditions" at the camps, the violations reportedly include torture, refusal to give food aid to citizens, prohibiting some groups from marrying or having children, and harsh punishments for any who try to leave the country.

Winnipeg, Manitoba--Police issued warnings to seven girls and boys, ages 8 to 11, for locking a 14-year-old with spina bifida inside a burning woodshed, then teasing and laughing at him before running away. A neighbor who witnessed the incident pulled Brian McKay from the blazing structure. McKay, who wears braces on his legs and was unable to kick the door open, was later treated for smoke inhalation, along with one of the girls who helped rescue him.

London, England--Citing "exceptional circumstances", a court released a man who admitted tying a plastic bag around his wife's neck and waiting nearly 30 minutes for her to die. The judge sentenced David March to just nine months in jail for assisting in the September 2005 suicide of Gillian March, who had multiple sclerosis. The judge then suspended the sentence, which could have been for up to 14 years for the crime.

London, England--An influential British ethics panel released a lengthy report recommending that doctors be allowed to let the youngest preemies die. The Nuffield Council on Bioethics wrote that doctors should not automatically provide life-sustaining treatment for premature babies born at 22 weeks or less gestation, and that those born between 22 and 23 weeks into a pregnancy should only receive intensive treatment if the parents request the care and if doctors agree with the parents.

Leaders of the Church of England issued a statement saying that doctors should be allowed to withhold treatment from some preemies and babies with disabilities. And the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists suggested that the deliberate killing of babies with disabilities be considered as a treatment option for the overall good of families.

Pekin, IL--A Tazewell County jury needed less than an hour and a half of deliberations this week to find Kellie A. Waremburg guilty of trying to kill her four-year-old daughter, Lexus Fuller, who has cerebral palsy, an intellectual disability, and is blind. The 33-year-old woman faces up to 60 years in prison when she is sentenced for the June 21 crime. Waremburg admitted to giving a combination of sleeping pills and other depressant drugs to her daughter to get her "to go to sleep and not wake up."

Rice Lake, WI--The head of the day treatment center where 7-year-old Angellika Arndt was fatally injured during a restraint, said the clinic will not reopen because the public scrutiny would "place the program under an onerous set of public expectations for perfection". Arndt, who had diagnoses of reactive attachment disorder, mood disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, died at the Rice Lake Day Treatment Center on May 26, one day after being placed in a "control hold" as a consequence for gargling milk. A medical examiner ruled her death a homicide due to "complications from chest compression asphyxiation".

Toronto, Ontario--A man who admitted drugging and strangling his 11-year-old son to save him from what he called a "living hell" caused by epilepsy, was released from a minimum-security mental health facility this week and allowed to live with his mother. The Ontario Review Board decided that 48-year-old David Carmichael can move out of the Brockville Psychiatric Hospital, even though psychiatrists consider him "a significant risk to the public." Carmichael killed his son, Ian, in July of 2004 -- several months after the boy began taking medication that effectively controlled his seizures.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM:

Portland, OR--A Multnomah County grand jury found no criminal wrongdoing on the part of Portland Police officers involved in an encounter that turned fatal for James Philip Chasse, Jr. Chasse, who had schizophrenia, died on September 17, after struggling with officers who tried to arrest him after they saw him "acting oddly" and "possibly urinating in the street".

A medical examiner ruled that Chasse, 42, died from "broad-based" blunt force trauma to his chest, but could not determine whether the injuries took place when Chasse fell to the ground or when officers fell onto him. Portland Mayor Tom Potter publicly apologized for Chasse's death, and called for a review of arrest data to look for ways to improve how officers interact with suspects that have mental illness.

Chicago, IL--The City of Chicago agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by Corethian Bell, who had confessed to fatally shooting his mother in July 2000. Bell, who has schizophrenia and an intellectual disability, said he confessed after detectives questioned him for more than two days, yelled at him, told him he failed a lie-detector test, and knocked him off of his chair several times. He was released from prison in 2002 when results from DNA tests pointed to another inmate who later pleaded guilty for murdering Bell's mother.

Waco, TX--A Texas appeals court has dismissed a lawsuit that accused Waco police officers of intentionally killing Robert Earl Williams Sr. when they restrained and repeatedly shocked him with taser stun guns. Five officers zapped Williams, who had schizophrenia, with tasers during a domestic disturbance call involving Williams and his sister in July 2005. Williams' family sued the city and police, but in an October 18 decision the Texas 10th Court of Appeals reversed a lower court ruling that had said the city of Waco could not avoid liability.

EDUCATION:

Washington, DC--After two months of intense protests by students, faculty, staff and alumni, the board of trustees at Gallaudet University voted on October 29 to rescind their earlier appointment of provost Dr. Jane Fernandes to replace current university president I. King Jordan at the beginning of the upcoming year. The protesters claimed that Fernandes was not competent to run the nation's only liberal arts college for deaf and hard of hearing students, was not proficient in sign language, and did not have the temperament to be a role model for and representative of the deaf community. They also claimed that the board's recruitment process did not welcome diverse points of view and did include enough student or faculty input.

About 2,000 demonstrators marched to Capitol Hill on October 21. Earlier protests led to a virtual shutdown of classes at the school, and the arrests of more than 130 protesters who had linked arms in a human chain. Several students also engaged in a nearly two-week long hunger strike.

Sacramento, CA-- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed into law a measure that will allow current high school students with disabilities to graduate next spring without passing the otherwise mandatory California High School Exit Exam. Senate Bill 267 extends last year's exemption that allowed more than 20,000 students receiving special education services to earn a diploma without having to pass the test -- if they completed all other graduation requirements. The exemption came about as part of an August 2005 settlement of a class-action discrimination lawsuit, which claimed that the exam unfairly discriminated against students with disabilities.

Trenton, NJ--Three families of children with Down syndrome are suing the state Department of Education and the Jefferson Township School District claiming their school failed to teach the children in regular classrooms alongside same-age peers without disabilities. The parents allege in the class action that the district and state violated the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act by placing a high percentage of students with disabilities in specialized, segregated classrooms.

EMPLOYMENT:

Washington, DC-- An analysis of US Census Bureau data has found that only 38 percent of working age adults with disabilities were employed last year, compared with 78 percent of adults without disabilities. The researchers also found that workers with disabilities made, on average, $6,000 less for full-time work, and were 2 1/2 times more likely to live in poverty than those without disabilities.

Baltimore, MD-- The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleged in a federal lawsuit that the Denny's restaurant chain has discriminated against workers with disabilities by failing to provide reasonable accommodations. That case centers on the former manager of a Baltimore area Denny's, whose leg was amputated in December 2002. When she returned to work the following April, she was told her walker presented a safety risk. She was later fired after using up the 26 weeks of medical leave that Denny's provides its employees.

Centereach, NY--Wal-Mart will have to pay less than one million dollars of what was originally a $7.5 million jury award to a former employee who claimed the retailer discriminated against him because of his cerebral palsy. Patrick S. Brady claimed that the Wal-Mart in Centereach, New York transferred him from the pharmacy to a job collecting shopping carts and picking up trash -- even though he had two years experience as a pharmacy assistant. In February 2005, a federal jury ordered Wal-Mart to pay Brady $2.5 million dollars in compensatory damages and $5 million dollars in punitive damages. A judge later reduced the punitive damage award to just $300,000, and on October 10 reduced the compensatory award to $600,000, saying it might actually have been punitive in nature.

San Francisco, CA-- Up to a thousand deaf employees and job applicants could sue United Parcel Service over claims that the package delivery service discriminated against them. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling, which said UPS discriminated against deaf workers and applicants by requiring those who wanted to drive delivery trucks weighing less than 10,000 pounds to pass a hearing test for vehicles weighing more than 10,000 pounds.

Wellington, New Zealand--Minimum wage legislation debated in New Zealand's Parliament would likely lead to the total elimination of sheltered workshops in the country. The measure would require existing workshops to develop formal employment agreements with the remaining 1,000 workers that have disabilities and to pay them at least the standard minimum wage.

INSTITUTIONS:

Washington, DC--A study by a health care and human services consulting firm has shown that the number of nursing home residents over age 64 has dropped significantly in recent years. The November 21 report by the Lewin Group credited the creation of community-based services, high profile court decisions, and state and federal policy shifts for an eight percent decline in the actual number of seniors in nursing homes since 1999. It also cited changes in Medicaid programs that are designed to divert long-term care funds toward in-home caregivers and community living alternatives, while having skilled nursing facilities handle more intensive rehabilitation.

London, England--British mental health groups suggested that a report, which revealed that women in psychiatric wards have been subjected to at least 300 sexual assaults over the last three years, might be just scratching the surface. The heads of three UK mental health charities said that female patients do not feel safe in reporting sex crimes because their reports have not been taken seriously.

Wellington, New Zealand--Disability advocates gathered with government officials on November 14 to mark the end of an era -- the closure of the last institution in the nation housing people with intellectual disabilities. Several hundred people -- many of them former residents of the 13 state-run institutions that have closed over the past 40 years -- gathered in Parliament to celebrate with song, cake and speeches.

Anderson, MO--An early morning fire swept through a facility housing adults with mental illnesses and developmental disabilities, killing nine residents and one staff member, who witnesses said kept going back to rescue others trapped inside.

While investigators blame faulty wiring for the blaze, Governor Matt Blunt ordered a full review of safety laws and regulations related to residential care facilities, including the codes that permitted the Anderson Guest House to be licensed even though it did not have a sprinkler system. Media attention soon focused on the facility's owner, who was convicted three years ago for his part in a scheme to defraud the federal Medicare program.

Chicago, IL--A federal judge has granted class-action status to a lawsuit that could help about 5,000 Illinois residents with mental illness to move out of large nursing homes and into smaller, community-based settings. Two people who were forced into nursing homes filed the suit in August 2005. They claimed that they were "needlessly segregated and inappropriately warehoused" in the facilities in violation of federal laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act.

PROGRESS:

Washington, DC--Bipartisan legislation has been introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives, designed to remove a significant barrier that has kept countless people from taking on and winning disability discrimination cases. The "Americans with Disabilities Act Restoration Act of 2006", would change the language in the 1990 civil rights law, from stating that discrimination is prohibited "against an individual with a disability", to "on the basis of a disability".

Sponsors said the correction would restore Congress' intent when it enacted the ADA. Many disability-discrimination complaints have been rejected when the focus shifted to the plaintiffs having to prove the level of their disabilities rather than the level of the discrimination.

Washington, DC--The Bush administration took credit for settling 1,800 out of the 2,000 ADA complaints filed with the Department of Justice over the past five years. The Department's civil rights division also settled 151 ADA cases filed against state and local governments. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said the administration accomplished this through "an aggressive program of enforcement and public education" to "change negative attitudes about people with disabilities".

Detroit, MI--Disability rights advocates have dropped threats to sue Detroit Metropolitan Airport because the facility has responded to their concerns that accessibility problems amounted to civil rights violations under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Local advocates were angered in June when they learned of the airport's new policy banning taxi and limousine drivers from entering baggage claim areas at two terminals to pick up passengers. The advocates said the policy would create dangers for travelers with disabilities.

London, England--Arizona mountaineer Tom Whittaker was scheduled to receive the Most Excellent Order Member of the British Empire from Queen Elizabeth II on November 29. Whittaker, who became the first person with a disability to scale the summit of Mount Everest, has used an artificial leg since his right foot was amputated following a 1979 car accident. He climbed to the top of the world's tallest peak in May of 1998.

Washington, DC--U.S. Medicare officials have agreed to ease up on some cuts that had been proposed for reimbursing beneficiaries who purchase motorized wheelchairs and scooters. The announcement came after disability groups, clinicians, and makers and distributors of power wheelchairs and scooters condemned rate cuts proposals which they said would have put the costs of such equipment out of reach for countless seniors and others with physical disabilities.

Arkansas City, KS--On Halloween, 60-year-old De Glaze shocked her family, her doctor and the staff at her rehabilitation facility by talking for the first time in nearly three years. Glaze was diagnosed some time ago with ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, which is supposed to be a progressively deteriorating disease. She is the third Kansas woman person in the last few years to begin talking after years of silence.

Chicago, IL--Researchers at Northwestern University are developing new wearable technology that could allow quadriplegics to maneuver power wheelchairs through their clothes. The system would use fabric embedded with minute sensors to be worn by people who might only be able move their head or a shoulder to direct a wheelchair. The scientists say that the garments could eventually be used to help people control devices other than wheelchairs, such as computer games.

Portsmouth, England--Charlotte Wyatt turned three years old on October 21st, reaching a milestone that her doctors saw little hope of achieving, and her parents fought tirelessly to witness. When Charlotte was born three months premature, doctors at St. Mary's Hospital said her disabilities made her quality of life "intolerable", predicted she would soon die, and fought successfully through the courts for the right to not resuscitate her if she stopped breathing. While doctors now say she is medically able to go home, she unfortunately is likely to go to a foster home because her parents have since separated and neither is yet able to take her home.

Valencia, Spain--Racecar driver Alex Zanardi made history in late November, becoming the first double amputee to test-drive a Formula One car. It was the first time the 40-year-old Italian had driven a Formula One car since he lost both legs in a crash in September 2001. Zanardi, who was a two-time champion and rookie of the year for the CART series before his accident, drove a BMW-Sauber C24-B using special hand controls for the throttle and clutch.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Brisbane, Australia--Disability advocacy groups and ministers of state and federal disability and community services called for a judge on the "Australian Idol" television show to publicly apologize for using what one advocate called "prehistoric terminology" to insult a contestant. During the October 1 airing of "Australian Idol", judge Kyle Sandilands criticized the performance of a contestant by calling him a "full mong", which is short for "mongoloid", a pre-1970s term for people with Down syndrome that is now considered insulting and degrading.

London, England--A British troupe has put together "Crippendales" a 24-minute documentary that combines the hilarity of "The Full Monty" with the realism of "Murder Ball". The film follows one man's dream to have the first all male, all-disability striptease act. Director Havana Marking said the film challenges assumptions many people have about the sexuality of people with disabilities.

Seattle, WA--Arguing that caring for a child with severe disabilities can be more difficult as they age and develop, the parents of a 6-year-old girl with developmental disabilities convinced researchers at the University of Washington to give their daughter high dosages of estrogen to stop her from growing. A university ethics panel approved the girl's treatment, which also included a hysterectomy. The researchers said they hoped the report would generate a healthy debate on the issue.

London, England--American filmmaking duo Peter and Bobby Farrelly have been tapped to produce a U.S. version of "I'm With Stupid", a BBC-TV comedy that focuses on the friendship between a young man in a wheelchair and a homeless man. The makers of "Me, Myself, and Irene" and "Dumb and Dumber", the Farrelly brothers have mostly received praise from advocates for their odd, yet sensitive portrayals of conjoined twins in "Stuck on You", and most recently, Special Olympics athletes in "The Ringer".

London, England--The British government has agreed to settle a complaint filed by a deaf legal advisor who claimed the Court Service violated his rights under the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act. Jonathan Gibbons said that he was set to appear in a professional capacity in court in June 2004, but when he called the court through a telephone/text relay service to request a British Sign Language interpreter, the court's staff member refused the request and abruptly ended the call. Gibbons also claimed that his request for a note-taker was denied.

Baghdad, Iraq--A coach and an athlete from the Iraqi Paralympic handball team were kidnapped at gunpoint during a November 1 training session in their Baghdad gymnasium. The two were members of the Sunni minority, and were training for a scheduled match in Jordan, when armed gunmen burst in and asked for them by name. The attackers severely beat the coach for resisting and then hauled both of them away. The team's trip to Jordan was cancelled because several athletes failed to show up to complete the necessary paperwork out of fear.

Caracas, Venezuela--Venezuelans with disabilities will have new rights under a law passed by the country's National Assembly. The measure guarantees health care for people with disabilities, and requires employers to set aside five percent of their positions for workers with disabilities. Additionally, public and private media firms will be required to include accessibility features, and public transportation facilities will become more usable.

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