Brotherhood of the Wordless

Access needs a little work, but interesting...
http://goo.gl/523Uhd

The Brotherhood of the Wordless (BOW) is a unique group of writers and poets with assorted disabilities that impair their ability to communicate. But that hasn’t prevented them from publishing two anthologies and performing their works regularly in the Queensland Poetry festival and other events and venues around Brisbane, including regular gigs at the Woodford Folk Festival and Queensland State Library.


Honoring the ADA with the Smithsonian Institution’s Festival ADA

http://goo.gl/JDLm10

The weekend of July 24 through 26, 2015 brings a nationwide celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). President George H.W. Bush signed the ADA into law on July 26th, 1990, capping decades of legal efforts and activism to end discrimination against people with disabilities. To honor this historic event, leaders in the disability rights community, advocates, community members and politicians will gather on the grounds of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History to mark this historic moment and highlight the ADA’s ongoing legacy in American life.


Google to create 'universal access for people with disabilities'

http://goo.gl/emgYtX

One billion people worldwide live with a physical or developmental disability. And for those in developing nations, many of these disabilities dictate a life of social and economic marginalization. But Google's doing something about it. The company announced Tuesday that it is funding a $20 million grant for its latest Impact Challenge, one aimed at making the world more accessible for those with disabilities.


The P&A network protects your rights | Rooted in Rights Explains

Video

https://goo.gl/NZcc7F

There are a lot of ways to stand up for disability rights. But only protection and advocacy agencies (P&As) are federally mandated to protect the basic human rights of people with disabilities. Did you know there's a P&A in all 57 U.S. states and territories? Did you know they serve people with all kinds of disabilities? Have you even heard of P&As? Let us explain in this new original Rooted in Rights video. To find the P&A in your state, please visit: http://www.ndrn.org/ndrn-member-agencies.html

Canadian bioethicist questions value of Down syndrome detection

http://goo.gl/1jHcBU

“The larger ethical question,” he writes, “is whether this pursuit of profit is good for people who have Down syndrome or even good for the rest of us.”

Recent research by Dr Brian Skotko at Massachusetts General Hospital suggests that most Down syndrome people and their families are happy with their lives. “The arms race to develop these tests is not being driven by the needs of people with Down syndrome or the needs of their families,” he says. In fact, says Dr Kaposy,

“…  the social utility of these tests is incommensurate with the effort needed to create them. In contrast to the scientist who devotes her life to the treatment of cancer, … devotion to create a test that helps parents to avoid the birth of people who tend to enjoy their lives seems somehow less ambitious, or off the mark.”


Stylist Works to Make Disability-Friendly Clothing More Accessible

http://goo.gl/pI7Aiz

"There's only one store in America that sells clothes specifically for disabled people, but they are the biggest minority in the country." 

Thomas, 46, has devoted over 20 years of her life to making the process of finding disability-friendly clothing a little bit easier. The Los Angeles-based "disability fashion stylist" carefully chooses clothes, shoes and accessories to be featured on her website, cur8able, in hopes of "curing fashion woes," says. 


ASAN Statement On JRC At Association for Behavior Analysis International Conference

http://goo.gl/xvZ0j5

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network strongly condemns the Association for Behavior Analysis International for their decision to feature the Judge Rotenberg Center at their 2015 annual conference. The Judge Rotenberg Center, which uses contingent electric shock to modify the behavior of disabled students and has been condemned by the United Nation’s special rapporteur on torture, is listed as both a presenter as well as a Bronze sponsor for the ABAI annual conference from May 22nd–26th.

As specified in the conference materials, sponsorship indicates that the “ABAI Convention Sponsors have been approved by the Organizational Review Committee as being aligned with ABAI’s mission to contribute to the well-being of society by developing, enhancing, and supporting the growth and vitality of the science of behavior analysis through research, education, and practice (p. 19).” In addition to sponsorship, the Judge Rotenberg Center will maintain a booth and present 3 separate sessions.


“Prisoners of the Apparatus”: The Judge Rotenberg Center

A useful reminder of the long history and continued operation of a behavioral torture camp....

http://goo.gl/4DZDoH

The Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC) in Canton, Massachusetts, has long been criticized for its treatment of disabled children and adults. It has been condemned by the current and previous United Nations Special Rapporteurs on Torture, many disability rights groups, current Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick, and an FDA advisory panel (Hinman and Brown; Conaboy; Rothstein). It seems strange that the Judge Rotenberg Center is even still running, but it is, and is still using electric shocks as punishment for many of the disabled children and adults who currently live there. Through studying the Judge Rotenberg Center’s historical background, the current situation that exists at the facility, and how the Judge Rotenberg Center attempts to justify its actions, I hope to show that the Judge Rotenberg Center must be shut down, and to suggest policy changes that could be used to facilitate this goal.