Disability Futures

In LOST CHILD? filmmaker Gregory Ruzzin invites you along on a lighthearted journey as he uses his camera to bridge an ever-widening gap between himself and his sister Alyssa, whom he sees only at obligatory family Christmases.

After decades apart, Ruzzin and his sister struggle to reconnect as adults, and Ruzzin and his film meander into ever-deeper waters as her complex reality dismantles his imagined vision of his “little sister’s” life. What begins as Ruzzin’s attempt to salvage his withering relationship with his younger sister evolves into a journey of discovery, ultimately resulting in a vibrant and moving portrait of Alyssa Ruzzin, who struggles with epilepsy and a developmental disability as she makes a life for herself in Evanston, Illinois.

http://goo.gl/na88UQ

Some people within the disability community claim they “often feel ostracized by mainstream feminist media, which seems almost exclusively focused on the experiences of able-bodied people.” Others believe it stems from the idea of capability. Part of feminism is proving that women are just as capable as men, but in regard to women who are physically disabled- are we still allowing them to join that sentiment? Blogger Neurodiverget K explains, “Worth and capability are not, or should not, be synonymous. All people, regardless of gender or ability status or race or sexuality or any other thing, should be seen as worthy of respect and rights. Our worth is not, or at least should not, be determined by what our capabilities are.”

http://goo.gl/zRFa0b

New York City has violated the rights of about 900,000 of its residents with disabilities by failing to accommodate for their needs during emergencies, a federal judge ruled on Thursday.

In his 119-page ruling, Judge Furman cited, among other things, the city’s failure to develop evacuation plans for people with disabilities in high-rise buildings. He did not suggest remedies, saying that “given the complexity and potential expense involved,” solutions to the problems would best be addressed by people with expertise in disaster preparedness and through negotiations.

He directed the parties to confer with each other and with representatives of the Justice Department if it chose to participate. In May, the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan filed a statement of interest, asserting that the city was violating federal law because its emergency management plans “do not adequately protect the rights of individuals with disabilities.”

This fits my experience as a kid and teenager exactly

http://goo.gl/QqwoXU

People with Asperger's syndrome, a high functioning form of autism, are often stereotyped as distant loners or robotic geeks. But what if what looks like coldness to the outside world is a response to being overwhelmed by emotion – an excess of empathy, not a lack of it?

A disgrace...

http://goo.gl/n2w37m

Over 70% of people with disabilities said they had been victims of abuse. More than 50% of these victims had experienced physical abuse, with some 41% having been victims of sexual abuse. Nearly 9 of 10 respondents with disabilities had suffered verbal or emotional abuse. Most victims said they had experienced abuse on more than 20 occasions.

About half of the incidents of abuse were not reported to authorities. When reports were filed, fewer than 10% of alleged perpetrators were arrested.

Only one-third of victims received therapy and fewer than 5% received benefits from victim compensation programs. 

“Abuse of people with disabilities is a hidden epidemic with a huge number of invisible victims,” said Jim Stream, Executive Director of The Arc of Riverside County, an agency providing services to people with intellectual disabilities.

“The findings from the report are an indictment our entire criminal justice system,” said Alice Vachss, Special Prosecutor for Sex Crimes in Lincoln County, Oregon.

See 3 page summary of findings at: http://disabilityandabuse.org/survey/findings.pdf

Another step on the slippery slope.

http://goo.gl/inlqIY

In the past year, several cases of Belgians who weren’t terminally ill but were euthanized — including a pair of 43-year-old deaf twins who were going blind and a patient in a botched sex change operation — have raised concerns the country is becoming too willing to euthanize its citizens. The newest proposals have raised eyebrows even further.

“People elsewhere in Europe are focused on assisted dying for the terminally ill and they are running away from what’s happening in Belgium,” Lewis said. “If the Belgian statutes go ahead, this will be a key boundary that is crossed.”

http://goo.gl/T6q0LW

People could be institutionalized for almost any reason. Some struggled with mental illness, or a physical disability or substance abuse. Some had epilepsy, or were children with Down syndrome, or women suffering from postpartum depression. Orphaned children or pregnant mothers could be dropped off and remain there for the rest of their lives.

Today Lubbers works with the nonprofit group Remembering With Dignity, which is halfway through the long process of replacing all those numbered graves with proper headstones.

To date, Remembering With Dignity has placed 7,139 new headstones and is in the process of installing 750 more at old institutional cemeteries in Rochester, Faribault and Fergus Falls. Another 5,111 graves have yet to be restored.

Finding a name for those graves, and learning the stories behind those names, is Halle O’Falvey, who runs the Remembering with Dignity program.

It isn't too early to think about accessible voting for the fall 2014 elections.

http://www.accessiblevoting.org/

The Goals of Accessible Voting

• Every voter can vote independently and privately, using the systems used by other voters.
• All voters must be able to get to, and move around inside, all polling places.
• Polling places must include voting machines or methods that work for all voters.
• For on-line voting, the website must be designed so that all voters can use it.
• For voting by telephone, the telephone call system must work for all voters.
• For mail-in voting, the ballot and mailing system must be designed so all voters can use them.

http://goo.gl/C7cnLG

The devaluation is acceptable and normal. People who are of non-normative intelligence or ability (narrowly defined) are simply considered less-than, so it’s the height of insult to call someone “stupid” or “a moron” or “a person with a low IQ.” Likewise, people with severe disability are considered less-than, so it’s perfectly acceptable to respond to an argument you don’t agree with by saying “If you believe that, you shouldn’t go out without a carer.” (Yes, I have heard someone say that in a social justice space. I could almost see the sneer.) When I hear these kinds of words, it’s the hatred and devaluation I’m responding to, because it’s everywhere, and it has a concrete impact on people’s lives, including my life, the lives of people I love, and the lives of people I serve.

http://goo.gl/LFg7GL

I mentioned earlier that the only wrong way to grieve is not to grieve. In addition to that, it is important to remember that grieving is not the end to the means. It is only the beginning! I say this because grieving is about how we feel on the inside due to what has happened in our life. If one is allowed to truly feel — to grieve, this will lead to mourning. Mourning is the process of taking those feelings from the inside to the outside. It is giving expression to how we feel. This may be done in a variety of ways, such as funerals, talking, writing, art, and music. Wolfelt describes it like this: “Mourning is grief gone public.” The only way to move through or reconcile and mourn feelings of grief is to find a safe and comfortable way to express those feelings. This applies to all types of loss, including those associated with brain injury.