News &
Advocacy in Disability Rights
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News &
Advocacy in Disability Rights |
The following reports originate from a variety of sources, including the Associated Press. We're always on the lookout for news of interest. Send us news and if we use it here we'll send you a `Piss on Pity' button. Use the eMail below.
Classic tragedy
What we say . . .
Shame, shame
Parking suit
Texas two-step
She showed `em
Prison bias
Un-Bending
Mismanagement
Courts inaccessible
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Two physically disabled lovers forbidden to marry by their families were found drowned in a lake in an apparent case of double-suicide, Japanese police said.
The bodies of Masaru Kawanaka and Megumi Nakama were found floating in Lake Biwa, a scenic tourist spot in western Japan, with their hands tied together, said police spokesman Tetsuzo Koga.
Their wheelchairs were discovered at the bottom of the lake, and police believe they pushed themselves off a high part of the shoreline, Koga said. Kawanaka, 46, was paralyzed from the waist down and Nakama, 39, had had a leg amputated after a traffic accident.
They fell in love at a center for the physically disabled in Osaka, but their families opposed their plans to marry, Koga said.
People with disabilities are often burdened with an intense stigma in Japan, and families have been known to hide their disabled relatives from the outside world out of shame. Lake Biwa is located about 186 miles west of Tokyo.
. . .What they hear. How much do you see in the media about disability issues? Our opinions are rarely sought in the debate on public issues that affect us. Why not? It's time we got together to talk about this problem. The time: May 21-23, 1999. The place: Louisville, Kentucky. For more info: www.mainstream-mag.com or www.ragged-edge-mag.com.
Caught parking in a blue accessible space in Phoenix, Arizona, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio sought to turn his mistake into something positive. "If I can send a message out to everybody in this county not to park in a handicapped space, then it's worth taking the hit," he said.
Arpaio, who bills himself as "America's toughest sheriff," wound up with a bright red warning sticker on his car after he used an accessible spot at a private office building.
It turned out the prominent Republican had parked his unmarked official car outside the office of a state Democratic Party official, Cortland Coleman, who called security and preserved the moment in pictures.
Arpaio said he wasn't paying attention when he pulled into the space and that he parks as close to doors as possible because his life has been threatened.
Florida's attorney general sued a condominium association for refusing to give a disabled elderly woman a parking space closer to her building.
The suit was filed on behalf of Sarah Walsey-Miller, 84, claiming the DeSoto Park North Condominium Association violated the Fair Housing Act.
The condo association did not intend to discriminate against anybody, said DeSoto Park attorney Robert McIntosh. Walsey-Miller never mentioned her disability to the association, only that she had difficulty walking, McIntosh said, adding that many of the condominium's elderly residents also have the same difficulty.
Walsey-Miller has scoliosis, or an abnormally curved spine, and a heart condition that makes it difficult for her to walk long distances. Walsey-Miller has to walk 270 feet on an incline from her car to her building.
The state human relations commission tried to negotiate a settlement with the condo association for a year, but the association said state law does not require handicapped spaces for condominium owners.
Texas legislators are operating district offices that aren't fully accessible, a violation of state and federal law, the Austin American-Statesman reported.
And some lawmakers want to exempt themselves from the law.
Texas law requires offices leased by the state to be in accessible buildings. Last year, the Legislature voted to require inspections before the state occupies leased space.
Inspections found that 67 district offices for House members and 43 district offices for senators were located in inaccessible buildings.
Before state regulators can impose $1,000-a-day fines against the building owners or cancel leases, lawmakers want to exempt themselves from the law in some cases. They want enforcement stopped until they rewrite the law to exempt their offices if renovations cause an economic hardship for the landlord.
Lawmakers may be able to write themselves out of the state law but not the ADA, advocates said. They noted that members of Congress in 1995 voted to have the federal law apply to their field offices. If the Texas Legislature approves waivers for itself, the advocates plan to force district offices to become accessible under the federal law.
Although she has spina bifida, 11-year-old Diana Lawson can walk with the aid of crutches and leg braces. But a school policy forced her to use a wheelchair when attending classes. Hobart, Indiana school officials have backed away from a policy.
"I feel great about walking around everywhere. I did not like sitting in a wheelchair all day," Diana said.
As a safety precaution, Diana, who attends Joan Martin Elementary School, also needs adult supervision when she walks. School officials backed off from the policy after Diana's parents, Helen and David Lawson, filed a complaint with the state on behalf of their daughter.
They had waged a two-year battle against the school district concerning the policy. The Lawsons had contended that the Northwest Indiana Special Education Cooperative and the school failed to implement an individualized education program established for Diana so she could walk during break periods and to special classes.
Under the agreement, Diana will decide when she walks to and from class. She will also be allowed to sit at a regular chair and desk. A school aide will help strap and unstrap her leg braces and assist her as she walks.
California state corrections officials said disabled prisoners had been discriminated against and the officials have agreed to develop a program to fix the problem.
The pledge stems from a class action suit filed two years ago in federal court in San Francisco, accusing the Department of Corrections of failing to protect mentally retarded and developmentally disabled prisoners from harm by other inmates.
It came less than two months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that prisoners are protected under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, which bars discrimination against certain groups.
"The department thinks the settlement is quite fair and reasonable," said Kati Corsaut, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections. "We're already providing some of these programs, and what the agreement does goes beyond that."
Under the agreement, the state admitted the rights of developmentally disabled prisoners had been violated when they were, among other things, raped by another prisoner despite warning guards; stabbed after informing on other prisoners; and given longer prison terms after not being assisted during hearings to establish their guilt or innocence.
As the largest city on the West Coast without a mass transit system, Bend, Oregon has become a double handicap for persons with disabilities.
"We are essentially people in bondage," said June Slaugenhaupt, whose failing eyesight forced her to quit her job last February.
Representatives of the Oregon Federation for the Blind couldn't get to a Bend City Council meeting by using the city's Dial-A-Ride program, which has frustrating limits, such as week-ahead reservations and no rides after 7:15 p.m.
Instead, the group was picked up by Cate Evers of Madras, a regional worker for the Oregon Commission for the Blind. They asked that an unused $254,000 state grant for a pilot transit project, dating back almost three years, be transferred to the Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council, which is using $45,000 in other state funds to hire a regional transportation coordinator.
City Manager Larry Patterson gave the delegation a letter he sent to Oregon's Department of Transportation saying the city can't move forward on a transit project without other funding.
The city of Bend has wrestled for years with various options, such as expanding Dial-A-Ride, creating a small transit system or a partnership with the Bend-LaPine School District to use school buses. Each was rejected as unworkable, too costly, or both.
Robin Phillips, an Oregon Department of Transportation transit coordinator in Salem, said the state doesn't want to force or require a certain type of transit system that might not fit the region. "The goal for us is not to say,`You must do this,' but to work with the community and support them making changes," she said.
The state agency that cares for developmentally disabled Marylanders lost millions of dollars through mismanagement at a time when thousands were waiting for services the agency couldn't afford, legislative auditors concluded.
Auditors said that since 1994, the agency made more than $2 million in unjustified payments to care providers and lost an additional $1.8 million in interest income because of slow debt collection.
The examiners also said the agency failed to properly monitor care providers and awarded two contracts totaling $4.4 million without competitive bidding, the Baltimore Sun reported.
The state Department of Legislative Services gave the Developmental Disabilities Administration a rating of "unsatisfactory" for its compliance with procedures. Only two other agencies, out of more than 200, have such a rating, according to chief legislative auditor Bruce A. Myers.
A paraplegic court reporter in Tennessee says judges, lawyers and deputies have had to carry her into the Jackson and Clay county courthouses. And, a man who lost a leg in a traffic accident says he had to crawl up the stairs of the Polk County Courthouse to make it to a hearing.
Beverly Jones and George Lane are suing the state of Tennessee and 25 counties for maintaining inaccessible courthouses.
The counties haven't always been willing to spend the money to add things like ramps, chair lifts, door openers and elevators. Jones said she is frustrated at counties who plead that the changes cost too much money. There are many inexpensive, space-saving alternatives to elevators, such as chair lifts that can hoist a wheelchair up a staircase.
MAINSTREAM's index to articles published in Volume 22 (September 1997 through August 1998) may be found on our website: http://www.mainstream-mag.com.
Associated Press reports were used compiling this column.
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