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.
Washington news: A new task force Complaints ignored Beyond Affliction Institutional rape Attendant killer Aide convicted Waiting list to shrink Chinese take-out Paralympic logo License denied Neat tool More parking
President Clinton signed an executive order to create an "aggressive national policy" to bring people with disabilities into jobs at a rate approaching that of the general population.
You know. The unemployment rate among working age people with severe disabilities hovers around 70 percent. It has been for years.
Clinton said his new Task Force on Employment for Adults with Disabilities will design a strategy "to make equality of opportunity, full participation, inclusion and economic self-sufficiency realities for all 30 million working-age Americans with disabilities."
Just about anybody who is anybody in Washington is on this task force. Secretary of Labor, Secretary of Education, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Commissioner of Social Security, and on and on. Included is Tony Coelho, head of the President's Committee on Employment of Persons with Disabilities, and Marca Bristo, chair of the National Council on Disability.
The task force is charged with producing a series of reports, the first due this November, and the final report due on July 26, 2002.
1) MiCASA hearing
The long-awaited first Congressional hearing on H.R. 2020, the MiCASA bill designed to divert a chunk of money from funding nursing homes to funding community and home-based services, was held in March.
The bill has wide bipartisan support, with primary sponsorship from Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich and Minority Leader Dick Gephardt. However, spokespeople from the Clinton Administration were wary, worrying about the costs, not sure it would work, talking about pilot projects.
The bill will spend time in subcommittee before moving anywhere.
2) Fair Housing attacked
Claiming federal law prohibits local authorities from regulating group homes, several congresspersons are pushing H.R. 3206 to give local control over the group homes.
Congressman Brian Bilbray (R-CA), Charles Canady and Jane Harmon (D-CA) say the problem is that sex offenders and drug addicts are being set up in group homes without the neighbors having any say in the matter.
But they tie these groups to the ADA, saying that sex offenders and drug addicts claim to be disabled, and therefore cannot be kept out.
The problem is that the bill would repeal important civil rights protections for people with disabilities and subject them to renewed discrimination by zoning officials and neighbors.
3) Slow motion for Greyhound access
The federal government proposed regulations that would require Greyhound and other bus carriers to make their fleets accessible disabled by 2012.
Starting in 2000 þ 10 years after the passage of the ADA þ any new bus bought by a carrier would have to be fully accessible. By 2006, half of all fleets would have to be equipped with wheelchair lifts. While the companies are converting buses, they would have to supply an accessible bus if a disabled passenger gives them 48-hour notice.
The proposal also calls on the carriers to install wheelchair lifts at their stations on a "common-sense, phased-in" schedule. The same rules would apply to charter and tour companies.
"Under this proposal, the words `now boarding' will truly mean `now boarding everyone,"' said Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater. "Clearly we were trying to balance the interests here and to come up with sort of a common-sense approach."
Buses are a common form of transportation for disabled people, since many have limited incomes and bus fares typically are cheaper than those charged by airlines. The same holds true for residents in rural areas, who may not have the option of air or rail service.
The department issued the draft guidelines in response to a lawsuit filed by several disabled residents from Arizona. They argued that the typical practice of helping the disabled onto buses and stowing their wheelchairs in the cargo hold did not comply with the ADA.
Greyhound, the country's only nationwide carrier, has 2,100 buses. Only seven of them are equipped to handle the disabled, although 20 more are on order.
Greyhound wanted a different plan in which it would have converted 25 percent of its fleet and made those buses available with a two-day notice. The company based that proposal on economics. A standard 40-foot bus costs about $250,000. Making it accessible costs an additional $30,000.
However, if carriers want to recoup the revenue lost when they replace seats with an onboard wheelchair lift, they must purchase 45-foot buses, which cost about $380,000 each.
"We're disappointed in the ruling that was announced, primarily because it does not leave room for the pool concept," said Greyhound spokeswoman Katherine Williams.
One of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, writer Nancy Mairs of Tucson, Arizona, had a different complaint. "It sounds a little slow to me," said Mairs, who uses a wheelchair. "I'm 54 now; I might not even be around in 14 years."
Julie Carter of the Arizona Center for Disability Law, which filed the lawsuit, said she intends to proceed with her litigation to ensure that the changeover begins by 2000. "The original goal for doing this was 1997," Carter said. "I'm pleased they are trying to play catch-up here; I am not pleased they abandoned the original timetable."
The public has 60 days to comment on the proposed guidelines. The department expects to issue a final ruling by the fall.
A Virginia state mental hospital failed to treat a patient with severe respiratory disease after her family complained that she was dying, according to hospital documents. She was found dead four days later.
Western State Hospital records show nothing was done for Maura K. Patten between July 3, 1997, when her sister told the hospital Ms. Patten feared she was dying, and July 7, when she was found dead in her bed at the hospital.
"The hospital. . .let her rot," said Ms. Patten's brother, Ted Patten of Arlington.
Ms. Patten, 41, nearly died from respiratory failure in 1994.
The circumstances of Ms. Patten's death are similar to those of another state mental patient who died in June 1996 after lying for 300 hours in restraints during the final month of her life. Gloria Huntley's former physician had warned a year earlier that she could die in restraints because of serious medical problems. Her death prompted a sharp rebuke of Central State Hospital by the U.S. Justice Department.
"Ultimately, both of these cases demonstrate the level of inhumanity institutional life can sink to," said Valerie L. Marsh, director of the Virginia Alliance for the Mentally Ill. "To my mind when you have someone in a hospital who says they are dying, I believe you have an obligation to check it out whether you believe it or not."
Another death at Western State resulted in a $10 million lawsuit last month by a man who claims workers at the hospital killed his 19-year-old son by sodomizing him with a "broom-like handle." The hospital said it did not harm the teenager.
Ms. Patten, who suffered from schizophrenia, had two children during her seven years at Western State. In March 1990, when she was three months pregnant, she was discharged from Western State, sent briefly to a northern Virginia mental health facility, and ended up living in an abandoned station wagon in Arlington. Police took her to a hospital where she had a baby girl. Soon afterward she was returned to Western State, Patten said. Two years later, Ms. Patten again became pregnant at Western State and gave birth to a boy. Ted Patten has been trying ever since to find out if the fathers were patients, staff, or both. Western State said it didn't know.
Coming this month on National Public Radio is a four-part story of disability in the United States. It's called "Beyond Affliction: The Disability History Project." It depicts a journey to uncover the common history shared by people with disabilities since the Civil War. John Hockenberry will host part of the program. Check local listings for details.
A mentally disabled woman was believed to have been raped at the Loma Linda Behavioral Medical Center, the second reported rape at the Redlands, California facility in four months.
"We're doing a full investigation because it was a serious incident," said Augustus Cheatham, vice president for public affairs and marketing. "We take the safety of patients very seriously and we believe our employees are very diligent."
Jerome Andreas, a 20-year-old Banning resident being treated at the center, was arrested after admitting to police that he had sex with a 31-year-old Bakersfield woman, police said. The woman was being treated in an adjacent room.
Robert Thompson, 36, of Fontana, was arrested last November on suspicion of raping a 68-year-old woman. Both were patients at the facility.
In what is believed to be the largest judgment in Massachusetts for a personal injury case, a jury has awarded $26.5 million to the family of a murdered quadriplegic.
John Ward, a 32-year-old quadriplegic with cerebral palsy, was murdered on September 10, 1991, by the home health aide who had been hired to care for him. His 76-year-old grandmother who lived with him in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood was also killed.
A Suffolk Superior Court jury ruled that the Visiting Nurse Association and Trusted Health Resources Inc., a subcontractor that hired the aide, were liable for $8 1/2 million in compensatory damages and $18 million in punitive damages.
In 1991, Ward's family went to the VNA of Boston to hire someone to help the young man get dressed in the morning and get back to bed at night. Ward was an active man, his family's lawyer, Timothy G. Lynch, said but he needed help with some basic tasks.
The VNA hired Trusted Health Resources to select a home care worker. They picked Jesse Rogers, who had been convicted six times for felonies including larceny and receiving stolen goods. The jury found the agencies were "grossly negligent" in that they did not do a criminal background check. The agencies also did not check his references or resume.
Rogers began working for the family on August 13. But six days later, the family complained to the VNA that their employee was not coming to work regularly. The VNA hired other workers to take his place. Rogers, however, returned to the family's home on September 10, 1991. Ward and his grandmother, Alba Pelligrini, were later found dead. Each had been stabbed multiple times and beaten with a tea kettle. Rogers pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
In New Jersey, a home health care aide who molested a person with cerebral palsy was convicted by a jury. The verdicts came a day after the 18-year-old victim used a computerized voice synthesizer to testify. Jon Hanby, 43, of Vineland, who was employed by Home Health Aide Service of Millville, was accused of touching the victim's genitals and performing oral sex on him five times over a three-month period in 1995 and 1996.
A panel of judges ordered Florida state to take thousands of severely mentally retarded Floridians off waiting lists and place them in the care facilities they need.
The three judges' ruling gave the state 60 days to establish a reasonable waiting period, which may not exceed 90 days.
"I don't think anyone, including the court, thinks. . .we can do this in 90 days," said Chesterfield Smith Jr., the assistant attorney general who represented the state in the case.
The federal lawsuit was filed in Miami in 1992 on behalf of 13 anonymous, mentally retarded Floridians who were eligible for Medicaid and had been waiting five to 10 years for residential care.
One of the group, Jane Doe 6, is a 39-year-old woman who lives at home with her elderly parents. They have serious health problems. Jane Doe 6 is severely mentally retarded and has Down syndrome. She can walk but cannot talk and has been waiting about 10 years to move into an intermediate care facility. She spends her days isolated, listening to the radio, music or doing childlike puzzles.
One expert determined that "Jane is a person with many, many strengths that will dissolve and are dissolving each day as she is denied services."
The judges ruled Jane Doe 6's plight is illustrative of the problem. By failing to provide prompt care to all eligible individuals, the state is violating provisions of the federal Medicaid Act, according to the ruling written by Chief Judge Joseph Hatchett of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which handles federal cases from Florida, Georgia and Alabama.
The Legislature's failure to adequately finance more facility slots does not excuse violations of the law, the judge added.
Smith said the state is uncertain how much complying with the court order will cost. Depending on how many people come forward, estimates range from $300 million to $750 million a year. Three thousand to 9,000 people may be entitled to care, Smith said.
A disabled law student and his mother are suing a Chinese restaurant in New York City for allegedly kicking them out because of his wheelchair.
Michael Wasser, 23, and his mother Esther, 50, say the incident occurred last Christmas Eve around 8 p.m. at the China Fun restaurant on the Upper East Side, according to court papers filed in Manhattan's State Supreme Court.
The Wassers' lawyer, Michael Eidman, claims that when the mother and son arrived with other family members, the restaurant manager told Wasser, "Your cart can't come in here."
The manager relented after Wasser, a Brooklyn Law School student who has muscular dystrophy, insisted they be given a table. But the Wassers say they had to wait more than an hour, although many patrons who arrived after them were seated sooner.
When the family was assigned a table, Wasser had to negotiate a space around and under a staircase, causing another customer to have to move for a moment, Eidman said.
He said that apparently provoked the manager. "You're bothering my customers," Eidman quoted her as telling the Wassers. "You'll not eat here. Go somewhere else and eat."
When Mrs. Wasser picked up a menu to write down the restaurant's name and address, the manager þ who only identified herself as "Alice" -- allegedly punched her in the face, court papers say. The Wassers' lawsuit asks a total $2 million in compensatory and punitive damages for alleged discrimination against Michael Wasser; $500,000 total in compensatory and punitive damages for Mrs. Wasser, and $250,000 for each plaintiff for intentionally inflicting emotional distress.
An abstract design symbolizing the joy of surpassing the limits of the human body has been unveiled as the logo for the 2002 Winter Paralympics in Salt Lake City.
"The Paralympics are an event we will take very seriously in March of 2002," said Frank Joklik, president of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. "The design is an appropriate and beautiful logo. It is a significant step toward this aim of ours to make the Paralympics of 2002 a success."
SLOC is the first organizing committee to present both the Olympics and Paralympics, which will take place March 7-17, following the 2002 Winter Games.
The state of Louisiana did not discriminate against a quadriplegic by denying him a driver's license, a federal appeals court ruled. In California, Stafford J. Coolbaugh received a driver's license permitting him to operate a specially equipped, hand-controlled automobile. However, he only used the license for identification purposes and not to drive, according to court records.
Upon moving to Louisiana, Coolbaugh was told he would have to complete a special medical form and pass a road test in his own hand-controlled vehicle. He failed to provide the vehicle and take the test.
Generally, a new Louisiana resident may obtain a Louisiana driver's license by presenting a valid out-of-state license and passing an eye examination.
Coolbaugh sued, but a jury found that the state had not discriminated against him on the basis of his disability. Coolbaugh appealed, claiming the state had violated the ADA. He lost again.
Circuit Judge W. Eugene Davis wrote that the denial of a driver's license "was not motivated, even in part, by its (the state's) desire to discriminate against him because of his disability. Rather, its decision was motivated by a desire to protect the public on the state's highways."
The ADA Stick is a great new tool for checking compliance with the ADA. The ADA Stick is a lightweight, laminated mahogany ruler 5 feet long, 1 3/8 inches wide and 3/8 inch thick. The front face indicates a variety of dimensions and notes to comply with ADA regs. The stick also has level indicators to check slopes and ramps. The stick comes with a pocket guide to explain each measurement. The 5-foot length makes it awkward to handle if you use a wheelchair. It would be great if future models folded for easier handling. The stick is available from Consumer Care Products, (920) 459-8353.
West Virginia Gov. Cecil Underwood signed a bill that would let volunteers help issue tickets to people who park in disabled spots, declaring war on people who "think they can get away with it."
The bill will let police issue disposable cameras and booklets of forms to volunteers, who would then photograph an offending vehicle, write down when and where the violation occurred, and leave a copy of their form on the windshield. The documentation would go to the police, who would then generally issue tickets by mail.
Police departments would have the option of allowing volunteers to write the tickets themselves.
The fine for illegally parking in a disabled spot in West Virginia is $100.
Associated Press reports were used compiling this column.
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