Ragged Edge Online readers posted thoughts, articles and essays on our site via our Ragout feature. Below are Ragout Entries from June through October 2006. Enjoy!
After 2006, Ragged Edge Online is no longer supporting this feature.
Media Coverage on the disabled is scant usually except of course when we are the targets.
Here are two links to stories of just such Media Bias.
One is regarding our U.S. Veterans coming back from Iraq.
The other covers the Disabled, Seniors and other groups in a recent snow storm, cutting the power to over 1 million people here in the states.
Both these articles show just how inept or uncaring our government is towards the disabled and other groups who are deemed something other than human beings.
Here is the first one on our returning soldiers and how they are being treated. Or rather, UN-treated. Oh, I might mention also, that these Veterans were lied to in order to get them to join.
This article exposes alot and did we hear of this in our news or are we hearing of the untold count of Veterans who, for many, are disabled for life--without treatment nor care? No. Not enough. And their story needs to be told just as ours and those in that snow storm.
You outdid yourself the other day when you said that Michael J. Fox was "either off his medication or acting" during his ad about stem cell propositions.
According to Yahoo News Dr. John Boockvar (a neurosurgeon and assistant professor at Weill Cornell Medical Center at New York's Presbyterian Hospital) said Limbaugh's claim that Fox was acting "ludicrous." Boockvar said those with Parkinson's have "on" and "off" spells. "If there is one single disease that has the highest potential for benefit from stem cell research," Boockvar said Tuesday, "it's Parkinson's."
Although you have shopped plenty of doctors and drugs, you are not in any way qualified to say that Michael J. Fox was "either off his medication or acting." As a person with a self-inflicted handicap, you should be more empathetic towards people with disabilities. Instead you mocked Michael J. Fox by flailing about like a big, fat idiot.
Now you have the gall to say something nasty about someone who is legitimately disabled by no fault of their own. What gives you the right to say anything? Saying that your show is for entertainment only does not give you the right to throw inflammatory insults and slander out about everyone that disagrees with your politics. You should keep your mouth shut permanently just out of shame - but I'm sure you won't. Just because you have a microphone in front of your mouth doesn't mean that you should say whatever comes to your mind.
By the way, do you even know anything about stem cell therapy? Do you know that they are using it in Europe to successfully cure several diseases? I'll probably have to go to Europe to get a cure for my MS. It costs less than $20,000. By all means though, keep blathering on against research on stem cell therapy in the US so Americans have to go to Europe to get the needed therapy. That will just add to the flow of money out of the US. Good job, Rush.
I have MS and have taken Oxycontin for the resulting nerve damage for five years. I am still taking the same 30mg two times a day that I started on five years ago. Doctors do not start with Oxycontin either. First they start with a required trial-and-error protocol to find a drug, besides Oxycontin, that alleviates pain enough to get out of bed. That process kept me in bed for a year until I got a prescription for Oxycontin. With your extreme abuse and lack of culpability, you have single-handedly put us responsible Oxycontin patients in jeopardy of losing access to the only drug that works for us for legitimate pain. You have even skated on the deafness caused by your drug abuse by getting a cochlear implant that many can't afford or can't get because of protocol. What would you do if you needed stem cell therapy? You'd be going to Europe begging for treatment - on the sly of course. You would probably use another person's name like you did for your Viagra prescription.
My father-in-law was right when he printed up and gave away the "FLUSH RUSH AND KMOX" bumper stickers. Come to think of it, that's another good thing that you personally ruined for others - Cardinals baseball coverage on KMOX radio. What's next Rush, endorsing nuclear weapons for third world countries?
Paranoid is a government term 10-12-06
I just left my Veterans doctor. It seems that my letter to Veterans Doctor Mccullom is getting around. The Veterans administration’s thoughts of the situation is to have me see a Psy. I do not remember a single event of my life before my 17 birthday when I had the accident while in the Marine Corps. I learned to live again while serving on active duty over seas. I spent 31 months in foreign countries. I was injured twice more at separate times during combat support missions. I am rated 120% disabled. I have a broken back and a loss of hearing in both ears. I met my family after I was discharged. I listened to other Marines talk about the United States and I wondered what it would be like if I ever got a chance to go there. I came back alive. I was dropped in a world that I did not understand. I was a Marine. I could take orders and give orders to get the mission completed. I had to learn every aspect of life again. Round eyed girls, people that spoke English, road signs spelled in English, driving on the other side of the road and the list just goes on. I am not paranoid. I am a believer in the Constitution and the United States.
0.…………………………….........................................
We have politicians and others that never served in our military. You have no idea what it is like to know you are going to die any second and become ok with it. You do not know what it is like to kill, to live. You have no idea what it is like to see your men killed or injured and you leave them until the mission is complete. Paranoid no, confused and defensive yes.
The NH governor, government, and courts have violated the Constitution. To allow any member to use the power of government to destroy a Madbury NH family just because government official do not like this family is wrong. The NH government declared me a terrorist and took my freedom for 6 months to stop me from exposing these criminal judges. The charges were dropped. Taking my freedom did not stop me so next they took my health. The NH governor informed the Veterans Administration that I was a terrorist to get my VA Medical stopped. Next I am found guilty of a crime with no charges, witnesses, evidence or trial. I get fined over $20 thousand. This does not stop my volunteer helping fellow American citizens so I am jailed again for writing the NH governor to ask why he interfered with my VA medical. The NH state police then go to my wife’s work place to intimidate her to get me to stop. These are all clearly documented facts. We have a few powerful greedy people in the government that is manipulating the situation. I do have a lot wrong with me. I received these wrongs from serving in the United States Marine Corps.
When the United States government allows the NH courts to interfere with my veterans benefits to take my free speech something is wrong. When I can volunteer my time to help stop the NH government from using its power to seek personal revenge on a Madbury family and the federal government thinks that I am paranoid, something is wrong. These people are so powerful the newspapers censor the facts.
Peter Macdonald Sgt USMC “Semper Fi”
465 Packersfalls rd Lee NH 03824
603-659-6217
Kill the Veteran 10-10-06
The State of New Hampshire and the United States amazes me. This is my home. I am a citizen. I served in the United States Marine Corps. I am one of many veterans that gave you people that never served a chance for freedom. I volunteer my time to help a fellow veteran whom the Madbury NH selectmen do not deny under oath to using government powers to seek revenge to harm this family. A judge knowing that I am not qualified, makes me an attorney to represent this family. When this family and I prove in court beyond any doubt 29 criminal violations of the NH and United States Constitution a judge finds me guilty of a crime with no charges, witnesses, evidence or trial and finds me over $20 thousand. The NH state police come to my house and arrest me as a terrorist under the Patriot Act. I lose my freedom for 6 months before the charges are dropped. When I continue to volunteer to help this family the NH governor informs the Veterans Administration that I am a terrorist to get my VA medical stopped. NH can not stop me by taken my freedom so they take my life. Next the NH state police go to my wife’s work place and intimidate her in public to get me to stop volunteer helping other American citizens. I have violated no laws. The NH government and courts violated laws and the Constitution. I ran for election this past September the NH government and newspapers interfered with a free election to deny the people of NH an honest government. The NH governor lynch offered a 30 minute unrestricted coffee break to high bidder to raise money for the Portsmouth little league team. I was high bidder so the governor rescinds the offer. This is discrimination. The NH newspapers and WTSN 1270 am radio censor the facts.
I tell the people of the United States these facts are true. On www.newhampshire.com and www.nhjustice.net the facts are stated clearly for any one to read. Ask your self if I can publicly state these facts why has a newspaper or WMUR news not reported the truth. I volunteer. I have violated no laws. Corrupt government officials and judges have committed the most horrendous crimes. To destroy a Madbury family just because the Madbury selectmen do not like this family is wrong. To inflict pain and suffering on a disabled veteran by stopping his medial is wrong. For the news to censor the facts from the public is the fuel that controls the flames. Go to these web sites and read what is really happening in NH. They can censor the public from the truth but they can not stop me. The truth is a powerful weapon. I have the truth on my side and you can not stop the truth. I may be a disabled veteran but I believe in the United States of America. I believe even this one Madbury NH family deserves to be protected from a corrupt government. Does any newspaper in the United States dare report these facts and help a 100% service connected disabled Veteran from the Vietnam Conflict live again.
Peter Macdonald Sgt USMC “Semper Fi”
465 Packersfalls rd Lee NH 03824
603-659-6217
Hello Friends,
The team at gesupplydiscrimination.com would like to share with you our new postcards that are being sent out. We are finding this an effective "attention getter" in our strugle for disability rights. Our new cards can be viewed at gesupplydiscrimination.com/new_postcards.htm
Rob
Media Contact: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Kirk Dorn October 5, 2006
Office: (215) 684-4112; Cell: (215) 704-3653
Nadine Bonner (215) 684-5764
PHA helping disabled housing residents purchase homes
Like Mom and apple pie, owning your own home is part of the American dream. Philadelphia Housing Authority wants to help its residents achieve that dream—including residents with disabilities. This fall, PHA is targeting about 7,000 families who have one member with a disability and offering them the opportunity to become homeowners.
The final workshop was held October 5 at the Richard Allen Homes in North Philadelphia.
“Homeownership is a significant and important step towards creating a new era of self-sufficiency for our residents,” says Carl Greene, PHA’s Executive Director.
“Our homeownership program will increase residents’ investment in not only their homes, but in the entire community.”
Over 200 housing residents attended each workshop to prepare current Housing Choice Voucher recipients who are disabled for homeownership. They learned how to improve their credit rating, how to apply for a mortgage and how PHA will help them purchase their homes.
“It gives you the chills that we have the chance to do this,” said 81-year old Maria Kruz, who applied for the program at the workshop. “It is really amazing.”
PHA will allow housing voucher recipients with a disability to use their vouchers to make their monthly mortgage payments. Currently 31 such families are doing just that.
In addition, PHA has created a Resident Mortgage Assistance Program, which provides closing cost assistance and free financial counseling to help its residents purchase homes.
Families with a disabled member must have an annual income above $6,624 to qualify for the program.
TEEN SCREEN – CREATING A NATION OF VICTIMS
by Elyse Van Breemen
It is unpopular with parents. It is being picketed. There is a petition against it. It is called Teen Screen. Its intention is to screen every American teenager for mental illness.
Teen Screen underlies the scheme to screen every American of any age for mental illness. It has its horrors, for the result of the screening is most often a prescription for mind-altering
psychiatric drugs.
But a new horror surfaces. Teen Screen and its counterparts are signs of our country moving from cause to effect. "Cause" would mean creating life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness by positive thought and action. In other words, you make things happen. "Effect" would be having others create and control your life for you, with little liberty or happiness. In other words, things happen to you, you don't make them happen.
Let us go back a century and look at Abraham Lincoln. He was poor and underprivileged; had to walk miles to school. Check your history books. They wrote often about his "melancholy." Look at his sad face. His ambitions and incredible desire to learn might have also earned the title of "obsessive-compulsive personality." Certainly Lincoln would have been labeled "depressed" by modern day psychiatrists and given antidepressants or other mind-altering drugs.
Yet there can be no doubt of Lincoln’s leadership; his statesmanship, courage and ability. He brought a divided nation through its most trying times and delivered the potential of
freedom to an entire race. He was a causative person who rose above his surroundings and even his emotions.
TeenScreen gets cooperation by the use of a shocking word - suicide. Teens are asked probing, personal questions supposedly designed to root out any signs of depression. TeenScreen questions don’t screen for abilities or causation. They are all "effect" questions. "Has there been a time when you felt you couldn't do anything well or that you weren't as good-looking or as smart as other people?" "Have you often felt very nervous when you've had to do things in front of people?" "How often did your parents get annoyed or upset with you because of the way you were feeling or acting?"
Could feelings of depression be the result of a teen’s own causation? This question is never even asked. Yet, as anyone who has ever been a teenager or raised a teenager can attest, the teenage years are the years when youth not only question authority but often go against it. They do things that violate the rules and mores they were taught. With their bodies and ideas in flux, they often go against their own best judgment – they do things just to be popular which don’t seem right to them.
Commonplace is being cruel to a sibling; disrespectful to a parent; cheating at school, not doing homework, lying, and being promiscuous, even trying drugs. These things add up to lowered self esteem, stress, and depression but in today’s world are never addressed. Taking a pill will not cure one’s causation, responsibility or lack of it. Medicating our youth can only further lower their causation.
Teen Screen addresses feelings and attitudes, not the causative factor of the individual. Worse, it puts forward an "excuse" for failure and unhappiness. Today’s ads on television communicate "take this pill to be happy." Kids are "told" they are the chemical responses in their brains and if they just take a drug, they will be happy and do well.
This is a lie! We all know it. Our country was built on causation, on people rising above their ailments, their feelings, their inadequacies because they had a dream, because they believed in something. They were busy creating a better tomorrow, a better life for themselves and their offspring.
Counseling, before the advent of psychiatry, was done mainly through churches. Ministers often directed individuals to look at their lives, what they were doing that was wrong in some fashion and change it. Prayer, repentance and penance were some of their methods. These methods worked by addressing the causation of the individual.
Teen Screen asks “what inadequacy you feel you have?” It further MAKES the teen inadequate by sending him or her to a psychiatrist who prescribes a pill that further lowers ability. Drugs lower perception and ability. Don’t believe me – read the adverse effects on the labels: decreased sexual interest, feeling sick and anxious, difficulty in remembering, confusion, insomnia, indigestion, diarrhea, tremor, and drowsiness.
Furthermore, the FDA Black Box warning says that antidepressants increase the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior (suicidality) in children and adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD) and other psychiatric disorders. No Edison, Mendelsohn or Itzhak Perlman — a man disabled and crippled with plenty of reasons for failure — will come from those "helped" by psychiatric medications.
If I had my way, I would screen kids for abilities, for dreams and ambitions. Then I would help each one to achieve them. You can hardly stop a man who has a dream and works toward it. There are countless stories in history to make man proud of those who achieved wonders despite a poor upbringing or some feeling of inadequacy or momentary depression.
The future is vast and just waiting to be filled. Let it be filled by causative people who actively create a better civilization. Let’s move our kids toward cause. The future of Teen Screen and mandatory health screening of every man, woman and child is a population controlled and made effect by psychiatric drugs.
Let’s redeem our country, with its very causative roots, by banning Teen Screen and mental health screening, which validates the effect side of life, and makes people more effect. Please sign the petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/TScreen/petition.html and send it, causatively, to everyone you know. Then send copies of it to your local school board and officials.
Elyse Van Breemen is an author and activist, currently working on a book on psychiatric abuse. If you have a personal story to tell, please contact her at psychabuse@mailmight.com
Ehrlich notes disability in choice of Cox
He calls blindness a factor in picking running mate
By Andrew A. Green
Sun reporter
October 6, 2006
Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. said yesterday that he might not have chosen Kristen Cox as his running mate if she were not blind.
Since picking the state disabilities secretary for his ticket, Ehrlich has praised her doggedness and intelligence. But on the Politics Program with Mark Plotkin on Washington Post Radio yesterday, the governor suggested that those qualifications alone might not have landed her the coveted spot that helped catapult Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele - the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate - to national prominence.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-md.ehrlich06oct06,1,5883679,print.story?coll=bal-local-headlines
Governor's Words On Lt. Gov. Candidate Spark Battle
October 6, 2006
BALTIMORE -- Gov. Robert Ehrlich defended his choice of Kristen Cox as his running mate after comments he made during a radio interview on Thursday. The relevance of Cox's blindness was raised and Ehrlich was asked if he chose Cox as a running mate because she can't see. His answer apparently gave ammunition to Democrats, and forced the Ehrlich/Cox camp to launch a counterattack.
http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/10015200/detail.html
I normally do not like complain about problems with
accessibility for myself, but when I got hit 2 times
in crosswalks in Tilton, N.H. last month September
12,and September 26,2006. I feel it is time to have
the Town of Tilton NH become a bit more responsible
and put in pedestrian walk lights by Tilton Town Hall cross-walk.
Or a much more visible police presence at busy
crosswalk areas to ticket vehicle pedestrian
crosswalk violators.
I have to speak out about last weeks ill logical
letter to Winnisquam Echo News to the Editor
by a Northfield resident, that depicts a person who is
obviously confused about who they think Mr. Tinker is?
He at least signs his whole name to his emails and is
an advocate activist for disabled,displaced and human
rights.
Soap Box? Shot in the dark? You really should have
read the article in Winnisquam Echo News better he
never mentioned any issues or problems with
Northfield, NH at all.
And he does fight for your rights to remain in your
own home,ambulatory and all able bodied/disabled
alike persons constitutional rights! Because the facts
are these, if you do not know your rights you
probably do not have any!
He recently filed a ADA law suit in Belknap County
Superior Court so all pedestrians could have safe
plowed access winter sidewalk use rights, from Bittern
Lane to SHAWS as Tilton NH is violating NH RSA 231:113
state law, and Federal ADA law!
Perhaps your not aware that he, I and other disabled
persons fought for a real sidewalk from Grant Street
to Bittern Lane for over 7 years to made and finished
in Tilton NH? This was not done just for people in
wheel-chairs, it was for any pedestrian riding or
walking to the Post Office area.
Now lets consider he was a politician,which he is
not...and he ignored your numerous requests to make
things safer and better and some blind person got hit
or worse case scenario your mother,child,or you
because people are not observing pedestrian cross walk
laws. Would you not want this corrected before some
one dies or do you want to be more conscious of others
right to their freedom of speech and opinions?
While you were reading this, in the past month there
have been many problems with people getting across
road safely,and numerous fender benders in down town
Tilton NH and Captain Wellington of Tilton Police
stated in my home that the Tilton Police would be
more visible and watching for crosswalk violations by
motorists...
That statement from Captain Wellington has apparently
not rang true yet as the police visibility factor is
questionable to say the least! And where is the needed
law enforcement until it involves a police man getting
hit as a injured as pedestrian? Why were no pictures
taken of the accident scene?
And trust me a 5600 lb pick up truck hitting any able
bodied pedestrian or disabled does not make you feel
safe to be on any cross walk in Tilton NH!
Also I do not know how the driver of the truck feels,
but I know he has impeached himself as a caring
person, as he never once asked if I was alright at the
accident scene, nor called me to check if I was OK....
Instead he ran into me and left me laying in road and
demolished my blue Odyssey scooter that I saved up and
paid for out of my own pocket in June 2006 $1,487.00.
Now I had to go out and buy another one this one a red
Odyssey $1,495.00
Now Lumber One LLC Acadia insurance is attempting to
weasel out of paying for my hospital bills, my scooter
or medications I was placed on.
Perhaps if I were to hit some one on sidewalk with my
scooter you would be witness for me I do want you to
understand that I am not a cold vindictive person,but
I have as many rights as you or next person and you do
not preach to any one until you got a church or
clergy ministry papers.
Please do us all a readers of Winnisquam Echo a favor
and get your boundaries or at least Townships right
before you write another article in letters to editor
with out having first hand of knowledge of the facts.
I know the facts and truth,of what happened as well as
the driver of the Lumber One LLC pickup truck that hit
me. His version is not quite accurate as he is
protecting his livelihood & license he knows he had
time to stop if he had been more alert to me
crossing,and he should know that you must stop for
any pedestrians and I want to thank him for not even
calling/checking to see if I was hurt or not!!!
And as with you or any pedestrian, we should not have
to fear using a crosswalk in Tilton NH, but now after
this traumatic accident I fear even going for a ride
to get some fresh air with out a safer way across
marked walkway?
If Tilton NH Police wish to prevent future accidents,
they need to be highly visible and stopping the
drivers that violate the pedestrian right away law,and
nearly kill decent folks just trying to get across to
rent a movie at the Video Vendor or back home to
Northfield.!
Oh and yes and please Tilton, NH Selectman please put
a pedestrian walk light from Tilton Town Hall to the
Big Apple Store cross walk side ...And remember the
life you save could be your own!
Tilton NH Selectmen I have asked you to pass a
ordinance and post mandate that no big SUVs or trucks
obstruct a pedestrians view of the street traffic so
that they cross from Town Hall in Tilton NH to Big
Apple Convenience Store side and visa versa!
Thank you all you kind gentle readers and caring
persons who were concerned and asked about me being
hurt, and if my scooter was paid for yet by insurance
Lumber One LLC?
I am still in pain, and no Lumber One LLC has not paid
me for my medical bills, medications or demolished
scooter yet.
The very bottom line of this is I did not run into the
Lumber One LLC truck it ran into me!!
Accident,yes,where the blame begins is with laws that
are not being enforced properly, and a reactive police
department that is not prone to helping resolve
problems but appear to be instigating some.
As one of my eye witnesses to the truck hitting me,
was shooed away from giving a statement to police
September 12, 2006! And no pictures taken of the
accident scene or truck or my demolished scooter but I
believe that should have been part of the police
report,it was not.
Linda Jean Morgan
25 Granite Street
Northfield,N.H. 03276-1640
603-286-2492
Religion and spirituality is a topic that should be of interest to caregivers and to the disabled themselves and to those who build libraries about the disabled. Many may not know it, but there is a journal on this subject, "Journal of Religion, Disability, and Health." It is publisheed by the Haworth Pastoral Press in Binghamton, NY (haworthpress.com) The following are my abstracts of the journal's abstracts.
In the year 2005 several articles might be of interest. "Role of Spirituality in Living with Disability" is in the first issue, pp. 83-98. This paper reviews the existing literature. Spirituality appears to provide meanings, inner strength, peace, and hope to individuals. In addition many experience self-transformation, becoming more mature and compasionate.
Another article (in the second issue, pp. 81-90) is entitled, "Person-Centered Planning and Communication of End-of-Life Wishes With People Who have Developmental Disdabilities." This is not about euthanasia, but about helping people articulate their wishes.
An article in the fourth issue (pp 71-86) of the 2005 year is "Outreach Nurses' Perceptions of the Spiritual Needs of Their Homebund Older Clients". Due to their isolation, the homebound are likely to have significant needs. They have feelings of anger, guilt, and the need for forgiveness, and they feel estrangement and abandonment, and fear. They also have concerns of identity, and worth.
Too many people have been screened and labeled with a false diagnosis (1). Far too many have died from the use of psychiatric drugs which were prescribed after they agreed to be screened. Antidepressant drugs carry FDA-mandated warnings stating that taking them could cause increased suicidal thinking and behavior (2). Many psychiatric drugs are known to cause violence, hallucinations, addiction, heart attacks and sudden death. (3)
And yet, thousands of people do not know these facts. They have been deceived so well, convinced by a billion-dollar marketing campaign that feelings equal disease and that psychiatric treatment helps. This October 5th is National Depression Screening Day, an event concocted by psychiatric interests and drug companies to find more customers for their drugs.
Richard Hughes and Robert Brewin, authors of The Tranquilizing of America, warned that although psychotropic drugs may appear to 'take the edge off' anxiety, pain, and stress, they also take the edge off life itself...these pills not only numb the pain but numb the whole mind. In fact close study reveals that none of them can cure anything and all have side effects, some horrific. Yet due to their addictive and psychotropic properties, many believe that they cannot deal with life without them.
When people are screened for depression, bipolar disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, or any other psychiatric disorder, they are being given a false diagnosis. These “disorders”, more than 350 of them, are cataloged in a book crafted and published by the American Psychiatric Association, the Diagnostic Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders. This psychiatric “billing bible” has been widely discredited by the field of Medicine. These “disorders” are not discovered or researched from proven facts, tests, or any scientific data; they are simply voted on by psychiatrists and then used to label those who answered questions a certain way on fraudulent screening tests.
On May 11, 2006, Dr. Julian Whitaker, MD was interviewed by Pam Killeen from the Crusader (4). Dr. Whitaker stated, “Psychiatry is not science; it’s observations of human behavior, without any scientific backup. For example, diagnosing someone with a ‘chemical imbalance’ is a fabricated diagnosis. They have no evidence whatsoever of any chemical imbalance. They can’t measure it; they can’t find it. So, there’s no chemical imbalance that’s measurable.”
Dr. Whitaker also said, referring to the list of “mental disorders”, “...psychiatric evaluations aren’t based on science – period! They’re just made up, and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual is growing with more and more fabricated ‘mental illnesses’. Pretty soon, we’re not going to find a normal person anywhere in the country…unless they’re drugged.”
The dictionary defines depression as “sadness; gloom; dejection”. It is an emotion, a feeling, not a disease. Psychiatry has preyed upon people’s emotions, turning these feelings into a fabricated illness to get more people into profitable psychiatric treatment.
Depression is really only a symptom of a physical disease or some other condition, such as loss of a loved one, brain tumor, vitamin deficiency (5). People who submit to screening on Oct. 5th are taking a great risk because they are not being tested by medical doctors for any possible physical condition or genuine disease that could contribute to certain behavior. Depression is listed as one of the symptoms of several physical diseases or conditions. Someone who is screened and told (fraudulently) that their symptoms are caused by a depression “disorder” are not then likely to seek out true medical care. This could prove very dangerous since an undiscovered physical disease left unhandled could be fatal.
Screening = a clever, fraudulent scheme for marketing drugs
People who are opposed to mental health screening are outraged because the survey used in screening has been written by psychiatrists with financial ties to drug companies, thus creating a booming psychiatry-pharmaceutical industry. Signs of Suicide, a similar program to TeenScreen has been developed and promoted by a corporation called Screening for Mental Health (SMH), Inc. On this site http://www.signsofsuicide.org/ is evidence that pharmaceutical companies have given MILLIONS in grants to the SMH in order to forward the program testing of adults and children for suicide risks, depression, eating disorders, alcoholism in schools, colleges, and the workplace, and the military.
Pharmaceutical companies want to support screening programs because they stand to make Billions on the sale of drugs to the people who will be screened. Eli Lilly alone poured in $2,157,925.00 (amongst others) into Screening for Mental Health Inc. from 2001 to 2004.
Good News for Depression
The good news about help for depression has been hidden. Without support of the billion-dollar psycho-pharmaceutical industry, the facts on depression are not written on the front pages of the news, or on TV. People should be informed of the very successful and scientific methods that are being used now to help people with these problems.
In Dr. Whitaker’s aforementioned interview with Pam Killeen, she asked this very direct question: “If a patient suffering with a mental illness comes to see you, what type of improvements could they experience?”
Dr. Whitaker: “In my practice, we see a lot of people who see their energy levels increase, or their happiness ratio increase, when they get healthier. Just increasing and improving health will do wonders for the majority of people who have been labeled as being mentally ill. This goes for people who are experiencing fatigue, who may be depressed. Very often, we find that they have hormonal imbalances, nutritional deficiencies, or lack exercise. We help them solve these areas of depletion in their lives. We help them increase the quality of their lives and they feel better. We see it all the time. I have had nearly 40,000 people come through my clinic, and I have never started anyone on an antidepressant medication.”
There is growing opposition to mental health screening and all the groups involved with this fraud. One of these speaking out against the crimes committed from this method is Ms. Theresa Rhoades. She created an online petition after her daughter was screened and then falsely diagnosed with “mental disorders” without her knowledge. It is addressed to School Board Members and State and Federal Legislators. You can read and sign it at http://www.petitiononline.com/TScreen/petition.html
Mary Collins is a 72-year-old grandmother living in New Hampshire. She attained a BA in English Literature with a minor in History in 1954 from Millsap's College in Jackson, Mississippi and was involved in education for over 20 years. You can contact her here:
marycollins_16_2@rushpost.com
References:
(1) Edmund Drummond, M.D., “The complete guide to psychiatric drugs, (John Wiley and Sons, Inc. NY, 2000) pp15-16 as quoted in “Does mental illness really exist” by Lawrence Stevens
(2) Dear Healthcare Professional: Important Prescribing Information [for Paxil]. By John E. Kraus, M.D., GlaxoSmithKline, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 2006 - available at www.fda.gov.
(3) Prescription Drugs —
The Reason behind the Madness
By Dr. Julian Whitaker, M.D.
Health and Healing: Tomorrow's Medicine Today
November, 1999
(5) The website for the American Psychiatric Association states the following “Also, a medical condition (e.g., a brain tumor or vitamin deficiency) can cause depression, so it is important to be evaluated... to rule out general medical causes”.
On September 12, 2006 in Tilton NH a well known and respected disabled person
Linda Morgan was riding on her electric mobility scooter and was struck by
a full sized 5600 lb truck from Lumber One LLC as she crossed on the
crosswalk heading to Video Vendor at 9:00 AM
She had just been to the barber shop in center of Tilton and was
going to rent a video at Video Vendor,as she proceeded to access the
crosswalk from Northway Bank parking lot she had to go between two stopped
vehicles
for the red light. And as she drove three quarters across the street she
saw a truck failing to yield or stop coming right at her,in her attempt to
get out of trucks way she was struck in the right front tiller area and
seat.
The truck driver never hit his brakes until after he had hit her, which
seems as though he might have been distracted by a cell phone or his being
late for work?
Her new Odyessy scooter which she had just paid $1487.00 for out of
her own pocket, was demolished, and she was ejected off her scooter and onto
pavement.
Please read this NH RSA Section 265:37
265:37 Drivers to Exercise Due Care. - Notwithstanding the
foregoing provisions of this chapter or the provisions of any local
ordinance, every driver of a vehicle shall exercise due care to avoid
colliding with
any pedestrian or any person propelling a human-powered vehicle and shall
give an audible signal when necessary and shall exercise proper precaution
upon observing any child or any obviously confused, incapacitated or
intoxicated person.
Now my complaints begin with selectmen at Tilton Town Hall allowing
trucks to be parked directly blocking a pedestrians view of the traffic and
by time you get in cross walk area your already in danger as a car might
stop for you, and the rest may go around that car and not stop for you as a
pedestrian.
Speaking of disabled riders of electric mobility scooters, I am one
myself.And I went to police station today and asked the police to
bring up to selectmen meeting that they ban large vehicles from parking in
the area of the Tilton Town Hall crosswalk because they obstruct a
pedestrians view before crossing.
Another thing you might want to publicize and install two web cams
so you can get violators plate numbers of the failure to yield to
pedestrians and slow
down some of these "fuelish (sic)f oolish INDY 500 drivers.
Do you remember the disabled man that
tipped over back wards on his head because the sidewalk was to steep
directly across from the Tilton Town Hall?
He laid on the tarred sidewalk for 10 to 20 minutes before any one
dared to move him,why? ...He did not have Leprosy he was disabled!!
Tilton needs to watch out for all its citizens and not just cater to
the ambulatory ones,because time is the greatest disabler of all man
kind.
I already have a ADA AMERICAN with DISABILITYS ACT law suit filed
against Tilton NH for lack of accessible maintained sidewalks NH RSA
231:113
Now it appears that Linda Morgan will have one against police for
failure to take all witnesses statements to her traumatic accident,and not
making the truck driver take a impaired operator urine test.
I will say this the next driver that fails to yield for any one on a
cross walk in Tilton NH may just be subject to having plate numbers taken
and reported to motor vehicle,and if that does not work look for a
crazed looking 61 year man wielding a bat ...
Because if you selectmen and others that run Tilton NH seems to
think that Linda Morgan or I are second class citizens or sub-human you
better pray she does not sue you all for your archaic thought processes and
lack
of compassion for a person that truely cares about life and other
people.
If not I would have already been up on murder charges on at least 7
people,but Linda Morgan being a christian made me swear not to harm
any one of them.
Remember I am imperfect, and I made many mistakes in my life which I
have paid for,but I know that there are 7 persons really should be
thankful to that disabled little woman Linda Morgan for being allowed to
still be breathing my air.
Oh Linda Morgan is not one to brag or put on false airs, but she
has fed and taken care of Northfields stray cats and feeds ducks and was
visiting elderly friends on her scooter,but thanks to her scooter being
trashed and not being able to afford another $1487.00 of her own money to
replace it she must now drive her old scooter that she had for sale for
$700.00.
On that note I wish to thank Tilton NH Police Department for being so
thoughtful to bring home her useless demolished scooter from Tilton
House of Pizza ....
Perhaps Lumber One LLC of 112 High Street Boscawen,N.H. would like to
have it as a momento of how lucky they are not to have negligent vehicular
homicide charges thrown at their company and driver?
Sincerely
William Charles Tinker
25 Granite Street
Northfield NH 03276-1640
286-2492
The phone rang just about the time I was putting the wraps on the long, sultry Labor Day weekend here in the mountains. I spent a blissful time with my partner, hiking, running, reading and getting ready for another week of teaching my students at college. It was my youngest son on the line. As he is not the most verbal and communicative with his old dad on a regular basis, I suspected that this was not going to be a social call. And, sure enough, it wasn't. It was serious. He asked if he could borrow a considerable sum of money - right away. He told me his wife had not been working very many hours lately. Translation - she had lost her job. To say the least, this was not what I wanted to hear.
My first reaction was that we were being taking advantage of, my partner and me, by my son. He was being careless and we were being called upon to bail him out of another scrape. But as the night wore on and the stars faded gently into another busy day, my attitude improved. Both my son and his wife have disabilities. They will be in need of support, loving support, well into the future. Maybe forever.
There was never any question about getting the money to them. Even so, I felt depressed. My students noticed that I was not my usual energetic self in class that morning. Several even asked me if I was alright. To be sure, it was a financial setback of a minor degree for us. But more than that, I was worried about my kids. I had often wondered how they could make it with their disabilities. They both take a little while longer than most people to get things done. In a profit driven world of commerce, their labor is not worth as much as their peers. Their rate of production is less than what other people can offer in exchange for a living wage to an employer. People with disabilities are overwhelmingly represented among the poor. Many more are consigned to a life of poverty due to what amounts to a structural exclusion from the labor market.
I was thinking about this structural exclusion and Karl Marx as I prepared to visit my son and his wife. Why Marx of all people? Well, I remembered that I first learned about the concept of a"reserve insdustrial army" by reading Marx. In a capitalist economic system, Marx asserted, it is to the advantage of capitalists to insure that a marginal amount of workers be unemployed. This keeps the people who are working from asking for higher salaries or benefits. Fear, generated by the always looming dark cloud of unemployment, keeps labor in its place and salaries and benefits from increasing. People with disabilities are overwhelmingly represented within the "industrial reserve army." I have noticed that there is a predictable correlation between employment statistics and stock market behavior. For example, unemployment up, stock market up. Unemployment down, stock market down. At any rate, Marx kept my mind preoccupied while I was driving to my son and wife's townhouse. In fact I missed my turnoff.
By the time I got to their place I had come to my senses. I spent most of time with them hugging them and telling them how much I loved them. Actually, that was the real gift. Not the money. My job was to support them. They did not need more downers in the form of disability oppression ... least of all from me. After all, I spend a substantial portion of my professional life advocating for my students who have disabilities and empowering them to self-advocate. Moreover, I spend a good deal of energy compensating for my own disability. No. my son and his family will be supported in all ways. "Disability oppression" stops here ... now.
The Rhythmic Arts Project is meant to enhance existing therapeutic modalities. By integrating drums and percussion into proven methods of healing and teaching, this innovation has spawned a new and enjoyable learning curve. The application varies depending on the population served yet remains simple and basic in its presentation.
I broke my neck in a body surfing accident in September of 1997. After a cervical fusion, 5, 6 and 7th vertebras, and a week in the ICU, I was sent to The Rehabilitation Institute at Santa Barbara where a flock of angels disguised as doctors, nurses, therapists and health care workers skillfully and compassionately re - animated my mind, my body and my life in one fell swoop. I’d be remiss if I failed to mention that there were less than perfect moments in my recovery. The severity of my accident and the unpredictable neurological plight of paralysis meant there was cause for concern. At the risk of sounding less than scientific, I knew from the moment my neck snapped that everything would turn out OK. I was three feet under water and totally paralyzed. No one was there when I was lifted from the bottom and gently placed on the shore where I was found and expertly transported to the hospital. After an emergency operation and a week in the ICU, I was moved to the Rehabilitation Institute at Santa Barbara. The folks at the Rehab encouraged my faith and I walked out on my own power in a little more than 5 weeks. Although I won’t be competing in any BMX bike riding events and bungi cord jumping is no longer an option, I do get around quite well these days. Rhythm Therapy figured considerably in my own recovery.
In the first little while, before I had much physical prowess at all, I asked for a pair of drumsticks and a few percussion items. Having been a professional drummer all my life it seemed only natural that I test those waters first. I was extremely weak but there was potential in what I felt and hope that I could regenerate nerves and impulses. As it worked for me, why not share the experience with my mates in the ward. I did, and …it did work for them as well. It wasn’t long before the therapists, aids and the patients recognized the beneficial results and positive mood that rhythm encouraged throughout the hospital. We moved the project into the 1:30 occupational therapy group and began building on the concept. Concentrating on focus, attention span, simple drumbeats and clapping, playing along with music, learning basic musical notation and most importantly, having fun, we knew we had started something simplistically significant while inherently healing.
Libby Whaley, the director of recreational therapy at the institute took the project under her path and eventually had it approved by the senior leadership at the hospital. Libby and I worked for three years honing our skills on a weekly basis helping people with a wide range of disabilities. I took the project into several other facilities where only positive results prevailed. It was exciting to see different applications work with traumatic brain injury, mental illness, Cerebral Palsy, developmental disabilities and in the care of Alzheimer’s and other dementia.
Seiko Niimi, a developmental therapist has become a mentor and friend these past eight years as well. Working with her Y-SPIRIT and Club Aspire programs for children and young adults with developmental disabilities has resulted in many new and valuable ideas. I’ve also had the distinct pleasure of working in the ARC system in Ventura County, California for nearly four years. The project has grown in many ways thanks to the participation of so many new clients and the expertise of the ARC administrators and caregivers. To date we are now teaching in more than 30 facilities in eight states. We have programs in Rehabilitation Hospitals, Special Education, pre -school, and in Girls Inc. In addition to working in the developmental disability arena we are fostering inclusion in typical communities as well.
TRAP is a collaborative effort. Together, therapists, health care workers and aids, percussionists and drummers as well as the students endeavor to achieve a unique way to wellness, physically and mentally.
I’m not here to tell you of any distinct new revelations in the care and understanding and or cure in Autism Spectrum Disorders. I will however expand on my experience, much of which has enhanced my personal discovery, betterment and spiritual growth … and in the territory of factual, scientific and otherwise intellectual expression on this matter, to those individuals, I make no apologies. I am quite simply a better person having worked with and in continuing to work with children and adults with Autism and their families.
It’s a privilege to know so many folks who take in stride what I’d consider near heroic feats on a daily basis.
Routine, day-to-day doldrums that would appear overwhelming and complex to most of us fall into place as second nature to parents, guardians and siblings of developmentally disabled kids and adults.
My work is delightful given the situation I’m able to create with clients, health care workers, aids and therapists alike. It’s a win; win in light of how much fun we have. This is not to say that we don’t make a significant contribution, we do, it’s the essence of good humor and laughter that frame and enhance The Rhythmic Arts Project. There has been much personal satisfaction in these past seven years. The most cherished moments having enjoyed the unconditional love, devotion, and dedication shown by all the people surrounding the project. Beginning with the therapists and health care workers I encountered as a patient at the rehabilitation institute, to the many people I’ve met working in the field of developmental disabilities, commitment seemed as natural as sunlight, truly part of who they are. Parents and siblings carry a seemingly unwavering commitment 24/7. They’re not able to leave their compassion at the office and then punch it in again the next day like a time card. It’s on going. In my opinion there is no accolade great enough befitting these unsung hero’s.
Although my work is not limited to those individuals with Autism, in many cases Autism or (PPD) Pervasive Development Disorder may occur in conjunction with other disabilities thus contributing to problems with communication, learning and behavior. The ability to participate given creative direction is reinforced in every class. I’ve seen interaction in teaching as well as my personal relationships improve with every student along the way. I believe people with Autism Spectrum Disorders can and will make progress with consistent education, therapies and treatments. And, in line with this way of thinking, The Rhythmic Arts Project can be a positive means in addressing many goals. I’ll give you an outline of some of the exercises we employ. Again, consistency, repetition, dedication and patience are the key to success here.
In an entirely different format or approach, The Rhythmic Arts Project also offers professional recording for people with disabilities.
Gifted Artists Records is presented by The Rhythmic Arts Project as a vehicle for people with disabilities to record Professional CDs. It's sole purpose beyond the joy it brings everyone involved, is to promote and enhance funding for the development and facilitation of the rhythmic arts programs. The Rhythmic Arts Project is a 501 ( C ) (3) company.
We are extremely grateful for the playing skills, kindness and generosity of some of the world's greatest recording and touring musicians. Vinnie Colauita, Bill Champlin, Gregg Bissonette, Ralph Humphrey, Chris Pinnick, Leland Sklar, Jimmy Haslip, and Russell Ferrante among others have made our CD’s the very best they can be. A full list of artists and players is available at: www.GiftedArtistsRecords.com
These are just a few ideas employed by The Rhythmic Arts Project. New ideas are constantly evolving and tested on a regular basis. Auditory, visual, tactile and perceptual concepts come into play as we continue to work towards making the world a little better place for these very special friends. It is my hope that we might give people a better understanding of themselves and the world around them. That they may be included, integrated into our world with a sense of confidence and integrity. Inclusion has tremendous benefits for typically developed kids and adults alike. We can learn so much from our developmentally disabled friends. If we simply open our hearts and minds to their gentle souls, I think we will find that in many ways, we wish we could be more like they are.
Eddie Tuduri_
Founder, Director: The Rhythmic Arts Project
805 745 8280
etuduri@verizon.net
www.traponline.com_
Misguided Citizens fighting group home --
On Friday, September 1 on the (Los Angeles, CA) KABC TV news, I happened to see a story by Micah Ohlman re: citizens 'up in arms' because a group home for 6 mentally 'challenged' men was starting in their neighborhood (in Covina, CA). One middle aged white woman who was interviewed explicitly stated that she is moving because her property value will plummet as a result. She also clearly made innuendoes regarding the potential for sexual abuse/exploitation because of these new residents. Frankly, I was aghast - I don't ever recall seeing such a 'report' about group homes (or special ed, etc.) EVER. There was, however, a very short interview with another woman who didn't see any problem with these new residents. Ohlman ended his report by saying that about 75 or so people are complaining to Covina's elected officials in order to stop this group home from starting.
I have written a letter to KABC TV but I don't honestly expect any response. Their reporting (in my humble opinion) smacked of how 'racy' this whole idea was ... even though group homes have been around for decades.
I am writing you in the hopes that you may know of anyone that may be able to speak out to these misguided citizens re: stereotypes and discrimination against people with developmental disabilities. If I lived in Covina, I would right now be standing in front of City Hall, waiting to be heard and learning the time and day of these alleged 'meetings'.
Please, find access to this news article and find a way to speak out forcefully and responsively to the stereotypes and misconceptions these people seem to have.
Thank you!
For those having newly acquired disabilities, the thought of denying themselves emergency care to avoid life with a disability is in this atmosphere of devaluation as portrayed by "Million Dollar Baby" is very real threat especially when taking in to account that most people consider a 'living will' a viable advanced directive when the 'living will' instructs a physician to withhold or withdraw medical treatment from its signer if he or she is in a terminal condition and is unable to make decisions about medical treatment. Living wills do nothing to protect the wishes of people and in fact was and is a document promoted by euthanasia and right to die groups as a way of slowly introducing back door euthanasia into America.
The original concept of the "Living Will" originated with pro-euthanasia groups, which saw the document as a publicly-acceptable way of introducing into different countries, the agenda of legalized active euthanasia, suicide, and assisted suicide. None of the pro-euthanasia organizations uses the term "euthanasia" in their titles preferring clever euphemisms like the "right to die," "death with dignity," and "mercy killing". These groups operate in states like California, Arizona, and Florida where large elderly and retired populations live. Beware of the Living Will, it can absolutely kill you, and protect those who do it.
The Living Will language is purposefully deceptive allowing simple wordings to appear harmless until hospital staff tries to interpret end-of-life care as dictated by the 'living will.' Words such as "artificial means," "reasonable expectation of recovery," "relatively short time," "heroic measures," and "terminal" are open to a variety of interpretations which could result in the patient's death. Many of the meanings that could be construed from these words may be contrary to the intent of the Living Will signer. Also, there may be more provisions to a Living Will law than the simple declaration which is signed by the individual. For example, persons seeking to prevent "extraordinary" and "heroic" measures at the end of their lives may unintentionally authorize their own starvation and dehydration. The terms used in a Living Will can be widely interpreted or misinterpreted depending on the hospital and staff. A physician whom the signer may not know and whom holds very different values than the signer, may be the authorized decision maker for a 'living will.'
According to a recently released poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press - Three in 10 people, 29 percent, now say they have a living will. That's more than twice the number, 12 percent, who said in 1990 that they had put into writing how they wish to be treated medically if they are incapable of communicating. While there is a rise in the number of people who have living wills, most people do not realize that a Living Will takes rights and control from its signer and gives decision-making authority to a physician which could jeopardize ones life. It also gives a physician complete immunity from civil or criminal liability for his or her action or inactions.
Here in lies the danger of people being lead by a false advanced directive down the road where they very well may be denied emergency care as a result of their signing a 'living will.' People using a 'living will' to promote end of life decisions are the population of people who will be exposed to the nightmare scenario of being forcefully starved dehydrated. A report by the Robert Powell Center for Medical Ethics of the National Right to Life Committee, April 15, 2005, released just two weeks after the murder of Terri proves that starvation/dehydration is a regular form of treatment for those whose lives are considered by physicians and hospital ethics boards unworthy of life. When asked, WILL YOUR ADVANCE DIRECTIVE BE FOLLOWED? The Report concludes that, "The public overwhelmingly believes patient and family choices for life-preserving measures should be respected, even when health care providers disapprove. However, health care providers are increasingly denying life-preserving measures in contravention of patient and family directives choosing them. Their denial of care as 'futile' is often based on 'quality of life' rather than physiological grounds and that most state laws fail to protect patients and families who want food, fluids, or life support when health care providers deny it."
The people that need to be protected the most may not do the research to find out that there are better alternatives to the 'living will' that truly will protect one from forceful starvation dehydration. 'The Will to Live' and the 'Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care Decisions' are much better options which protect individuals and families from the pressure of doctors, hospital, and hospice ethics boards enforcing euthanasia tactics. The "Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care" is a document in which you can delegate to a trusted friend or family member the power to become your agent for any health care decisions you are unable to make. In the DPAHC one can specify more clearly his or her wishes toward a pro-life position. Your trusted friend or family member who is familiar with your values and wishes would have authority to make health care decisions on your behalf. The DPAHC takes the decisions away from the "establishment" and moves it towards "home." To the medical caregivers, the DPAHC essentially says: "Here is a person upon whom I have often been dependent for love and care in the past. Now, when I can no longer participate in decisions about my medical care, I am content to continue to be dependent upon his (her) love and care. Talk with him about what is best for me."
THE WILL TO LIVE protects your own life and the lives of your family members when you cannot speak for yourselves. It names someone you trust to safeguard your life when you cannot speak for yourself as your "health care agent", names backup agents if your first choice can't serve, describes the treatment you do and do not want to guide your health care agent and physicians, protects your family and health care agent from pressure from health care providers and others by allowing them to prove what you really did want, and it relieves agonizing end-of-life decision making from loved ones making your wishes clear. I bring this to your attention now so that you yourself realize that the 'living will' is the reason why people are exposed to forced starvation dehydration. With this knowledge you can protect yourself and all you know from ever having to face the ordeal Terri Schiavo was forced through.
Hiring and Interviewing Attendants Simplified
Zen Garcia
August 30th, 2006
I have found it necessary in the 11 years that I have been a recipient of the Independent Care Waiver Program to learn how to hire people my self to fill spots vacant in my shifts. I find it is better for me to always have 4 or 5 attendants to cover just in case of emergencies, car trouble, unpredictable circumstance, sickness or want for vacation. I do all my own ad placement, interview coordination, and hiring selection because I know that I will be the one who has to share time and space with these individuals and not the case manager or provider agency I use to manage my personnel. I believe whenever possible it should be the will and responsibility of the consumer to learn how to fill staffing and become interactive in building their own circle of support. Having the power to hire your own staff is the most important tool a consumer can have in controlling life and surrounding environment. And as long as one has a good attitude it should never be a problem to assemble, fill, and maintain good people.
I have been asked many times by others how I maintain a staff that can do the job and with whom I can still have fun. I write this article in hopes that it may be of assistance to those who may need a little help in this matter. First, a positive attitude and goal oriented outlook on life will make time spent hanging out with attendants easy passing. I have been around hundreds of people with disabilities from all parts of the world and nation and find that no matter what the severity of their condition, a good attitude creates easier working conditions and better space for people to want to be in rather than the traditional medical model of long-term care, where a person is hired because of nursing skill and not casual relating.
Hiring people can be a positive experience in that not only does the end result mean hiring a great caregiver but it can possibly lead to potential lifelong friends. I relocated 6 times in the past few years to various parts of the state and have had to transfer my help and fill staffing it seems a hundred times. I find the wording of the ad is the key that will dictate the kinds of people who will call for interview. When I place an ad I word it in such a way that will create different expectations and attract a different kind of curiosity than the regular seeking qualified CNA. ad that most agencies write for their consumers. I place the ad in the general help wanted section -seeking enthusiastic individual to aid poet/fencer with disability in activities of daily living, the particular shift, the pay, if there are any benefits, and always for me, travel necessary.
This kind of ad attracts both the medical I like to help kind of people and the artistically inclined person seeking new job opportunity. Poet/fencer can be replaced with student, artist, elderly, etc… depending upon the particular individual and the kind of people one is trying to attract. I put travel necessary to allow for ADAPT and recreational trips and to weed out individuals that are so committed to other routines or people, that they are really unable to spend large amounts of time with me and may not be available in emergency situation. Travel also draws interest from many individuals who have never had the opportunity or finances to travel outside of the city or state of their birth.
I find that I can train anybody to do the actual job, what's more important to me is being able to share good space, conversation, and memory with the attendants I will hire as many care-givers will spend more time with the person they care for than even with their own spouses or families. Whether or not they have the medical credentials, I know I have the necessary skills capable to train anyone in the particulars of my personal care. I find also that people who do not have any experience within this kind of field also have no expectations as to what to expect and therefore no biases about how they want to deliver their care. For instance, someone that has worked in a nursing home environment where they are able to largely ignore and control the requests of the consumers they attend to, are more problematic when it comes to training based on the independent living philosophy. It can be often more difficult to retrain these kinds of people than in training someone who has no idea what to expect.
I place more importance in the feeling I have when I meet and talk to people during the initial phone dialogue and follow-up face-to-face conversation than I do if they already have prior experience in personal assistance. Once I have accumulated enough names and telephone numbers, I begin the face-to-face assessments which consequently determine who I will hire and introduce to my provider for paperwork and rest of procedures necessary to join my staff.
When I do interviews with people I write down their names, phone numbers, areas where they live, whether they have reliable transportation, and if they've had any experience with people with disabilities before. I then tell them about the job requisites and what they entail. I then ask them about their interests- what movies, books, foods, artists, painters, poets, musicians, people they like... the usual hi my name is dialogue to get to know other people. I like to know what they do with their free time just to get a general feel for them as people in their own lives. After allowing them to ask me any questions about the job or interests, I let them go and wait for the next person to come.
I am careful to thank each person for coming to interview and I let them know no matter if I hire them this time or not, I always keep this list for later reference. It is important to relate most everything up front especially in terms of personal care. Any expectations should be discussed and preferences shared in the face-to-face interview. Topics such as boundaries, likes, concerns, and dislikes should be openly conversed to better transition the consumer and the aid into each other's lives. Like marrying on the first date, if the consumer and hired attendant consider all measures up-front there will be less likelihood of the consumer entering into a bad situation.
After all the face-to-face interviews, I call in the people I have chosen for a second face-to-face where I clear up any further confusion about the job, explaining fully the provider, procedures, pay, benefits, and every aspect of my care. Then if everything is still good, we finish the paperwork, background checks, drug tests, TBI test, first aid, and CPR. Then I train them hands-on with people I already have on staff. This way everybody gets to meet everyone else and the new people not only see the training, but do it and feel it until they have it right.
This process can be simple for someone like myself who has done it dozens of times in the course of living with disability. It took me a few attempts to refine this procedure but I find it to produce very good results and have tested it in different parts of the state. The only other tips I can think of providing is, if you feel vulnerable and uneasy about inviting strangers into the household, meet them on mutual ground, a restaurant or center for independent living. For individuals that cannot verbalize clearly their wishes, handouts could be generated for potential attendants to read and answer upon initial meeting. Topics can include responsibilities, expectations, household rules, consumer preference, duties, chores, etc.
It is important too, that when the contract is drawn up between the agency, consumer, and aid, that all parties be present to consummate the deal. This gives the potential employee the idea that the consumer is responsible for their hiring and that will create respect for the consumer from the new employee. As much as it is important for consumers to hire their own employees, it is very important that the consumer be responsible for finding a provider who will treat them and their employees with the respect they deserve as potential clients and valued caretakers.
There are providers out there that will try to milk the consumer and the employee for as much profit as they can get away with, even going to such lengths as firing staff to replace them with cheaper staff. But there are also new provider agencies out there that have the health and independence of the client in mind, knowing that how they treat their employees has as much to do with the quality of their clients’ health as good food or the proper medication. These agencies I know are harder to find. That is why it is important upfront to spend a lot of time assessing the different providers in your area and whether they support the independent living philosophy or not. My agency allows me to everything myself and only needs to support me when it comes to doing the paperwork necessary for state regulations and insure a timely regulated payroll. My employees all know that I am the boss and what I say goes period. I am easy going so all of us get along well. They do what I need and require and we have fun along the way. Out of the 6 girls I have working for me right now, none of them had previous experience in working in this field. Hope this helps you in some way. Finally, I find prayer goes a long way in blessing you with the right people and at the right time.
I am looking for someone to talk to about what is going on in my life. This is the first time that I have been discriminated against because of a disability. I created my website (http://www.gesupplydiscrimination.com/) to tell my story and hopefully to talk with others in a similar situation. I also have a blog. Its all new to me.
QUEENS COUNTY FAMILY COURT DENIED HANDICAPPED VAN TO DISABLED.....STATING ITS AN OPTION TO HAVE ONE.
During a family court proceeding I was told by the Judge that a handicapped equipped van is an option though the DRS said it was medically necessary.
An appeals Judge ruled and never addressed the handicapped van.
It appears that there is no ruling ever made on this issue. Other than a non custodial parent has to pay even if it means doing with the necessary things such as a handicapped vehicle.
All the Disability Advocates refuse to address this issue.
The court has the power and authority to tell a disabled person to become a prisoner in one owns home.
The Governor of NY has refused to become involved.
There is no justice once you become a disabled person.
I don't know if the ADA will address this, anyone know?
I am adult with ADHD. I see some of the messages posted on boards from people who suffer from this disorder. It is annoying, and it does affect my everyday life, but like everyone else, I have to compete with "normal" people for jobs. I see some people with physical disabilities who are extremely intellegent, & well educated. They have attained a high standard of living. Yet they still feel encumbured.
When people meet me, that automatically assume that I graduated college & went on for my masters degree.
Because I wasn't diagnosed until the age of 35, I didn't know I had ADHD when I was growing up, had difficulty in school, and started on my rocky career path.
You can be crippled if you want to be. i'm crippled, too, when i'm around other crippled people. this discussion is about sending a strong message about how we will and will not be referred to by the very people locking us in institutions, refusing to follow state and federal anti-discrimintion laws, and expecting us to live in povery wages and keep our mouths shut about it. disabled people are disabled, by society. unfortunately, that is not the meaning that the word "disabled" has taken on. once old, woodenly words become associated with a certain mindset, it is almost impossible to reverse the meaning generally accepted by society. i am a person with a disability and i will not be referred to otherwise. i hope you join me!
~~~~~
Can someone out there explain the "logic" behind this new,politically correct language called "person first language"? Who is it that is intended to benifit by this? I don't think it is the disabled, because the only people who use it,that I have encountered, have all been non disabled people, who are quite devoted to working on "causes", however.
As someone with a number of disabilties, and with two of my four children also on the autistic spectrum, I really do not understand this insistance on PC correctness when it is a disabled person writing about something concerning their own or related disabiltiy. It seems to especially raise the ire of these folks when an autistic person (by this I mean someone who has some form of autism) refers to themselves or others as "autistic" rather than as "a person with autism". How the heck is anyone supposed to write or talk if they have to think up what is the current PC definition? More to the point, when the people who have the disabiltiy refer to it in a particular way, when the medical community does the same, whose big idea is it that it is wrong? its like deciding that it is wrong to call a colour by its right name, but rather by some esoteric, scientific or technical description... Smacks very much of the days when people would whisper behind their hands that "so-and-so has a mongoloid child. wonder why she is like that?" Or that it was recommended by doctors to "put away" blind,deaf or otherwise "different" children..... I thought that we were out of those dark ages and coming into a time when disabiltiy is understood to be a difference, and not something to hide or be ashamed of. I'm not. I do have a number of disabilties, mental and physical, and two of my kids are on the autistic spectrum. We are not ashamed of this- we acknowledge that we cannot do some thing that others can, but also accept that we are able to do things that others envy.
...so who's got the real problem here? Not we autistics,wobblers, blinkies and other crips!
Would I be disabled in a world where a wheel chair, hearing aid, sign language or the use of any assistive device were viewed as a normal everyday occurrence (which by the way they are)?
Would I be disabled in a world where accommodations for service dogs were as common place as fast food restaurants?
Would I be disabled if the world saw the fact that I have to modify my approach to certain activities but I can still accomplish what needs to be done?
When the focus is on disability rather than ability we reinforce the differences which are perceived to separate us one from another.
When the focus is on our humanity, shared feelings and our perceptions of the world around us there is common ground that can be shared from a multitude of vantage points.
When the focus is on acceptance of the reality that each of us must live in a society that truly values each person for the person that they are, amazing things can happen.
When the focus is on quality of life the world can be transformed.
What is there about me that you cannot accept? If you understand that we are all mirrors of each other, when you refuse to accept me for who I am, you are refusing to accept yourself. In that moment there is a question about who is disabled now?
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I recently had a case dismissed in New York. I was suing a contractor for shoddy work in NY. The contractors office is located in New Jersey.
My case was dismissed in NY and I went to New Jersey Courts seeking redress.
I called the court located in New Jersey where I had to go (Bergen County). I informed them I am 100 percent disabled and traveling to NJ was very difficult, if not impossibe, for me. The person in Bergen County advised me I would have to pick up the tab for a audio/video conference for the sum of $1500.00. I thought that the cost was excessive. I telephoned the next person in charge of handling ADA matters. She too thought the court fee was excessive. Anyway, she asked me to ascertain if NY would be willing to cooperate with NJ on this ADA request and have a video/audio conference. I called the court (Clarkstown Justice Court) and they said no as they did not have the ability to have this type of hearing (I am planning on suing Clarkstown and the State of NY Unified Court System for not having this available between two local courts in NY as part of an ADA requirement.....I have to sue Pro Se as there isn't an attorney around that would do it on a contingency basis).
New Jersey Courts have one of the best ADA systems I have seen around. You have the ability to talk to people....in NY you have to write letters and no one responds back to you....including the Mayor's Office.
The Clerk of the Court in Rockland has called me and understand the situation.
The Clerk of Rockland Supreme Court said he will see if they can arrange a daytime conference with audio and video.
This is the fist time I have gotten anywhere invoking the ADA and demonstrating my disabilities.
I applaud New Jersey Courts for taking the ADA seriously as they do. I wish NY would learn to as well.
See: http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/services/aocada.htm
This is a speech I gave at the Healthy Minds Cooperative's AGM in Halifax this July. Archie said to publish it, so here goes.
As some of you may know, I was in Russia recently for a couple weeks, in St. Petersburg, a beautiful city which was founded about 300 years ago by Peter the Great. It’s called the Venice of the North, because of its canals lined by exquisite architecture. It’s the home of the Hermitage, one of the world’s great art collections. The emperors of Russia are buried there. It is also famous for the suffering of its people during the Siege of Leningrad, the name St Petersburg had during Soviet times, during WWII when many people starved to death while the Nazis waited.
I was in Russia for a program of creative writing workshops and literary seminars. And one day two people said things that stick in my head. The first was a creative writing teacher and writer, Suzanne, from the US (Conneticut I think) who had brought a number of her students to Russia for the program. We were walking together up Nevsky Prospekt, the main street of St. Petersburg, on the way to a reading by the well-known Russian poet, Sergey Gandelevsky. We were talking about happiness for some reason-- I can’t remember why, but it’s a favourite topic of mine-- and I said I thought gratitude is essential to happiness. This is something I have come to realize because I have noticed that everything can be going about the same or better than usual, but if I’m not counting my blessings, I feel worse than usual. And Suzanne said “Gratitude is a practice” which kind of made me think about gratitude, being thankful, in the same way that meditation or prayer is a practice. I guess Oprah has already discovered this idea, but it was a new one for me.
When we got to the reading, which was held in a theatre museum, a Russian translator first read a poem by Sergey Gandelevsky translated into English. Then Gandelevsky read the same poem in Russian. If you’ve ever heard someone like Dylan Thomas read his own poetry, or some great actor reading Shakespeare, you will know how wonderful a sound it is, even when you can’t understand a word that is being said! Afterward there was time for questions, and I asked Gandelevsky what it is like to be a poet in post-Communist Russia compared to during the Soviet days? And he answered in Russian which was then translated into English, “ Poets are unnecessary in a free society” and he added “ They are not praised but neither are they destroyed.” I have since learned that dissident poets of the early part of the 20th century and later who spoke out against the Communist government or who simply did not write what it wanted to hear, often suffered greatly, were threatened and imprisoned.
What Gandelevsky said about poets made me think of the place that people with mental illness have in society. Not that they are the same—you can’t really compare suffering—but people with mental illness in the not so distant past have definitely suffered, been held against their will, been institutionalized, mistreated (sometimes in the name of supposedly compassionate medical treatment), been shunned.
Poets in today’s Russia may not be threatened, imprisoned, tortured or killed—but it may be true that they are unneccessary today in a (relatively speaking) free Russian society, that what they say may not matter, because anyone can say what they think, what they want. And because they have no designated social role, poets can be politely ignored. They are superfluous.
People with mental illness are similar to poets in Russia because they often have no place. You might have heard people say mental health consumers are marginalized. What that means to me is that we are pushed by the stigma surrounding mental illness to the margins of society. That we have no place in society, no role, no niche, no meaning, no value. That’s especially true if their mental illness prevents them from working, from maintaining relationships, from interfacing with reality in a way that other people can understand. For the most part we are not praised, or if we are it’s with a kind of condescending praise (oh isn’t it amazing what obstacles you’ve overcome?) —we merely exist. For the most part we are not destroyed—unless being ignored destroys us. There are some supports because of the social safety net—most of us have enough to eat, a roof above us, running water, heat and some attention from professionals, like doctors, therapists, etc-- but that’s not the same thing as having a place and having meaning in society.
What mostly makes me compare Russian poets to people with mental illness though is an emotional thing- the isolation; the way it feels when people, politely leave you alone if they find out you have a mental illness; it’s a kind of shunning, unstated and often subtle but definitely in practice.
People don’t want us to starve on the streets but neither, often, do they want us to be a part of their lives, their workplace, or their communities. People don’t know what to make of us. And if we speak out, like the dissident poets, some of us worry about the repercussions that will have on our financial support and our medical treatment. In this way we’re like those Russian poets of old—fearing punishment for pointing out injustice or not toeing the party line.
I am not really trying to draw a parallel between Russian poets and mental health consumers in Canada. I’m just saying that what Gandelevsky said about poets got me thinking about what it’s like to be a mental health consumer, what it feels like when you go out into the world and say “here I am”. We all know it’s not a piece of cake to have mental health problems, and that the kind of reaction we get from the world makes it all the more difficult.
But that brings me to what Suzanne Davis, the American writer and teacher said. “Gratitude is a practice”. I think when a lot of us think about feeling thankful, it’s usually because something out of the ordinary, something good happens to us. Or because we look at our lives and think, hey, my life is good- something we might do once every so often. We’re thankful for the things that make us happy. But I think what Suzanne was saying is we need to take time and effort to look at our lives and be thankful for what we have. We have to make a habit of it, discipline ourselves to it even when we may be feeling anything but grateful. And I think it’s actually in the being grateful that the seed of happiness blooms.
I think this blooming of the seed of happiness is important for mental health. I know it is for mine. When I am feeling thankful for my life and the things and people in it, I am happy, I am hopeful and positive. When I am not thankful, it just doesn’t matter what’s going right- life doesn’t seem worth it sometimes. Funny that you can have all the advantages, love of people in your life, success, praise, and if you aren’t thankful, it means very little. That’s sort of what people say about health too- you can have all the money in the world but without your health it does you no good.
When I have been severely depressed in the past, doctors have said, “do things you used to enjoy, even if they seem to bring you no pleasure at the moment.” I used to think this was crazy advice. What was the point? It seemed so artificial and, following their advice half-heartedly, I still felt miserable.
Now I am beginning to understand that our minds are part machine, and not totally under control of our wills. We have to keep them oiled and gassed up, keep the parts in good working order, for them to keep working well when we want to use them. Thinking positively, doing what we enjoy, getting enough rest, eating healthy, are like practicing our piano scales. We may not feel like doing it, but the practice part keeps us limber, keeps our minds greased, for when we want to play something we really like.
Being grateful is a little like that. It doesn’t always come naturally. Sometimes maybe we have to sit down and make a list for ourselves about what we have to be thankful for. Even if we don’t feel thankful.
But why? Why does gratitude matter. The only reason I say this is, as I mentioned before, that I believe gratitude is essential to happiness - and I think we are put on this earth to be happy. You may dispute that, but I believe that a loving God would want our happiness, and that if there is no loving God we might as well spend our time being happy anyway. If there is no loving God, in fact, we might as well spend our time being happy to spite an unloving God.
I have the same attitude toward mental health. From my experience, being acutely mentally ill makes me unhappy. It also paralyses me, because there seems to be no pleasure, no meaning and no goal to work toward. If I was acutely happy when mentally ill, I would have to rethink the value of mental health. To me, mental health means, I can do the things I like to do, the things that fulfill me, that satisfy me, that make me happy. I can do my work; I can be with my friends; I can live independently; I can see that there is a future for me. That’s why my mental health is important to my happiness.
“Gratitude is a practice”. To me it means taking a meditative or prayerful attitude to life, and making a habit of it. Prayer is not always a spontaneous outpouring, and meditation doesn’t always lead to enlightenment. Sometimes it’s just something you do in a day.
Keeping one’s mental health may boil down to having a good set of habits, like combing your hair and flossing your teeth. Taking our meds, thinking positively, being assertive in relationships, getting enough sleep and avoiding street drugs- these are really after all, good habits. So is counting our blessings, being thankful for what we have in our lives. The more conscious we are of how our minds work and how to keep them well-groomed (good mental hygiene I guess it’s called), then the easier it will be to cope with difficult life situations as they arise.
Of course, we need a place to live. Food to eat. Friends to depend on. Something to do. “A home a job a friend,” I think the CMHA says, and I love that slogan because aren’t those the concrete things that give us a place in society? The things that make us feel connected to the land of the living. Otherwise we’re a little like walking ghosts. We’re there but we don’t count. People look away, or just don’t see us.
There’s a certain amount we can do ourselves, like keeping good mental hygiene as much as possible- but society has to meet us half way, it’s true. They have to be prepared to see us, to include us, and to acknowledge the needs of people recovering from mental illness, which is a fragile state to be in. Like the Russian poets, who are neither praised nor destroyed, we need to be seen- to be acknowledged and valued for our intrinsic worth; And we need to be grateful for what we have. It’s a balance, to be grateful and yet to know we deserve more and to be able to ask for it.
Sometimes I don’t feel like asking for something better- but that’s how the world improves. Some say Necessity is the Mother of Invention- but you know, I think improvements come not always out of necessity but because someone asks for or even demands it. Like equal rights for women; like washing machines and dryers; and running water.
I have to say I’m grateful for those things. And who knows what improvements made on behalf of people with mental health problems will result in? It’s kind of like curb cuts on sidewalks- they were demanded and won by people who use wheelchairs but they’ve also benefited people pushing strollers, delivery people and roller-bladers. Making things better for the most vulnerable people makes communities better for all people.
Ands maybe that’s the role people with mental health problems have to play. Changes made in the workplace, to the financial support system, and the health care system will benefit the rest of society, I am sure of it. And then society will have something to be grateful to us for.
Governor Pataki has vetoed bill A 09147 which would have authorized the issuance of specialty license to severely disabled police officers. http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A09147&sh=t
In a veto message the Governor stated that he vetoed the bill as there were other organizations that were suing the state as well as other states on account of these specialized license plate. Though if your an Account, Nurse or Disabled Veteran or American Disabled Veteran you will still be able to enjoy the issuance of these plates along with a whole list of many different organizations and purposes.
This bill passed the Assembly 140 YEA to 1 NAY (Assemblyman Powell who despises police officers) of one vote and passed the Senate unanimously. The bill was sponsored by Assemblyman Zebrowsky and Senator Morahan.
This is just another slap in the face to disabled police officers.
Discrimination smeared in Canada's new Smoke Free Act:
Ontario's new Smoke Free Act allows only smokers who are 'independently mobile' to enter the smoking room in residential care facilities and chronic care hospitals.
Ontario's new Smoke Free Act, which came into effect recently, is under severe criticism from civil liberties groups due to its what appears to be a discriminatory policy against the elderly and the disabled.
Section 9, clause 3, of Smoke-Free Ontario Act states, “A resident who desires to use the room must be able, in the opinion of the proprietor or employer, to smoke safely without assistance from an employee”, and that “an employee who does not desire to enter the room shall not be required to do so.” According to the new legislation, an operator who is found to be in non-compliance (allowing someone to assist a smoker) can be charged with allowing a resident who is “not independently mobile to smoke.”
Many civil liberties organizations, like 2CL - Citizens for Civil Liberties – and CAGE - Citizens Against Government Encroachment – Canada, are questioning if the new measure is in fact, discriminatory against people who are not independently mobile.
Michelle Gervais, the spokesperson for 2CL, says that she has been exploring local nursing homes and was appalled by what she saw. “The residents have shown us bruises that they sustained in falls trying to get to the designated smoking area. The smoking area is a boulevard curb at the edge of a parking lot. One poor lady has to use her walker to walk to the only door that has a ramp at the front of the building. She then has to maneuver this walker through a parking lot, dodging traffic all the way”, Gervais says.
When one of the members of 2CL requested to volunteer as a helper, she was turned down and told that smokers have to be independently mobile.
Even though Dalton McGinty, the premier of Ontario, has expressed concern about elderly abuse, he has failed to recognize that “isolation, humiliation and refusal to provide assistance are all defined by law as elderly abuse”, Gervais says.
I awoke this morning fresh from a dream that I found very sweet ... Maybe warm on the surface. I sensed that a longing for belonging was being fulfilled. I was using a wheelchair and being pushed into a church by one of my students. There were other people there using wheelchairs, moving about and the like. I was struck with an overpowering glow of comradeship from those who were my fellows. People were greeting me and I, in return, was engaging in pleasant repartee. The church service began with what appeared to be a sprinkling baptism of some sort or a christening. People on the platform at the front of the church were adorned ceremoniously in whitish-silver robes.
At a certain point in the service all attention seemed to turn and focus upon me. I was suddenly addressing the members of the body assembled and sharing very passionately about the Transition classes at the college where I teach. I actually share quite a bit so this was not out of place. People were attentive as well as intrigued by what I was saying. I had the blue pamphlets that I had printed out to tell about the Transition Services. I was struck by the sense of belonging with others as a person with a disability. I was having a problem with the impression that they could not hear me clearly unless I were standing. Nonetheless, many people in the congregation reached for the pamphlets and they were interested in what I was sharing. This dream is the first one where I was using a wheelchair. In fact, I don't recall other dream sequences that contain disability let alone the overall theme of belonging to disability. However, I think in reality, I have had similar feelings of belonging to disability or claiming it. I also got up and walked around. When I was aware of this, I felt guilt and tried to sit back in my wheelchair. In waking life this question is constantly running through my mind: who can claim disability?
Some years back, shortly after I was diagnosed with MS, I joined and attended several MS support groups in Redding and in Yreka. I also attended a conference in Sacramento and joined the MS Society. My diagnosis of MS was quite a shock, to say the least, although this formal labeling was preceded by a number of symptoms in years prior. Most notable were my headaches out of hell. They started suddenly in 1990 and lasted for about nine months. They were different from any headaches I had ever had. We called them my "fuck headaches" in order distinguish them from sinus or garden variety allergy type pains. They were debilitating. When they struck I would just have to stop and lay down. And this could be while driving, eating in restaurants or attending professional conferences. I would have to sleep. It even happened at work.
Along with the onset of the headaches, I also started having problems with my running. I wasn't exactly a world class runner to begin with. But when I did try to run I felt strange electrical tinglings that shot from my neck down through my arms, legs and feet. I tried running on my tip toes to cushion the vibrations that seemed to be bringing on the electrical sensations. Still, there was pain enough with the tingling that I could not run longer than a minute or two over a period of six months or more. I learned later that the phenomenon was more than likely Lhermitte's sign. At the same time I also experienced transient events during which the right side of my face and upper body would just instantaneously become numb; and then just as quickly it would pass. One time this happened while I was standing and speaking with a sheltered workshop director. The numbness hit. I was holding a cup of coffee and the only thing I could think of was how I was going to avoid showering coffee on her or collapsing in her lap. Fortunately I was able to hold onto my composure long enough for the scare to pass, as it were, without letting on that I was in some deep distress.
Subsequent office visits to the neurologist were without suitable relief from the headaches or a diagnosis. The first neurologist I picked suggested my problem was that I lived in Mount Shasta and was exposing myself to "Woo Woo" new age supplements and other substances not listed the pharmacopoeia. That was interesting. Several MRI's indicated a glow around my brain. Unfortunately it was not a halo. Rather, it indicated something pathological. In addition, I had a lumbar puncture ... Mainly to rule out HIV. Again there were no firm results. Later that year the headaches subsided. I ran a ten mile Turkey Trot and was honored as the "most improved runner" by the Mount Shasta Runners Club. Gradually I began to forget the interlude of strange tinglings and killer headaches as my life moved on. But the MS was lurking in me and that was part of me.
In 1993 I had a routine exam with my ophthalmologist. He finally talked me into new glasses with the UV filter coating that darkens in sunlight. I had never been sold on this idea in the first place. And sure enough, as I was walking between classes on campus, the flowers and plants along the path I was following were just evaporating into nothingness. Poof! When I turned my head to look directly at the landscape, the flowers magically returned. I knew right away it was the glasses; so I took them straight back to have the UV coating removed. I told the ophthalmologist, "These glasses will not do." Of course it was not the glasses. When the ophthalmologist examined my right eye he described my problem. It turned out to be an optic neuritis. In essence, it is a crater like divot on the optic nerve that no longer senses light and color. I was directed to consult a neurologist.
This time I picked a different neurologist. After one more MRI and another lumbar puncture, the diagnosis was in. Ironically, on the day before I received it I had suited up to go running. For some perverse reason I felt the compulsive need to climb a ladder to the roof of our home where our FM antenna needed just a slight angular adjustment to bring in the public radio station more clearly. On the way down from my space repair mission the ladder just slipped away from the house. It fell flat. I landed on it with such force that I put a curvy bend in one side of it with my butt. My butt had a temporary black and blue tattoo. I also broke five ribs and was a patient at Mount Shasta hospital when I got the word on my MS diagnosis by phone while in bed in my hospital room. That was the proverbial "bad day at the office."
Almost as soon as I got out of the hospital I started learning about MS and looking for other people with MS who could tell me what they do with their lives. I read many books, did a lot of computer research and this is when I found several ongoing MS support groups. I was prepared for further relapses and I was concerned about mobility issues. In the meantime I was still running when I joined the Yreka MS support group.
When I arrived for the first support meeting I took notice of the way other people were dealing with their MS. I was struck with the variety of canes, walkers, wheelchairs and electrical carts. I was quite mobile compared to everyone else it seemed to me. It was a potluck and I was starved. I sat next to an athletic looking man about my age and we talked about many subjects between bites of great food. I'm a vegetarian. There were scads of options for me there aside from the tofu prune surprise I had contributed. While my new athlete friend and I were talking, the subject of running came up. I was delighted to learn that the very first person I chose to sit near was an annual participant in the famous, Yreka Blue Goose Run. In this event, the train engine, The Blue Goose, starts up down the tracks. Runners then attempt to challenge it. I was ecstatic. I finally got around to asking him how he did against the mighty Blue Goose? He gave me that look that an adult gives to a naive, little child and said, "I'm the engineer."
The Voting Power of 44 Million Caregivers
by Janine M Lodato
LodatoClan@aol.com
There are 44 million informal caregivers (family and friends) in the USA who attend to the 100 million people in need of caregiving. They need political support and an independent third party www.unity08.com or any political candidate, with courage and foresight (democratic or independent), for the 08 presidential election could be just perfect. Of course the small businesses who employ caregivers would also support such enlightened campaign supported by this very large voting block.
We need a tax break for businesses, especially for small businesses, when they hire and retain an informal caregiver as an employee. Businesses already have a tax break when they employ a disabled person. The same or similar tax break should be given to the business which hires informal caregivers or who already employ such caregivers.
There are 44 million informal caregivers in the USA. These informal caregivers are members of the family or friends of the person in need of caregiving. There are 100 million people in the USA who are in need of an informal caregiver. These are the frail elderly, chronically ill and the disabled. This population sector is the fastest growing segment due to the aging of the baby boomer population.
If an independent third party politician or a democratic candidate for political office would create and push through the legislation which would provide a tax break to the employers of caregivers, it would assure that such politician or candidate certainly would be supported by much of the above 144 million population segment: the combination of the informal caregivers and the people who are in need of care.
What a campaign issue, indeed!
The US Department of Labor predicts that by 2008, 54 percent of the work force will be involved in caring just for an elderly person making doctors' appointments, handling emergencies, giving transportation, buying and cooking food, all the basic functions of life the elderly person has difficulties to perform.
But the informal caregivers who are also full time employed have a major problem; not everyone is able to manage the conflicting demands of working and caregiving.
A MetLife study reported that 16 percent of employees who perform as caregivers quit their jobs and 13 percent retired early in order that they could provide caregiving to the people in need. This study found that the average life-time loss per such person was an estimated $ 566 thousand in lost wages, $ 67 thousand in lower pension benefits plus $ 25 thousand loss of Soc. Sec. benefits.
Also, many of the employees who are caregivers get passed over for promotions and are the first ones who are eliminated when a downsizing of the business takes place.
These problems of the employees, who are also serving as caregivers, could be almost eradicated if the employers of caregivers would let their caregiving employees to perform telework style for some or much of their workload. About only one in four businesses offers employees who are caregivers such advantages as flexible hours, telecommuting, paid leave in case of emergencies and compassionate understanding.
The legislation which would support the employers of the caregivers could also include a double or increased tax break for the employer if the business would allow the employees, who are involved in caregiving, to perform most of their work with great degree of flexibility such as telecommuting and flexible time.
So let us organize a strong campaign for the independent third party online convention, or the convention of the democrats, followed by an election campaign in each of the 50 states and then onto the Presidential elections, which could include in their platforms the special tax break for the businesses who employ and appreciate employees who are also dedicated caregivers.
References:
National Family Caregivers Association
NFCA: National Family Caregivers Association. Dedicated to making life better for America's family caregivers. Includes information on NFC Month, ...http://www.nfcacares.org/
FCA: Family Caregiver Alliance Home
Handbook for Long-Distance Caregivers · A Physician's View of Caregiver Health ... Caregivers at Risk · Updated Fact Sheet: Selected Caregiver Statistics ...http://www.caregiver.org/
Empowering Caregivers - Choices, Healing, Love
A rich, safe nurturing site for all caregivers focused on providing practical emotional and spiritual support with tools for self-empowerment and a strong ...http://www.care-givers.com/
MedlinePlus: Caregivers
Caregivers. ... Financial Issues; Financial Steps for Caregivers: What You Need to Know about Money and Retirement (Administration on Aging) - Links to PDF ...http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/caregivers.html
The AgeNet Eldercare Network
http://www.caregivers.com/
CareGiver :: Information Source for CareGivers for Those in Need .....
CareGiver.com is a leading provider of support and information for those caring for the elderly, heart attack survivors, diabetes care, ...http://www.caregiver.com/
National Family Caregiver Support Program
The report, Young Caregivers in the US, can be downloaded from: http://www.caregiving.org/data/youngcaregivers.pdf. *, Financial Steps for Caregivers ...http://www.aoa.gov/prof/aoaprog/caregiver/caregiver.asp
Coalition of Essential Schools National Office
For over twenty years, CES has been a national leader in public education transformation. Guided by the Common Principles, CES strives to create and sustain ...http://www.essentialschools.org/
CareGivers-USA Help that's close to home
CareGivers-USA Finding help at home. ... CareGivers-USA is a nationwide, non-commercial directory of community-based caregiver support services -- intended ...http://caregivers-usa.org/
ALZwell Alzheimer's Caregivers Page
Information and support for people caring for elderly with Alzheimer's Disease and other forms of dementia.http://www.alzwell.com/
Janine M. Lodato
P.O.Box 838
SAN ANDREAS, CA.
95249-838
http://www.publishedauthors.net/janinemlodato/bio.html
http://journals.aol.com/lodatoclan/StemCellResearch/
http://www.publishamerica.com/greetingcardpro/createcard1.asp?PostCardID=10026
http://www.disabilityworld.org/09-11_04/access/weblish.shtml
http://e-bility.com/articles/weblish.shtml
http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~liao/cokesymbol.html
http://www.funlist.com/www/coke/lib/symbol.html
http://www.eclicktick.com/voicerecognition.htm
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/futurist/index.html?ts=1103041565
http://www.telenovela-world.com/~spade/linux/lg/authors/lodato.html
Brings one minority group dissing another (ha ha so funny, only NOT) to a comedy TV show near you.
As I've said before, I'm both fat and have separate disabilites. One of them is Cerebral Palsy.
That's why tonight's "Last Comic Standing" is going to make me sick.
Two genuinely funny guys, one a gimp and one a fat guy face off in a "roast" setting.
The gimp gets the podium and gets great audience roars of approval when he says to the fat guy:
..."You are what you eat....Oh, that poor Vietnamese family."
Come on.
Now, I have understood over time why so many size acceptance activists are terribly passionate about never having a hint of "fat" and "disability" associated here. As another poster at Big Fat Blog has said, most fat people can do most of what
able bodied people can do, so regarding it as a disability in and of itself is misleading.
So I'm not going to do that.
I've got the physical characteristics of both groups.
Comedy is supposed to be fun, and I'll no doubt get told to "lighten up" by both sides in the debate and even to not publicly criticize either the gimp guy (who I've loved up till now) or the fat guy (same notation)
It doesn't help *either* group to put size acceptance or (giant separate space for effect) disability in to a hirearchy. Anyone else who percieves themselves as part of an oppressed minority tends to do that too. It all depends on who you talk to.
Line them up *across* folks. Or better still, a word scramble with no first/last/peak/valley
Never vertically.
Because IMHO if you line them up vertically *in order to rain down condescension or oppression* on the ones you rank below your "own"
Neither your main issue *nor any of the others* will ever be truly adressed. And, sorry, but you have then the illusion of shining the light of acceptance on your issue, and then become part of the oppression=problem of discrimination for *someone else.*
I'm not advocating cause fatigue. People have made a stirring case as to why they work against opression through their particular single lens. That's cool. I believe in that.
But this show, that many who are out for laughs watch...
I'm sorry, but there are too many skinny,white,straight,able, men that *need* desperately to be mocked these days... (ducking)
I pulled into the parking area in front of the dental office that I have been visiting for more than twenty-five years. As I snagged my keys from the ignition, a loud beeping sound stopped me in my tracks. I finally realized that the noise was coming from my cell phone. I remembered that I had set the 4:00 PM appointment with my dentist into it … something I had never tried before. It worked.
Talk about being on time. It’s not because I am so compulsive that I try to be on time for medical appointments. Even if I'm a little late I can still manage feel pretty good about myself. No. It’s more esoteric than that. In this case, for example, I was looking forward to some extra reading in the quietness of the waiting room. However, events conspired to turn my shot at devouring another portion of Arundhati Roy’s, An Ordinary Person’s Guide to Empire, into an event not quite as stimulating; at least not in the way I had envisioned it as being.
Immediately upon arriving “on time”, I was confronted with the task of updating my patient medical records. This is done biannually. There were two printed forms for this purpose, one purple, one yellow. Initially I could be trusted only with one color at a time. In an effort to salvage extra moments of time to spend with Arundhati Roy’s book, I explained to the receptionist that I could probably be responsible for both shades at once. I was told that this dual colored task has often been the undoing of nervous patients so that the “one flavor at a time” approach has evolved as a way of stemming confusion. The receptionist reluctantly gave in and let me have both forms at once. She watched me as I took a seat. Apparently this purple/yellow simultaneity procedure had not happened very often before. I sat down with my office-issued clip board and pen to begin the laborious, boring and redundant task. The first thing I did was to forsake the dental office pen. I pulled out my own green ink, rolling ball pen instead. This green looked okay on the yellow but not so scrumptious on the purple. And, of course, there had to be other complications.
Taking place in the office was an ongoing conversation between a patient in the waiting room, whom I chose to sit across from, and the receptionist. It seems they knew each other from church and, accordingly, there were marriages, divorces, relationships and such that needed to be sorted out in the dental office environment. I did my best to screen out the majority of the conversation, but I was not having, by now, one of my better days. I was a little tired too from having just gone through the Fourth of July family reunion and spending time with some wonderful friends of ours. All of this was positive. Still it took its toll on my energy reserves.
At any rate, I learned through the process of this enforced eavesdropping, that although one of the relationships in question was brand new, the husband involved was … “a Christian.” So, of course, I thought to myself, “Thank goodness it was both a Christian divorce and a Christian marriage. You wouldn’t want a mixed unfolding of relationships here now. Would you?” By now I was very distracted and growing more judgmental by the moment. But there were more problems ahead as I greened my way through the medical forms.
Everything had gone boringly well until I got to the part where there were two distinct boxes labeled “Male or Female.” For some perverse reason I decided that this was an unnecessary intrusion into my privacy. Moreover, I thought, “What difference would it make in terms of the treatment of my teeth and gums?” So, I left both boxes blank. I admit that I felt a little spasm of rebellion at this point. At least it was a way of relieving the boredom a bit. Then came the real challenge.
There were four boxes adjacent to four available choices, “Married, Divorced, Single, Widowed.” I greened in an additional box that I checked and labeled, “Partnered.” By now I was cooking and thinking about the compulsory heterosexuality in our culture of which this form was but a symbolic reflection. In the meantime, within the context of the relentless waiting room dialog that I was not tuning out very well, there were several more divorces and marriages being reviewed along with some related dating. A number of these relationships were apparently not “Christian.” Of course, all of this conversation had to do with the formation and reformation of families.
At this point, I reached the place in the form where I was prompted to write in the name of my “Spouse.” I was getting good at the transgressive act by this point. I crossed out “Spouse” and penned in “Partner.” Then I wrote my partner’s full name on the line provided. After all, John and I have been a family for more than sixteen years. Further on down the form, I listed John as the person to call in the event of a medical emergency. In the conversation I had been attempting unsuccessfully to tune out, I heard plenty of details about the men and the women being discussed. I suppose “Love” was integral to all of these relationships although it was not specifically dealt with.
As I was turning in the forms I was thinking, “I have a family with John. It is a family marked by love, respect and a total commitment to each other. To my way of thinking we represent the perfect definition of a family and of a loving relationship. What could be wrong with this? Last time I checked, the planet did not seem to be suffering from an acute overdose of love.”
The receptionist seemed rather cold and really not caring about the job she was completing with me. She was going through the basics of my next appointment … six months from now. She scowled and did not have her “teeth on display for good advertising” smile that one comes to expect at a dentist’s office. I thought for a time she was having a bad day or something. Then I happened to notice that “my forms” were beneath her hands. She had been reviewing them. “Coming out” exacts a price whether it be coming out queer, disabled or whatever flavor of human diversity. “Coming out” transgresses the obligatory ablest and heterosexual hegemony. I had also noted on the health history portion of the forms that I had an unlisted neurological condition… MS. Not “coming out” … that exacts an even higher price, a price that I am no longer willing to pay. We have to be true to ourselves.
I sat down, opened Roy’s book and … Tammy appeared. “Stephen. We’re ready for you … second door on the right.” Oh well, Roy’s take on dealing with “Empire” will have to wait for now. I’ll get back to you later.
The Dark Underbelly of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health
(more info added)
By Michael Ragland
PURPOSE
At the most general level I'm seeking to inform both national and international mental disability organizations of recent policy developments regarding mental health in the U.S. Specifically the drastic loss of public and private psychiatric bed space in the U.S. and the current policy, at least in the Commonwealth of Virginia but likely in other states, of introducing the recovery model i.e. community crisis stabilization services into emergency services. From the vantage point of disability studies I think it is important to track how well community crisis stabilization services under emergency services performs in either increasing or decreasing the need of public and private psychiatric bed space.
Personally, I think adopting the recovery model to serious mental illness as it applies to the need for public and private psychiatric bed space is a questionable. As already mentioned there is a national shortage of public and private psychiatric bed space and in northern Virginia, where I live, it is serious and chronic. Rather than the federal government and the Commonwealth of Virginia allocating significant additional funds to offset the high demand for public and private psychiatric bed space the Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Substance Abuse has gone forth with the recovery model with community crisis stabilization services under emergency services. If one accesses http://www.oig.virginia.gov/documents/SS-ESPFinalReportMay-August2005.pdf it states under access recommendations "1c: It is recommended that once projections can be made
regarding the impact of the widespread availability of Community Crisis Stabilization,
DMHMRSAS in collaboration with the VACSB and the Virginia Hospital and
Healthcare Association determine what level of local acute psychiatric Inpatient Hospital
care is needed and develop strategies to address any unmet need."
It will take time for the widespread availability of Community Crisis Stabilization under emergency services to happen and a longer time to evaluate results. All in the mean time there will continue to be an unmet need for public and private psychiatric bed space. If one accesses http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/csb/region/2005finalreport.pdf it states, "The Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services
(DMHMRSAS) tasked the state facilities and community services boards with describing the
future need for psychiatric beds and community alternatives to offset the number of public
psychiatric beds. With its rapidly growing population, Northern Virginia is challenged to predict an ever-increasing need for psychiatric inpatient beds as well as create diversion and discharge programs to reduce the number of admissions to and length of stay in psychiatric hospitals. Data gleaned from a variety of sources suggests that population will grow by 26.7% by 2020, adding over a half million people to this Northern Virginia area. As shown in Appendix A, all age groups are expected to increase:
• children and adolescents to increase by 127,500 (23.7%)
• adults by 312,000 (23.2%)
• older adults, ages 65 – 84, by 99,800 (68.3%)
• elderly persons, 85 years and older, by almost 7,000 (40.3%).
So despite what remedying measures Fairfax-Falls church CSB (Fairfax is the most wealthy county in Northern Virginia) pure demographic projections alone dictate more inpatient psychiatric bed space will be needed irrespective of access recommendation 1c.
It is not rare to transfer a sick mentally ill resident in Prince William County, Virginia down to a Tidewater hospital because they are the only ones with available psychiatric bed space. It is not rare to transfer a sick mentally ill person from Prince William County to a state mental institution because there was no available private psychiatric bed space. In the latter that happened to me. I had my own physician who at the time had privileges but there was no available local bed space.
In terms of the mentally ill in the U.S. I want the focus to be on what their unmet needs are. Currently, that is not the case in this Administration. Currently, the "recovery model" is being implemented in states. As I mentioned the "recovery model" doesn't have much substance in terms of actual policy but politically it can be used as a battering ram against the medical model of mental illness and depriving the mentally ill of services they need.
Despite the glaring inefficiencies of America's mental health system it certainly is better than many countries but I'm concerned about the future of mental health in the U.S. and what directions it will lead to in the future.
No legal action is possible against the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health and the Virginia DMHMRSAS. No state or federal disability laws have been violated and nothing which would lend itself to high impact litigation. It's all political but political changes as these i.e. the "recovery model" can effect mental health services. For example, the big insurance companies are liklely enthused with the "recovery model". The whole topic of reforming health insurance in America has not been adequately dealt with. It hasn't been dealt with at all.
I realize some will disagree with my assumptions. All I ask is you share this information with your friends and others who might be interested. Specifically urging more funding for public-private psychiatric bed space (above what has already been done) and being critical of access recommendation 1c "It is recommended that once projections can be made regarding the impact of the widespread availability of Community Crisis Stabilization, DMHMRSAS in collaboration with the VACSB and the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association determine what level of local acute psychiatric Inpatient Hospital care is needed and develop strategies to address any unmet need." These or similar policies might be happenning at your state level. Strategies should be currently underway to address any unmet need not contingent upon Community Crisis Stabilization outcomes. After all, if Community Crisis Stabilization is successful in possibly reducing public-private psychiatric bed space (outcomes) this should be able to be determined by rates annually rather than projection. Other factors include closure of more public/private psychiatric bed space; demographics, changes in health insurance coverage, availability of services, etc.
It is the Federal Government which is behind the "Recovery Model" and the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health.
FOCUS
This brief article pertains to the Commonwealth of Virginia although "the recovery model" is national in focus and other states may be implementing similar comprehensive state mental health policies. The "recovery model" is contrasted with the "medical model" and although components of the "recovery model" have been around for decades and even going back to the eighteenth century it has appeared under different guises. The current "recovery model" wasn't developed and implemented until the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health.
The Dark Underbelly of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health: The Fraud of Self-Determination, Empowerment, and Recovery.
Having attended the June 16th Prince William County Community Services Board meeting in Northern Virginia whose purpose was to discuss possible changes to its mission statement I learned from Director Tom Geib that Inspector General James Stewart had
visited "emergency services" and discovered the staff weren't familiar with "recovery principles". I can understand the Inspector General wanting all branches to be familiar with "recovery principles" but emergency services deals with those who need help, not recovery.
There has been a break in the continuum of emergency services with the introduction of "community crisis stabilization" services. At present these services include:
Residential crisis stabilization (TDO) - Like the service below, but licensed to accept TDO's, with 24 hour nursing on site, M.D. daily and on-call for assessments and interventions. All of the current crisis stabilization programs are considering accepting TDO's.
Residential crisis stabilization service (voluntary) - 24 hour, CSB-operated or contracted, group home model, available in emergencies, sufficient staffing ratios to provide intensive supports to persons in crisis. Includes nursing on site and MD consultation/visits. (This model of crisis stabilization is currently used in three communities. The General Assembly funded seven additional programs 2005.)
In-Home residential support service – CSB staff goes to the consumer’s home and provide supports during crises, keep consumer safe and occupied. Level of support is matched to consumer need. Consumer focused, not program-focused
Consumer-run residential support service - “Safe house” program. CSB/consumer partnership agreement– many consumers prefer to be served by other consumers in a crisis.
All of these programs can be possibly effective. The report mentioned defining crisis stabilization and coming up with alternatives. This push towards community based crisis stabilization services is intended to offset the high demand for public and private psychiatric bed space. There is no denying, however, there needs to be more public and private psychiatric bed space, something the big insurance companies know but don't want to pay for. Increasing community crisis stabilization services won't be so successful that this doesn't need to be done. Absurdly, the state intends on using community crisis mid range stabilization to determine if any extra public and private psychiatric bed space is needed. By doing this they can delay the process of possibly funding more public psychiatric bed space.
Recovery principles come into play with community crisis stabilization/emergency services except as a means to prevent the mentally ill from utilizing public and private psychiatric bed space. Self determination, empowerment, and recovery are government code words for saving money and keeping expenses for the mentally ill down. There is nothing inherently wrong with this if it brings better care for the mentally ill. However, at a time when many mentally ill are in jails on petty charges; there is very little low income housing for the mentally ill; and there is a serious chronic shortage of both public and private psychiatric bed space, the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health initiative doesn't recommend any substantial funding for mental health but allocation of existing resources. Furthermore, it seeks to lower even existing resources for the mentally ill by supporting so-called consumer operated and run services such as drop-in centers and community crisis stabilization services under the umbrella of emergency services.
Community crisis stabilization services shouldn't be a part of emergency services. The fact that only 21% of CSB emergency services were familiar with community crisis stabilization services (recovery mid-range services) should tell one something. Very few mentally ill need a doctor or nurse onsite and if they do they probably belong in the hospital. Community crisis stabilization services should be apart of MH residential services, not emergency services. By tacking on community crisis stabilization services to emergency services this conveys the impression "medical emergencies" will be resolved in the "community" rather than the hospital and promoting a shift against the usage of public and private psychiatric bed space. This could have negative consequences for some mentally ill. The hope of government is community crisis stabilization services under the umbrella of emergency services will ultimately lessen the need for more public and psychiatric bed space and thus requests for less funding.
Recent "recovery principles" stems around the motto self determination, recovery, and empowerment. The genesis of this was the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. Despite the fact the Virginia DMHMRSAS mission statement is, "Our vision is of a “consumer-driven system of services and supports that promotes self determination, empowerment, recovery, resilience, health, and the highest possible level consumer participation in all aspects of community life including work, school, family and other meaningful relationships” there is little actual substance in terms of policy.
Given the problems in mental health, it appears these "recovery principles" which have no real substance are a purposeful distraction at the minimum and dramatically cutting or eliminating services at the maximum. The best thing about the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health is it doesn't cost much money. Here are just some of the major chronic problems which haven't been dealt with sufficiently:
(a) There is a shortage of both private and public psychiatric bed space; in Northern Virginia it is serious and chronic. I would think nationally it is not great.
(b) There are mentally ill being arrested and languishing in jails on petty charges. According to SAMSA 2000 data "Currently the prevalence of active serious mental illness among inmates admitted to U.S. jails is about 7 percent, which means that nearly 700,000 persons with active symptoms of severe mental illness are admitted to jails annually. For those persons in prison, recent Bureau of Justice Statistics reports approximately 16% or about 233,000 are also similarly diagnosed. About 75 percent of these people have a co-occurring alcohol or drug use disorder."
(c) There is a serious shortage of low income residential housing for the mentally ill.
(d) A disproportionate number of homeless are mentally ill. While only four percent of the U.S. population has a serious mental illness, five to six times as many people who are homeless (20-25%) have serious mental illnesses. Their diagnoses include the most personally disruptive and serious mental illnesses, including severe, chronic depression; bipolar disorder; schizophrenia; schizoaffective disorders; and severe personality disorders.1
Self determination, empowerment, and recovery won't address these chronic problems. Only an influx of state and federal funding will.and sound policy. Lawmakers have known these facts for years but nothing ever significantly improves. Instead advocates such as me are always expecting things to worsen and at best retain services which exist without managed care plowing through. Many accept the status quo. Unfortunately, the attention and criticism toward the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health was confined to the Texas Medication Algorithm Program (TMAP) and screening of children for mental illness. The colossal propagandized hoax of self determination, empowerment, and recovery and so-called consumer run and operated services has gone relatively unchallenged and have been somewhat "successful". In regards to self-determination and empowerment a disabled friend once stated to me, "Be careful what you ask for. You might get it."
The President's New Freedom Commission's Final Report called into question the design of many mainstream social welfare programs serving people with serious mental illness, implying that Social Security's Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) are part of the problem and not the solution. It states, "Moreover, the largest Federal program that supports people with mental illnesses is not even a health services program - the Social Security Administration's Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) programs, with payments totaling approximately $21 billion in 2002." There are eligibility requirements for receiving these benefits as well as Medicaid and Medicare and without them many mentally ill would not be able to pay their rent and buy groceries. For the seriously mentally ill without SSI and/or SSDI they would be living with family or homeless on the streets. Without Medicaid and /or Medicare they wouldn't receive any health insurance coverage.
Overall, in fiscal year 2002 twenty-four billion was spent on Medicare and Medicaid; twenty-one billion on SSDI and SSI; four hundred and forty three million in Community Block Grants through SAMSA and additional funding for housing, rehabilitation, education, child welfare. substance abuse, general health, criminal justice and juvenile justice. All together this information suggests around 46 billion dollars a year spent (in 2002).
The Final Report states, "Each program has its own complex, sometimes contradictory, set of rules. Many mainstream social welfare programs are not designed to serve people with serious mental illnesses, even though this group has become one of the largest and most severely disabled groups of beneficiaries. " This is likely measured by their rate of unemployment rather than status of mental health. The report goes on to say, "If this current system worked well, it would function in a coordinated manner, and it would deliver the best possible treatments, services, and supports. However, as it stands, the current system often falls short. Many people with serious mental illnesses and children with serious emotional disturbances remain homeless or housed in institutions, jails, or juvenile detention centers. These individuals are unable to participate in their own communities."
Actually, the current system works remarkably well despite the Commission's statement to the contrary. Certainly better without these support systems. It does work in a coordinated manner and it has in some areas provided the best possible treatments, services, and supports. Because of the complexity of servicing the needs of the mentally ill in the public mental health system it is impossible to have all services coordinated at the same time. There are eligibility requirements for Medicaid, Medicare, SSI, and SSDI. If you make too much money at a job you won't have Medicaid coverage. You won't get Medicare coverage unless you have SSDI. The amount of food stamps you receive depends upon your income.
Many people with serious mental illnesses and children with serious emotional disturbances do remain homeless or housed in institutions, jails, or juvenile detention centers. In the cases where the seriously mentally ill are housed in jails with little or no mental health services and support it is obvious they need to be transferred to a psychiatric institution where they can recive treatment for their psychoses. Children with serious emotional disturbances need mental health services and support. It all gets back to money and whether we as a society think it is worthwhile to provide these services to the mentally ill. Clearly, we don't.
The "recovery movement" prior to the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health goes way back to Dorothea Dix and Clifford Beers whom if they were alive today would probably not be totally pleased with the so-called mental health movement today as artificially pumped up by the Commission. Rather than language of self-determination, empowerment, and recovery which in present context conveys a false hope any disabled person can be like Mr. Jones down the street, what the mentally disabled need are dedicated state and federal funding streams for hospital beds, lower income housing, more reimbursement to private providers, more state oversight of private providers, and heavy fines when there are violations.
This facade of the "consumer" being the end point must end. Without links a chain
link fence will ultimately fall down. The emphasis on self-determination, empowerment, recovery and consumer operated services/peer support is a camouflage by this administration to get out of the business of providing governmental mental health services. It's proponents are well aware of this and thus it is a multi-year long term goal.
Although this set of comments is not in the U.S.A., I thought to bring them to our attention so we can see how Euthanasia (in all it's forms) is being promoted.
Also, how this comment by this man below tells us that he's been ignored by the media on these issues.
It's not just the U.S.A., this killing off the most vulnerable, like babies, disabled, senior citizens et-al, is a Global matter.
Here is one mans comments with a link to the full set of comments regarding inaccessible bus stops and parking places to building projects.
Oh, this man is just 36 years old and you'll read how he figures his death will come about.
--------
"No real action on population
A RECENT report by think-tank RAND has written that fertility treatment could be used to help address the falling population rate.
Over the last decade the media has drilled into us the impact of a mythical population boom.
Many couples have been drawn into this and have chosen only to have one or two children as a result.
Abortion has meant tens of thousands fewer babies to grow up to join the workforce.
Abortive contraception (eg the coil) has had a similar effect.
Embryo experimentation has led to countless eggs removed from a mother to attempt to create one child for her and many more to experiment on before being flushed down the pan.
Promiscuity leads to infertility or death caused by sexually-transmitted diseases.
What is the Government doing to redress the balance?
n Offering contraception and abortion to under 16s, thus promoting promiscuity.
n Abortion - no questions asked.
Pushing White Papers on euthanasia. This will bring down the ageing/disabled/sick population numbers and reduce the NHS budget and social security benefits.
n Increasing retirement age. I now have to work until I am 67. Thanks very much.
Although I am only 36, I fear that euthanasia will get me in the end, not old age, compliments of the Government.
The videos are freely available. Our objective is to demonstrate a cross section of all types of wheelchair sports to serve as a resource and inspiration to those interested in wheelchair sports.
We would appreciate your help by asking your readers to inform us of cool videos to expand our site.
I am a retired and disabled police chief and I have been publicizing the fact that in New York state, our Legislature and governor had not felt that the children of police officers, fire volunteers or emergency medical technicians killed or seriously and permanently injured deserve scholarships. A few states have provided full scholarships for such children. This is not too much to ask for.
Now I would like to thank the following politicians who recently had the courage to understand the plight of totally and permanently disabled police officers, firefighters and EMTs who are injured in the line of duty. I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Assemblymen Joseph D. Morelle (132nd District) for his courage to amend bill A2687 to include police officers and emergency medical technicians. Without his support and understanding this could not have been done.
I thank Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski for co-sponsoring this bill. He is also working on securing a special license plate for severely disabled police officers, which has passed the Assembly. Sen. Tom Morahan sponsored this bill in the state Senate. Thank you, gentlemen, for answering my letters and by stepping up to the plate for retired and disabled police officers, firefighters and EMTs.
Finally, I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to new Rockland Legislator Ed Day, whom I have have personally been in contact with over these bills. And thanks to our Rockland Legislature for unanimously passing Addendum Bill A. 2687-B, to support the passage of A2687. Day, a retired New York City police officer, has truly been there for everyone in the community, and we should all feel very fortunate to have him here for us.
Retired disabled police officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians should feel very proud that our politicians have come out in full support for our children. Let's hope that the rest of the state and governor have the same understanding and support A2687. It is vitally important for our children as most of us cannot afford to send them to college.
Many of us worked two and three jobs to make ends meet and when we are stricken in the line of duty with a severe and permanently disability, there is no way possible for all of us to be there for our children's educational future.
Each year we honor law enforcement officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians who gave their lives for their fellow man. I would also like to say remember the living who are suffering every day with chronic pain and agony and who have had major life changes after serving humanity.
I am very proud to say that we in Rockland are very fortunate to have people who understand our plight and are in a position of making a difference in our lives. Thank you to all of you who are trying to make our lives a little bit more comfortable.
The Dark Underbelly of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health: The fraud of Self-Determination, Empowerment, and Recovery
By Michael Ragland
Having attended the June 16th Prince William County Community Services Board meeting in Northern Virginia whose purpose was to discuss possible changes to its mission statement I learned from Director Tom Geib that Inspector General James Stewart had visited "emergency services" and discovered the staff weren't familiar with "recovery principles". I can understand the Inspector General wanting all branches to be familiar with "recovery principles" but emergency services deals with those who need help, not recovery.
There has been a break in the continuum of emergency services with the introduction of "community crisis stabilization" services. At present these services include:
Residential crisis stabilization (TDO) - Like the service below, but licensed to accept TDOs, with 24 hour nursing on site, M.D. daily and on-call for assessments and interventions. All of the current crisis stabilization programs are considering accepting TDOs.
Residential crisis stabilization service (voluntary) - 24 hour, CSB-operated or contracted, group home model, available in emergencies, sufficient staffing ratios to provide intensive supports to persons in crisis. Includes nursing on site and MD consultation/visits. (This model of crisis stabilization is currently used in three communities. The General Assembly funded seven additional programs 2005.)
In-Home residential support service – CSB staff goes to the consumer’s home and provide supports during crises, keep consumer safe and occupied. Level of support is matched to consumer need. Consumer focused, not program-focused
Consumer-run residential support service - “Safe house” program. CSB/consumer partnership agreement– many consumers prefer to be served by other consumers in a crisis.
All of these programs can be effective. The report mentioned defining crisis stabilization and coming up with alternatives. This push towards community based crisis stabilization services is intended to offset the high demand for public and private psychiatric bed space. There is no denying, however, there needs to be more public and private psychiatric bed space. Increasing community crisis stabilization services won't be so successful that this doesn't need to be done.
Recovery principles come into play with community crisis
stabilization/emergency services except as a means to prevent the mentally ill from utilizing public and private psychiatric bed space. Self determination, empowerment, and recovery are government code words for saving money and keeping expenses for the mentally ill down. There is nothing inherently wrong with this if it brings better care for the mentally ill. However, at a time when many mentally ill are in jails on petty charges; there is very little low income housing for the mentally ill; and there is a serious chronic shortage of both public and private psychiatric bed space, the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health initiative doesn't recommend any substantial funding for mental health but allocation of existing resources. Furthermore, it seeks to lower even existing resources for the mentally ill by supporting consumer operated and run services such as drop-in centers and community crisis stabilization services under the umbrella of emergency services.
In Prince William County CSB there is already community crisis stabilization services. At Community Apartments residents have a case manager and the number to emergency services is posted. Folks at group homes have case managers and a number to emergency services likely is provided. Those who live in section 8 apartments are more isolated.
Community crisis stabilization services shouldn't be a part of emergency services. The fact that only something like 21% of CSB emergency services were familiar with community crisis stabilization services should tell one something. Very few mentally ill need a doctor or nurse onsite and if they do they probably belong in the hospital. Community crisis stabilization services should be apart of MH residential services, not emergency services. By tacking on community crisis stabilization services to emergency services this conveys the impression "medical emergencies" will be resolved in the "community" rather than the hospital and promoting a shift against the usage of public and private psychiatric bed space. This could have negative consequences for some mentally ill. The hope of government is community crisis stabilization services under the umbrella of emergency services will ultimately lessen the need for more public and psychiatric bed space and thus requests for less funding.
Recent "recovery principles" stems around the motto self determination, recovery, and
empowerment. The genesis of this was the President's New Freedom
Commission on Mental Health. Despite the fact the Virginia DMHMRSAS mission
statement is, "Our vision is of a “consumer-driven system of services and supports that promotes self determination, empowerment, recovery, resilience, health, and the highest possible level consumer participation in all aspects of community life including work, school, family and other meaningful relationships” there is little actual substance in terms of policy.
Given the problems in mental health, it appears these "recovery principles" which have no
real substance are a purposeful distraction at the minimum and dramatically cutting or
eliminating services at the maximum. The best thing about the President's New Freedom
Commission on Mental Health is it doesn't cost much money. Here are just some
of the major chronic problems which haven't been dealt with sufficiently:
(a) There is a shortage of both private and public psychiatric bed space; in Northern Virginia it is serious and chronic.
(b) There are mentally ill being arrested and languishing in jails on petty charges.
(c) There is a serious shortage of low income residential housing for the mentally ill.
Self determination, empowerment, and recovery won't address these chronic problems. Only an influx of state and federal funding will. Lawmakers have known these facts for years but nothing ever significantly improves. Instead advocates such as myself are always expecting things to worsen and at best retain services which exist without managed care plowing through. Many accept the status quo. Unfortunately, the attention and criticism toward the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health was confined to the Texas Medication Algorithm Program (TMAP) and screening of children for mental illness. The colossal propagandized hoax of self determination, empowerment, and recovery and consumer run and operated services has gone relatively unchallenged and have been somewhat "successful".
The President's New Freedom Commission's Final Report called into question the design of many mainstream social welfare programs serving people with serious mental illness, implying that Social Security's Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) are part of the problem and not the solution. It states, "Moreover, the largest Federal program that supports people with mental illnesses is not even a health services program - the Social Security Administration's Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) programs, with payments totaling approximately $21 billion in 2002." There are eligibility requirements for receiving these benefits as well as Medicaid and Medicare and without them many mentally ill would not be able to pay their rent and buy groceries. For the seriously mentally ill without SSI and/or SSDI they would be living with family or homeless on the streets. Without Medicaid and /or Medicare they wouldn't receive any health insurance coverage.
Overall, in fiscal year 2002 twenty-four billion was spent on Medicare and Medicaid; twenty-one billion on SSDI and SSI; four hundred and forty three million in Community Block Grants through SAMSA and additional funding for housing, rehabilitation, education, child welfare. substance abuse, general health, criminal justice and juvenile justice. All together this information suggests around 46 billion dollars a year spent (in 2002).
The Final Report states, "Each program has its own complex, sometimes contradictory, set of rules. Many mainstream social welfare programs are not designed to serve people with serious mental illnesses, even though this group has become one of the largest and most severely disabled groups of beneficiaries. " This is likely measured by their rate of unemployment rather than status of mental health. The report goes on to say, "If this current system worked well, it would function in a coordinated manner, and it would deliver the best possible treatments, services, and supports. However, as it stands, the current system often falls short. Many people with serious mental illnesses and children with serious emotional disturbances remain homeless or housed in institutions, jails, or juvenile detention centers. These individuals are unable to participate in their own communities."
Actually, the current system works remarkably well despite the Commission's statement to the contrary. Certainly better without these support systems. It does work in a coordinated manner and it has in some areas provided the best possible treatments, services, and supports. Because of the complexity of servicing the needs of the mentally ill in the public mental health system it is impossible to have all services coordinated at the same time. There are eligibility requirements for Medicaid, Medicare, SSI, and SSDI. If you make too much money at a job you won't have Medicaid coverage. You won't get Medicare coverage unless you have SSDI. The amount of food stamps you receive depends upon your income.
Many people with serious mental illnesses and children with serious emotional disturbances do remain homeless or housed in institutions, jails, or juvenile detention centers. In the cases where the seriously mentally ill are housed in jails with little or no mental health services and support it is obvious they need to be transferred to a psychiatric institution. Children with serious emotional disturbances need mental health services and support. It all gets back to money and whether we as a society think it is worthwhile to provide these services to the mentally ill. Clearly, we don't.
The "recovery movement" prior to the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health goes way
back to Dorothea Dix and Clifford Beers whom if they were alive today would probably not be
totally pleased with the so-called mental health movement today as artificially pumped up by the
Commission. Rather than language of self-determination, empowerment, and recovery which
in present context conveys a false hope any disabled person can be like Mr. Jones down the
street, what the mentally disabled need are dedicated state and federal funding streams for
hospital beds, more low income housing, more reimbursement to private providers, more
state oversight of private providers, and heavy fines when there are violations.
This facade of the "consumer" being the ultimate end point must end. Without links a chain
link fence will ultimately fall down. The emphasis on self-determination, empowerment,
recovery and consumer operated services/peer support is a camouflage by this
administration to get out of the business of providing governmental mental health services. It's
proponents are well aware of this and thus it is a multi-year long term goal.
The recommendations of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health and the states which are carrying it out in essence is just Darwinism. It is saying to the mentally ill be self-determined, empowered, and recovered so we don't have to provide funding for you and those who can't stand up on their own will just have to fall down.
Syracuse District Office, 401 South Salina Street, Syracuse, New York 13202
Release Date: June 29, 2006 Contact: Cathy Pokines 315.471.9393, ext. 241
Outstanding Small Business Honored in Central New York
Malone Company Receives Excellence Award
SYRACUSE –The U.S. Small Business Administration and the New York Business Development Corporation, along with participating lenders and economic developers, recently recognized G&K Grocery of Malone, New York with an Excellence Award at the 8th Annual Small Business Excellence Awards luncheon and ceremony at the Syracuse Wyndham.
From bakeries to manufacturers, restaurants to retailers, 26 successful small businesses representing a full range of products, services and innovations from Upstate New York received awards.
“These businesses may not be big in size, but their contributions to our economy are gigantic,” said Bernard J. Paprocki, Syracuse SBA district director. “You rely on them for the products you use and the services you need. Their names are on little league uniforms and their sponsor banners fly high over community events. The businesses we honor are part of the 25 million businesses across the nation that by their success contribute daily to our prosperity.”
G&K Grocery, established in 2003, was nominated for the Excellence Award by the NYS SBDC Canton and Seacomm. G&K, which is owned by Gordon Drumm Jr., is a grocery store which features both a deli and gas station. Mr. Drumm, who was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident in 1998, was determined to make a living for himself, and determined self-employment was his best option. Using assistance from the SBA and from his sister (Kimberly), he was able to make his dream into reality. The store continues to prosper daily, providing quality products and services to the Malone community. G&K also employs four local workers, who pride themselves on superior customer service, and on working to make G&K the best grocery stores and gas stations in the state.
The Small Business Excellence Awards ceremony is one of many events in local communities across the nation that celebrates National Small Business Week. Small businesses are the driving force behind America's tremendous growth and job creation. They employ 51 percent of the private-sector workforce – that’s 57 million Americans! They create two out of three new jobs and produce 51% of the private sector output.
“The entrepreneurial spirit of America is robust and strong, and small businesses are thriving throughout our great nation,” said President George W. Bush in his annual Small Business Week proclamation. “The opportunity to own a business is an important part of the American dream. We celebrate small business owners and employees who are willing to take risks and work hard in pursuit of a better life for themselves and their families.
# # #
For more information about all of the SBA’s programs for small businesses, visit the SBA’s extensive Web site at www.sba.gov.
"We didn't feel like binding and gagging a kid and then giving him an electric shock was consonant with best education policy," said Roger Tilles, the regent from Long Island. "We believe that there are real reasons for institutions that are doing aversive therapies without the proper safeguards to stop immediately."
I have sent the below signed letter to the State of Washington Department of Licensing as well as U.S. Department of Justice, Disability Rights Section in Washington D.C. I would encourage anyone who might be subjected to the same treatment I received to voice their objections as well.
My name is Vivian Booheister. I have lived in Electric City, WA since the year 2000. I have been confined to a wheelchair since 1979.
On Wednesday, June 7th my friend drove me in my handicapped equipped van to Coulee Dam, WA to get my picture taken for a current ID card. He drove to the back of the building where the handicapped accessible ramp is, unloaded me from the van and pushed my wheelchair through the building to the Department of Licensing
The Department of Licensing attendant informed us that a new camera has been purchased and in order for him to be able to take my picture, I would "have to stand up" as the camera will not adjust down to someone sitting. When my friend & I explained my legs will not hold me up, (which is the primary reason I am in a wheelchair); he then said, "Well then someone is going to have to hold her up, so I can take her picture."
Another gentleman entered the Department and between him and my friend, I was lifted up high enough for the camera to take my picture. Needless to say, I was embarrassed and angry by the time the entire episode was complete.
As a mature adult and a tax paying citizen in the State of Washington I object:
1. to equipment being purchased that is not compatible to taking the picture of any and every person standing (perhaps even very short in stature) or sitting in a wheelchair.
2. to being subjected to the ridicule of having to be "lifted up" from my wheelchair by a friend and a stranger in order to have my picture taken.
3. to having an attendant being saddled with said inadequate equipment, thereby making him/her appear ridiculous to the public he/she is being paid to serve.
I expect this said inadequate camera equipment to be replaced immediately or the counter to be refurbished to lower said camera to the proper level to accommodate any and every person standing or sitting in front of it for a picture to be taken.
I also expect to hear from you telling me this situation has been corrected and that no one, either short in stature or sitting in a wheelchair will be subjected to this type of humiliation in the future.
I have a case pending before the NYS Appellate Division, Second Department over a ADA violation....the Queens County Small Claims Court refused to grant accommodations to me under the ADA act and a Local Court in Rockland County dismissed the case citing jurisdiction. The Judge said the ADA does not confer jurisdiction when a defendant neither lives in or conducts business in the community. This appears to be a procedural policy of the NY State Office of Court Administration.
It does appear to me at least that Tennessee vs Lane should have removed this barrier.
The US Department of Justice refused to intercede.
This is a Pro Se case so if anyone has any suggestions on how to go about this they are more then welcome.
The perfected paper has to be in by September 2006.
Will keep everyone posted.
AJ
Media Coverage on the disabled is scant usually except of course when we are the targets.
Here are two links to stories of just such Media Bias.
One is regarding our U.S. Veterans coming back from Iraq.
The other covers the Disabled, Seniors and other groups in a recent snow storm, cutting the power to over 1 million people here in the states.
Both these articles show just how inept or uncaring our government is towards the disabled and other groups who are deemed something other than human beings.
Here is the first one on our returning soldiers and how they are being treated. Or rather, UN-treated. Oh, I might mention also, that these Veterans were lied to in order to get them to join.
This article exposes alot and did we hear of this in our news or are we hearing of the untold count of Veterans who, for many, are disabled for life--without treatment nor care? No. Not enough. And their story needs to be told just as ours and those in that snow storm.
Here's the first one on our returning Soldiers:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/oct2006/grou-o25.shtml
And the second one just below:
http://www.upi.com/ConsumerHealthDaily/view.php?StoryID=20061025-110035-9800r
Posted by: Denise | October 30, 2006 09:54 AM
A Letter Sent to Rush Limbaugh
Dear Rush:
You outdid yourself the other day when you said that Michael J. Fox was "either off his medication or acting" during his ad about stem cell propositions.
According to Yahoo News Dr. John Boockvar (a neurosurgeon and assistant professor at Weill Cornell Medical Center at New York's Presbyterian Hospital) said Limbaugh's claim that Fox was acting "ludicrous." Boockvar said those with Parkinson's have "on" and "off" spells. "If there is one single disease that has the highest potential for benefit from stem cell research," Boockvar said Tuesday, "it's Parkinson's."
Although you have shopped plenty of doctors and drugs, you are not in any way qualified to say that Michael J. Fox was "either off his medication or acting." As a person with a self-inflicted handicap, you should be more empathetic towards people with disabilities. Instead you mocked Michael J. Fox by flailing about like a big, fat idiot.
Now you have the gall to say something nasty about someone who is legitimately disabled by no fault of their own. What gives you the right to say anything? Saying that your show is for entertainment only does not give you the right to throw inflammatory insults and slander out about everyone that disagrees with your politics. You should keep your mouth shut permanently just out of shame - but I'm sure you won't. Just because you have a microphone in front of your mouth doesn't mean that you should say whatever comes to your mind.
By the way, do you even know anything about stem cell therapy? Do you know that they are using it in Europe to successfully cure several diseases? I'll probably have to go to Europe to get a cure for my MS. It costs less than $20,000. By all means though, keep blathering on against research on stem cell therapy in the US so Americans have to go to Europe to get the needed therapy. That will just add to the flow of money out of the US. Good job, Rush.
I have MS and have taken Oxycontin for the resulting nerve damage for five years. I am still taking the same 30mg two times a day that I started on five years ago. Doctors do not start with Oxycontin either. First they start with a required trial-and-error protocol to find a drug, besides Oxycontin, that alleviates pain enough to get out of bed. That process kept me in bed for a year until I got a prescription for Oxycontin. With your extreme abuse and lack of culpability, you have single-handedly put us responsible Oxycontin patients in jeopardy of losing access to the only drug that works for us for legitimate pain. You have even skated on the deafness caused by your drug abuse by getting a cochlear implant that many can't afford or can't get because of protocol. What would you do if you needed stem cell therapy? You'd be going to Europe begging for treatment - on the sly of course. You would probably use another person's name like you did for your Viagra prescription.
My father-in-law was right when he printed up and gave away the "FLUSH RUSH AND KMOX" bumper stickers. Come to think of it, that's another good thing that you personally ruined for others - Cardinals baseball coverage on KMOX radio. What's next Rush, endorsing nuclear weapons for third world countries?
Posted by: Eileen Queen | October 25, 2006 06:14 PM
Cuts in Medicare hurt wheelchair users
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061018/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/no_wheelchairs
Posted by: ivy | October 20, 2006 02:43 PM
Paranoid is a government term 10-12-06
I just left my Veterans doctor. It seems that my letter to Veterans Doctor Mccullom is getting around. The Veterans administration’s thoughts of the situation is to have me see a Psy. I do not remember a single event of my life before my 17 birthday when I had the accident while in the Marine Corps. I learned to live again while serving on active duty over seas. I spent 31 months in foreign countries. I was injured twice more at separate times during combat support missions. I am rated 120% disabled. I have a broken back and a loss of hearing in both ears. I met my family after I was discharged. I listened to other Marines talk about the United States and I wondered what it would be like if I ever got a chance to go there. I came back alive. I was dropped in a world that I did not understand. I was a Marine. I could take orders and give orders to get the mission completed. I had to learn every aspect of life again. Round eyed girls, people that spoke English, road signs spelled in English, driving on the other side of the road and the list just goes on. I am not paranoid. I am a believer in the Constitution and the United States.
0.…………………………….........................................
We have politicians and others that never served in our military. You have no idea what it is like to know you are going to die any second and become ok with it. You do not know what it is like to kill, to live. You have no idea what it is like to see your men killed or injured and you leave them until the mission is complete. Paranoid no, confused and defensive yes.
The NH governor, government, and courts have violated the Constitution. To allow any member to use the power of government to destroy a Madbury NH family just because government official do not like this family is wrong. The NH government declared me a terrorist and took my freedom for 6 months to stop me from exposing these criminal judges. The charges were dropped. Taking my freedom did not stop me so next they took my health. The NH governor informed the Veterans Administration that I was a terrorist to get my VA Medical stopped. Next I am found guilty of a crime with no charges, witnesses, evidence or trial. I get fined over $20 thousand. This does not stop my volunteer helping fellow American citizens so I am jailed again for writing the NH governor to ask why he interfered with my VA medical. The NH state police then go to my wife’s work place to intimidate her to get me to stop. These are all clearly documented facts. We have a few powerful greedy people in the government that is manipulating the situation. I do have a lot wrong with me. I received these wrongs from serving in the United States Marine Corps.
When the United States government allows the NH courts to interfere with my veterans benefits to take my free speech something is wrong. When I can volunteer my time to help stop the NH government from using its power to seek personal revenge on a Madbury family and the federal government thinks that I am paranoid, something is wrong. These people are so powerful the newspapers censor the facts.
Peter Macdonald Sgt USMC “Semper Fi”
465 Packersfalls rd Lee NH 03824
603-659-6217
Posted by: Peter Macdonald | October 13, 2006 07:42 AM
Kill the Veteran 10-10-06
The State of New Hampshire and the United States amazes me. This is my home. I am a citizen. I served in the United States Marine Corps. I am one of many veterans that gave you people that never served a chance for freedom. I volunteer my time to help a fellow veteran whom the Madbury NH selectmen do not deny under oath to using government powers to seek revenge to harm this family. A judge knowing that I am not qualified, makes me an attorney to represent this family. When this family and I prove in court beyond any doubt 29 criminal violations of the NH and United States Constitution a judge finds me guilty of a crime with no charges, witnesses, evidence or trial and finds me over $20 thousand. The NH state police come to my house and arrest me as a terrorist under the Patriot Act. I lose my freedom for 6 months before the charges are dropped. When I continue to volunteer to help this family the NH governor informs the Veterans Administration that I am a terrorist to get my VA medical stopped. NH can not stop me by taken my freedom so they take my life. Next the NH state police go to my wife’s work place and intimidate her in public to get me to stop volunteer helping other American citizens. I have violated no laws. The NH government and courts violated laws and the Constitution. I ran for election this past September the NH government and newspapers interfered with a free election to deny the people of NH an honest government. The NH governor lynch offered a 30 minute unrestricted coffee break to high bidder to raise money for the Portsmouth little league team. I was high bidder so the governor rescinds the offer. This is discrimination. The NH newspapers and WTSN 1270 am radio censor the facts.
I tell the people of the United States these facts are true. On www.newhampshire.com and www.nhjustice.net the facts are stated clearly for any one to read. Ask your self if I can publicly state these facts why has a newspaper or WMUR news not reported the truth. I volunteer. I have violated no laws. Corrupt government officials and judges have committed the most horrendous crimes. To destroy a Madbury family just because the Madbury selectmen do not like this family is wrong. To inflict pain and suffering on a disabled veteran by stopping his medial is wrong. For the news to censor the facts from the public is the fuel that controls the flames. Go to these web sites and read what is really happening in NH. They can censor the public from the truth but they can not stop me. The truth is a powerful weapon. I have the truth on my side and you can not stop the truth. I may be a disabled veteran but I believe in the United States of America. I believe even this one Madbury NH family deserves to be protected from a corrupt government. Does any newspaper in the United States dare report these facts and help a 100% service connected disabled Veteran from the Vietnam Conflict live again.
Peter Macdonald Sgt USMC “Semper Fi”
465 Packersfalls rd Lee NH 03824
603-659-6217
Posted by: Peter Macdonald | October 12, 2006 07:37 AM
Hello Friends,
The team at gesupplydiscrimination.com would like to share with you our new postcards that are being sent out. We are finding this an effective "attention getter" in our strugle for disability rights. Our new cards can be viewed at gesupplydiscrimination.com/new_postcards.htm
Rob
Posted by: Rob | October 11, 2006 03:39 PM
Media Contact: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Kirk Dorn October 5, 2006
Office: (215) 684-4112; Cell: (215) 704-3653
Nadine Bonner (215) 684-5764
PHA helping disabled housing residents purchase homes
Like Mom and apple pie, owning your own home is part of the American dream. Philadelphia Housing Authority wants to help its residents achieve that dream—including residents with disabilities. This fall, PHA is targeting about 7,000 families who have one member with a disability and offering them the opportunity to become homeowners.
The final workshop was held October 5 at the Richard Allen Homes in North Philadelphia.
“Homeownership is a significant and important step towards creating a new era of self-sufficiency for our residents,” says Carl Greene, PHA’s Executive Director.
“Our homeownership program will increase residents’ investment in not only their homes, but in the entire community.”
Over 200 housing residents attended each workshop to prepare current Housing Choice Voucher recipients who are disabled for homeownership. They learned how to improve their credit rating, how to apply for a mortgage and how PHA will help them purchase their homes.
“It gives you the chills that we have the chance to do this,” said 81-year old Maria Kruz, who applied for the program at the workshop. “It is really amazing.”
PHA will allow housing voucher recipients with a disability to use their vouchers to make their monthly mortgage payments. Currently 31 such families are doing just that.
In addition, PHA has created a Resident Mortgage Assistance Program, which provides closing cost assistance and free financial counseling to help its residents purchase homes.
Families with a disabled member must have an annual income above $6,624 to qualify for the program.
Posted by: PHA helping disabled housing residents purchase homes | October 11, 2006 11:25 AM
TEEN SCREEN – CREATING A NATION OF VICTIMS
by Elyse Van Breemen
It is unpopular with parents. It is being picketed. There is a petition against it. It is called Teen Screen. Its intention is to screen every American teenager for mental illness.
Teen Screen underlies the scheme to screen every American of any age for mental illness. It has its horrors, for the result of the screening is most often a prescription for mind-altering
psychiatric drugs.
But a new horror surfaces. Teen Screen and its counterparts are signs of our country moving from cause to effect. "Cause" would mean creating life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness by positive thought and action. In other words, you make things happen. "Effect" would be having others create and control your life for you, with little liberty or happiness. In other words, things happen to you, you don't make them happen.
Let us go back a century and look at Abraham Lincoln. He was poor and underprivileged; had to walk miles to school. Check your history books. They wrote often about his "melancholy." Look at his sad face. His ambitions and incredible desire to learn might have also earned the title of "obsessive-compulsive personality." Certainly Lincoln would have been labeled "depressed" by modern day psychiatrists and given antidepressants or other mind-altering drugs.
Yet there can be no doubt of Lincoln’s leadership; his statesmanship, courage and ability. He brought a divided nation through its most trying times and delivered the potential of
freedom to an entire race. He was a causative person who rose above his surroundings and even his emotions.
TeenScreen gets cooperation by the use of a shocking word - suicide. Teens are asked probing, personal questions supposedly designed to root out any signs of depression. TeenScreen questions don’t screen for abilities or causation. They are all "effect" questions. "Has there been a time when you felt you couldn't do anything well or that you weren't as good-looking or as smart as other people?" "Have you often felt very nervous when you've had to do things in front of people?" "How often did your parents get annoyed or upset with you because of the way you were feeling or acting?"
Could feelings of depression be the result of a teen’s own causation? This question is never even asked. Yet, as anyone who has ever been a teenager or raised a teenager can attest, the teenage years are the years when youth not only question authority but often go against it. They do things that violate the rules and mores they were taught. With their bodies and ideas in flux, they often go against their own best judgment – they do things just to be popular which don’t seem right to them.
Commonplace is being cruel to a sibling; disrespectful to a parent; cheating at school, not doing homework, lying, and being promiscuous, even trying drugs. These things add up to lowered self esteem, stress, and depression but in today’s world are never addressed. Taking a pill will not cure one’s causation, responsibility or lack of it. Medicating our youth can only further lower their causation.
Teen Screen addresses feelings and attitudes, not the causative factor of the individual. Worse, it puts forward an "excuse" for failure and unhappiness. Today’s ads on television communicate "take this pill to be happy." Kids are "told" they are the chemical responses in their brains and if they just take a drug, they will be happy and do well.
This is a lie! We all know it. Our country was built on causation, on people rising above their ailments, their feelings, their inadequacies because they had a dream, because they believed in something. They were busy creating a better tomorrow, a better life for themselves and their offspring.
Counseling, before the advent of psychiatry, was done mainly through churches. Ministers often directed individuals to look at their lives, what they were doing that was wrong in some fashion and change it. Prayer, repentance and penance were some of their methods. These methods worked by addressing the causation of the individual.
Teen Screen asks “what inadequacy you feel you have?” It further MAKES the teen inadequate by sending him or her to a psychiatrist who prescribes a pill that further lowers ability. Drugs lower perception and ability. Don’t believe me – read the adverse effects on the labels: decreased sexual interest, feeling sick and anxious, difficulty in remembering, confusion, insomnia, indigestion, diarrhea, tremor, and drowsiness.
Furthermore, the FDA Black Box warning says that antidepressants increase the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior (suicidality) in children and adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD) and other psychiatric disorders. No Edison, Mendelsohn or Itzhak Perlman — a man disabled and crippled with plenty of reasons for failure — will come from those "helped" by psychiatric medications.
If I had my way, I would screen kids for abilities, for dreams and ambitions. Then I would help each one to achieve them. You can hardly stop a man who has a dream and works toward it. There are countless stories in history to make man proud of those who achieved wonders despite a poor upbringing or some feeling of inadequacy or momentary depression.
The future is vast and just waiting to be filled. Let it be filled by causative people who actively create a better civilization. Let’s move our kids toward cause. The future of Teen Screen and mandatory health screening of every man, woman and child is a population controlled and made effect by psychiatric drugs.
Let’s redeem our country, with its very causative roots, by banning Teen Screen and mental health screening, which validates the effect side of life, and makes people more effect. Please sign the petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/TScreen/petition.html and send it, causatively, to everyone you know. Then send copies of it to your local school board and officials.
Elyse Van Breemen is an author and activist, currently working on a book on psychiatric abuse. If you have a personal story to tell, please contact her at psychabuse@mailmight.com
Posted by: Elyse Van Breemen | October 10, 2006 06:18 PM
EHRLICH TROUBLED BY HIS OWN WORDS
Ehrlich notes disability in choice of Cox
He calls blindness a factor in picking running mate
By Andrew A. Green
Sun reporter
October 6, 2006
Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. said yesterday that he might not have chosen Kristen Cox as his running mate if she were not blind.
Since picking the state disabilities secretary for his ticket, Ehrlich has praised her doggedness and intelligence. But on the Politics Program with Mark Plotkin on Washington Post Radio yesterday, the governor suggested that those qualifications alone might not have landed her the coveted spot that helped catapult Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele - the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate - to national prominence.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-md.ehrlich06oct06,1,5883679,print.story?coll=bal-local-headlines
Governor's Words On Lt. Gov. Candidate Spark Battle
October 6, 2006
BALTIMORE -- Gov. Robert Ehrlich defended his choice of Kristen Cox as his running mate after comments he made during a radio interview on Thursday. The relevance of Cox's blindness was raised and Ehrlich was asked if he chose Cox as a running mate because she can't see. His answer apparently gave ammunition to Democrats, and forced the Ehrlich/Cox camp to launch a counterattack.
http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/10015200/detail.html
Posted by: concerned activist | October 10, 2006 11:03 AM
I normally do not like complain about problems with
accessibility for myself, but when I got hit 2 times
in crosswalks in Tilton, N.H. last month September
12,and September 26,2006. I feel it is time to have
the Town of Tilton NH become a bit more responsible
and put in pedestrian walk lights by Tilton Town Hall cross-walk.
Or a much more visible police presence at busy
crosswalk areas to ticket vehicle pedestrian
crosswalk violators.
I have to speak out about last weeks ill logical
letter to Winnisquam Echo News to the Editor
by a Northfield resident, that depicts a person who is
obviously confused about who they think Mr. Tinker is?
He at least signs his whole name to his emails and is
an advocate activist for disabled,displaced and human
rights.
Soap Box? Shot in the dark? You really should have
read the article in Winnisquam Echo News better he
never mentioned any issues or problems with
Northfield, NH at all.
And he does fight for your rights to remain in your
own home,ambulatory and all able bodied/disabled
alike persons constitutional rights! Because the facts
are these, if you do not know your rights you
probably do not have any!
He recently filed a ADA law suit in Belknap County
Superior Court so all pedestrians could have safe
plowed access winter sidewalk use rights, from Bittern
Lane to SHAWS as Tilton NH is violating NH RSA 231:113
state law, and Federal ADA law!
Perhaps your not aware that he, I and other disabled
persons fought for a real sidewalk from Grant Street
to Bittern Lane for over 7 years to made and finished
in Tilton NH? This was not done just for people in
wheel-chairs, it was for any pedestrian riding or
walking to the Post Office area.
Now lets consider he was a politician,which he is
not...and he ignored your numerous requests to make
things safer and better and some blind person got hit
or worse case scenario your mother,child,or you
because people are not observing pedestrian cross walk
laws. Would you not want this corrected before some
one dies or do you want to be more conscious of others
right to their freedom of speech and opinions?
While you were reading this, in the past month there
have been many problems with people getting across
road safely,and numerous fender benders in down town
Tilton NH and Captain Wellington of Tilton Police
stated in my home that the Tilton Police would be
more visible and watching for crosswalk violations by
motorists...
That statement from Captain Wellington has apparently
not rang true yet as the police visibility factor is
questionable to say the least! And where is the needed
law enforcement until it involves a police man getting
hit as a injured as pedestrian? Why were no pictures
taken of the accident scene?
And trust me a 5600 lb pick up truck hitting any able
bodied pedestrian or disabled does not make you feel
safe to be on any cross walk in Tilton NH!
Also I do not know how the driver of the truck feels,
but I know he has impeached himself as a caring
person, as he never once asked if I was alright at the
accident scene, nor called me to check if I was OK....
Instead he ran into me and left me laying in road and
demolished my blue Odyssey scooter that I saved up and
paid for out of my own pocket in June 2006 $1,487.00.
Now I had to go out and buy another one this one a red
Odyssey $1,495.00
Now Lumber One LLC Acadia insurance is attempting to
weasel out of paying for my hospital bills, my scooter
or medications I was placed on.
Perhaps if I were to hit some one on sidewalk with my
scooter you would be witness for me I do want you to
understand that I am not a cold vindictive person,but
I have as many rights as you or next person and you do
not preach to any one until you got a church or
clergy ministry papers.
Please do us all a readers of Winnisquam Echo a favor
and get your boundaries or at least Townships right
before you write another article in letters to editor
with out having first hand of knowledge of the facts.
I know the facts and truth,of what happened as well as
the driver of the Lumber One LLC pickup truck that hit
me. His version is not quite accurate as he is
protecting his livelihood & license he knows he had
time to stop if he had been more alert to me
crossing,and he should know that you must stop for
any pedestrians and I want to thank him for not even
calling/checking to see if I was hurt or not!!!
And as with you or any pedestrian, we should not have
to fear using a crosswalk in Tilton NH, but now after
this traumatic accident I fear even going for a ride
to get some fresh air with out a safer way across
marked walkway?
If Tilton NH Police wish to prevent future accidents,
they need to be highly visible and stopping the
drivers that violate the pedestrian right away law,and
nearly kill decent folks just trying to get across to
rent a movie at the Video Vendor or back home to
Northfield.!
Oh and yes and please Tilton, NH Selectman please put
a pedestrian walk light from Tilton Town Hall to the
Big Apple Store cross walk side ...And remember the
life you save could be your own!
Tilton NH Selectmen I have asked you to pass a
ordinance and post mandate that no big SUVs or trucks
obstruct a pedestrians view of the street traffic so
that they cross from Town Hall in Tilton NH to Big
Apple Convenience Store side and visa versa!
Thank you all you kind gentle readers and caring
persons who were concerned and asked about me being
hurt, and if my scooter was paid for yet by insurance
Lumber One LLC?
I am still in pain, and no Lumber One LLC has not paid
me for my medical bills, medications or demolished
scooter yet.
The very bottom line of this is I did not run into the
Lumber One LLC truck it ran into me!!
Accident,yes,where the blame begins is with laws that
are not being enforced properly, and a reactive police
department that is not prone to helping resolve
problems but appear to be instigating some.
As one of my eye witnesses to the truck hitting me,
was shooed away from giving a statement to police
September 12, 2006! And no pictures taken of the
accident scene or truck or my demolished scooter but I
believe that should have been part of the police
report,it was not.
Linda Jean Morgan
25 Granite Street
Northfield,N.H. 03276-1640
603-286-2492
Posted by: Linda Jean Morgan | October 10, 2006 03:58 AM
Religion and spirituality is a topic that should be of interest to caregivers and to the disabled themselves and to those who build libraries about the disabled. Many may not know it, but there is a journal on this subject, "Journal of Religion, Disability, and Health." It is publisheed by the Haworth Pastoral Press in Binghamton, NY (haworthpress.com) The following are my abstracts of the journal's abstracts.
In the year 2005 several articles might be of interest. "Role of Spirituality in Living with Disability" is in the first issue, pp. 83-98. This paper reviews the existing literature. Spirituality appears to provide meanings, inner strength, peace, and hope to individuals. In addition many experience self-transformation, becoming more mature and compasionate.
Another article (in the second issue, pp. 81-90) is entitled, "Person-Centered Planning and Communication of End-of-Life Wishes With People Who have Developmental Disdabilities." This is not about euthanasia, but about helping people articulate their wishes.
An article in the fourth issue (pp 71-86) of the 2005 year is "Outreach Nurses' Perceptions of the Spiritual Needs of Their Homebund Older Clients". Due to their isolation, the homebound are likely to have significant needs. They have feelings of anger, guilt, and the need for forgiveness, and they feel estrangement and abandonment, and fear. They also have concerns of identity, and worth.
Posted by: Roy Lechtreck | October 8, 2006 05:01 PM
Depression Screening – A Cruel Fraud; Exposing “National Depression Screening Day”
Why is Depression Screening a fraud?
Too many people have been screened and labeled with a false diagnosis (1). Far too many have died from the use of psychiatric drugs which were prescribed after they agreed to be screened. Antidepressant drugs carry FDA-mandated warnings stating that taking them could cause increased suicidal thinking and behavior (2). Many psychiatric drugs are known to cause violence, hallucinations, addiction, heart attacks and sudden death. (3)
And yet, thousands of people do not know these facts. They have been deceived so well, convinced by a billion-dollar marketing campaign that feelings equal disease and that psychiatric treatment helps. This October 5th is National Depression Screening Day, an event concocted by psychiatric interests and drug companies to find more customers for their drugs.
Richard Hughes and Robert Brewin, authors of The Tranquilizing of America, warned that although psychotropic drugs may appear to 'take the edge off' anxiety, pain, and stress, they also take the edge off life itself...these pills not only numb the pain but numb the whole mind. In fact close study reveals that none of them can cure anything and all have side effects, some horrific. Yet due to their addictive and psychotropic properties, many believe that they cannot deal with life without them.
When people are screened for depression, bipolar disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, or any other psychiatric disorder, they are being given a false diagnosis. These “disorders”, more than 350 of them, are cataloged in a book crafted and published by the American Psychiatric Association, the Diagnostic Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders. This psychiatric “billing bible” has been widely discredited by the field of Medicine. These “disorders” are not discovered or researched from proven facts, tests, or any scientific data; they are simply voted on by psychiatrists and then used to label those who answered questions a certain way on fraudulent screening tests.
On May 11, 2006, Dr. Julian Whitaker, MD was interviewed by Pam Killeen from the Crusader (4). Dr. Whitaker stated, “Psychiatry is not science; it’s observations of human behavior, without any scientific backup. For example, diagnosing someone with a ‘chemical imbalance’ is a fabricated diagnosis. They have no evidence whatsoever of any chemical imbalance. They can’t measure it; they can’t find it. So, there’s no chemical imbalance that’s measurable.”
Dr. Whitaker also said, referring to the list of “mental disorders”, “...psychiatric evaluations aren’t based on science – period! They’re just made up, and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual is growing with more and more fabricated ‘mental illnesses’. Pretty soon, we’re not going to find a normal person anywhere in the country…unless they’re drugged.”
The dictionary defines depression as “sadness; gloom; dejection”. It is an emotion, a feeling, not a disease. Psychiatry has preyed upon people’s emotions, turning these feelings into a fabricated illness to get more people into profitable psychiatric treatment.
Depression is really only a symptom of a physical disease or some other condition, such as loss of a loved one, brain tumor, vitamin deficiency (5). People who submit to screening on Oct. 5th are taking a great risk because they are not being tested by medical doctors for any possible physical condition or genuine disease that could contribute to certain behavior. Depression is listed as one of the symptoms of several physical diseases or conditions. Someone who is screened and told (fraudulently) that their symptoms are caused by a depression “disorder” are not then likely to seek out true medical care. This could prove very dangerous since an undiscovered physical disease left unhandled could be fatal.
Screening = a clever, fraudulent scheme for marketing drugs
People who are opposed to mental health screening are outraged because the survey used in screening has been written by psychiatrists with financial ties to drug companies, thus creating a booming psychiatry-pharmaceutical industry. Signs of Suicide, a similar program to TeenScreen has been developed and promoted by a corporation called Screening for Mental Health (SMH), Inc. On this site http://www.signsofsuicide.org/ is evidence that pharmaceutical companies have given MILLIONS in grants to the SMH in order to forward the program testing of adults and children for suicide risks, depression, eating disorders, alcoholism in schools, colleges, and the workplace, and the military.
Pharmaceutical companies want to support screening programs because they stand to make Billions on the sale of drugs to the people who will be screened. Eli Lilly alone poured in $2,157,925.00 (amongst others) into Screening for Mental Health Inc. from 2001 to 2004.
Good News for Depression
The good news about help for depression has been hidden. Without support of the billion-dollar psycho-pharmaceutical industry, the facts on depression are not written on the front pages of the news, or on TV. People should be informed of the very successful and scientific methods that are being used now to help people with these problems.
In Dr. Whitaker’s aforementioned interview with Pam Killeen, she asked this very direct question: “If a patient suffering with a mental illness comes to see you, what type of improvements could they experience?”
Dr. Whitaker: “In my practice, we see a lot of people who see their energy levels increase, or their happiness ratio increase, when they get healthier. Just increasing and improving health will do wonders for the majority of people who have been labeled as being mentally ill. This goes for people who are experiencing fatigue, who may be depressed. Very often, we find that they have hormonal imbalances, nutritional deficiencies, or lack exercise. We help them solve these areas of depletion in their lives. We help them increase the quality of their lives and they feel better. We see it all the time. I have had nearly 40,000 people come through my clinic, and I have never started anyone on an antidepressant medication.”
There is growing opposition to mental health screening and all the groups involved with this fraud. One of these speaking out against the crimes committed from this method is Ms. Theresa Rhoades. She created an online petition after her daughter was screened and then falsely diagnosed with “mental disorders” without her knowledge. It is addressed to School Board Members and State and Federal Legislators. You can read and sign it at http://www.petitiononline.com/TScreen/petition.html
Mary Collins is a 72-year-old grandmother living in New Hampshire. She attained a BA in English Literature with a minor in History in 1954 from Millsap's College in Jackson, Mississippi and was involved in education for over 20 years. You can contact her here:
marycollins_16_2@rushpost.com
References:
(1) Edmund Drummond, M.D., “The complete guide to psychiatric drugs, (John Wiley and Sons, Inc. NY, 2000) pp15-16 as quoted in “Does mental illness really exist” by Lawrence Stevens
(2) Dear Healthcare Professional: Important Prescribing Information [for Paxil]. By John E. Kraus, M.D., GlaxoSmithKline, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 2006 - available at www.fda.gov.
(3) Prescription Drugs —
The Reason behind the Madness
By Dr. Julian Whitaker, M.D.
Health and Healing: Tomorrow's Medicine Today
November, 1999
(4) CRUSADOR ENTERPRISES, www.HealthLiesExposed.com.
(5) The website for the American Psychiatric Association states the following “Also, a medical condition (e.g., a brain tumor or vitamin deficiency) can cause depression, so it is important to be evaluated... to rule out general medical causes”.
Posted by: Mary collins | October 3, 2006 01:26 PM
Tilton NH A Town Without Pity!
On September 12, 2006 in Tilton NH a well known and respected disabled person
Linda Morgan was riding on her electric mobility scooter and was struck by
a full sized 5600 lb truck from Lumber One LLC as she crossed on the
crosswalk heading to Video Vendor at 9:00 AM
She had just been to the barber shop in center of Tilton and was
going to rent a video at Video Vendor,as she proceeded to access the
crosswalk from Northway Bank parking lot she had to go between two stopped
vehicles
for the red light. And as she drove three quarters across the street she
saw a truck failing to yield or stop coming right at her,in her attempt to
get out of trucks way she was struck in the right front tiller area and
seat.
The truck driver never hit his brakes until after he had hit her, which
seems as though he might have been distracted by a cell phone or his being
late for work?
Her new Odyessy scooter which she had just paid $1487.00 for out of
her own pocket, was demolished, and she was ejected off her scooter and onto
pavement.
Please read this NH RSA Section 265:37
265:37 Drivers to Exercise Due Care. - Notwithstanding the
foregoing provisions of this chapter or the provisions of any local
ordinance, every driver of a vehicle shall exercise due care to avoid
colliding with
any pedestrian or any person propelling a human-powered vehicle and shall
give an audible signal when necessary and shall exercise proper precaution
upon observing any child or any obviously confused, incapacitated or
intoxicated person.
Source. 1915, 129:6. 1921, 119:11. PL 103:13. RL 119:22. RSA 263:44.
1963,330:1. RSA 262-A:35. 1981, 146:1; 479:36, eff. Jan. 1, 1982, at 12:01
a.m.
Now my complaints begin with selectmen at Tilton Town Hall allowing
trucks to be parked directly blocking a pedestrians view of the traffic and
by time you get in cross walk area your already in danger as a car might
stop for you, and the rest may go around that car and not stop for you as a
pedestrian.
Speaking of disabled riders of electric mobility scooters, I am one
myself.And I went to police station today and asked the police to
bring up to selectmen meeting that they ban large vehicles from parking in
the area of the Tilton Town Hall crosswalk because they obstruct a
pedestrians view before crossing.
Another thing you might want to publicize and install two web cams
so you can get violators plate numbers of the failure to yield to
pedestrians and slow
down some of these "fuelish (sic)f oolish INDY 500 drivers.
Do you remember the disabled man that
tipped over back wards on his head because the sidewalk was to steep
directly across from the Tilton Town Hall?
He laid on the tarred sidewalk for 10 to 20 minutes before any one
dared to move him,why? ...He did not have Leprosy he was disabled!!
Tilton needs to watch out for all its citizens and not just cater to
the ambulatory ones,because time is the greatest disabler of all man
kind.
I already have a ADA AMERICAN with DISABILITYS ACT law suit filed
against Tilton NH for lack of accessible maintained sidewalks NH RSA
231:113
Now it appears that Linda Morgan will have one against police for
failure to take all witnesses statements to her traumatic accident,and not
making the truck driver take a impaired operator urine test.
I will say this the next driver that fails to yield for any one on a
cross walk in Tilton NH may just be subject to having plate numbers taken
and reported to motor vehicle,and if that does not work look for a
crazed looking 61 year man wielding a bat ...
Because if you selectmen and others that run Tilton NH seems to
think that Linda Morgan or I are second class citizens or sub-human you
better pray she does not sue you all for your archaic thought processes and
lack
of compassion for a person that truely cares about life and other
people.
If not I would have already been up on murder charges on at least 7
people,but Linda Morgan being a christian made me swear not to harm
any one of them.
Remember I am imperfect, and I made many mistakes in my life which I
have paid for,but I know that there are 7 persons really should be
thankful to that disabled little woman Linda Morgan for being allowed to
still be breathing my air.
Oh Linda Morgan is not one to brag or put on false airs, but she
has fed and taken care of Northfields stray cats and feeds ducks and was
visiting elderly friends on her scooter,but thanks to her scooter being
trashed and not being able to afford another $1487.00 of her own money to
replace it she must now drive her old scooter that she had for sale for
$700.00.
On that note I wish to thank Tilton NH Police Department for being so
thoughtful to bring home her useless demolished scooter from Tilton
House of Pizza ....
Perhaps Lumber One LLC of 112 High Street Boscawen,N.H. would like to
have it as a momento of how lucky they are not to have negligent vehicular
homicide charges thrown at their company and driver?
Sincerely
William Charles Tinker
25 Granite Street
Northfield NH 03276-1640
286-2492
Posted by: William Charles Tinker | September 20, 2006 11:09 AM
Life As It Is For Us
The phone rang just about the time I was putting the wraps on the long, sultry Labor Day weekend here in the mountains. I spent a blissful time with my partner, hiking, running, reading and getting ready for another week of teaching my students at college. It was my youngest son on the line. As he is not the most verbal and communicative with his old dad on a regular basis, I suspected that this was not going to be a social call. And, sure enough, it wasn't. It was serious. He asked if he could borrow a considerable sum of money - right away. He told me his wife had not been working very many hours lately. Translation - she had lost her job. To say the least, this was not what I wanted to hear.
My first reaction was that we were being taking advantage of, my partner and me, by my son. He was being careless and we were being called upon to bail him out of another scrape. But as the night wore on and the stars faded gently into another busy day, my attitude improved. Both my son and his wife have disabilities. They will be in need of support, loving support, well into the future. Maybe forever.
There was never any question about getting the money to them. Even so, I felt depressed. My students noticed that I was not my usual energetic self in class that morning. Several even asked me if I was alright. To be sure, it was a financial setback of a minor degree for us. But more than that, I was worried about my kids. I had often wondered how they could make it with their disabilities. They both take a little while longer than most people to get things done. In a profit driven world of commerce, their labor is not worth as much as their peers. Their rate of production is less than what other people can offer in exchange for a living wage to an employer. People with disabilities are overwhelmingly represented among the poor. Many more are consigned to a life of poverty due to what amounts to a structural exclusion from the labor market.
I was thinking about this structural exclusion and Karl Marx as I prepared to visit my son and his wife. Why Marx of all people? Well, I remembered that I first learned about the concept of a"reserve insdustrial army" by reading Marx. In a capitalist economic system, Marx asserted, it is to the advantage of capitalists to insure that a marginal amount of workers be unemployed. This keeps the people who are working from asking for higher salaries or benefits. Fear, generated by the always looming dark cloud of unemployment, keeps labor in its place and salaries and benefits from increasing. People with disabilities are overwhelmingly represented within the "industrial reserve army." I have noticed that there is a predictable correlation between employment statistics and stock market behavior. For example, unemployment up, stock market up. Unemployment down, stock market down. At any rate, Marx kept my mind preoccupied while I was driving to my son and wife's townhouse. In fact I missed my turnoff.
By the time I got to their place I had come to my senses. I spent most of time with them hugging them and telling them how much I loved them. Actually, that was the real gift. Not the money. My job was to support them. They did not need more downers in the form of disability oppression ... least of all from me. After all, I spend a substantial portion of my professional life advocating for my students who have disabilities and empowering them to self-advocate. Moreover, I spend a good deal of energy compensating for my own disability. No. my son and his family will be supported in all ways. "Disability oppression" stops here ... now.
Posted by: Stephen Concklin | September 15, 2006 06:13 PM
The Rhythmic Arts Project is meant to enhance existing therapeutic modalities. By integrating drums and percussion into proven methods of healing and teaching, this innovation has spawned a new and enjoyable learning curve. The application varies depending on the population served yet remains simple and basic in its presentation.
I broke my neck in a body surfing accident in September of 1997. After a cervical fusion, 5, 6 and 7th vertebras, and a week in the ICU, I was sent to The Rehabilitation Institute at Santa Barbara where a flock of angels disguised as doctors, nurses, therapists and health care workers skillfully and compassionately re - animated my mind, my body and my life in one fell swoop. I’d be remiss if I failed to mention that there were less than perfect moments in my recovery. The severity of my accident and the unpredictable neurological plight of paralysis meant there was cause for concern. At the risk of sounding less than scientific, I knew from the moment my neck snapped that everything would turn out OK. I was three feet under water and totally paralyzed. No one was there when I was lifted from the bottom and gently placed on the shore where I was found and expertly transported to the hospital. After an emergency operation and a week in the ICU, I was moved to the Rehabilitation Institute at Santa Barbara. The folks at the Rehab encouraged my faith and I walked out on my own power in a little more than 5 weeks. Although I won’t be competing in any BMX bike riding events and bungi cord jumping is no longer an option, I do get around quite well these days. Rhythm Therapy figured considerably in my own recovery.
In the first little while, before I had much physical prowess at all, I asked for a pair of drumsticks and a few percussion items. Having been a professional drummer all my life it seemed only natural that I test those waters first. I was extremely weak but there was potential in what I felt and hope that I could regenerate nerves and impulses. As it worked for me, why not share the experience with my mates in the ward. I did, and …it did work for them as well. It wasn’t long before the therapists, aids and the patients recognized the beneficial results and positive mood that rhythm encouraged throughout the hospital. We moved the project into the 1:30 occupational therapy group and began building on the concept. Concentrating on focus, attention span, simple drumbeats and clapping, playing along with music, learning basic musical notation and most importantly, having fun, we knew we had started something simplistically significant while inherently healing.
Libby Whaley, the director of recreational therapy at the institute took the project under her path and eventually had it approved by the senior leadership at the hospital. Libby and I worked for three years honing our skills on a weekly basis helping people with a wide range of disabilities. I took the project into several other facilities where only positive results prevailed. It was exciting to see different applications work with traumatic brain injury, mental illness, Cerebral Palsy, developmental disabilities and in the care of Alzheimer’s and other dementia.
Seiko Niimi, a developmental therapist has become a mentor and friend these past eight years as well. Working with her Y-SPIRIT and Club Aspire programs for children and young adults with developmental disabilities has resulted in many new and valuable ideas. I’ve also had the distinct pleasure of working in the ARC system in Ventura County, California for nearly four years. The project has grown in many ways thanks to the participation of so many new clients and the expertise of the ARC administrators and caregivers. To date we are now teaching in more than 30 facilities in eight states. We have programs in Rehabilitation Hospitals, Special Education, pre -school, and in Girls Inc. In addition to working in the developmental disability arena we are fostering inclusion in typical communities as well.
TRAP is a collaborative effort. Together, therapists, health care workers and aids, percussionists and drummers as well as the students endeavor to achieve a unique way to wellness, physically and mentally.
I’m not here to tell you of any distinct new revelations in the care and understanding and or cure in Autism Spectrum Disorders. I will however expand on my experience, much of which has enhanced my personal discovery, betterment and spiritual growth … and in the territory of factual, scientific and otherwise intellectual expression on this matter, to those individuals, I make no apologies. I am quite simply a better person having worked with and in continuing to work with children and adults with Autism and their families.
It’s a privilege to know so many folks who take in stride what I’d consider near heroic feats on a daily basis.
Routine, day-to-day doldrums that would appear overwhelming and complex to most of us fall into place as second nature to parents, guardians and siblings of developmentally disabled kids and adults.
My work is delightful given the situation I’m able to create with clients, health care workers, aids and therapists alike. It’s a win; win in light of how much fun we have. This is not to say that we don’t make a significant contribution, we do, it’s the essence of good humor and laughter that frame and enhance The Rhythmic Arts Project. There has been much personal satisfaction in these past seven years. The most cherished moments having enjoyed the unconditional love, devotion, and dedication shown by all the people surrounding the project. Beginning with the therapists and health care workers I encountered as a patient at the rehabilitation institute, to the many people I’ve met working in the field of developmental disabilities, commitment seemed as natural as sunlight, truly part of who they are. Parents and siblings carry a seemingly unwavering commitment 24/7. They’re not able to leave their compassion at the office and then punch it in again the next day like a time card. It’s on going. In my opinion there is no accolade great enough befitting these unsung hero’s.
Although my work is not limited to those individuals with Autism, in many cases Autism or (PPD) Pervasive Development Disorder may occur in conjunction with other disabilities thus contributing to problems with communication, learning and behavior. The ability to participate given creative direction is reinforced in every class. I’ve seen interaction in teaching as well as my personal relationships improve with every student along the way. I believe people with Autism Spectrum Disorders can and will make progress with consistent education, therapies and treatments. And, in line with this way of thinking, The Rhythmic Arts Project can be a positive means in addressing many goals. I’ll give you an outline of some of the exercises we employ. Again, consistency, repetition, dedication and patience are the key to success here.
In an entirely different format or approach, The Rhythmic Arts Project also offers professional recording for people with disabilities.
Gifted Artists Records is presented by The Rhythmic Arts Project as a vehicle for people with disabilities to record Professional CDs. It's sole purpose beyond the joy it brings everyone involved, is to promote and enhance funding for the development and facilitation of the rhythmic arts programs. The Rhythmic Arts Project is a 501 ( C ) (3) company.
We are extremely grateful for the playing skills, kindness and generosity of some of the world's greatest recording and touring musicians. Vinnie Colauita, Bill Champlin, Gregg Bissonette, Ralph Humphrey, Chris Pinnick, Leland Sklar, Jimmy Haslip, and Russell Ferrante among others have made our CD’s the very best they can be. A full list of artists and players is available at: www.GiftedArtistsRecords.com
These are just a few ideas employed by The Rhythmic Arts Project. New ideas are constantly evolving and tested on a regular basis. Auditory, visual, tactile and perceptual concepts come into play as we continue to work towards making the world a little better place for these very special friends. It is my hope that we might give people a better understanding of themselves and the world around them. That they may be included, integrated into our world with a sense of confidence and integrity. Inclusion has tremendous benefits for typically developed kids and adults alike. We can learn so much from our developmentally disabled friends. If we simply open our hearts and minds to their gentle souls, I think we will find that in many ways, we wish we could be more like they are.
Eddie Tuduri_
Founder, Director: The Rhythmic Arts Project
805 745 8280
etuduri@verizon.net
www.traponline.com_
Posted by: The Rhythmic Arts Project | September 9, 2006 01:05 AM
Misguided Citizens fighting group home --
On Friday, September 1 on the (Los Angeles, CA) KABC TV news, I happened to see a story by Micah Ohlman re: citizens 'up in arms' because a group home for 6 mentally 'challenged' men was starting in their neighborhood (in Covina, CA). One middle aged white woman who was interviewed explicitly stated that she is moving because her property value will plummet as a result. She also clearly made innuendoes regarding the potential for sexual abuse/exploitation because of these new residents. Frankly, I was aghast - I don't ever recall seeing such a 'report' about group homes (or special ed, etc.) EVER. There was, however, a very short interview with another woman who didn't see any problem with these new residents. Ohlman ended his report by saying that about 75 or so people are complaining to Covina's elected officials in order to stop this group home from starting.
I have written a letter to KABC TV but I don't honestly expect any response. Their reporting (in my humble opinion) smacked of how 'racy' this whole idea was ... even though group homes have been around for decades.
I am writing you in the hopes that you may know of anyone that may be able to speak out to these misguided citizens re: stereotypes and discrimination against people with developmental disabilities. If I lived in Covina, I would right now be standing in front of City Hall, waiting to be heard and learning the time and day of these alleged 'meetings'.
Please, find access to this news article and find a way to speak out forcefully and responsively to the stereotypes and misconceptions these people seem to have.
Thank you!
Sandy Goodwick
\La Crescenta, CA
Posted by: Sandy Goodwick | September 3, 2006 09:54 AM
Advanced Directives that Truly Protect One's Life
For those having newly acquired disabilities, the thought of denying themselves emergency care to avoid life with a disability is in this atmosphere of devaluation as portrayed by "Million Dollar Baby" is very real threat especially when taking in to account that most people consider a 'living will' a viable advanced directive when the 'living will' instructs a physician to withhold or withdraw medical treatment from its signer if he or she is in a terminal condition and is unable to make decisions about medical treatment. Living wills do nothing to protect the wishes of people and in fact was and is a document promoted by euthanasia and right to die groups as a way of slowly introducing back door euthanasia into America.
The original concept of the "Living Will" originated with pro-euthanasia groups, which saw the document as a publicly-acceptable way of introducing into different countries, the agenda of legalized active euthanasia, suicide, and assisted suicide. None of the pro-euthanasia organizations uses the term "euthanasia" in their titles preferring clever euphemisms like the "right to die," "death with dignity," and "mercy killing". These groups operate in states like California, Arizona, and Florida where large elderly and retired populations live. Beware of the Living Will, it can absolutely kill you, and protect those who do it.
The Living Will language is purposefully deceptive allowing simple wordings to appear harmless until hospital staff tries to interpret end-of-life care as dictated by the 'living will.' Words such as "artificial means," "reasonable expectation of recovery," "relatively short time," "heroic measures," and "terminal" are open to a variety of interpretations which could result in the patient's death. Many of the meanings that could be construed from these words may be contrary to the intent of the Living Will signer. Also, there may be more provisions to a Living Will law than the simple declaration which is signed by the individual. For example, persons seeking to prevent "extraordinary" and "heroic" measures at the end of their lives may unintentionally authorize their own starvation and dehydration. The terms used in a Living Will can be widely interpreted or misinterpreted depending on the hospital and staff. A physician whom the signer may not know and whom holds very different values than the signer, may be the authorized decision maker for a 'living will.'
According to a recently released poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press - Three in 10 people, 29 percent, now say they have a living will. That's more than twice the number, 12 percent, who said in 1990 that they had put into writing how they wish to be treated medically if they are incapable of communicating. While there is a rise in the number of people who have living wills, most people do not realize that a Living Will takes rights and control from its signer and gives decision-making authority to a physician which could jeopardize ones life. It also gives a physician complete immunity from civil or criminal liability for his or her action or inactions.
Here in lies the danger of people being lead by a false advanced directive down the road where they very well may be denied emergency care as a result of their signing a 'living will.' People using a 'living will' to promote end of life decisions are the population of people who will be exposed to the nightmare scenario of being forcefully starved dehydrated. A report by the Robert Powell Center for Medical Ethics of the National Right to Life Committee, April 15, 2005, released just two weeks after the murder of Terri proves that starvation/dehydration is a regular form of treatment for those whose lives are considered by physicians and hospital ethics boards unworthy of life. When asked, WILL YOUR ADVANCE DIRECTIVE BE FOLLOWED? The Report concludes that, "The public overwhelmingly believes patient and family choices for life-preserving measures should be respected, even when health care providers disapprove. However, health care providers are increasingly denying life-preserving measures in contravention of patient and family directives choosing them. Their denial of care as 'futile' is often based on 'quality of life' rather than physiological grounds and that most state laws fail to protect patients and families who want food, fluids, or life support when health care providers deny it."
The people that need to be protected the most may not do the research to find out that there are better alternatives to the 'living will' that truly will protect one from forceful starvation dehydration. 'The Will to Live' and the 'Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care Decisions' are much better options which protect individuals and families from the pressure of doctors, hospital, and hospice ethics boards enforcing euthanasia tactics. The "Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care" is a document in which you can delegate to a trusted friend or family member the power to become your agent for any health care decisions you are unable to make. In the DPAHC one can specify more clearly his or her wishes toward a pro-life position. Your trusted friend or family member who is familiar with your values and wishes would have authority to make health care decisions on your behalf. The DPAHC takes the decisions away from the "establishment" and moves it towards "home." To the medical caregivers, the DPAHC essentially says: "Here is a person upon whom I have often been dependent for love and care in the past. Now, when I can no longer participate in decisions about my medical care, I am content to continue to be dependent upon his (her) love and care. Talk with him about what is best for me."
THE WILL TO LIVE protects your own life and the lives of your family members when you cannot speak for yourselves. It names someone you trust to safeguard your life when you cannot speak for yourself as your "health care agent", names backup agents if your first choice can't serve, describes the treatment you do and do not want to guide your health care agent and physicians, protects your family and health care agent from pressure from health care providers and others by allowing them to prove what you really did want, and it relieves agonizing end-of-life decision making from loved ones making your wishes clear. I bring this to your attention now so that you yourself realize that the 'living will' is the reason why people are exposed to forced starvation dehydration. With this knowledge you can protect yourself and all you know from ever having to face the ordeal Terri Schiavo was forced through.
Posted by: Zen Garcia | August 30, 2006 02:38 PM
Hiring and Interviewing Attendants Simplified
Zen Garcia
August 30th, 2006
I have found it necessary in the 11 years that I have been a recipient of the Independent Care Waiver Program to learn how to hire people my self to fill spots vacant in my shifts. I find it is better for me to always have 4 or 5 attendants to cover just in case of emergencies, car trouble, unpredictable circumstance, sickness or want for vacation. I do all my own ad placement, interview coordination, and hiring selection because I know that I will be the one who has to share time and space with these individuals and not the case manager or provider agency I use to manage my personnel. I believe whenever possible it should be the will and responsibility of the consumer to learn how to fill staffing and become interactive in building their own circle of support. Having the power to hire your own staff is the most important tool a consumer can have in controlling life and surrounding environment. And as long as one has a good attitude it should never be a problem to assemble, fill, and maintain good people.
I have been asked many times by others how I maintain a staff that can do the job and with whom I can still have fun. I write this article in hopes that it may be of assistance to those who may need a little help in this matter. First, a positive attitude and goal oriented outlook on life will make time spent hanging out with attendants easy passing. I have been around hundreds of people with disabilities from all parts of the world and nation and find that no matter what the severity of their condition, a good attitude creates easier working conditions and better space for people to want to be in rather than the traditional medical model of long-term care, where a person is hired because of nursing skill and not casual relating.
Hiring people can be a positive experience in that not only does the end result mean hiring a great caregiver but it can possibly lead to potential lifelong friends. I relocated 6 times in the past few years to various parts of the state and have had to transfer my help and fill staffing it seems a hundred times. I find the wording of the ad is the key that will dictate the kinds of people who will call for interview. When I place an ad I word it in such a way that will create different expectations and attract a different kind of curiosity than the regular seeking qualified CNA. ad that most agencies write for their consumers. I place the ad in the general help wanted section -seeking enthusiastic individual to aid poet/fencer with disability in activities of daily living, the particular shift, the pay, if there are any benefits, and always for me, travel necessary.
This kind of ad attracts both the medical I like to help kind of people and the artistically inclined person seeking new job opportunity. Poet/fencer can be replaced with student, artist, elderly, etc… depending upon the particular individual and the kind of people one is trying to attract. I put travel necessary to allow for ADAPT and recreational trips and to weed out individuals that are so committed to other routines or people, that they are really unable to spend large amounts of time with me and may not be available in emergency situation. Travel also draws interest from many individuals who have never had the opportunity or finances to travel outside of the city or state of their birth.
I find that I can train anybody to do the actual job, what's more important to me is being able to share good space, conversation, and memory with the attendants I will hire as many care-givers will spend more time with the person they care for than even with their own spouses or families. Whether or not they have the medical credentials, I know I have the necessary skills capable to train anyone in the particulars of my personal care. I find also that people who do not have any experience within this kind of field also have no expectations as to what to expect and therefore no biases about how they want to deliver their care. For instance, someone that has worked in a nursing home environment where they are able to largely ignore and control the requests of the consumers they attend to, are more problematic when it comes to training based on the independent living philosophy. It can be often more difficult to retrain these kinds of people than in training someone who has no idea what to expect.
I place more importance in the feeling I have when I meet and talk to people during the initial phone dialogue and follow-up face-to-face conversation than I do if they already have prior experience in personal assistance. Once I have accumulated enough names and telephone numbers, I begin the face-to-face assessments which consequently determine who I will hire and introduce to my provider for paperwork and rest of procedures necessary to join my staff.
When I do interviews with people I write down their names, phone numbers, areas where they live, whether they have reliable transportation, and if they've had any experience with people with disabilities before. I then tell them about the job requisites and what they entail. I then ask them about their interests- what movies, books, foods, artists, painters, poets, musicians, people they like... the usual hi my name is dialogue to get to know other people. I like to know what they do with their free time just to get a general feel for them as people in their own lives. After allowing them to ask me any questions about the job or interests, I let them go and wait for the next person to come.
I am careful to thank each person for coming to interview and I let them know no matter if I hire them this time or not, I always keep this list for later reference. It is important to relate most everything up front especially in terms of personal care. Any expectations should be discussed and preferences shared in the face-to-face interview. Topics such as boundaries, likes, concerns, and dislikes should be openly conversed to better transition the consumer and the aid into each other's lives. Like marrying on the first date, if the consumer and hired attendant consider all measures up-front there will be less likelihood of the consumer entering into a bad situation.
After all the face-to-face interviews, I call in the people I have chosen for a second face-to-face where I clear up any further confusion about the job, explaining fully the provider, procedures, pay, benefits, and every aspect of my care. Then if everything is still good, we finish the paperwork, background checks, drug tests, TBI test, first aid, and CPR. Then I train them hands-on with people I already have on staff. This way everybody gets to meet everyone else and the new people not only see the training, but do it and feel it until they have it right.
This process can be simple for someone like myself who has done it dozens of times in the course of living with disability. It took me a few attempts to refine this procedure but I find it to produce very good results and have tested it in different parts of the state. The only other tips I can think of providing is, if you feel vulnerable and uneasy about inviting strangers into the household, meet them on mutual ground, a restaurant or center for independent living. For individuals that cannot verbalize clearly their wishes, handouts could be generated for potential attendants to read and answer upon initial meeting. Topics can include responsibilities, expectations, household rules, consumer preference, duties, chores, etc.
It is important too, that when the contract is drawn up between the agency, consumer, and aid, that all parties be present to consummate the deal. This gives the potential employee the idea that the consumer is responsible for their hiring and that will create respect for the consumer from the new employee. As much as it is important for consumers to hire their own employees, it is very important that the consumer be responsible for finding a provider who will treat them and their employees with the respect they deserve as potential clients and valued caretakers.
There are providers out there that will try to milk the consumer and the employee for as much profit as they can get away with, even going to such lengths as firing staff to replace them with cheaper staff. But there are also new provider agencies out there that have the health and independence of the client in mind, knowing that how they treat their employees has as much to do with the quality of their clients’ health as good food or the proper medication. These agencies I know are harder to find. That is why it is important upfront to spend a lot of time assessing the different providers in your area and whether they support the independent living philosophy or not. My agency allows me to everything myself and only needs to support me when it comes to doing the paperwork necessary for state regulations and insure a timely regulated payroll. My employees all know that I am the boss and what I say goes period. I am easy going so all of us get along well. They do what I need and require and we have fun along the way. Out of the 6 girls I have working for me right now, none of them had previous experience in working in this field. Hope this helps you in some way. Finally, I find prayer goes a long way in blessing you with the right people and at the right time.
Posted by: Zen Garcia | August 30, 2006 02:36 PM
Regarding Post on 8/16 on PC terms and disability: I prefer to be called Kay. That's about as person first as it gets.
Posted by: K O | August 23, 2006 06:59 AM
I am looking for someone to talk to about what is going on in my life. This is the first time that I have been discriminated against because of a disability. I created my website (http://www.gesupplydiscrimination.com/) to tell my story and hopefully to talk with others in a similar situation. I also have a blog. Its all new to me.
Posted by: Rob | August 22, 2006 05:31 PM
QUEENS COUNTY FAMILY COURT DENIED HANDICAPPED VAN TO DISABLED.....STATING ITS AN OPTION TO HAVE ONE.
During a family court proceeding I was told by the Judge that a handicapped equipped van is an option though the DRS said it was medically necessary.
An appeals Judge ruled and never addressed the handicapped van.
It appears that there is no ruling ever made on this issue. Other than a non custodial parent has to pay even if it means doing with the necessary things such as a handicapped vehicle.
All the Disability Advocates refuse to address this issue.
The court has the power and authority to tell a disabled person to become a prisoner in one owns home.
The Governor of NY has refused to become involved.
There is no justice once you become a disabled person.
I don't know if the ADA will address this, anyone know?
Posted by: AJ | August 21, 2006 05:09 PM
Hi;
I am adult with ADHD. I see some of the messages posted on boards from people who suffer from this disorder. It is annoying, and it does affect my everyday life, but like everyone else, I have to compete with "normal" people for jobs. I see some people with physical disabilities who are extremely intellegent, & well educated. They have attained a high standard of living. Yet they still feel encumbured.
When people meet me, that automatically assume that I graduated college & went on for my masters degree.
Because I wasn't diagnosed until the age of 35, I didn't know I had ADHD when I was growing up, had difficulty in school, and started on my rocky career path.
Posted by: Robert | August 20, 2006 08:50 PM
You can be crippled if you want to be. i'm crippled, too, when i'm around other crippled people. this discussion is about sending a strong message about how we will and will not be referred to by the very people locking us in institutions, refusing to follow state and federal anti-discrimintion laws, and expecting us to live in povery wages and keep our mouths shut about it. disabled people are disabled, by society. unfortunately, that is not the meaning that the word "disabled" has taken on. once old, woodenly words become associated with a certain mindset, it is almost impossible to reverse the meaning generally accepted by society. i am a person with a disability and i will not be referred to otherwise. i hope you join me!
Posted by: eleanor | August 17, 2006 11:59 AM
"Person First Language"?! Excuse me??!
~~~~~
Can someone out there explain the "logic" behind this new,politically correct language called "person first language"? Who is it that is intended to benifit by this? I don't think it is the disabled, because the only people who use it,that I have encountered, have all been non disabled people, who are quite devoted to working on "causes", however.
As someone with a number of disabilties, and with two of my four children also on the autistic spectrum, I really do not understand this insistance on PC correctness when it is a disabled person writing about something concerning their own or related disabiltiy. It seems to especially raise the ire of these folks when an autistic person (by this I mean someone who has some form of autism) refers to themselves or others as "autistic" rather than as "a person with autism". How the heck is anyone supposed to write or talk if they have to think up what is the current PC definition? More to the point, when the people who have the disabiltiy refer to it in a particular way, when the medical community does the same, whose big idea is it that it is wrong? its like deciding that it is wrong to call a colour by its right name, but rather by some esoteric, scientific or technical description... Smacks very much of the days when people would whisper behind their hands that "so-and-so has a mongoloid child. wonder why she is like that?" Or that it was recommended by doctors to "put away" blind,deaf or otherwise "different" children..... I thought that we were out of those dark ages and coming into a time when disabiltiy is understood to be a difference, and not something to hide or be ashamed of. I'm not. I do have a number of disabilties, mental and physical, and two of my kids are on the autistic spectrum. We are not ashamed of this- we acknowledge that we cannot do some thing that others can, but also accept that we are able to do things that others envy.
...so who's got the real problem here? Not we autistics,wobblers, blinkies and other crips!
Gail Nichols
Posted by: Gail Nichols | August 16, 2006 07:06 PM
Would I?
Would I be disabled in a world where a wheel chair, hearing aid, sign language or the use of any assistive device were viewed as a normal everyday occurrence (which by the way they are)?
Would I be disabled in a world where accommodations for service dogs were as common place as fast food restaurants?
Would I be disabled if the world saw the fact that I have to modify my approach to certain activities but I can still accomplish what needs to be done?
When the focus is on disability rather than ability we reinforce the differences which are perceived to separate us one from another.
When the focus is on our humanity, shared feelings and our perceptions of the world around us there is common ground that can be shared from a multitude of vantage points.
When the focus is on acceptance of the reality that each of us must live in a society that truly values each person for the person that they are, amazing things can happen.
When the focus is on quality of life the world can be transformed.
What is there about me that you cannot accept? If you understand that we are all mirrors of each other, when you refuse to accept me for who I am, you are refusing to accept yourself. In that moment there is a question about who is disabled now?
Posted by: barney | August 16, 2006 05:40 PM
Searchable Knowledge Base Answers Your Questions about Access Issues for
People with Disabilities
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lab?
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- Captain Strong Elementary: A Promising Practice in Engaging Students with Learning Differences
- Earth Science: A Case Study on Teaching Concepts to a Student with a Visual Impairment
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Selecting, Search DO-IT Knowledge Base, at http://www.washington.edu/doit/, and conducting a search of your own for questions and answers, case studies, and promising practices in content areas that interest you.
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Posted by: DO-IT Program, Univ of Washington | August 9, 2006 04:59 PM
A POSITIVE COURT EXPERIENCE:
I recently had a case dismissed in New York. I was suing a contractor for shoddy work in NY. The contractors office is located in New Jersey.
My case was dismissed in NY and I went to New Jersey Courts seeking redress.
I called the court located in New Jersey where I had to go (Bergen County). I informed them I am 100 percent disabled and traveling to NJ was very difficult, if not impossibe, for me. The person in Bergen County advised me I would have to pick up the tab for a audio/video conference for the sum of $1500.00. I thought that the cost was excessive. I telephoned the next person in charge of handling ADA matters. She too thought the court fee was excessive. Anyway, she asked me to ascertain if NY would be willing to cooperate with NJ on this ADA request and have a video/audio conference. I called the court (Clarkstown Justice Court) and they said no as they did not have the ability to have this type of hearing (I am planning on suing Clarkstown and the State of NY Unified Court System for not having this available between two local courts in NY as part of an ADA requirement.....I have to sue Pro Se as there isn't an attorney around that would do it on a contingency basis).
New Jersey Courts have one of the best ADA systems I have seen around. You have the ability to talk to people....in NY you have to write letters and no one responds back to you....including the Mayor's Office.
The Clerk of the Court in Rockland has called me and understand the situation.
The Clerk of Rockland Supreme Court said he will see if they can arrange a daytime conference with audio and video.
This is the fist time I have gotten anywhere invoking the ADA and demonstrating my disabilities.
I applaud New Jersey Courts for taking the ADA seriously as they do. I wish NY would learn to as well.
See: http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/services/aocada.htm
Posted by: AJ | August 6, 2006 03:55 PM
Grateful, not Dead (yet)
This is a speech I gave at the Healthy Minds Cooperative's AGM in Halifax this July. Archie said to publish it, so here goes.
As some of you may know, I was in Russia recently for a couple weeks, in St. Petersburg, a beautiful city which was founded about 300 years ago by Peter the Great. It’s called the Venice of the North, because of its canals lined by exquisite architecture. It’s the home of the Hermitage, one of the world’s great art collections. The emperors of Russia are buried there. It is also famous for the suffering of its people during the Siege of Leningrad, the name St Petersburg had during Soviet times, during WWII when many people starved to death while the Nazis waited.
I was in Russia for a program of creative writing workshops and literary seminars. And one day two people said things that stick in my head. The first was a creative writing teacher and writer, Suzanne, from the US (Conneticut I think) who had brought a number of her students to Russia for the program. We were walking together up Nevsky Prospekt, the main street of St. Petersburg, on the way to a reading by the well-known Russian poet, Sergey Gandelevsky. We were talking about happiness for some reason-- I can’t remember why, but it’s a favourite topic of mine-- and I said I thought gratitude is essential to happiness. This is something I have come to realize because I have noticed that everything can be going about the same or better than usual, but if I’m not counting my blessings, I feel worse than usual. And Suzanne said “Gratitude is a practice” which kind of made me think about gratitude, being thankful, in the same way that meditation or prayer is a practice. I guess Oprah has already discovered this idea, but it was a new one for me.
When we got to the reading, which was held in a theatre museum, a Russian translator first read a poem by Sergey Gandelevsky translated into English. Then Gandelevsky read the same poem in Russian. If you’ve ever heard someone like Dylan Thomas read his own poetry, or some great actor reading Shakespeare, you will know how wonderful a sound it is, even when you can’t understand a word that is being said! Afterward there was time for questions, and I asked Gandelevsky what it is like to be a poet in post-Communist Russia compared to during the Soviet days? And he answered in Russian which was then translated into English, “ Poets are unnecessary in a free society” and he added “ They are not praised but neither are they destroyed.” I have since learned that dissident poets of the early part of the 20th century and later who spoke out against the Communist government or who simply did not write what it wanted to hear, often suffered greatly, were threatened and imprisoned.
What Gandelevsky said about poets made me think of the place that people with mental illness have in society. Not that they are the same—you can’t really compare suffering—but people with mental illness in the not so distant past have definitely suffered, been held against their will, been institutionalized, mistreated (sometimes in the name of supposedly compassionate medical treatment), been shunned.
Poets in today’s Russia may not be threatened, imprisoned, tortured or killed—but it may be true that they are unneccessary today in a (relatively speaking) free Russian society, that what they say may not matter, because anyone can say what they think, what they want. And because they have no designated social role, poets can be politely ignored. They are superfluous.
People with mental illness are similar to poets in Russia because they often have no place. You might have heard people say mental health consumers are marginalized. What that means to me is that we are pushed by the stigma surrounding mental illness to the margins of society. That we have no place in society, no role, no niche, no meaning, no value. That’s especially true if their mental illness prevents them from working, from maintaining relationships, from interfacing with reality in a way that other people can understand. For the most part we are not praised, or if we are it’s with a kind of condescending praise (oh isn’t it amazing what obstacles you’ve overcome?) —we merely exist. For the most part we are not destroyed—unless being ignored destroys us. There are some supports because of the social safety net—most of us have enough to eat, a roof above us, running water, heat and some attention from professionals, like doctors, therapists, etc-- but that’s not the same thing as having a place and having meaning in society.
What mostly makes me compare Russian poets to people with mental illness though is an emotional thing- the isolation; the way it feels when people, politely leave you alone if they find out you have a mental illness; it’s a kind of shunning, unstated and often subtle but definitely in practice.
People don’t want us to starve on the streets but neither, often, do they want us to be a part of their lives, their workplace, or their communities. People don’t know what to make of us. And if we speak out, like the dissident poets, some of us worry about the repercussions that will have on our financial support and our medical treatment. In this way we’re like those Russian poets of old—fearing punishment for pointing out injustice or not toeing the party line.
I am not really trying to draw a parallel between Russian poets and mental health consumers in Canada. I’m just saying that what Gandelevsky said about poets got me thinking about what it’s like to be a mental health consumer, what it feels like when you go out into the world and say “here I am”. We all know it’s not a piece of cake to have mental health problems, and that the kind of reaction we get from the world makes it all the more difficult.
But that brings me to what Suzanne Davis, the American writer and teacher said. “Gratitude is a practice”. I think when a lot of us think about feeling thankful, it’s usually because something out of the ordinary, something good happens to us. Or because we look at our lives and think, hey, my life is good- something we might do once every so often. We’re thankful for the things that make us happy. But I think what Suzanne was saying is we need to take time and effort to look at our lives and be thankful for what we have. We have to make a habit of it, discipline ourselves to it even when we may be feeling anything but grateful. And I think it’s actually in the being grateful that the seed of happiness blooms.
I think this blooming of the seed of happiness is important for mental health. I know it is for mine. When I am feeling thankful for my life and the things and people in it, I am happy, I am hopeful and positive. When I am not thankful, it just doesn’t matter what’s going right- life doesn’t seem worth it sometimes. Funny that you can have all the advantages, love of people in your life, success, praise, and if you aren’t thankful, it means very little. That’s sort of what people say about health too- you can have all the money in the world but without your health it does you no good.
When I have been severely depressed in the past, doctors have said, “do things you used to enjoy, even if they seem to bring you no pleasure at the moment.” I used to think this was crazy advice. What was the point? It seemed so artificial and, following their advice half-heartedly, I still felt miserable.
Now I am beginning to understand that our minds are part machine, and not totally under control of our wills. We have to keep them oiled and gassed up, keep the parts in good working order, for them to keep working well when we want to use them. Thinking positively, doing what we enjoy, getting enough rest, eating healthy, are like practicing our piano scales. We may not feel like doing it, but the practice part keeps us limber, keeps our minds greased, for when we want to play something we really like.
Being grateful is a little like that. It doesn’t always come naturally. Sometimes maybe we have to sit down and make a list for ourselves about what we have to be thankful for. Even if we don’t feel thankful.
But why? Why does gratitude matter. The only reason I say this is, as I mentioned before, that I believe gratitude is essential to happiness - and I think we are put on this earth to be happy. You may dispute that, but I believe that a loving God would want our happiness, and that if there is no loving God we might as well spend our time being happy anyway. If there is no loving God, in fact, we might as well spend our time being happy to spite an unloving God.
I have the same attitude toward mental health. From my experience, being acutely mentally ill makes me unhappy. It also paralyses me, because there seems to be no pleasure, no meaning and no goal to work toward. If I was acutely happy when mentally ill, I would have to rethink the value of mental health. To me, mental health means, I can do the things I like to do, the things that fulfill me, that satisfy me, that make me happy. I can do my work; I can be with my friends; I can live independently; I can see that there is a future for me. That’s why my mental health is important to my happiness.
“Gratitude is a practice”. To me it means taking a meditative or prayerful attitude to life, and making a habit of it. Prayer is not always a spontaneous outpouring, and meditation doesn’t always lead to enlightenment. Sometimes it’s just something you do in a day.
Keeping one’s mental health may boil down to having a good set of habits, like combing your hair and flossing your teeth. Taking our meds, thinking positively, being assertive in relationships, getting enough sleep and avoiding street drugs- these are really after all, good habits. So is counting our blessings, being thankful for what we have in our lives. The more conscious we are of how our minds work and how to keep them well-groomed (good mental hygiene I guess it’s called), then the easier it will be to cope with difficult life situations as they arise.
Of course, we need a place to live. Food to eat. Friends to depend on. Something to do. “A home a job a friend,” I think the CMHA says, and I love that slogan because aren’t those the concrete things that give us a place in society? The things that make us feel connected to the land of the living. Otherwise we’re a little like walking ghosts. We’re there but we don’t count. People look away, or just don’t see us.
There’s a certain amount we can do ourselves, like keeping good mental hygiene as much as possible- but society has to meet us half way, it’s true. They have to be prepared to see us, to include us, and to acknowledge the needs of people recovering from mental illness, which is a fragile state to be in. Like the Russian poets, who are neither praised nor destroyed, we need to be seen- to be acknowledged and valued for our intrinsic worth; And we need to be grateful for what we have. It’s a balance, to be grateful and yet to know we deserve more and to be able to ask for it.
Sometimes I don’t feel like asking for something better- but that’s how the world improves. Some say Necessity is the Mother of Invention- but you know, I think improvements come not always out of necessity but because someone asks for or even demands it. Like equal rights for women; like washing machines and dryers; and running water.
I have to say I’m grateful for those things. And who knows what improvements made on behalf of people with mental health problems will result in? It’s kind of like curb cuts on sidewalks- they were demanded and won by people who use wheelchairs but they’ve also benefited people pushing strollers, delivery people and roller-bladers. Making things better for the most vulnerable people makes communities better for all people.
Ands maybe that’s the role people with mental health problems have to play. Changes made in the workplace, to the financial support system, and the health care system will benefit the rest of society, I am sure of it. And then society will have something to be grateful to us for.
Posted by: Anna Quon | August 2, 2006 05:22 PM
ZEROS FOR HEROS By Alan J. Odze
Governor Pataki has vetoed bill A 09147 which would have authorized the issuance of specialty license to severely disabled police officers. http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A09147&sh=t
In a veto message the Governor stated that he vetoed the bill as there were other organizations that were suing the state as well as other states on account of these specialized license plate. Though if your an Account, Nurse or Disabled Veteran or American Disabled Veteran you will still be able to enjoy the issuance of these plates along with a whole list of many different organizations and purposes.
This bill passed the Assembly 140 YEA to 1 NAY (Assemblyman Powell who despises police officers) of one vote and passed the Senate unanimously. The bill was sponsored by Assemblyman Zebrowsky and Senator Morahan.
This is just another slap in the face to disabled police officers.
Posted by: AJ | July 30, 2006 02:28 PM
Discrimination smeared in Canada's new Smoke Free Act:
Ontario's new Smoke Free Act allows only smokers who are 'independently mobile' to enter the smoking room in residential care facilities and chronic care hospitals.
Ontario's new Smoke Free Act, which came into effect recently, is under severe criticism from civil liberties groups due to its what appears to be a discriminatory policy against the elderly and the disabled.
Section 9, clause 3, of Smoke-Free Ontario Act states, “A resident who desires to use the room must be able, in the opinion of the proprietor or employer, to smoke safely without assistance from an employee”, and that “an employee who does not desire to enter the room shall not be required to do so.” According to the new legislation, an operator who is found to be in non-compliance (allowing someone to assist a smoker) can be charged with allowing a resident who is “not independently mobile to smoke.”
Many civil liberties organizations, like 2CL - Citizens for Civil Liberties – and CAGE - Citizens Against Government Encroachment – Canada, are questioning if the new measure is in fact, discriminatory against people who are not independently mobile.
Michelle Gervais, the spokesperson for 2CL, says that she has been exploring local nursing homes and was appalled by what she saw. “The residents have shown us bruises that they sustained in falls trying to get to the designated smoking area. The smoking area is a boulevard curb at the edge of a parking lot. One poor lady has to use her walker to walk to the only door that has a ramp at the front of the building. She then has to maneuver this walker through a parking lot, dodging traffic all the way”, Gervais says.
When one of the members of 2CL requested to volunteer as a helper, she was turned down and told that smokers have to be independently mobile.
Even though Dalton McGinty, the premier of Ontario, has expressed concern about elderly abuse, he has failed to recognize that “isolation, humiliation and refusal to provide assistance are all defined by law as elderly abuse”, Gervais says.
Posted by: Jennifer Ha | July 28, 2006 05:18 PM
A Wheelchair Dream ...Who can claim disability?
I awoke this morning fresh from a dream that I found very sweet ... Maybe warm on the surface. I sensed that a longing for belonging was being fulfilled. I was using a wheelchair and being pushed into a church by one of my students. There were other people there using wheelchairs, moving about and the like. I was struck with an overpowering glow of comradeship from those who were my fellows. People were greeting me and I, in return, was engaging in pleasant repartee. The church service began with what appeared to be a sprinkling baptism of some sort or a christening. People on the platform at the front of the church were adorned ceremoniously in whitish-silver robes.
At a certain point in the service all attention seemed to turn and focus upon me. I was suddenly addressing the members of the body assembled and sharing very passionately about the Transition classes at the college where I teach. I actually share quite a bit so this was not out of place. People were attentive as well as intrigued by what I was saying. I had the blue pamphlets that I had printed out to tell about the Transition Services. I was struck by the sense of belonging with others as a person with a disability. I was having a problem with the impression that they could not hear me clearly unless I were standing. Nonetheless, many people in the congregation reached for the pamphlets and they were interested in what I was sharing. This dream is the first one where I was using a wheelchair. In fact, I don't recall other dream sequences that contain disability let alone the overall theme of belonging to disability. However, I think in reality, I have had similar feelings of belonging to disability or claiming it. I also got up and walked around. When I was aware of this, I felt guilt and tried to sit back in my wheelchair. In waking life this question is constantly running through my mind: who can claim disability?
Some years back, shortly after I was diagnosed with MS, I joined and attended several MS support groups in Redding and in Yreka. I also attended a conference in Sacramento and joined the MS Society. My diagnosis of MS was quite a shock, to say the least, although this formal labeling was preceded by a number of symptoms in years prior. Most notable were my headaches out of hell. They started suddenly in 1990 and lasted for about nine months. They were different from any headaches I had ever had. We called them my "fuck headaches" in order distinguish them from sinus or garden variety allergy type pains. They were debilitating. When they struck I would just have to stop and lay down. And this could be while driving, eating in restaurants or attending professional conferences. I would have to sleep. It even happened at work.
Along with the onset of the headaches, I also started having problems with my running. I wasn't exactly a world class runner to begin with. But when I did try to run I felt strange electrical tinglings that shot from my neck down through my arms, legs and feet. I tried running on my tip toes to cushion the vibrations that seemed to be bringing on the electrical sensations. Still, there was pain enough with the tingling that I could not run longer than a minute or two over a period of six months or more. I learned later that the phenomenon was more than likely Lhermitte's sign. At the same time I also experienced transient events during which the right side of my face and upper body would just instantaneously become numb; and then just as quickly it would pass. One time this happened while I was standing and speaking with a sheltered workshop director. The numbness hit. I was holding a cup of coffee and the only thing I could think of was how I was going to avoid showering coffee on her or collapsing in her lap. Fortunately I was able to hold onto my composure long enough for the scare to pass, as it were, without letting on that I was in some deep distress.
Subsequent office visits to the neurologist were without suitable relief from the headaches or a diagnosis. The first neurologist I picked suggested my problem was that I lived in Mount Shasta and was exposing myself to "Woo Woo" new age supplements and other substances not listed the pharmacopoeia. That was interesting. Several MRI's indicated a glow around my brain. Unfortunately it was not a halo. Rather, it indicated something pathological. In addition, I had a lumbar puncture ... Mainly to rule out HIV. Again there were no firm results. Later that year the headaches subsided. I ran a ten mile Turkey Trot and was honored as the "most improved runner" by the Mount Shasta Runners Club. Gradually I began to forget the interlude of strange tinglings and killer headaches as my life moved on. But the MS was lurking in me and that was part of me.
In 1993 I had a routine exam with my ophthalmologist. He finally talked me into new glasses with the UV filter coating that darkens in sunlight. I had never been sold on this idea in the first place. And sure enough, as I was walking between classes on campus, the flowers and plants along the path I was following were just evaporating into nothingness. Poof! When I turned my head to look directly at the landscape, the flowers magically returned. I knew right away it was the glasses; so I took them straight back to have the UV coating removed. I told the ophthalmologist, "These glasses will not do." Of course it was not the glasses. When the ophthalmologist examined my right eye he described my problem. It turned out to be an optic neuritis. In essence, it is a crater like divot on the optic nerve that no longer senses light and color. I was directed to consult a neurologist.
This time I picked a different neurologist. After one more MRI and another lumbar puncture, the diagnosis was in. Ironically, on the day before I received it I had suited up to go running. For some perverse reason I felt the compulsive need to climb a ladder to the roof of our home where our FM antenna needed just a slight angular adjustment to bring in the public radio station more clearly. On the way down from my space repair mission the ladder just slipped away from the house. It fell flat. I landed on it with such force that I put a curvy bend in one side of it with my butt. My butt had a temporary black and blue tattoo. I also broke five ribs and was a patient at Mount Shasta hospital when I got the word on my MS diagnosis by phone while in bed in my hospital room. That was the proverbial "bad day at the office."
Almost as soon as I got out of the hospital I started learning about MS and looking for other people with MS who could tell me what they do with their lives. I read many books, did a lot of computer research and this is when I found several ongoing MS support groups. I was prepared for further relapses and I was concerned about mobility issues. In the meantime I was still running when I joined the Yreka MS support group.
When I arrived for the first support meeting I took notice of the way other people were dealing with their MS. I was struck with the variety of canes, walkers, wheelchairs and electrical carts. I was quite mobile compared to everyone else it seemed to me. It was a potluck and I was starved. I sat next to an athletic looking man about my age and we talked about many subjects between bites of great food. I'm a vegetarian. There were scads of options for me there aside from the tofu prune surprise I had contributed. While my new athlete friend and I were talking, the subject of running came up. I was delighted to learn that the very first person I chose to sit near was an annual participant in the famous, Yreka Blue Goose Run. In this event, the train engine, The Blue Goose, starts up down the tracks. Runners then attempt to challenge it. I was ecstatic. I finally got around to asking him how he did against the mighty Blue Goose? He gave me that look that an adult gives to a naive, little child and said, "I'm the engineer."
Posted by: Stephen Concklin, Ed.D. | July 26, 2006 12:04 AM
The Voting Power of 44 Million Caregivers
by Janine M Lodato
LodatoClan@aol.com
There are 44 million informal caregivers (family and friends) in the USA who attend to the 100 million people in need of caregiving. They need political support and an independent third party www.unity08.com or any political candidate, with courage and foresight (democratic or independent), for the 08 presidential election could be just perfect. Of course the small businesses who employ caregivers would also support such enlightened campaign supported by this very large voting block.
We need a tax break for businesses, especially for small businesses, when they hire and retain an informal caregiver as an employee. Businesses already have a tax break when they employ a disabled person. The same or similar tax break should be given to the business which hires informal caregivers or who already employ such caregivers.
There are 44 million informal caregivers in the USA. These informal caregivers are members of the family or friends of the person in need of caregiving. There are 100 million people in the USA who are in need of an informal caregiver. These are the frail elderly, chronically ill and the disabled. This population sector is the fastest growing segment due to the aging of the baby boomer population.
If an independent third party politician or a democratic candidate for political office would create and push through the legislation which would provide a tax break to the employers of caregivers, it would assure that such politician or candidate certainly would be supported by much of the above 144 million population segment: the combination of the informal caregivers and the people who are in need of care.
What a campaign issue, indeed!
The US Department of Labor predicts that by 2008, 54 percent of the work force will be involved in caring just for an elderly person making doctors' appointments, handling emergencies, giving transportation, buying and cooking food, all the basic functions of life the elderly person has difficulties to perform.
But the informal caregivers who are also full time employed have a major problem; not everyone is able to manage the conflicting demands of working and caregiving.
A MetLife study reported that 16 percent of employees who perform as caregivers quit their jobs and 13 percent retired early in order that they could provide caregiving to the people in need. This study found that the average life-time loss per such person was an estimated $ 566 thousand in lost wages, $ 67 thousand in lower pension benefits plus $ 25 thousand loss of Soc. Sec. benefits.
Also, many of the employees who are caregivers get passed over for promotions and are the first ones who are eliminated when a downsizing of the business takes place.
These problems of the employees, who are also serving as caregivers, could be almost eradicated if the employers of caregivers would let their caregiving employees to perform telework style for some or much of their workload. About only one in four businesses offers employees who are caregivers such advantages as flexible hours, telecommuting, paid leave in case of emergencies and compassionate understanding.
The legislation which would support the employers of the caregivers could also include a double or increased tax break for the employer if the business would allow the employees, who are involved in caregiving, to perform most of their work with great degree of flexibility such as telecommuting and flexible time.
So let us organize a strong campaign for the independent third party online convention, or the convention of the democrats, followed by an election campaign in each of the 50 states and then onto the Presidential elections, which could include in their platforms the special tax break for the businesses who employ and appreciate employees who are also dedicated caregivers.
References:
National Family Caregivers Association
NFCA: National Family Caregivers Association. Dedicated to making life better for America's family caregivers. Includes information on NFC Month, ...http://www.nfcacares.org/
FCA: Family Caregiver Alliance Home
Handbook for Long-Distance Caregivers · A Physician's View of Caregiver Health ... Caregivers at Risk · Updated Fact Sheet: Selected Caregiver Statistics ...http://www.caregiver.org/
Empowering Caregivers - Choices, Healing, Love
A rich, safe nurturing site for all caregivers focused on providing practical emotional and spiritual support with tools for self-empowerment and a strong ...http://www.care-givers.com/
MedlinePlus: Caregivers
Caregivers. ... Financial Issues; Financial Steps for Caregivers: What You Need to Know about Money and Retirement (Administration on Aging) - Links to PDF ...http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/caregivers.html
The AgeNet Eldercare Network
http://www.caregivers.com/
CareGiver :: Information Source for CareGivers for Those in Need .....
CareGiver.com is a leading provider of support and information for those caring for the elderly, heart attack survivors, diabetes care, ...http://www.caregiver.com/
National Family Caregiver Support Program
The report, Young Caregivers in the US, can be downloaded from: http://www.caregiving.org/data/youngcaregivers.pdf. *, Financial Steps for Caregivers ...http://www.aoa.gov/prof/aoaprog/caregiver/caregiver.asp
Coalition of Essential Schools National Office
For over twenty years, CES has been a national leader in public education transformation. Guided by the Common Principles, CES strives to create and sustain ...http://www.essentialschools.org/
CareGivers-USA Help that's close to home
CareGivers-USA Finding help at home. ... CareGivers-USA is a nationwide, non-commercial directory of community-based caregiver support services -- intended ...http://caregivers-usa.org/
ALZwell Alzheimer's Caregivers Page
Information and support for people caring for elderly with Alzheimer's Disease and other forms of dementia.http://www.alzwell.com/
Janine M. Lodato
P.O.Box 838
SAN ANDREAS, CA.
95249-838
http://www.publishedauthors.net/janinemlodato/bio.html
http://journals.aol.com/lodatoclan/StemCellResearch/
http://www.publishamerica.com/greetingcardpro/createcard1.asp?PostCardID=10026
http://www.disabilityworld.org/09-11_04/access/weblish.shtml
http://e-bility.com/articles/weblish.shtml
http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~liao/cokesymbol.html
http://www.funlist.com/www/coke/lib/symbol.html
http://www.eclicktick.com/voicerecognition.htm
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/futurist/index.html?ts=1103041565
http://www.telenovela-world.com/~spade/linux/lg/authors/lodato.html
Posted by: Janine M Lodato | July 23, 2006 09:56 PM
Last Comic Standing
Brings one minority group dissing another (ha ha so funny, only NOT) to a comedy TV show near you.
As I've said before, I'm both fat and have separate disabilites. One of them is Cerebral Palsy.
That's why tonight's "Last Comic Standing" is going to make me sick.
Two genuinely funny guys, one a gimp and one a fat guy face off in a "roast" setting.
The gimp gets the podium and gets great audience roars of approval when he says to the fat guy:
..."You are what you eat....Oh, that poor Vietnamese family."
Come on.
Now, I have understood over time why so many size acceptance activists are terribly passionate about never having a hint of "fat" and "disability" associated here. As another poster at Big Fat Blog has said, most fat people can do most of what
able bodied people can do, so regarding it as a disability in and of itself is misleading.
So I'm not going to do that.
I've got the physical characteristics of both groups.
Comedy is supposed to be fun, and I'll no doubt get told to "lighten up" by both sides in the debate and even to not publicly criticize either the gimp guy (who I've loved up till now) or the fat guy (same notation)
It doesn't help *either* group to put size acceptance or (giant separate space for effect) disability in to a hirearchy. Anyone else who percieves themselves as part of an oppressed minority tends to do that too. It all depends on who you talk to.
Racism Sexism Homophobia Disability discrimmination Ageism Size-ism
Line them up *across* folks. Or better still, a word scramble with no first/last/peak/valley
Never vertically.
Because IMHO if you line them up vertically *in order to rain down condescension or oppression* on the ones you rank below your "own"
Neither your main issue *nor any of the others* will ever be truly adressed. And, sorry, but you have then the illusion of shining the light of acceptance on your issue, and then become part of the oppression=problem of discrimination for *someone else.*
I'm not advocating cause fatigue. People have made a stirring case as to why they work against opression through their particular single lens. That's cool. I believe in that.
But this show, that many who are out for laughs watch...
I'm sorry, but there are too many skinny,white,straight,able, men that *need* desperately to be mocked these days... (ducking)
Posted by: imfunnytoo | July 11, 2006 05:31 PM
The Transgressive Event
I pulled into the parking area in front of the dental office that I have been visiting for more than twenty-five years. As I snagged my keys from the ignition, a loud beeping sound stopped me in my tracks. I finally realized that the noise was coming from my cell phone. I remembered that I had set the 4:00 PM appointment with my dentist into it … something I had never tried before. It worked.
Talk about being on time. It’s not because I am so compulsive that I try to be on time for medical appointments. Even if I'm a little late I can still manage feel pretty good about myself. No. It’s more esoteric than that. In this case, for example, I was looking forward to some extra reading in the quietness of the waiting room. However, events conspired to turn my shot at devouring another portion of Arundhati Roy’s, An Ordinary Person’s Guide to Empire, into an event not quite as stimulating; at least not in the way I had envisioned it as being.
Immediately upon arriving “on time”, I was confronted with the task of updating my patient medical records. This is done biannually. There were two printed forms for this purpose, one purple, one yellow. Initially I could be trusted only with one color at a time. In an effort to salvage extra moments of time to spend with Arundhati Roy’s book, I explained to the receptionist that I could probably be responsible for both shades at once. I was told that this dual colored task has often been the undoing of nervous patients so that the “one flavor at a time” approach has evolved as a way of stemming confusion. The receptionist reluctantly gave in and let me have both forms at once. She watched me as I took a seat. Apparently this purple/yellow simultaneity procedure had not happened very often before. I sat down with my office-issued clip board and pen to begin the laborious, boring and redundant task. The first thing I did was to forsake the dental office pen. I pulled out my own green ink, rolling ball pen instead. This green looked okay on the yellow but not so scrumptious on the purple. And, of course, there had to be other complications.
Taking place in the office was an ongoing conversation between a patient in the waiting room, whom I chose to sit across from, and the receptionist. It seems they knew each other from church and, accordingly, there were marriages, divorces, relationships and such that needed to be sorted out in the dental office environment. I did my best to screen out the majority of the conversation, but I was not having, by now, one of my better days. I was a little tired too from having just gone through the Fourth of July family reunion and spending time with some wonderful friends of ours. All of this was positive. Still it took its toll on my energy reserves.
At any rate, I learned through the process of this enforced eavesdropping, that although one of the relationships in question was brand new, the husband involved was … “a Christian.” So, of course, I thought to myself, “Thank goodness it was both a Christian divorce and a Christian marriage. You wouldn’t want a mixed unfolding of relationships here now. Would you?” By now I was very distracted and growing more judgmental by the moment. But there were more problems ahead as I greened my way through the medical forms.
Everything had gone boringly well until I got to the part where there were two distinct boxes labeled “Male or Female.” For some perverse reason I decided that this was an unnecessary intrusion into my privacy. Moreover, I thought, “What difference would it make in terms of the treatment of my teeth and gums?” So, I left both boxes blank. I admit that I felt a little spasm of rebellion at this point. At least it was a way of relieving the boredom a bit. Then came the real challenge.
There were four boxes adjacent to four available choices, “Married, Divorced, Single, Widowed.” I greened in an additional box that I checked and labeled, “Partnered.” By now I was cooking and thinking about the compulsory heterosexuality in our culture of which this form was but a symbolic reflection. In the meantime, within the context of the relentless waiting room dialog that I was not tuning out very well, there were several more divorces and marriages being reviewed along with some related dating. A number of these relationships were apparently not “Christian.” Of course, all of this conversation had to do with the formation and reformation of families.
At this point, I reached the place in the form where I was prompted to write in the name of my “Spouse.” I was getting good at the transgressive act by this point. I crossed out “Spouse” and penned in “Partner.” Then I wrote my partner’s full name on the line provided. After all, John and I have been a family for more than sixteen years. Further on down the form, I listed John as the person to call in the event of a medical emergency. In the conversation I had been attempting unsuccessfully to tune out, I heard plenty of details about the men and the women being discussed. I suppose “Love” was integral to all of these relationships although it was not specifically dealt with.
As I was turning in the forms I was thinking, “I have a family with John. It is a family marked by love, respect and a total commitment to each other. To my way of thinking we represent the perfect definition of a family and of a loving relationship. What could be wrong with this? Last time I checked, the planet did not seem to be suffering from an acute overdose of love.”
The receptionist seemed rather cold and really not caring about the job she was completing with me. She was going through the basics of my next appointment … six months from now. She scowled and did not have her “teeth on display for good advertising” smile that one comes to expect at a dentist’s office. I thought for a time she was having a bad day or something. Then I happened to notice that “my forms” were beneath her hands. She had been reviewing them. “Coming out” exacts a price whether it be coming out queer, disabled or whatever flavor of human diversity. “Coming out” transgresses the obligatory ablest and heterosexual hegemony. I had also noted on the health history portion of the forms that I had an unlisted neurological condition… MS. Not “coming out” … that exacts an even higher price, a price that I am no longer willing to pay. We have to be true to ourselves.
I sat down, opened Roy’s book and … Tammy appeared. “Stephen. We’re ready for you … second door on the right.” Oh well, Roy’s take on dealing with “Empire” will have to wait for now. I’ll get back to you later.
Posted by: Stephen R. Concklin, Ed.D. | July 9, 2006 02:59 PM
The Dark Underbelly of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health
(more info added)
By Michael Ragland
PURPOSE
At the most general level I'm seeking to inform both national and international mental disability organizations of recent policy developments regarding mental health in the U.S. Specifically the drastic loss of public and private psychiatric bed space in the U.S. and the current policy, at least in the Commonwealth of Virginia but likely in other states, of introducing the recovery model i.e. community crisis stabilization services into emergency services. From the vantage point of disability studies I think it is important to track how well community crisis stabilization services under emergency services performs in either increasing or decreasing the need of public and private psychiatric bed space.
Personally, I think adopting the recovery model to serious mental illness as it applies to the need for public and private psychiatric bed space is a questionable. As already mentioned there is a national shortage of public and private psychiatric bed space and in northern Virginia, where I live, it is serious and chronic. Rather than the federal government and the Commonwealth of Virginia allocating significant additional funds to offset the high demand for public and private psychiatric bed space the Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Substance Abuse has gone forth with the recovery model with community crisis stabilization services under emergency services. If one accesses http://www.oig.virginia.gov/documents/SS-ESPFinalReportMay-August2005.pdf it states under access recommendations "1c: It is recommended that once projections can be made
regarding the impact of the widespread availability of Community Crisis Stabilization,
DMHMRSAS in collaboration with the VACSB and the Virginia Hospital and
Healthcare Association determine what level of local acute psychiatric Inpatient Hospital
care is needed and develop strategies to address any unmet need."
It will take time for the widespread availability of Community Crisis Stabilization under emergency services to happen and a longer time to evaluate results. All in the mean time there will continue to be an unmet need for public and private psychiatric bed space. If one accesses http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/csb/region/2005finalreport.pdf it states, "The Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services
(DMHMRSAS) tasked the state facilities and community services boards with describing the
future need for psychiatric beds and community alternatives to offset the number of public
psychiatric beds. With its rapidly growing population, Northern Virginia is challenged to predict an ever-increasing need for psychiatric inpatient beds as well as create diversion and discharge programs to reduce the number of admissions to and length of stay in psychiatric hospitals. Data gleaned from a variety of sources suggests that population will grow by 26.7% by 2020, adding over a half million people to this Northern Virginia area. As shown in Appendix A, all age groups are expected to increase:
• children and adolescents to increase by 127,500 (23.7%)
• adults by 312,000 (23.2%)
• older adults, ages 65 – 84, by 99,800 (68.3%)
• elderly persons, 85 years and older, by almost 7,000 (40.3%).
So despite what remedying measures Fairfax-Falls church CSB (Fairfax is the most wealthy county in Northern Virginia) pure demographic projections alone dictate more inpatient psychiatric bed space will be needed irrespective of access recommendation 1c.
It is not rare to transfer a sick mentally ill resident in Prince William County, Virginia down to a Tidewater hospital because they are the only ones with available psychiatric bed space. It is not rare to transfer a sick mentally ill person from Prince William County to a state mental institution because there was no available private psychiatric bed space. In the latter that happened to me. I had my own physician who at the time had privileges but there was no available local bed space.
In terms of the mentally ill in the U.S. I want the focus to be on what their unmet needs are. Currently, that is not the case in this Administration. Currently, the "recovery model" is being implemented in states. As I mentioned the "recovery model" doesn't have much substance in terms of actual policy but politically it can be used as a battering ram against the medical model of mental illness and depriving the mentally ill of services they need.
Despite the glaring inefficiencies of America's mental health system it certainly is better than many countries but I'm concerned about the future of mental health in the U.S. and what directions it will lead to in the future.
No legal action is possible against the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health and the Virginia DMHMRSAS. No state or federal disability laws have been violated and nothing which would lend itself to high impact litigation. It's all political but political changes as these i.e. the "recovery model" can effect mental health services. For example, the big insurance companies are liklely enthused with the "recovery model". The whole topic of reforming health insurance in America has not been adequately dealt with. It hasn't been dealt with at all.
I realize some will disagree with my assumptions. All I ask is you share this information with your friends and others who might be interested. Specifically urging more funding for public-private psychiatric bed space (above what has already been done) and being critical of access recommendation 1c "It is recommended that once projections can be made regarding the impact of the widespread availability of Community Crisis Stabilization, DMHMRSAS in collaboration with the VACSB and the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association determine what level of local acute psychiatric Inpatient Hospital care is needed and develop strategies to address any unmet need." These or similar policies might be happenning at your state level. Strategies should be currently underway to address any unmet need not contingent upon Community Crisis Stabilization outcomes. After all, if Community Crisis Stabilization is successful in possibly reducing public-private psychiatric bed space (outcomes) this should be able to be determined by rates annually rather than projection. Other factors include closure of more public/private psychiatric bed space; demographics, changes in health insurance coverage, availability of services, etc.
It is the Federal Government which is behind the "Recovery Model" and the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health.
FOCUS
This brief article pertains to the Commonwealth of Virginia although "the recovery model" is national in focus and other states may be implementing similar comprehensive state mental health policies. The "recovery model" is contrasted with the "medical model" and although components of the "recovery model" have been around for decades and even going back to the eighteenth century it has appeared under different guises. The current "recovery model" wasn't developed and implemented until the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health.
The Dark Underbelly of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health: The Fraud of Self-Determination, Empowerment, and Recovery.
Having attended the June 16th Prince William County Community Services Board meeting in Northern Virginia whose purpose was to discuss possible changes to its mission statement I learned from Director Tom Geib that Inspector General James Stewart had
visited "emergency services" and discovered the staff weren't familiar with "recovery principles". I can understand the Inspector General wanting all branches to be familiar with "recovery principles" but emergency services deals with those who need help, not recovery.
There has been a break in the continuum of emergency services with the introduction of "community crisis stabilization" services. At present these services include:
Residential crisis stabilization (TDO) - Like the service below, but licensed to accept TDO's, with 24 hour nursing on site, M.D. daily and on-call for assessments and interventions. All of the current crisis stabilization programs are considering accepting TDO's.
Residential crisis stabilization service (voluntary) - 24 hour, CSB-operated or contracted, group home model, available in emergencies, sufficient staffing ratios to provide intensive supports to persons in crisis. Includes nursing on site and MD consultation/visits. (This model of crisis stabilization is currently used in three communities. The General Assembly funded seven additional programs 2005.)
In-Home residential support service – CSB staff goes to the consumer’s home and provide supports during crises, keep consumer safe and occupied. Level of support is matched to consumer need. Consumer focused, not program-focused
Consumer-run residential support service - “Safe house” program. CSB/consumer partnership agreement– many consumers prefer to be served by other consumers in a crisis.
All of these programs can be possibly effective. The report mentioned defining crisis stabilization and coming up with alternatives. This push towards community based crisis stabilization services is intended to offset the high demand for public and private psychiatric bed space. There is no denying, however, there needs to be more public and private psychiatric bed space, something the big insurance companies know but don't want to pay for. Increasing community crisis stabilization services won't be so successful that this doesn't need to be done. Absurdly, the state intends on using community crisis mid range stabilization to determine if any extra public and private psychiatric bed space is needed. By doing this they can delay the process of possibly funding more public psychiatric bed space.
Recovery principles come into play with community crisis stabilization/emergency services except as a means to prevent the mentally ill from utilizing public and private psychiatric bed space. Self determination, empowerment, and recovery are government code words for saving money and keeping expenses for the mentally ill down. There is nothing inherently wrong with this if it brings better care for the mentally ill. However, at a time when many mentally ill are in jails on petty charges; there is very little low income housing for the mentally ill; and there is a serious chronic shortage of both public and private psychiatric bed space, the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health initiative doesn't recommend any substantial funding for mental health but allocation of existing resources. Furthermore, it seeks to lower even existing resources for the mentally ill by supporting so-called consumer operated and run services such as drop-in centers and community crisis stabilization services under the umbrella of emergency services.
Community crisis stabilization services shouldn't be a part of emergency services. The fact that only 21% of CSB emergency services were familiar with community crisis stabilization services (recovery mid-range services) should tell one something. Very few mentally ill need a doctor or nurse onsite and if they do they probably belong in the hospital. Community crisis stabilization services should be apart of MH residential services, not emergency services. By tacking on community crisis stabilization services to emergency services this conveys the impression "medical emergencies" will be resolved in the "community" rather than the hospital and promoting a shift against the usage of public and private psychiatric bed space. This could have negative consequences for some mentally ill. The hope of government is community crisis stabilization services under the umbrella of emergency services will ultimately lessen the need for more public and psychiatric bed space and thus requests for less funding.
Recent "recovery principles" stems around the motto self determination, recovery, and empowerment. The genesis of this was the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. Despite the fact the Virginia DMHMRSAS mission statement is, "Our vision is of a “consumer-driven system of services and supports that promotes self determination, empowerment, recovery, resilience, health, and the highest possible level consumer participation in all aspects of community life including work, school, family and other meaningful relationships” there is little actual substance in terms of policy.
Given the problems in mental health, it appears these "recovery principles" which have no real substance are a purposeful distraction at the minimum and dramatically cutting or eliminating services at the maximum. The best thing about the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health is it doesn't cost much money. Here are just some of the major chronic problems which haven't been dealt with sufficiently:
(a) There is a shortage of both private and public psychiatric bed space; in Northern Virginia it is serious and chronic. I would think nationally it is not great.
(b) There are mentally ill being arrested and languishing in jails on petty charges. According to SAMSA 2000 data "Currently the prevalence of active serious mental illness among inmates admitted to U.S. jails is about 7 percent, which means that nearly 700,000 persons with active symptoms of severe mental illness are admitted to jails annually. For those persons in prison, recent Bureau of Justice Statistics reports approximately 16% or about 233,000 are also similarly diagnosed. About 75 percent of these people have a co-occurring alcohol or drug use disorder."
(c) There is a serious shortage of low income residential housing for the mentally ill.
(d) A disproportionate number of homeless are mentally ill. While only four percent of the U.S. population has a serious mental illness, five to six times as many people who are homeless (20-25%) have serious mental illnesses. Their diagnoses include the most personally disruptive and serious mental illnesses, including severe, chronic depression; bipolar disorder; schizophrenia; schizoaffective disorders; and severe personality disorders.1
Self determination, empowerment, and recovery won't address these chronic problems. Only an influx of state and federal funding will.and sound policy. Lawmakers have known these facts for years but nothing ever significantly improves. Instead advocates such as me are always expecting things to worsen and at best retain services which exist without managed care plowing through. Many accept the status quo. Unfortunately, the attention and criticism toward the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health was confined to the Texas Medication Algorithm Program (TMAP) and screening of children for mental illness. The colossal propagandized hoax of self determination, empowerment, and recovery and so-called consumer run and operated services has gone relatively unchallenged and have been somewhat "successful". In regards to self-determination and empowerment a disabled friend once stated to me, "Be careful what you ask for. You might get it."
The President's New Freedom Commission's Final Report called into question the design of many mainstream social welfare programs serving people with serious mental illness, implying that Social Security's Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) are part of the problem and not the solution. It states, "Moreover, the largest Federal program that supports people with mental illnesses is not even a health services program - the Social Security Administration's Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) programs, with payments totaling approximately $21 billion in 2002." There are eligibility requirements for receiving these benefits as well as Medicaid and Medicare and without them many mentally ill would not be able to pay their rent and buy groceries. For the seriously mentally ill without SSI and/or SSDI they would be living with family or homeless on the streets. Without Medicaid and /or Medicare they wouldn't receive any health insurance coverage.
Overall, in fiscal year 2002 twenty-four billion was spent on Medicare and Medicaid; twenty-one billion on SSDI and SSI; four hundred and forty three million in Community Block Grants through SAMSA and additional funding for housing, rehabilitation, education, child welfare. substance abuse, general health, criminal justice and juvenile justice. All together this information suggests around 46 billion dollars a year spent (in 2002).
The Final Report states, "Each program has its own complex, sometimes contradictory, set of rules. Many mainstream social welfare programs are not designed to serve people with serious mental illnesses, even though this group has become one of the largest and most severely disabled groups of beneficiaries. " This is likely measured by their rate of unemployment rather than status of mental health. The report goes on to say, "If this current system worked well, it would function in a coordinated manner, and it would deliver the best possible treatments, services, and supports. However, as it stands, the current system often falls short. Many people with serious mental illnesses and children with serious emotional disturbances remain homeless or housed in institutions, jails, or juvenile detention centers. These individuals are unable to participate in their own communities."
Actually, the current system works remarkably well despite the Commission's statement to the contrary. Certainly better without these support systems. It does work in a coordinated manner and it has in some areas provided the best possible treatments, services, and supports. Because of the complexity of servicing the needs of the mentally ill in the public mental health system it is impossible to have all services coordinated at the same time. There are eligibility requirements for Medicaid, Medicare, SSI, and SSDI. If you make too much money at a job you won't have Medicaid coverage. You won't get Medicare coverage unless you have SSDI. The amount of food stamps you receive depends upon your income.
Many people with serious mental illnesses and children with serious emotional disturbances do remain homeless or housed in institutions, jails, or juvenile detention centers. In the cases where the seriously mentally ill are housed in jails with little or no mental health services and support it is obvious they need to be transferred to a psychiatric institution where they can recive treatment for their psychoses. Children with serious emotional disturbances need mental health services and support. It all gets back to money and whether we as a society think it is worthwhile to provide these services to the mentally ill. Clearly, we don't.
The "recovery movement" prior to the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health goes way back to Dorothea Dix and Clifford Beers whom if they were alive today would probably not be totally pleased with the so-called mental health movement today as artificially pumped up by the Commission. Rather than language of self-determination, empowerment, and recovery which in present context conveys a false hope any disabled person can be like Mr. Jones down the street, what the mentally disabled need are dedicated state and federal funding streams for hospital beds, lower income housing, more reimbursement to private providers, more state oversight of private providers, and heavy fines when there are violations.
This facade of the "consumer" being the end point must end. Without links a chain
link fence will ultimately fall down. The emphasis on self-determination, empowerment, recovery and consumer operated services/peer support is a camouflage by this administration to get out of the business of providing governmental mental health services. It's proponents are well aware of this and thus it is a multi-year long term goal.
Posted by: Michael Ragland | July 6, 2006 11:06 AM
This is the link to below Article. Apparently I've done something incorrect in the way of tags.
Posted by: Denise | July 4, 2006 02:57 PM
Although this set of comments is not in the U.S.A., I thought to bring them to our attention so we can see how Euthanasia (in all it's forms) is being promoted.
Also, how this comment by this man below tells us that he's been ignored by the media on these issues.
It's not just the U.S.A., this killing off the most vulnerable, like babies, disabled, senior citizens et-al, is a Global matter.
Here is one mans comments with a link to the full set of comments regarding inaccessible bus stops and parking places to building projects.
Oh, this man is just 36 years old and you'll read how he figures his death will come about.
--------
"No real action on population
A RECENT report by think-tank RAND has written that fertility treatment could be used to help address the falling population rate.
Over the last decade the media has drilled into us the impact of a mythical population boom.
Many couples have been drawn into this and have chosen only to have one or two children as a result.
Abortion has meant tens of thousands fewer babies to grow up to join the workforce.
Abortive contraception (eg the coil) has had a similar effect.
Embryo experimentation has led to countless eggs removed from a mother to attempt to create one child for her and many more to experiment on before being flushed down the pan.
Promiscuity leads to infertility or death caused by sexually-transmitted diseases.
What is the Government doing to redress the balance?
n Offering contraception and abortion to under 16s, thus promoting promiscuity.
n Abortion - no questions asked.
Pushing White Papers on euthanasia. This will bring down the ageing/disabled/sick population numbers and reduce the NHS budget and social security benefits.
n Increasing retirement age. I now have to work until I am 67. Thanks very much.
Although I am only 36, I fear that euthanasia will get me in the end, not old age, compliments of the Government.
Patrick StephensTurnham Green, Penylan, Cardiff"
Posted by: Denise | July 4, 2006 04:11 AM
We have created a webpage dedicated to Cool Wheelchair Sports Videos
There are already some cool videos in the collection including:
* Wheelchair Skateboarding
* Wheelchair Paragliding
* Wheelchair Mountain Biking
* Power Wheelchair Sports
* Etc
The videos are freely available. Our objective is to demonstrate a cross section of all types of wheelchair sports to serve as a resource and inspiration to those interested in wheelchair sports.
We would appreciate your help by asking your readers to inform us of cool videos to expand our site.
Posted by: Gene Emmer | July 1, 2006 09:03 PM
Aiding public servants' children
By ALAN J. ODZE
(Original publication: June 30, 2006)
I am a retired and disabled police chief and I have been publicizing the fact that in New York state, our Legislature and governor had not felt that the children of police officers, fire volunteers or emergency medical technicians killed or seriously and permanently injured deserve scholarships. A few states have provided full scholarships for such children. This is not too much to ask for.
Now I would like to thank the following politicians who recently had the courage to understand the plight of totally and permanently disabled police officers, firefighters and EMTs who are injured in the line of duty. I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Assemblymen Joseph D. Morelle (132nd District) for his courage to amend bill A2687 to include police officers and emergency medical technicians. Without his support and understanding this could not have been done.
I thank Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski for co-sponsoring this bill. He is also working on securing a special license plate for severely disabled police officers, which has passed the Assembly. Sen. Tom Morahan sponsored this bill in the state Senate. Thank you, gentlemen, for answering my letters and by stepping up to the plate for retired and disabled police officers, firefighters and EMTs.
Finally, I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to new Rockland Legislator Ed Day, whom I have have personally been in contact with over these bills. And thanks to our Rockland Legislature for unanimously passing Addendum Bill A. 2687-B, to support the passage of A2687. Day, a retired New York City police officer, has truly been there for everyone in the community, and we should all feel very fortunate to have him here for us.
Retired disabled police officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians should feel very proud that our politicians have come out in full support for our children. Let's hope that the rest of the state and governor have the same understanding and support A2687. It is vitally important for our children as most of us cannot afford to send them to college.
Many of us worked two and three jobs to make ends meet and when we are stricken in the line of duty with a severe and permanently disability, there is no way possible for all of us to be there for our children's educational future.
Each year we honor law enforcement officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians who gave their lives for their fellow man. I would also like to say remember the living who are suffering every day with chronic pain and agony and who have had major life changes after serving humanity.
I am very proud to say that we in Rockland are very fortunate to have people who understand our plight and are in a position of making a difference in our lives. Thank you to all of you who are trying to make our lives a little bit more comfortable.
Posted by: AJ Odze | July 1, 2006 09:51 AM
The Dark Underbelly of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health: The fraud of Self-Determination, Empowerment, and Recovery
By Michael Ragland
Having attended the June 16th Prince William County Community Services Board meeting in Northern Virginia whose purpose was to discuss possible changes to its mission statement I learned from Director Tom Geib that Inspector General James Stewart had visited "emergency services" and discovered the staff weren't familiar with "recovery principles". I can understand the Inspector General wanting all branches to be familiar with "recovery principles" but emergency services deals with those who need help, not recovery.
There has been a break in the continuum of emergency services with the introduction of "community crisis stabilization" services. At present these services include:
Residential crisis stabilization (TDO) - Like the service below, but licensed to accept TDOs, with 24 hour nursing on site, M.D. daily and on-call for assessments and interventions. All of the current crisis stabilization programs are considering accepting TDOs.
Residential crisis stabilization service (voluntary) - 24 hour, CSB-operated or contracted, group home model, available in emergencies, sufficient staffing ratios to provide intensive supports to persons in crisis. Includes nursing on site and MD consultation/visits. (This model of crisis stabilization is currently used in three communities. The General Assembly funded seven additional programs 2005.)
In-Home residential support service – CSB staff goes to the consumer’s home and provide supports during crises, keep consumer safe and occupied. Level of support is matched to consumer need. Consumer focused, not program-focused
Consumer-run residential support service - “Safe house” program. CSB/consumer partnership agreement– many consumers prefer to be served by other consumers in a crisis.
All of these programs can be effective. The report mentioned defining crisis stabilization and coming up with alternatives. This push towards community based crisis stabilization services is intended to offset the high demand for public and private psychiatric bed space. There is no denying, however, there needs to be more public and private psychiatric bed space. Increasing community crisis stabilization services won't be so successful that this doesn't need to be done.
Recovery principles come into play with community crisis
stabilization/emergency services except as a means to prevent the mentally ill from utilizing public and private psychiatric bed space. Self determination, empowerment, and recovery are government code words for saving money and keeping expenses for the mentally ill down. There is nothing inherently wrong with this if it brings better care for the mentally ill. However, at a time when many mentally ill are in jails on petty charges; there is very little low income housing for the mentally ill; and there is a serious chronic shortage of both public and private psychiatric bed space, the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health initiative doesn't recommend any substantial funding for mental health but allocation of existing resources. Furthermore, it seeks to lower even existing resources for the mentally ill by supporting consumer operated and run services such as drop-in centers and community crisis stabilization services under the umbrella of emergency services.
In Prince William County CSB there is already community crisis stabilization services. At Community Apartments residents have a case manager and the number to emergency services is posted. Folks at group homes have case managers and a number to emergency services likely is provided. Those who live in section 8 apartments are more isolated.
Community crisis stabilization services shouldn't be a part of emergency services. The fact that only something like 21% of CSB emergency services were familiar with community crisis stabilization services should tell one something. Very few mentally ill need a doctor or nurse onsite and if they do they probably belong in the hospital. Community crisis stabilization services should be apart of MH residential services, not emergency services. By tacking on community crisis stabilization services to emergency services this conveys the impression "medical emergencies" will be resolved in the "community" rather than the hospital and promoting a shift against the usage of public and private psychiatric bed space. This could have negative consequences for some mentally ill. The hope of government is community crisis stabilization services under the umbrella of emergency services will ultimately lessen the need for more public and psychiatric bed space and thus requests for less funding.
Recent "recovery principles" stems around the motto self determination, recovery, and
empowerment. The genesis of this was the President's New Freedom
Commission on Mental Health. Despite the fact the Virginia DMHMRSAS mission
statement is, "Our vision is of a “consumer-driven system of services and supports that promotes self determination, empowerment, recovery, resilience, health, and the highest possible level consumer participation in all aspects of community life including work, school, family and other meaningful relationships” there is little actual substance in terms of policy.
Given the problems in mental health, it appears these "recovery principles" which have no
real substance are a purposeful distraction at the minimum and dramatically cutting or
eliminating services at the maximum. The best thing about the President's New Freedom
Commission on Mental Health is it doesn't cost much money. Here are just some
of the major chronic problems which haven't been dealt with sufficiently:
(a) There is a shortage of both private and public psychiatric bed space; in Northern Virginia it is serious and chronic.
(b) There are mentally ill being arrested and languishing in jails on petty charges.
(c) There is a serious shortage of low income residential housing for the mentally ill.
Self determination, empowerment, and recovery won't address these chronic problems. Only an influx of state and federal funding will. Lawmakers have known these facts for years but nothing ever significantly improves. Instead advocates such as myself are always expecting things to worsen and at best retain services which exist without managed care plowing through. Many accept the status quo. Unfortunately, the attention and criticism toward the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health was confined to the Texas Medication Algorithm Program (TMAP) and screening of children for mental illness. The colossal propagandized hoax of self determination, empowerment, and recovery and consumer run and operated services has gone relatively unchallenged and have been somewhat "successful".
The President's New Freedom Commission's Final Report called into question the design of many mainstream social welfare programs serving people with serious mental illness, implying that Social Security's Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) are part of the problem and not the solution. It states, "Moreover, the largest Federal program that supports people with mental illnesses is not even a health services program - the Social Security Administration's Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) programs, with payments totaling approximately $21 billion in 2002." There are eligibility requirements for receiving these benefits as well as Medicaid and Medicare and without them many mentally ill would not be able to pay their rent and buy groceries. For the seriously mentally ill without SSI and/or SSDI they would be living with family or homeless on the streets. Without Medicaid and /or Medicare they wouldn't receive any health insurance coverage.
Overall, in fiscal year 2002 twenty-four billion was spent on Medicare and Medicaid; twenty-one billion on SSDI and SSI; four hundred and forty three million in Community Block Grants through SAMSA and additional funding for housing, rehabilitation, education, child welfare. substance abuse, general health, criminal justice and juvenile justice. All together this information suggests around 46 billion dollars a year spent (in 2002).
The Final Report states, "Each program has its own complex, sometimes contradictory, set of rules. Many mainstream social welfare programs are not designed to serve people with serious mental illnesses, even though this group has become one of the largest and most severely disabled groups of beneficiaries. " This is likely measured by their rate of unemployment rather than status of mental health. The report goes on to say, "If this current system worked well, it would function in a coordinated manner, and it would deliver the best possible treatments, services, and supports. However, as it stands, the current system often falls short. Many people with serious mental illnesses and children with serious emotional disturbances remain homeless or housed in institutions, jails, or juvenile detention centers. These individuals are unable to participate in their own communities."
Actually, the current system works remarkably well despite the Commission's statement to the contrary. Certainly better without these support systems. It does work in a coordinated manner and it has in some areas provided the best possible treatments, services, and supports. Because of the complexity of servicing the needs of the mentally ill in the public mental health system it is impossible to have all services coordinated at the same time. There are eligibility requirements for Medicaid, Medicare, SSI, and SSDI. If you make too much money at a job you won't have Medicaid coverage. You won't get Medicare coverage unless you have SSDI. The amount of food stamps you receive depends upon your income.
Many people with serious mental illnesses and children with serious emotional disturbances do remain homeless or housed in institutions, jails, or juvenile detention centers. In the cases where the seriously mentally ill are housed in jails with little or no mental health services and support it is obvious they need to be transferred to a psychiatric institution. Children with serious emotional disturbances need mental health services and support. It all gets back to money and whether we as a society think it is worthwhile to provide these services to the mentally ill. Clearly, we don't.
The "recovery movement" prior to the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health goes way
back to Dorothea Dix and Clifford Beers whom if they were alive today would probably not be
totally pleased with the so-called mental health movement today as artificially pumped up by the
Commission. Rather than language of self-determination, empowerment, and recovery which
in present context conveys a false hope any disabled person can be like Mr. Jones down the
street, what the mentally disabled need are dedicated state and federal funding streams for
hospital beds, more low income housing, more reimbursement to private providers, more
state oversight of private providers, and heavy fines when there are violations.
This facade of the "consumer" being the ultimate end point must end. Without links a chain
link fence will ultimately fall down. The emphasis on self-determination, empowerment,
recovery and consumer operated services/peer support is a camouflage by this
administration to get out of the business of providing governmental mental health services. It's
proponents are well aware of this and thus it is a multi-year long term goal.
The recommendations of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health and the states which are carrying it out in essence is just Darwinism. It is saying to the mentally ill be self-determined, empowered, and recovered so we don't have to provide funding for you and those who can't stand up on their own will just have to fall down.
Posted by: Michael Ragland | June 30, 2006 03:36 PM
NEWS RELEASE
Syracuse District Office, 401 South Salina Street, Syracuse, New York 13202
Release Date: June 29, 2006 Contact: Cathy Pokines 315.471.9393, ext. 241
Outstanding Small Business Honored in Central New York
Malone Company Receives Excellence Award
SYRACUSE –The U.S. Small Business Administration and the New York Business Development Corporation, along with participating lenders and economic developers, recently recognized G&K Grocery of Malone, New York with an Excellence Award at the 8th Annual Small Business Excellence Awards luncheon and ceremony at the Syracuse Wyndham.
From bakeries to manufacturers, restaurants to retailers, 26 successful small businesses representing a full range of products, services and innovations from Upstate New York received awards.
“These businesses may not be big in size, but their contributions to our economy are gigantic,” said Bernard J. Paprocki, Syracuse SBA district director. “You rely on them for the products you use and the services you need. Their names are on little league uniforms and their sponsor banners fly high over community events. The businesses we honor are part of the 25 million businesses across the nation that by their success contribute daily to our prosperity.”
G&K Grocery, established in 2003, was nominated for the Excellence Award by the NYS SBDC Canton and Seacomm. G&K, which is owned by Gordon Drumm Jr., is a grocery store which features both a deli and gas station. Mr. Drumm, who was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident in 1998, was determined to make a living for himself, and determined self-employment was his best option. Using assistance from the SBA and from his sister (Kimberly), he was able to make his dream into reality. The store continues to prosper daily, providing quality products and services to the Malone community. G&K also employs four local workers, who pride themselves on superior customer service, and on working to make G&K the best grocery stores and gas stations in the state.
The Small Business Excellence Awards ceremony is one of many events in local communities across the nation that celebrates National Small Business Week. Small businesses are the driving force behind America's tremendous growth and job creation. They employ 51 percent of the private-sector workforce – that’s 57 million Americans! They create two out of three new jobs and produce 51% of the private sector output.
“The entrepreneurial spirit of America is robust and strong, and small businesses are thriving throughout our great nation,” said President George W. Bush in his annual Small Business Week proclamation. “The opportunity to own a business is an important part of the American dream. We celebrate small business owners and employees who are willing to take risks and work hard in pursuit of a better life for themselves and their families.
# # #
For more information about all of the SBA’s programs for small businesses, visit the SBA’s extensive Web site at www.sba.gov.
Posted by: Dale Sturdevant | June 29, 2006 09:58 AM
Just amazing, this quote:
This is about the Rotenberg center. See this June 20 story: State to limit student electric shock therapy at Newsday.com
Posted by: Joan | June 20, 2006 04:11 PM
Vivian Booheister feels ridiculed
I found this interesting and wanted to pass it along.
http://www.zwire.com/site/News.cfm?BRD=1013&dept_id=387710&newsid=16788737&PAG=461&rfi=9
I have sent the below signed letter to the State of Washington Department of Licensing as well as U.S. Department of Justice, Disability Rights Section in Washington D.C. I would encourage anyone who might be subjected to the same treatment I received to voice their objections as well.
My name is Vivian Booheister. I have lived in Electric City, WA since the year 2000. I have been confined to a wheelchair since 1979.
On Wednesday, June 7th my friend drove me in my handicapped equipped van to Coulee Dam, WA to get my picture taken for a current ID card. He drove to the back of the building where the handicapped accessible ramp is, unloaded me from the van and pushed my wheelchair through the building to the Department of Licensing
The Department of Licensing attendant informed us that a new camera has been purchased and in order for him to be able to take my picture, I would "have to stand up" as the camera will not adjust down to someone sitting. When my friend & I explained my legs will not hold me up, (which is the primary reason I am in a wheelchair); he then said, "Well then someone is going to have to hold her up, so I can take her picture."
Another gentleman entered the Department and between him and my friend, I was lifted up high enough for the camera to take my picture. Needless to say, I was embarrassed and angry by the time the entire episode was complete.
As a mature adult and a tax paying citizen in the State of Washington I object:
1. to equipment being purchased that is not compatible to taking the picture of any and every person standing (perhaps even very short in stature) or sitting in a wheelchair.
2. to being subjected to the ridicule of having to be "lifted up" from my wheelchair by a friend and a stranger in order to have my picture taken.
3. to having an attendant being saddled with said inadequate equipment, thereby making him/her appear ridiculous to the public he/she is being paid to serve.
I expect this said inadequate camera equipment to be replaced immediately or the counter to be refurbished to lower said camera to the proper level to accommodate any and every person standing or sitting in front of it for a picture to be taken.
I also expect to hear from you telling me this situation has been corrected and that no one, either short in stature or sitting in a wheelchair will be subjected to this type of humiliation in the future.
Sincerely,
Vivian Booheister
Electric City
Posted by: Joan P | June 16, 2006 09:39 AM
ADA LAWSUIT IN NYS
I have a case pending before the NYS Appellate Division, Second Department over a ADA violation....the Queens County Small Claims Court refused to grant accommodations to me under the ADA act and a Local Court in Rockland County dismissed the case citing jurisdiction. The Judge said the ADA does not confer jurisdiction when a defendant neither lives in or conducts business in the community. This appears to be a procedural policy of the NY State Office of Court Administration.
It does appear to me at least that Tennessee vs Lane should have removed this barrier.
The US Department of Justice refused to intercede.
This is a Pro Se case so if anyone has any suggestions on how to go about this they are more then welcome.
The perfected paper has to be in by September 2006.
Will keep everyone posted.
AJ
Posted by: A. J. | June 15, 2006 10:14 PM
does anybody have a great positive replacement for the word "bedridden"?
Posted by: eleanor | June 13, 2006 08:46 AM
Story about Harriet McBryde Johnson in yesterday's Hartford Courant magazine:
http://www.courant.com/news/local/northeast/hc-hmj0611.artjun11,0,2099715.story?page=2&coll=hc-headlines-northeast
Why She Calls Herself A `Crip'
Posted by: terri | June 12, 2006 12:56 PM