Outside America
New transport law in North Ireland
For years the disabled have been complaining that taxis and bus drivers have refused service, charged extra to take them on board, or have just roared past them because they didn’t want to deal with a wheelchair on the bus. Finally a new law, the "Disability Transport Regulations" now require that taxis, buses and trains [...]
Newly disabled in Haiti finding new life difficult
Falling debris and collapsing building have created hundreds and perhaps thousands of disabled people. Many have have lost more than one limb, making it all but impossible to get around a country that never was very disability friendly. With few building standards to begin with, there are no ramps for wheelchairs and mass transit has [...]
UK: Disabled see worst layoffs in decades
Five percent of the disabled people that had a job have been laid off in the last 12 months as the ever enveloping recession hits all areas of employment. The job losses put the disabled people at risk in losing their cars and homes forcing them on the street or in nursing homes because there [...]
Book publishers try to bilk the blind
Virtually all American companies tied to publishing books either on paper or electronically are fighting a proposal by the World International Property Organization to allow countries to share books that are in electronic format to be used by the blind. According to to the companies, the sharing of documents amounts to stealing their works even [...]
Shopping harassments
We have seen this before, but as the holiday season comes in full swing we all get to deal with salespeople pushing credit cards, extended warranties and trying to gain personal data including email addresses and phone numbers. This unemployment pushing 10.2% (as of Nov 2009) the last thing any of us need is another [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland loses disability case
In a landmark case that will change the way the disabled are treated in England, an 18 year old man tried to get the bank to modify their entryway so that he could use the bank from his wheelchair. After refusing to fix the problem, David Allen was forced to sue the bank in that [...]
Ireland: Handicapped parking crackdown
The Irish government is finally working on increasing the penalties for parking in a handicapped parking spot. Presently drivers only have to pay 80 Euros for parking in a handicapped spot, assuming that most police don’t write parking tickets for this because of the low penalty and no points against the driver. If the changes [...]
H1N1 kills paraplegic man in Greece
A paraplegic man that was suffering from liver problems died from complications brought on by the H1N1 virus. He was brought into the hospital with a high fever and was placed in intensive care. Unfortunately the virus quickly spread to his other organs which began to shut down. Doctors were not able to get control [...]
New nasal stem cells successful in transplantation study
Researchers in Portugal and Wayne State University In Detroit, Michigan have finished a study of 20 patients with spinal cord injuries. All of the patients were at least paraplegic with one being tetraplegic were given the treatment which consisted of removal of scar tissue at the damage point in the spine and introduction of stem [...]
US finally signs UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities
The United Nations passed a special convention for the rights of people with disabilities. During the Bush administration disabled advocacy groups all over the US asked the president to sign the convention but he refused during his 8 years in office. The convention outlined the basic rights of all disabled people on the planet and [...]
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