Special Olympics founder dies
The disabled community lost a good friend when Eunice Kennedy Shriver died at the age of 88. Ms. Shriver decided to help her disabled sister which suffered from Down’s Syndrome by creating a sporting event that helps everyone. That sporting event turned into what is now well known as Special Olympics.
New housing bill in congress needs our help
Under current law, when federal financial assistance is used to create new single family houses or town houses, only 5% are required to meet accessibility standards that allow individuals with physical disabilities to visit or live in these houses. The remaining 95 percent of government-assisted new homes can be built with unnecessary architectural barriers. As [...]
HUD offering housing assistance
Agency seeking comment on how to allocate vouchers to support independent living
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today joined President Obama’s commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision by announcing that it will offer rental assistance to 4,000 non-elderly families with disabilities, including 1,000 vouchers specifically targeted [...]
Disability claims going through the roof
Social Security is reporting that the number of people asking for benefits has increased dramatically this year. Last year 3.3 million people received new disability claims where for 2009 we are already at 3 million people and we still have five months left to go. No one is quite sure why the dramatic increase in [...]
New shelf system for paraplegics
Anyone living with others runs into issues of where things are put on shelves. If the shelf is near you it is relatively easy to grab what you need. But if the shelf is higher than you good luck trying to access something on that shelf.
19th anniversary of ADA
Nineteen years ago the American’s for Disabilities Act was signed into law. Before this law there were numerous "ugly" laws passed by cities across the United States making it illegal for the disabled to appear in public or live in communities with the able bodied. The ADA made it illegal to have these types of [...]
State budgets crushing disabled
The economy has slowly made it impossible for states to take care of the disabled. With so many people out of work, states are not bringing in money like they were before the recession. Income taxes have gone down drastically as well as non payment of property taxes.
Can the disabled escape nursing homes?
For years disabled people were forced to live in nursing homes. Even if they became well enough in hospitals to take care of themselves communities refused to accept them. Home owner associations created rules that made it all but impossible to live in a home in the neighborhood. Numerous attempts were made to sue the [...]
Disabled man has egg thrown while traveling in England
A disabled man that was traveling the Iarnrod Eireann on the Cort to Thurles line has been repeatedly harassed by the crew on the train. The man was given permission to travel on the train as long as he stayed in the food cars so there was room for everyone to move around. Unfortunately the [...]
We are back on the air!
After 9 days in the hospital, I am back home and recuperating. My wife Laura gave everyone a quick rundown of the fun we were having at the hospital. Suffice it to say that without an advocate, there is little chance of you getting out of the hospital any better than you started. In my [...]
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