Friday, May 23, 2014

Maryland to be first state to have disabled people train all law enforcement about people with intellectual disabilities, developmental disabilities

From The AP:

— Maryland will be the first state to teach all law enforcement officers about people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in training sessions led partly by disabled people, the chairman of a commission developing the program said.

Timothy Shriver, who also chairs the national Special Olympics, said lessons taught by those whom the program aims to serve will have more impact "because they don't just teach it with words, they don't just teach it with exercises, they teach it with relationships."

Panel members met Thursday in Sykesville to begin shaping the training regimen. They plan to produce a curriculum for use in police academies and in-service training for all 17,000 veteran officers starting in 2015.
The panel aims to involve people with disabilities in every lesson, either in person or through videos.

"We want the training to be conducted by people with intellectual and developmental differences," Shriver said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "To our knowledge, no state has accepted that challenge as a statewide challenge."

Shriver's mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founded the Special Olympics, and his aunt Rosemary Kennedy had an intellectual disability.

The training, mandated by the 2014 General Assembly, stems from the death in custody of a man with Down syndrome. Robert Ethan Saylor (pictured), 26, of New Market, suffered a fractured larynx and suffocated as three off-duty Frederick County sheriff's deputies, moonlighting as mall security officers, tried to forcibly remove him from a movie theater in January 2013. They were summoned to remove Saylor because he hadn't purchased a ticket for a repeat viewing of "Zero Dark Thirty."

The death was ruled a homicide, but a grand jury declined to indict. Amid an outcry from Saylor's family and national Down syndrome advocates, Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley appointed a panel to make recommendations for greater inclusion of intellectually and developmentally disabled people in all aspects of society. Mandatory police training is the panel's first goal.

The commission says California, Delaware, New Jersey, Indiana, Louisiana and New Mexico have laws requiring some or all first responders to be trained in interactions with people with intellectual and development disabilities. But Maryland would be the first to have people with disabilities as teachers in mandatory police training statewide.

The Maryland counties of Baltimore, Howard and Montgomery already offer some such training through Crisis Intervention Team programs. The programs, in place in about 2,800 police agencies nationwide, teach officers to calm excited subjects instead of automatically using force.

The CIT model was developed at the University of Memphis mainly for dealing with the mentally ill, but the same techniques work with intellectually and developmentally disabled people, said Randolph Dupont, a criminologist and clinical psychologist at the school.

Dupont said the 40-hour CIT training regimen includes a day spent with the mentally ill. He said no state to his knowledge has mandated CIT training for all law-enforcement agencies.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2014/05/22/5039028/md-panel-focuses-on-police-disability.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2014/05/22/5039028/md-panel-focuses-on-police-disability.html#storylink=cpy

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Rep. Tammy Duckworth: ‘I’m not surprised’ by allegations against VA

From The Washington Post:

Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) — an Iraq war veteran, double amputee and former assistant secretary at the Department of Veterans Affairs — said Monday that allegations facing the VA mirror chronic problems she witnessed at the sprawling department where she served from 2009 to 2011.

Duckworth, a former Army helicopter pilot, lost both of her legs when an insurgent shot her helicopter out of the skies over Baghdad in 2004. She later ran the Illinois Veterans’ Department, joined the VA as an assistant secretary in May 2009 and left in 2011 to launch a congressional campaign.

In a wide-ranging 40 minute interview Monday, Duckworth recalled the frustrating experience of navigating "silos" that existed between the VA’s two main components: The Veterans Health Administration, which runs the clinics and hospitals and the Veterans Benefits Administration, which deals with claims and doles out payments. (A third component, the National Cemetery Administration, oversees hundreds of military cemeteries nationwide.)

"I’m not surprised because it’s such a large network that you’re going to find problems," Duckworth said.
"There is I think a lack of a sense of accountability almost to central office," or to top officials in Washington, including Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki, she said.

Duckworth recalled how in several instances, officials in Washington learned of improperly sterilized equipment or delayed treatment for veterans at hospitals across the country only after reading local news reports. Officials in those hospitals "never told central office," she said. "That was frustrating to me, because they were trying to deal with it locally and it would be three, four or five months later. As soon as central office and Secretary Shinseki found out about it, we’d act on it immediately."

Despite her concerns, Duckworth expressed support for Shinseki, who has faced calls for his resignation in recent days because of the allegations.

"I think he should fix it. I’m not putting trying to put words in his mouth here, but I would think that he would want to fix it," she said.

When asked whether the allegations could affect President Obama's legacy of helping the nation's military veterans, Duckworth took a long pause before answering.

"It’s hard, because Mrs. Obama has done so much and Mrs. Biden has done so much and I see that as part of the president’s push," she said, referring to first lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Biden's wife, Jill. "I think [Obama's] relied on Secretary Shinseki, but we could use his personal attention at this point."

"I think he’s done a lot," she added later. "I don’t know what more he could have done. He appointed Eric Shinseki, it’s been one of the top things on the first lady and Dr. Biden’s agenda. That has been going gangbusters. I don’t know any other president who’s done more than that. But now that we have this crisis, we need more."

While recovering from her Iraq war wounds at Walter Reed Medical Center in 2005, Duckworth met then-Sen. Obama, who visited her several times. She became an outspoken critic of the Bush administration's Iraq policy and eventually was recruited by then-Democratic Congressional Committee Chairman Rahm Emanuel to run for a House seat in suburban Chicago. She lost that 2006 race, but this year faces a less serious GOP challenge in her first reelection campaign. In recent months Duckworth has been talked about as a potential candidate to challenge Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) in 2016.

Triple amputee becomes TV host in Nepal

From ABC in Australia:

Kamala Shrestha (pictured) greets audiences with a confident smile every Friday and Sunday on Himalaya Television, a private Kathmandu-based station. 

The 29-year-old has only been in the presenter's chair six months but is already proving to be a natural talent.

What sets Kamala apart from other television news anchors is that she is a triple amputee.

Himalaya Television has welcomed her to the airwaves, she says.

"My disability was not an issue."

At age 10, Kamala lost both her arms and a leg after suffering an electric shock while retrieving a kite that was entangled in power lines.

"I survived an 11,000 watt electric shock. I am fortunate."

Before appearing on screens, Kamala hosted a radio program that focused on people with disabilities.

"I love expressing myself so radio presenting came very naturally to me," she said.

"I don't remember being nervous when I first went on air, either on radio or television. There was nothing to be nervous about."

When Kamala was 17, Rotary Australia flew her to Australia for treatment. It was her first trip abroad and, she says, a life changing experience.


She also loves music and singing, and even has an album to her name.

The album was released two-and-a-half years ago and she is currently working on a second.

"I sang about cultivating a positive attitude in my first album but in my second album I will be singing about love."

Kamala says she is grateful for her family's support.

"My mother and father have been great pillars of support. I cannot favour one over the other".

The Nepalese government says there are more than 500,000 people in the country who live with a disability.

Most cannot afford prosthetic or artificial limbs and government support is minimal.

Like many people, Kamala relies on the support of non-government groups.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Computer program advises autistic adults heading into job interviews

From the Wall Street Journal:

Knowing what an employer wants to hear can make all the difference during a job interview.

For adults with an autism-spectrum disorder, those answers can be harder to come by. And without work, they face the prospect of a much less independent life.

But early evidence suggests some job-training programs geared for these individuals appear to improve interview skills and self-confidence.

Much of the focus on autism, a developmental disorder characterized by social deficits and repetitive behavior, has centered on the diagnosis and treatment of young children. But for parents and experts, the question of what happens when these patients grow older and age out of social services looms large. More than half of adults with autism in the U.S. are unemployed, according to studies.

Parts of the job-seeking process can be missed or misinterpreted by people with autism. They may not engage in small talk to ingratiate themselves to colleagues or employers. Networking can make them anxious. Many need to hear that they should write a cover letter even if a job description only asks for a résumé, says Lydia Brown, a former project assistant at the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network and an Arabic and Islamic Studies student at Georgetown University.

Scientists from Northwestern, Vanderbilt and Yale universities are studying whether interview skills can be improved through a computer-based program that uses a virtual-reality interviewer dubbed Molly.
On screen, Molly is a young but professional-looking brunette whose voice comes from an actress who recorded 2,000 questions and answers related to job interviews.

Technologically, she is based on sophisticated person-simulation software originally designed to train FBI agents to interrogate witnesses, says Dale Olsen, who developed the initial technology in 1995 when he was a scientist at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory. He is now the chief executive of a Columbia, Md.-based company called Simmersion, which sells training systems using the technology.

The trainees start by filling out an application processed by the program to determine the most appropriate questions for applicants. For instance, if people have gaps in their work history, Molly may ask applicants to explain them.

In addition, Molly can be programmed to three levels, from nice to brusque. Trainees learn to navigate these situations by choosing from a set of responses to each question. After each selection, they hear feedback about how well they answered.

The feedback is intended to help trainees build rapport with an interviewer. For instance, when asked if they have experience, some trainees initially may respond "no," without realizing that such a response may hurt them. Gradually, they may learn a more effective response, like, "No, but I'm a fast learner."

In the study, 26 adults ages 18 to 31 were assigned either to work with Molly on up to 20 trials over a 10-hour period, or to their usual treatment. They all were also interviewed by researchers at the beginning and end of the study.

The data showed that those who worked with Molly reported better self-confidence and better performance scores in the mock interviews over time. A preliminary data analysis, still unpublished, suggests that those who received training with Molly were more likely to get competitive positions than those who didn't, says Matthew Smith, research assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern. He is also first author on the study, which was published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

Kat Wyand, 25, was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, a mild form of autism, when she was 16, and told by teachers and therapists that her deficits with social skills would prevent her from getting a job. Ms. Wyand was devastated. She went on to get a bachelor's degree in audio arts and acoustics at Columbia College in Chicago, but had trouble finding work. She says she sent out a number of applications but received few interviews and doesn't know why.

When she heard about the study at Northwestern, she immediately got in touch. She says she learned what to say to start an interview, and to condense her answers, since she had a tendency to ramble. However, with the computer program, she says she wasn't able to get feedback on her body position or tone of voice, which is something she has trouble with.

Since then, she has found a part-time job as a bookkeeper at an art gallery where she had been volunteering. Now she is considering teaching guitar, something she previously wouldn't have considered.

"I've lifted myself from the depression, but it's taken years," Ms. Wyand says. "Now I'm feeling hopeful that I actually have talents that I can use and get employed."

Other programs with research evidence behind them include JobTIPS, a Web-based service that includes videos, printable guides and assessments. In a randomized study, 22 teens between 16 and 19 years old completed the training, while another group didn't. Those who went through JobTIPS exhibited more effective interview skills after the training, according to the paper published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders in 2013.

Other programs take a more traditional, internship-based approach to job training. At Virginia Commonwealth University, Paul Wehman has been running a trial since 2009. It assigns six to eight high-school students with autism each year to a nine-month internship program at area hospitals, with others getting treatment as usual in school.

Trying to take advantage of some of the skills of people with autism, such as attention to detail, internships have included ambulatory surgery rotations where students sterilize surgical equipment. Students have also worked in the pharmacy, where they fill bottles of medication.

Two years after the internships, of the 20 who were employed after graduation, 17 are still at the job, two were terminated and one moved away, Dr. Wehman says.

Marsha Mailick, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Waisman Center, which helps teens with autism move into adulthood, says that she supports any program that increases the likelihood of employment. But interview training hasn't been demonstrated as the most effective strategy, she says.

She suggests that parents network and think creatively to help their children obtain, as soon as possible, jobs that give gratification and occupy many hours a week. A job is "therapeutic," she says.

Monday, May 19, 2014

New York ruling demands better access to voting booths

From Public News Service:

NEW YORK - The Second Circuit Court of Appeals just affirmed a decision that advocates for people with disabilities say sends a message for the fall elections: New York City needs to provide improved access to voters who have trouble navigating some polling places.

Stuart Seaborn, senior staff attorney, Disability Rights Advocates, says this latest ruling sends a clear message to the City Board of Elections that it has not been providing equal access to the polls and changes need to be made.

"We're talking about 70 percent to 80 percent of the city's poll sites that are inaccessible to people who use wheelchairs, or to people with vision impairments. The court is going to require the city to fix those barriers," Seaborn says.

This latest decision, by a federal appeals court, upheld a 2012 ruling that found the city failed to provide people with disabilities meaningful access to more than 1,300 polling sites.

Margi Trapani, director of communications and education, Center for Independence of the Disabled-New York (CIDNY), says this ruling goes to key issues, including a person's rights to privacy during the process of voting.

"It's a victory for people who couldn't get to the voting area because of debris in their pathways or dangerous ramps," Trapani says. "And it's a victory for people who wanted to vote privately and independently, like everyone else, and couldn't do that."

Trapani says CIDNY spent more than a decade documenting, and trying to resolve, all the hurdles faced by people with disabilities each year who simply wanted to cast their vote.

"It has taken a lawsuit and an appeal, but we're finally there - to the point where we can concentrate fully on remedying the barriers that we found, and putting New York City in compliance with civil rights law," she adds.

Trapani summed it up as a "good day" for people with disabilities and civil rights.

 
NEW YORK - The Second Circuit Court of Appeals just affirmed a decision that advocates for people with disabilities say sends a message for the fall elections: New York City needs to provide improved access to voters who have trouble navigating some polling places.

Stuart Seaborn, senior staff attorney, Disability Rights Advocates, says this latest ruling sends a clear message to the City Board of Elections that it has not been providing equal access to the polls and changes need to be made.

"We're talking about 70 percent to 80 percent of the city's poll sites that are inaccessible to people who use wheelchairs, or to people with vision impairments. The court is going to require the city to fix those barriers," Seaborn says.

This latest decision, by a federal appeals court, upheld a 2012 ruling that found the city failed to provide people with disabilities meaningful access to more than 1,300 polling sites.

Margi Trapani, director of communications and education, Center for Independence of the Disabled-New York (CIDNY), says this ruling goes to key issues, including a person's rights to privacy during the process of voting.

"It's a victory for people who couldn't get to the voting area because of debris in their pathways or dangerous ramps," Trapani says. "And it's a victory for people who wanted to vote privately and independently, like everyone else, and couldn't do that."

Trapani says CIDNY spent more than a decade documenting, and trying to resolve, all the hurdles faced by people with disabilities each year who simply wanted to cast their vote.

"It has taken a lawsuit and an appeal, but we're finally there - to the point where we can concentrate fully on remedying the barriers that we found, and putting New York City in compliance with civil rights law," she adds.

Trapani summed it up as a "good day" for people with disabilities and civil rights.
- See more at: http://www.publicnewsservice.org/2014-05-19/disabilities/ruling-demands-better-access-to-voting-booths/a39445-1#sthash.NUHLXmQC.dpuf
NEW YORK - The Second Circuit Court of Appeals just affirmed a decision that advocates for people with disabilities say sends a message for the fall elections: New York City needs to provide improved access to voters who have trouble navigating some polling places.

Stuart Seaborn, senior staff attorney, Disability Rights Advocates, says this latest ruling sends a clear message to the City Board of Elections that it has not been providing equal access to the polls and changes need to be made.

"We're talking about 70 percent to 80 percent of the city's poll sites that are inaccessible to people who use wheelchairs, or to people with vision impairments. The court is going to require the city to fix those barriers," Seaborn says.

This latest decision, by a federal appeals court, upheld a 2012 ruling that found the city failed to provide people with disabilities meaningful access to more than 1,300 polling sites.

Margi Trapani, director of communications and education, Center for Independence of the Disabled-New York (CIDNY), says this ruling goes to key issues, including a person's rights to privacy during the process of voting.

"It's a victory for people who couldn't get to the voting area because of debris in their pathways or dangerous ramps," Trapani says. "And it's a victory for people who wanted to vote privately and independently, like everyone else, and couldn't do that."

Trapani says CIDNY spent more than a decade documenting, and trying to resolve, all the hurdles faced by people with disabilities each year who simply wanted to cast their vote.

"It has taken a lawsuit and an appeal, but we're finally there - to the point where we can concentrate fully on remedying the barriers that we found, and putting New York City in compliance with civil rights law," she adds.

Trapani summed it up as a "good day" for people with disabilities and civil rights.
- See more at: http://www.publicnewsservice.org/2014-05-19/disabilities/ruling-demands-better-access-to-voting-booths/a39445-1#sthash.NUHLXmQC.dpuf

In South Africa, Oscar Pistorius TV channel a massive viewership success for DStv

From Channel 24 in South Africa:

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – MultiChoice's Oscar Pistorius Trial TV channel (DStv 199) is a massive viewership success story for DStv – lifting ratings on the South African satellite pay-TV platform to unprecedented levels and making the channel the 4th most watched TV channel on pay-TV in South Africa since the channel launched on 2 March.

The phenomenal viewership feat makes the Oscar Pistorius Trial TV channel, which has already earned millions, the most successful pay-TV channel launched in South African television history.

That's due to the short amount of time in which the Oscar Pistorius Trial TV channel has been able to amass thousands of riveted viewers, get them to watch television for longer –  and during timeslots usually suffering from anemic ratings.

The channel has successfully also managed to grow a brand-new social media community and following around a specific topic of interest – people who then also watch the channel and interact with the various TV presenters.

The sensational court trial in the North Gauteng High Court of the paralympic athlete who shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentines Day last year, managed to push news coverage of Nkandlagate and South Africa's general election during March and April off of the front pages of newspapers and lifted viewership of the Oscar Pistorius Trial TV channel to unprecedented numbers.

The court trial since 2 March received major coverage from global media with print and electronic media who have dedicated journalists covering the proceedings.

It's now likely that the upcoming murder trial of Shrien Dewani, now in South Africa, will likewise be televised in a similar fashion, fueling South African TV viewers' obsession for dramatic, televised court room drama.

A staggering 90% of viewers of the Oscar Pistorius Trial TV channel said they would want to watch the Shrien Dewani murder trial of his wife Anni.

Channel instantly in top 5 most watched list

During mid-March the Oscar Pistorius Trial TV channel, produced by Combined Artistic Productions for MultiChoice's DStv platform, lured more viewers than any other pay-TV channel, taking fourth place on the most-watched channels list, only behind the free-to-air channels SABC1, SABC2 and e.tv which remain the perennial front-runners.

The Oscar Pistorius Trial TV channel proved more popular than premium pay-TV channels like M-Net, Mzansi Magic and kykNET which are supplied to MultiChoice by M-Net, and instantly shot up to the coveted top 5 list of most watched TV channels on DStv.

In a phenomenal performance and ratings boost for DStv, the Oscar Pistorius Trial TV channel managed to pull at certain periods, the same viewership and even slightly surpass it, of a show like for instance Carte Blanche on M-Net – the premium pay-TV broadcaster's number one rated show and which is broadcast during prime time when a bigger possible audience is available.

Even more astounding is that the channel managed this during morning and afternoon timeslots when overall daytime TV viewership in South Africa is usually extremely low.

Lifting the overall available TV audience in SA

It means that the Oscar Pistorius Trial TV channel not only brought thousands of viewers more to DStv and during times like mornings and afternoons when they wouldn't have been watching before, but also helped to lift the overall available TV audience in South Africa available to advertisers during those timeslots.

The Oscar Pistorius Trial TV channel has also been a spontaneous upsell driver to prompt DStv subscribers to upgrade to higher and more expensive DStv bouquets in order to follow thetelevised court trial.

DStv subscribers like Cherise de Wet – a practising attorney from George, who decided to upgrade their TV household to a higher DStv bouquet for just a month in April in order to follow to murder trial – has remained on a more expensive package solely to get the TV channel and follow the proceedings.

Oscar Pistorius channel exceeded best expectations

"The Oscar Pistorius Trial: A Carte Blanche Channel has exceeded our best expectations having gained a large and dedicated audience in South Africa and around the world," Aletta Alberts, MultiChoice's head of content tells Channel24.

"The channel features consistently as one of the top 5 most viewed TV channels on the DStv platform since its inception in March 2014, unusual for a pop-up channel".

"We are very excited about the groundbreaking broadcast and social media integration and positive educational feedback we've received," says Alberts.

"The Oscar Pistorius Trial TV channel has been performing incredibly well. It has attracted massive audiences," Chris Botha, the group managing director for leading media agency The MediaShop tells Channel24.

"Most importantly for DStv, it has grown their audience share in non-traditional time channels. DStv's daytime audiences are generally quite small, but the Oscar Trial TV channel has changed it all around. Some of the daytime programmes have performed better than some primetime programmes".

"That is one of the reasons DStv introduced the channel – not to make millions of ad revenue, but to grow daytime audiences that will hopefully stay on the bouquet".

"The channel has done well because the trial is so much bigger than any one media type," says Botha.

"The trial has received massive exposure not only on television, but also on social media like Facebook and Twitter. The interest in the trial then drives TV viewership".

"A lot of clients are still sceptical about advertising on the channel. They don't want to be associated with it, as it polarising to some audiences, and also as it is seen as distateful".

"I don't believe it is a missed opportunity for advertisers," says Botha. "I rather believe it is a grasped opportunity for MultiChoice".

Friday, May 16, 2014

"Mad Men" takes on mental illness, PTSD among Holocaust survivors

From CBS News:

Sunday night's episode of "Mad Men" was filled with plenty of surprises both inside and outside the office of Sterling Cooper & Partners. But for many viewers, none quite compared to the shock Peggy Olson received when she opened a gift box from her increasingly erratic colleague, Michael Ginsberg. Inside she found his severed bloody nipple, which the disheveled and talented copywriter had cut off and presented to his boss as a sort of peace offering.

At that moment it becomes astutely clear that Ginsberg has a devastating mental illness. In retrospect, the clues to his unraveling had been accumulating for some time.

Ginsberg's delusions center around the new computer in the office, a loudly humming room-size machine which has displaced him and his creative team and sent them to a tiny claustrophobic work office. He tells Olson the computer's noise is too distracting for him to work and that the "machine makes men do unnatural things" by turning them all into homosexuals. He tells Olson his nipple is the computer's valve and he's removed it to relieve the pressure.

Ginsberg's psychosis reflects a phenomenon detailed last year in an article that appeared in "The New Yorker."
"Shifts in technology have caused the content of delusions to change over the years: in the nineteen-forties, the Japanese controlled American minds with radio waves; in the fifties, the Soviets accomplished this with satellites; in the seventies, the CIA implanted computer chips into people's brains," explained Andrew Marantz in his story.

In Marantz's reporting he found that today's common delusions frequently recreate the concept of the "Truman Show," in which the person believes they are a star of their own reality television show and cannot escape the scrutiny of cameras and an international around-the-clock broadcast of their life.

In Ginsberg's mind, the fear that computers will change, replace and control humans -- worrisome to many at the time -- is the centerpiece of his psychosis.

Actor Ben Feldman (pictured), who plays Ginsberg, says he was stunned when he first learned of the plot line. "(Mad Men's creator) Matt Weiner and I sat down a few weeks before that episode and he told me everything that was gonna happen and my jaw just dropped to the floor," the actor laughed.

A few seasons ago, when a more stable-seeming Ginsberg first entered the fray, he confessed to Olson that he was a child of the Holocaust, born in a concentration camp during World War II. Now in hindsight, this may also explain much about his current state of health. "That machine came for us," he tells Olson.
Many refugees of the war were plagued by debilitating post-traumatic stress disorder and other forms of mental illness, compounded by the lack of social services provided to survivors who often experienced high levels of paranoia, anxiety and fear of future persecution.

At the end of this week's episode, Ginsberg is wheeled out of the office on a gurney. It's unclear what will become of him. However, it's worth noting the historical context, since the realities for the characters closely reflect the social and political climate in which they live. Ginsberg may be in for an uphill battle, and his copy writing days very well could be over. 
It's currently the year 1969 on "Mad Men." The late 1960s marked a turning point for the rights of mentally-ill people, an extension of the volatile Civil Rights Movement. In 1967, lawmakers in the state of California passed the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, essentially the first stab at a bill of rights for the mentally ill, which attempted to enforce some protection within the legal system and communities in the state, both for the patient and society as a whole. The legislation, signed by then-governor and future president Ronald Reagan, would later inform mental health policy in other states and on a federal level. But not for a while.
Serious mental illness was still frequently dealt with by institutionalization, although by the mid-1960s the number of people in psychiatric hospitals had started to decline from a peak in the 1950s.

This is not the first time "Mad Men" has addressed the taboo topic of mental illness. In earlier seasons, Don Draper's ex-wife Betty sought help for her clinical depression and weight gain through psychotherapy and pills -- a reference to the plight of suburban moms in 60s and 70s. It was not uncommon for "happy homemakers" of those eras to try to quell their depression with a few pills, or as the Rolling Stones song called them, "Mother's Little Helper."

'Spectrum,' a new documentary about autism, sensory perception

From the filmmakers at  http://www.spectrumthefilm.com/:

“Spectrum” is a documentary about autism and sensory perception. The goal of the documentary is to combine fascinating interviews with stylized, mixed media footage to simulate visual and auditory experiences described by autistic people. 

One of the most well-known and respected individuals in the autism community, Temple Grandin provides a glimpse into her perceptual world and the science behind autistic perception. She believes that sensory issues are the most important subject to research about autism. 

“Spectrum” also features Tito Mukhopadhyay, an esteemed non-verbal autistic author and poet. Tito has been featured on the BBC and “60 Minutes” for his ability to communicate his incredible intelligence by typing on a computer. Tito shares his experiences living in a world of extreme altered perception. 

What is sensory perception?

Sensory perception refers to the way the human brain processes sensory information. We all have a sensory system for vision, hearing, taste, and smells. How our brain interprets this information creates the reality we engage with in every moment. 

Every person has a unique sensory system. Some people are merely sensitive to certain sights and sounds, like the sound of screeching nails on a chalkboard or images from a 3D movie. 

Autistic people can experience more extreme differences in sensory perception, like extreme over-stimulation or under-stimulation. For some, the sound of a fire alarm can be deafening and scary. Others, like Tito Mukhopadhyay, can experience synesthesia, or cross-sensory perception.

The goal of "Spectrum" is to understand and imagine how others can perceive the world. People with different types of brains experience a different perspective that we need to understand, appreciate, and accommodate.


Wednesday, May 7, 2014

How misunderstanding disability leads to police violence

From The Atlantic:

On April 29, the Senate Judiciary Committee met to discuss law-enforcement responses to disabled Americans. The committee, chaired by democratic Senator Dick Durbin from Illinois, met against the backdrop of the death of James Boyd, a homeless man who had been in and out of psychiatric hospitals, shot to death by police in Albuquerque, and Ethan Saylor (pictured), a man with Down syndrome who suffocated to death while handcuffed by off-duty deputies working as security guards in a Maryland movie theater. They are just two of many people with psychiatric or intellectual disabilities killed by law enforcement.

In the face of these deaths and many others, the senators and witnesses all argued that something must be done. Suggested solutions included increased funding and support for Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT) training and the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Act, which would improve access to mental health services for people who come into contact with the criminal justice system and provide law enforcement officers tools to identify and respond to mental-health issues.

While the hearing focused on troubling, high profile, and tragic cases such as those of Boyd and Saylor, the scope of the problem extends to virtually every kind of disability. Encounters with police have also taken an unnecessarily violent turn for people with disabilities that are not psychiatric or intellectual, including conditions that are physical or sensory:
  • In 2008, Ernest Griglen was removed from his car by police who thought he was intoxicated. He was subsequently beaten. Griglen was, in fact, quite sober, but he is diabetic and was in insulin shock. Judging by media reports alone, people who are diabetic are often mistaken as threatening or drunk.
  • In 2009, Antonio Love felt sick and went into a Dollar General store to use the bathroom. Time passed and he didn’t come out, so the store manager called the police. The officers knocked on the bathroom door, ordered him to come out, but got no response. They sprayed pepper spray under the door, opened it with a tire iron, then tasered Love repeatedly. Love is deaf.  He couldn’t hear the police. Again, if news reports are any indication, deaf people are too frequently treated as non-compliant and tasered or beaten by police.
  • In 2010, Garry Palmer was driving home from visiting his wife’s grave when a dog darted in front of his truck and was hit. Palmer reported the accident as he should have, but because he was slurring his words and shaking, he was arrested for drunk driving. Palmer has cerebral palsy.
  • In January 2014, Robert Marzullo filed a lawsuit citing battery, excessive force, false imprisonment, unlawful seizure and supervisory liability against the town of Hamden, Connecticut and its police department. News reports reveal that Marzullo was tasered by two police officers while having an epileptic seizure in his car.
While specific details vary by case, the common threads that link these stories together are often disconcerting. Law enforcement officials expect and demand compliance, but when they don’t recognize a person’s disability in the course of an interaction, the consequences can be tragic. Misconceptions or assumptions can lead to overreactions that culminate in unnecessary arrest, use of pepper spray, or individuals being tasered.

Sadly, while incidences of this sort aren’t necessarily new, for many of us, learning about them is. The Internet, social media, and ubiquitous cell phones have helped catapult stories that were once easily restricted to local police blotters to unprecedented national prominence.

As National Council on Disability (NCD) Executive Director Rebecca Cokley wrote in her testimony to the Senate Judiciary subcommittee, “misunderstandings, fears, and stereotypes about disability have led to tragic outcomes throughout U.S. history. During the American Eugenics movement, pseudo-scientific ‘evidence’ gave way to popular myths linking disability and criminality, and the inheritability of both.” As a result, people with disabilities were devalued, isolated from the rest of society, prevented from attending school, getting married or becoming active and engaged in their communities.
Fortunately people with disabilities now enjoy far greater civil rights that have come hard fought in the least 50 years. However, harmful attitudes and assumptions, once established, can be difficult to replace even in the face of evidence to the contrary.

In the latest data released by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, Americans with disabilities are victims of violent crimes at nearly three times the rate of their peers without disabilities. In 2012 alone, 1.3 million nonfatal violent crimes were perpetrated against people with disabilities aged 12 or older. Statistics bear out that people with disabilities are far more likely to be the victims of crimes than the perpetrators of them, and therefore are arguably in greater need of supportive relationships with and understanding from law enforcement.

Disability is varied and complex. Sometimes disability is visibly apparent, making it easier for law enforcement, to see—if not misinterpret. For others, disability is invisible. Whether it is written in the genetic code and is a companion since birth, or becomes a part of one’s experience later because of age, accident, or public service during the course of our natural lifespan many of us will move in and out of states of disability, whether it is due to breaking a limb, becoming diabetic, or conditions related to aging.

The disabled community relies on law enforcement as the first line of defense and protection in countless situations of varying complexity. Strengthening this important relationship could be a step toward preventing the sort of misunderstandings that can result in tragedy.

As Patti Saylor, Ethan’s mother, testified at Tuesday’s hearing:
“When you know someone with a disability and have a relationship with that person, it changes your whole being and perspective. At the local level, we have a real opportunity to build relationships with our local law enforcement and public sector officials, the ones that are on the frontlines serving our communities... Local disability advocacy organizations and providers should build lasting relationships with their local law enforcement and public sector officials. It doesn’t take an act of Congress, federal or state mandate, or even money to make you realize that relationships are everything.”
The recent hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee is an important first sentence in an ongoing dialogue about how law enforcement officials relate to people with psychiatric, developmental, and physical disabilities. Non-compliance isn’t automatically criminal, and if more police understood that, it could minimize the violence.

At the end of the hearing, Senator Al Franken remarked, “I think we need CIT training for every law enforcement official." CIT training is one component, along with increased community support, public engagement, and funding. These are all steps we can take to try to decrease the likelihood of more mistreatment of those like Saylor and Boyd.

But as long as disability is misunderstood and criminalized, even unintentionally, nearly everyone will be at increased risk.

Sunday, May 4, 2014

More American students are learning sign language than Chinese

From Vox. In the picture, sign language interpreter Barbie Parker of LotuSIGN performs during Lollapalooza 2013 at Grant Park.

The fastest-growing foreign language class in the past 20 years isn't foreign at all. Nor is it spoken. It's American Sign Language.

More college students are now studying American Sign Language than Chinese and Russian combined. In 2009, ASL was the fourth-most popular language for college students to study, falling behind only Spanish, French, and German.

That's a huge change in the past three decades. So few college students studied sign language in 1986 that it didn't even register on the US Education Department's periodic surveys. By 1990, it was showing up — way, way at the bottom.

After 1990, many more colleges began accepting American Sign Language to fulfill foreign language requirements amid a growing recognition that deaf Americans have their own culture and customs. ASL is now accepted by nearly all flagship state universities for foreign language credits, according to a list maintained by Sherman Wilcox, a University of New Mexico linguistics professor who studies sign languages.

Wilcox, a forceful advocate for the acceptance of American Sign Language as a separate language worthy of study, argues that it has just as much economic value and cultural validity as a foreign language. (ASL isn't widely used outside the United States and Canada, even in other English-speaking countries; the United Kingdom and Australia both have their own sign languages.)

Deaf people have their own culture and folkways, just as French or Spanish speakers do, Wilcox says. Sign language interpreters are in demand in business, education and government. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the demand for those workers will grow rapidly in the next decade.

"One of the educational benefits of foreign language study is that it gives students a fresh perspective on their own language and culture," Wilcox writes. "This is especially true of ASL."

If anything, the growth of ASL has slowed somewhat in recent years. It grew a mere 50 percent between 2002 and 2009; Korean, Arabic, and Chinese all grew faster.

The relative popularity of language classes also offers a window into the changes in US foreign and economic policy and the relative global importance of other nations and economies. Here's how enrollments in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and Russian have changed since 1965.

Note the waning of the Cold War (and the fading interest in Russian), the sharp increase in Japanese in the late 1980s, and the spike in Arabic after 2001.