BAC Rutland

Effective Jan. 1, the Americans With Disabilities Act will be amended to make important changes in the definition of the word “disability.”

The amendments retain the basic definition of disability as: (1) an impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; (2) a record of such an impairment; or (3) being regarded as having such an impairment.
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They “tend to be the last hired and first fired,” says one advocate

By Amanda Ruggeri
Posted December 5, 2008

WHEN THE STATE began closing its hospitals for the mentally ill decades ago, it promised that patients would be able to get vital daytime services – education, recreation, and supported employment – in community settings. This was reassuring to the mentally ill and their families, who feared the consequences if patients released from the hospitals lacked these programs and the safe social contact they provide. Now these services are at risk as the state targets them in its effort to bring spending in line with declining revenues.
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It’s been heartening to hear elected officials, editorial writers, and policy makers talking about Vermonters sharing the pain as we address the state’s massive revenue shortfall.
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The effect of the State cuts on services for people with disabilities

MONTPELIER — The Douglas administration unveiled its plan for $19.7 million in state spending cuts Monday. The governor’s plan calls for the elimination of 50 state jobs, closure of four highway rest areas, pay cuts for managers, increases in state park fees, cuts to financial assistance to college students in the spring semester, and reductions in community-based services to the mentally ill and developmentally disabled.
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Governor Deval Patrick’s administration announced yesterday that it would close four of six state-run institutions for residents with disabilities, including the Fernald Development Center in Waltham, and transfer more than 300 residents to group homes.
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MONTPELIER — Over the course of his 34 years, Andreas Yuan, a developmentally disabled man prone to hearty smiles and even heartier hugs, has had more than 2,500 caregivers, his mother said. So many that she can’t possibly remember all their names.
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“What will happen to my son when we are gone?”

Autism affects more than 1.5 million Americans and their families. Critical services and supports are needed to raise a child with autism, but they are few and far between.
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Obsessive-compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder in which people have thoughts, feelings, ideas, sensations (obsessions), or behaviors that make them feel driven to do something (compulsions). A person may have both obsessions and compulsions.
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By BENEDICT CAREY
Published: December 17, 2008

The book is at least three years away from publication, but it is already stirring bitter debates over a new set of possible psychiatric disorders.
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