BAC Rutland

Press release from the Department of Labor:

The federal government has launched a new website called Disability.gov, offering comprehensive information about programs and services geared to the more than 50 million Americans who have disabilities.

The new website aggregates information from 22 federal agencies and contains thousands of links. It was unveiled in conjunction with the 19th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
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Josie Byzek, managing editor of New Mobility magazine, says President Obama “bombed” in his speech on the 19th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Byzek says Obama fed into stereotypes and failed to recognize the civil rights struggles faced daily by people with disabilities. (Video of his remarks on CSPAN here.) An excerpt:
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Asperger’s syndrome is a developmental disorder that affects a child’s ability to socialize and communicate effectively with others. Children with Asperger’s syndrome typically exhibit social awkwardness and an all-absorbing interest in specific topics.
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Romance can be risky, perplexing and filled with the perils of miscommunication – and that’s if you aren’t ADAM, for whom life itself is this way.  In this heartfelt romantic comedy, Hugh Dancy (THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB, CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC) stars as Adam, a handsome but intriguing young man who has all his life led a sheltered existence – until he meets his new neighbor, Beth (Rose Byrne, “Damages,” 28 WEEKS LATER, KNOWING), a beautiful, cosmopolitan young woman who pulls him into the outside world, with funny, touching and entirely unexpected results.  Their implausible and enigmatic relationship reveals just how far two people from different realities can stretch in search of an extraordinary connection.
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THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary

ANNIVERSARY OF THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT, 2009
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION
Today we celebrate the 19th anniversary of the enactment of the historic Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Signed into law on July 26, 1990, this landmark legislation established a clear mandate against discrimination on the basis of disability so that people with disabilities would have an equal opportunity to achieve the American Dream.
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Researchers will appear on Capitol Hill today with a robotic device designed to make life easier for the disabled.  Modern wheelchairs are lightweight, ergonomically designed chariots that require the use of arms rather than legs for mobility.

Recognizing the paramount importance of arms in the process, local researchers have been working to reduce wrist, elbow and shoulder injuries that plague most wheelchair users.
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From the [Salt Lake City] Deseret News:

Forty members of the disability rights advocacy group ADAPT have been blocking the Democratic Party’s national headquarters in Washington, seeking support for the Community Choice Act. Other members of the group have been staging protests in state Democratic Party headquarters around the country.
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President Barack Obama is expected to announce this Friday that he will sign the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, White House aides say.

The move is set to coincide with the 19th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
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“A stronger post-high school education and training system would recognize that education is a life-long endeavor, with each component a natural continuation of the high-quality education that preceded it.  The foundation would be a high quality early childhood, elementary, and secondary education system.  Post-secondary students would have access to timely and appropriate financial aid to help finance the cost of education and training.  Further, all components would share common – or aligned – goals and the classes and programs would be cumulative.”
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He jumped at loud noises, had unpredictable flashes of anger and was constantly replaying battle scenes in his head. When Damian J. Todd, who served two tours in Iraq with the Marine Corps, described those symptoms to a psychiatrist in January 2008, the diagnosis was quick: he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Less swift was the government’s response when Mr. Todd submitted, a month later, a disability claim that would entitle him to a monthly benefit check. Nearly 18 months went by before the Department of Veterans Affairs granted his claim late last month, Mr. Todd said.
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