Posted on: , Nic Lindh
Kailua man completes paddleboard race despite disability
The Kaiwi Channel is one of the most difficult channels to cross on a paddleboard. On Sunday, some of the world’s top athletes took on the challenge in the 15th annual Molokai to Oahu Paddleboard World Championship.
Posted on: , Nic Lindh
Labeling people is a sensitive issue, especially for those with developmental disabilities. It is not an easy thing to change which is why there’s a major campaign to eliminate the “r-word.”
Posted on: , Nic Lindh
Disability advocate promotes public transit across the state
With a white cane in hand and a guitar slung over his shoulder, Frank Strong Jr. is touring Iowa in support of local bus service.
Posted on: , Nic Lindh
I SPOKE at an AIDS conference not long ago, and after the talk, someone asked me how I had contracted H.I.V. “Well,” I replied, “sexually.” Staring at my crutches, which I have used since I got polio as a child, she exclaimed, “But how?”
Posted on: , Nic Lindh
Brooklyn amputee’s sue spree against businesses that aren’t handicapped accessible
Zoltan Hirsch, a double amputee in a wheelchair, says he’s trying to make New York City more handicapped accessible one lawsuit at a time. But some wonder whether Hirsch — who has filed 87 federal claims in the last year seeking damages and legal fees — is crusader or con man.
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Proposal to allow fees at ISD, ISVI causing a stir
Legislation that could require parents of blind or deaf children to pay additional school fees is causing a stir amongst advocates for those with special needs.
Posted on: , Nic Lindh
A Disabled Boy’s Death, and a System in Disarray
Jonathan Carey did not die for lack of money.
New York State and the federal government provided $1.4 million annually per person to care for Jonathan and the other residents of the Oswald D. Heck Developmental Center, a warren of low-rise concrete and brick buildings near Albany.
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Lawsuit takes aim at Medicaid-program changes that reduce access to home care for elderly
Health-care providers on Wednesday lambasted state changes to a Medicaid program that make it harder for patients, particularly the elderly, to get in-home care for such everyday activities as eating, bathing and going to the bathroom.
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Math Learning Disability As Common As Dyslexia
The quadratic equation may have instilled horror in many of us. But for some five to seven percent of the population even basic math—like the concept of the numbers five and seven—causes anxiety. You may never have heard of the disorder called dyscalculia, yet it’s as common as dyslexia, according to research in the journal Science.
Posted on: , Nic Lindh
Does cutting mental health care increase the prison population?
State-supported mental health care, like many social services, has been especially vulnerable in the recent rounds of budget cuts. Over the past two years, some $1.6 billion has been slashed from non-Medicaid state spending on mental health, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. But a growing number of law enforcement officials — along with mental health advocates — are voicing concerns that such cutbacks not only hurt mental health beneficiaries but also overburden the country’s prison system.
