Accessibility
7-Eleven, Inc.'s Upgrade of Point of Sale Equipment Praised by Blind Community - (ICDRI). "Several organizations representing the blind community today commended 7Eleven, Inc. for installing tactile point of sale (POS) devices that will protect the privacy and security of 7-Eleven shoppers with visual impairments. These new devices include tactile keys arranged like a standard telephone keypad, and enable 7-Eleven® store shoppers who have difficulty reading information on a touch-screen to privately and independently enter their PIN and other confidential information. 7-Eleven has installed the new devices at more than 2,000 stores in the U.S. Over the next 18 months, all flat-screen devices in 7-Eleven's 5,500 U.S. stores will be replaced with the tactile units."
http://www.icdri.org/News/7Eleven_PR.htm
Accessible Cyprus offers warm welcome to all - (Yourable). "A new holiday centre for disabled guests and their carers has opened in Cyprus. Purpose-built accommodation and activities, specially designed to suit the requirements of the less mobile holidaymakers is now available in Polis. The user-friendly C & A Tourist apartments are fully accessible to wheelchair users with roll-in showers, a swimming pool hoist and raised sun beds. In addition, a full selection of equipment including manual and electric wheelchairs, power scooters, shower commodes and electric hoists can be hired. A specially converted minibus services is also available offering convenient transfers. There are plenty of opportunities for activity and adventure with a number of adapted excursions on offer including swimming in the sea, scuba diving, horse riding and parasailing. Assistance with organising suitable wedding venues is also available. The Cyprus Tourism Organisation also offers materials such as the nature trails guide that details accessible routes that can be navigated on wheelchair for those wishing to explore the countryside."
http://www.youreable.com/TwoShare/getPage/01News/01Current/February2008/cyprus
Airlines tackle wheelchair need - by Barbara De Lollis (USA TODAY). "Ellen Brehm, a retired nurse who walks with cane, was stranded last September after flying home from California following the annual trip she's been taking with college friends since 1947. Her flight, which [had] departed six hours late, landed at Newark at about 1:20 a.m. The wheelchair service she'd requested was nowhere in sight. Brehm returned to the plane to sit and wait, but a flight attendant told her she must get off so the crew could leave. She then stood on the jet bridge, balancing on her cane, to wait. About 30 minutes later, another flight attendant exited the plane and asked if she needed help. The woman eventually returned with a wheelchair attendant."
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2008-03-12-wheelchair-travel_N.htm
Near the Golden Gate, Seeking Broader Access to Parks - by Carolyn Marshall (New York Times). "While other visitors hiking the majestic bluffs known as the Marin Headlands stare out toward mesmerizing views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Pacific Ocean, Ann Sieck gazes at the ground, puzzling over a rock jutting up from the path. For Ms. Sieck, who has multiple sclerosis and uses a wheelchair, the rock is the kind of obstacle that forces her to stay mindful of potential hazards overlooked by most visitors. 'When I meet with a barrier — especially a man-made barrier like a wooden bridge with steps at the end — it gets me in the stomach,' said Ms. Sieck, 58, an avid hiker before the disease sapped her ability to walk 12 years ago. 'It makes me angry, but it's a feeling of impotent anger.' In the hope of lessening that feeling, Ms. Sieck has joined a federal class-action lawsuit against the National Park Service and its Golden Gate National Recreation Area, a series of parks and open spaces that traverse 75,000 acres of public land and 59 miles of Pacific shoreline and include landmarks like Alcatraz and Muir Woods. Federal law requires the Park Service to provide universal access to its land and attractions. Ms. Sieck and other people with disabilities say they cannot gain entry or use many of the Golden Gate area's historic buildings, trails, museums, restrooms or water fountains."
http://www.aapd.com/News/disability/080318nyt.htm
Advocacy
Disabled leave the shadows and their mark - by Helen Henderson (TheStar). "Justin Hines has had two songs on the charts from his debut album, a career poised to explode and a message to the world: Follow your passion. He is the future of a culture emerging from the shadow, a generation of young people who transcend wheelchairs and labels. In the 25 years he has been on this planet, the pace of change has gone from eons to nanoseconds. For those who move or communicate or process information differently from the majority, progress takes many forms. The spectrum of disability today stretches all the way from a mother accused of giving into frustration and drowning her 4-year-old autistic daughter to Ontario's latest lieutenant-governor, a man who has brought leg braces and an electric scooter into the chambers of power."
http://www.thestar.com/living/Disabilities/article/339404
Education
\DO-IT opens The Center for Universal Design in Education - "DO-IT has enhanced its AccessCollege resources for postsecondary faculty, staff and students with The Center for Universal Design. Combined with previous areas, all funded by the U.S. Department of Education, AccessCollege is now organized into four resource centers."
http://www.washington.edu/doit/Newsflash/nf.09.10.07.html
Employment
Database of more than 1,700 job candidates with disabilities to be made available to employers - "On March 19, the U.S. Department of Labor will make available to employers nationwide a free database of 1,769 new job candidates with disabilities seeking work in a wide variety of fields. Federal employers can tap into this ongoing recruitment resource online, and private sector, other government and nonprofit employers can request unlimited searches by calling a toll-free telephone number."
http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/odep/odep20080389.htm
Disabled student has sights set on journalism gig - by Jeff Lee (Vancouver Sun). "When the 2010 Winter Paralympics begin in Vancouver two years from today, Grace Brulotte hopes to roll in with the athletes, a camera fixed to her wheelchair, a keyboard at the ready with which to write stories. Brulotte, 12, is one of more than 40 B.C. students with disabilities who are applying for special journalist accreditations to cover the Vancouver Olympics and Paralympics for local media. The arrangement is part of an unusual program announced Tuesday by 2010 Legacies Now, Special Education Technology (SET) and 3M, which are funding a two-year, $200,000 'Virtual Voices Village' project to teach children with disabilities how to write and post their interviews online."
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=cfddcc34-ffcb-4413-a269-bda2b18b9b42&k=34867
Ethics
A matter of life and death - "Its opponents say it sanctions 'the ultimate incest', and will create monsters. Its supporters see only the hope it offers to the ill and infertile. The embryology bill is so divisive that Gordon brown has taken the unusual step of allowing MPs a free vote. So what are the key issues, and who is lobbying on each side?"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/mar/27/stemcells.medicalresearch
Deaf embryo row - By Katharine Quarmby (DisabilityNow). "A heated debate has ignited about whether deaf parents should be allowed to select an embryo that has a deafness gene. The row has gained extra momentum because of the human fertilisation and embryology bill, which is due to have its second reading in the Commons in the next few months. Clause 14/4/9 of the bill allows a hearing embryo to be selected, but not one carrying a gene associated with deafness. This debate has divided the community. On one side is the British Deaf Association (BDA), which is run by deaf people. The BDA states: "By codifying into law a preference for selecting embryos that are genetically associated with hearing, potential deaf people who would otherwise have been born will not have an opportunity to exist."
http://www.disabilitynow.org.uk/latest-news2/news-focus/deaf-embryo-row
Disabled Girl's Parents Defend Growth-Stunting Treatment - (CNN.com). "It's been a year since the parents of a severely disabled child made public their decision to submit their daughter to a hysterectomy, breast surgery and drugs to keep the girl forever small. Today, the couple tell CNN, they believe they made the right decision -- one that could have a profound impact on the care of disabled children worldwide. 'The 'Ashley treatment' has been successful in every expected way,' Ashley's parents told CNN exclusively in a lengthy e-mail interview. 'It has potential to help many others like it helped our precious daughter.' While unwavering in their belief in the treatment, Ashley's parents continue to insist on anonymity. In the year since Ashley's parents went public, not only did the hospital that sterilized Ashley admit it broke Washington state law, but also the doctor who treated Ashley committed suicide."
http://www.aapd.com/News/bioethics/080312cnn.htm
Genetic Screening Raises Tough Ethical Issues - by Carol Ann Campbell (Star-Ledger). "The number of babies born with cystic fibrosis declined by half in Massachusetts after genetic screening started to identify carriers of the gene, suggesting similar declines may be happening across the nation, according to a recent report in the New England Journal of Medicine. The Massachusetts study is among the first to examine the implications of widespread genetic screening, which is expected to increase as scientists discover genes for other genetic disorders. Researchers say they cannot definitively explain the decline, but they surmise that couples who learn both carry the CF gene may decide not to have children, may turn to donor sperm or eggs or may test embryos before they are implanted in the womb. Also, pregnant women who learn they are CF carriers may test the fetus and have abortions if the test is positive. 'We think genetic screening has impacted the number of babies born with this disease,' said Richard Parad, an author of the brief journal report and a physician at Children's Hospital Boston."
http://www.aapd.com/News/bioethics/080310tsl.htm
Playing games with innocent life - by Nat Hentoff (WashingtonTimes). "While Barack Obama is disengaging himself from some of the sulfurously disuniting remarks of his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, he has shown in a February debate with Hillary Clinton — his own disturbing ignorance of why disability-rights communities across the nation so vigorously protested the official starvation and dehydration of disabled Terri Schiavo. I described this as 'the longest public execution in American History.' When moderator Tim Russert asked Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama if 'there are any words or votes that you'd like to take back... in your careers in public service,' Mr. Obama answered that in his first year in the Senate, he joined an agreement that allowed Congress to interject itself (in the Schiavo case) into the decision-making process of the families."
http://washingtontimes.com/article/20080331/EDITORIAL/781527362/1013/editorial
SENIOR project initiates ethical debate on ICT for the elderly - (Cordis). "'We need a global initiative on the issues of ethics and privacy of information and communication technologies [ICT],' Professor Emilio Mordini told CORDIS News. But before embarking on such a colossal task, the Professor is leading a smaller, yet equally ambitious initiative, looking into the social, ethical and privacy issues of ICT solutions destined for the growing elderly population. This is the EU-funded SENIOR project, which was officially launched on 4 March. Dubbed Assistive Technologies (AT), these technologies aim to improve the day-to-day activities of the elderly, as well as people with disabilities, to supplement their loss of independence. However, while they hold great promise on the one hand, these technologies can also run the risk of further isolating the these population groups."
http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&SESSION=&RCN=29203
Should We Use Plastic Surgery to make our Down's daughter beautiful like us? - (DailyMail). "Chelsea Kirwan is brutally frank about the moment she learnt her newborn daughter had Down's syndrome. 'I felt as if I had been punched in the stomach by the world,' she says. The news also devastated her husband Laurence, a plastic surgeon well used to the horrors of working in burns units and with victims of earthquakes. 'This was the first time I'd seen him actually need to sit down because he was so shaken,' says Chelsea. All the joy the couple should have felt at the birth of their new baby failed to materialise. Instead, they were overwhelmed by shock, as would any new parents on being given such news. Yet their story comes with an extraordinary irony. For the couple make their fortune from the quest for physical perfection - to become parents of a daughter with Down's syndrome may have, to say the least, profoundly challenged their ideas of what beauty is, whether it resides in the spirit or the body and whether cosmetic surgery is truly worthwhile."
http://www.aapd.com/News/bioethics/080304dm.htm
Down Syndrome Girl Has Cosmetic Operation to 'Fit In' - "The parents of a Down syndrome girl have caused an outcry by subjecting their daughter to cosmetic surgery to improve her appearance. The girl had had 'radical and painful' cosmetic surgery three times by the time she was five so she could 'fit in' with her peers, the Daily Mail newspaper in Britain reported yesterday. Parents of another girl told the paper that they were also considering altering her appearance in the future so she could be more 'accepted'. Critics in the UK slammed the parents, with some even claiming the procedures were tantamount to child abuse. However the families hit back, saying that no one complained when 'normal' children had their ears pinned back."
http://www.aapd.com/News/bioethics/080310tcm.htm
This Couple Want a Deaf Child. - Should we try to stop them? - by Gaby Hinsliff and Robin McKie (GuardianUnlimited). "From embryo selection to abortion, fertility treatment to stem cell research, medical advances have created a furious ethical debate. Now MPs must decide how far science should be allowed to go. Like any other three-year-old child, Molly has brought joy to her parents. Bright-eyed and cheerful, Molly is also deaf - and that is an issue which vexes her parents, though not for the obvious reasons. Paula Garfield, a theatre director, and her partner, Tomato Lichy, an artist and designer, are also deaf and had hoped to have a child who could not hear. 'We celebrated when we found out about Molly's deafness,' says Lichy. 'Being deaf is not about being disabled, or medically incomplete - it's about being part of a linguistic minority. . . . The government's Human Fertilisation and Embryology (HFE) bill, scheduled to go through the Commons this spring, will block any attempt by couples like Garfield and Lichy to use modern medical techniques to ensure their children are deaf. The bill is a jumbo-sized piece of legislation intended to pull together all aspects of reproductive science in Britain and pave the way for UK scientists to lead the field in embryology. But in trying to do so, the civil servants drafting the bill have provoked a great deal of unrest."
http://www.aapd.com/News/bioethics/080311gnm.htm
General Interest
After the fall - "Tim Rushby-Smith walked out of his home to go to work on April 1 2005. He finally got back again 18 months later. And when he did return to his flat, in east London, he was in a wheelchair. Tim, a tree surgeon, who ran a garden design business, had fallen out of a tree and broken his back."
http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/family/story/0,,2268918,00.html
Blind pilot achieves speed record - (BBC). "A Derbyshire adventurer has become the first blind man to break the sound barrier as the pilot of a supersonic fighter jet. Miles Hilton-Barber, from Duffield, flew with a sighted co-pilot reaching speeds of up to 1,100mph over Cape Town, South Africa on Sunday. The jet climbed to 50,000ft (15,000m) in under two minutes."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/derbyshire/7322031.stm
Pratchett funds Alzheimer's study - (BBCnews). "Best-selling fantasy author Terry Pratchett is to donate $1m for research into Alzheimer's disease. The creator of the Discworld series was diagnosed with a rare early-onset form of the disease in December. Pratchett, 59, announced the pledge of about £494,000 at the Alzheimer's Research Trust annual conference. Telling leading dementia specialists of his determination to find a cure, he said: 'I intend to scream and harangue while there is time.' There are 15,000 people in the UK with early-onset dementia, which strikes under the age of 65 years."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7291315.stm
Special means to an end - by Helen Henderson (TheStar). "At age 52, Claire Mehta knows all about uphill battles. As a child in a wheelchair, she had to fight to be included with other kids her age at school and at play. She became a lawyer, got a job working with the federal Indian Affairs department in Ottawa, married and had children. But Mehta's firm belief that communities should integrate people with disabilities throughout all stages of life was tested when her elder son, Cyrus, started school. Cyrus was diagnosed with multiple disabilities, including Tourette Syndrome (a neurological disorder) and epilepsy. Mehta and her husband Ardeshir were adamant that they wanted him included in regular classes. He had a tough time."
http://www.thestar.com/living/Disabilities/article/347009
Government
Canada
Acupuncture Added As Supplementary MSP Benefit - "On April 1, B.C. will become the first Canadian province to offer acupuncture treatments as a supplementary benefit for its Medical Services Plan (MSP) premium assistance recipients, Health Minister George Abbott announced today. 'Acupuncture is recognized worldwide as a safe and effective way to treat or manage a variety of health conditions,' said Abbott. 'We are pleased that the inclusion of acupuncture as a supplementary MSP benefit will ensure that more British Columbians have the ability to explore treatment options that they might otherwise be unable to access.' Premium assistance benefits are available to eligible B.C. residents with a combined family income of $28,000 or less. MSP reimburses premium assistance recipients $23 for each supplementary benefit visit, to a combined maximum of 10 visits in each calendar year. Patients are covered for acupuncture treatments for a diagnosed condition through visits with practitioners registered by the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners and Acupuncturists of British Columbia (CTCMA)."
http://www2.news.gov.bc.ca/news_releases_2005-2009/2008HEALTH0031-000429.htm
Alternative Federal Budget 2007 - (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives). "From its beginnings, the fundamental premise of Alternative Federal Budget is that budgets are about choices. The AFB starts from a set of social justice values — human dignity and freedom, fairness, equality, environmental sustainability and the public good-embraced by representatives of a broad spectrum of civil society organizations: labour, environment, anti-poverty, church, students, teachers, education and health care, cultural, social development, farm, child development, women, international cooperation, disability, Aboriginal, think tanks, etc."
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/Reports/2008/02/ReportsStudies1828/index.cfm?pa=BB736455
Canada Pension Plan Disability program - Change to contributory eligibility - "On March 3, 2008, an amendment to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) legislation came into force that helps long-term contributors qualify for disability benefits. This amendment allows CPP disability applicants with 25 or more years of contributions to meet the contributory requirement of the CPP Disability program with valid contributions in three of the last six years instead of four of the last six years. Applicants are required to meet the program's medical criteria to qualify for benefits. This change applies to applications received on or after March 3, 2008."
http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/en/sc/cpp/disability/contributory_eligibility.shtml
Government of Canada Improves Canada Pension Plan Disability Eligibility - (Marketwire). "The Honourable Monte Solberg, Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, today announced the coming into force of an amendment to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Disability legislation that will help thousands of Canadians qualify for disability benefits. 'With this change, the Government of Canada is helping Canadians who have made a significant contribution to the labour force in their lifetime to get the benefits they need,' said Minister Solberg. 'By 2010, we estimate that an additional 3,700 individuals and 1,000 of their children will receive CPP Disability benefits.' CPP Disability benefits provide a monthly taxable benefit to contributors who are disabled and to their dependent children. With this change, CPP Disability applicants with 25 years or more of CPP contributions will require valid contributions in three of the last six years, instead of the current requirement of four of the last six years. Medical eligibility requirements for CPP disability benefits will remain the same."
http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=828150
Ontario will pay for drug to treat blindness - (FoundationFightingBlindness). "A drug used to effectively treat an eye disease that causes blindness will now be covered under the Ontario drug benefit program. The prescription drug Lucentis will now be added to the list of publicly-funded drugs in Ontario. The effective date of the reimbursement will be March 25th. Lucentis is used to treat neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, a degenerative condition that affects central vision. About 10,000 patients are treated for wet AMD in Ontario each year. Most of them are aged 50 and older. There are two types of AMD: dry and wet. Approximately 10 to 15 per cent of those with age-related macular degeneration have the 'wet' type, which causes rapid vision loss and involves the leaking of blood and other fluids into the macula. In contrast the 'dry' type causes a slower progression of vision loss. Both types affect the macula, located in the centre of the retina, which is responsible for detailed visual activities such as reading and driving."
http://www.ffb.ca/news-release.php?hc=2&sub=2
U.S.
Administration Moves to Withdraw Key Health Services from Children and Adults with Mental Illness and Other Disabilities - By Judith Solomon (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities). "On August 13, 2007, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a proposed regulation that would eliminate federal Medicaid funding for important services provided to adults and children with disabilities (particularly those with mental illness), as well as other beneficiaries. The rule would significantly limit states' ability to provide rehabilitative services, including those designed to enable individuals with disabilities to improve their mental or physical capacities and remain out of an institution. In 2004, some 1.5 million people received rehabilitative services through Medicaid, according to a recent report from the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. Nearly every state (47 states plus the District of Columbia) provides rehabilitative services for Medicaid beneficiaries. About three-fourths of the people who receive these rehabilitative services suffer from mental illness. Many states use federal Medicaid funds to help support community-based services for people with mental illness as an alternative to institutionalization. States also provide rehabilitative services to children with mental illness and other special health care needs in school-based settings."
http://www.aapd.com/News/medicaid/080324cbpp.htm
Legal
Cameron to Back Late Abortions for Babies with Minor Disabilities - (DailyMail). "David Cameron has risked angering hardline anti-abortion campaigners by saying he will vote to allow the termination of babies with minor disabilities. With MPs preparing for a Commons battle on a range of controversial human fertility issues, the Tory leader said there was no need to change the law. MPs are expected to vote on a proposal to change the rule that allows abortions as late as 39 weeks if the unborn child is diagnosed with a disability. But Mr Cameron said: 'I won't be supporting that. The current law should remain.' However, he pledged to vote to reduce the abortion limit for healthy babies to 20 weeks from the current 24. . . . The Tory leader said he would back the general principle of the Bill because he supports its objective of overhauling the rules on fertility."
http://www.aapd.com/News/international/080324dm.htm
Cdr V. California Department Of Transportation (Caltrans) - "Disability Rights Advocates ("DRA") and AARP Foundation Litigation ("AFL") are working together in a ground-breaking case against the California Department of Transportation ("Caltrans") to improve sidewalk access throughout the state of California for persons with mobility and/or vision disabilities. The class action lawsuit is the first of its kind to challenge sidewalk access barriers on a statewide basis. The lawsuit, filed in August of 2006, seeks to change discriminatory policies and practices by Caltrans that have led to numerous and pervasive access barriers along Caltrans sidewalks across the state. The named plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Californians for Disability Rights, Inc., the California Council for the Blind, Ben Rockwell, who has a mobility disability, and Dmitri Belser, who has a vision disability. The lawsuit alleges that Caltrans has violated federal and state civil rights laws designed to provide people with disabilities full and equal access to pedestrian rights of way and Park and Ride facilities as is described in further detail in the complaint."
http://www.dralegal.org/cases/public_entities/CDR_v.Caltrans.php
Law Opens Opportunities for Disabled - 'No Child' Is Credited With Pushing Many to Higher Levels of Achievement - by Maria Glod (Washington Post). "As Montgomery County ninth-grader Stephen Sabia reads 'Romeo and Juliet' and studies the Holocaust and World War II for honors history and English, his mother credits an important ally in her years-long drive to secure the best education possible for her son with Down syndrome: the federal No Child Left Behind law. The six-year-old law's requirement to raise student achievement across the board has forced schools to pay attention as never before to special-needs children who too often had been written off as incapable of handling the same lessons as peers in mainstream classrooms. Students with disabilities have made some strides in math and reading on state and national tests in recent years, although experts debate whether the law is responsible."
http://www.aapd.com/News/education/080317wp.htm
Private College Has Duty to Accommodate Students With Disabilities, Human Rights Tribunal Confirms - "The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario has issued its decision in the case of Brown v Trebas Institute Ontario Inc. The case involves a complaint filed by Delano Brown who is blind and alleged the private post-secondary career college discriminated against him in his efforts to enrol in a Music Business Administration study program. As a result of his disability, Mr. Brown required specially outfitted computer equipment and written course materials in alternative (electronic or audio) format to enrol in the program. Although Mr. Brown passed the entrance test, was accepted into the program and paid his enrolment fee, former administrators testified that they either did not know how to pursue the matter of accommodation or did not consider it within the scope of their responsibilities, and left these issues to Mr. Brown to arrange. They also denied Mr. Brown's request for an enrolment extension to complete arrangements for his disability-related accommodation needs and financial support."
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/resources/news/trebas
Media
Art as an outlet; 'Living Creatively' exhibit recognizes ability, not disability - by Andrew Wallmeyer (StillwaterGazette). "Though the 44 artists featured in Art St. Croix's third annual "Living Creatively" exhibit all live with disabilities, it is their artistic ability that unites them. Dozens crowded into the Lake Elmo Regional Art Center Sunday afternoon to celebrate the artists, their work and the community that has grown up around them. 'We had more submissions this year than ever before, and the turnout today is fabulous, the best ever,' said Art St. Croix Chair Judy Gulden. 'People were so excited about the show some came an hour before the reception started. ... That tells me that people are hungry for this sense of community and this art.' Gulden, who also works at HSI, said she has seen firsthand how therapeutic art can be for many of the social services center's clients, and because of that she and her colleagues actively encourage many of them to develop their artistic talents."
http://www.stillwatergazette.com/articles/2008/03/04/news/news520.txt
Liberty Mutual Ad Shows New Trend in Authenticity - by Pam Vetter (NewMobility). "As part of a television ad campaign focused on responsibility, a Liberty Mutual commercial shows actress Teal Sherer, a wheelchair user in real life, going outside in the rain, wheeling down the sidewalk to the bus stop, getting on a wheelchair accessible bus, and rolling under a metal gate at a school with the simple goal to cast her vote in this year's election. 'While the spot is intended to remind everyone of the responsibility and privilege to exercise our right to vote, it's also a masterful and authentic representation of people with disabilities,' says Disability Advocate Christine Bruno of Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts. In fact, Liberty Mutual Senior Marketing Communications Consultant Jennifer Anderson stressed that authenticity was important in developing the advertisement."
http://www.newmobility.com/articleView.cfm?id=11122
TV series to search for top disabled model - (RTEntertainment). "The BBC is to launch a TV talent search for disabled models. 'Britain's Missing Top Model' will see eight women compete before a panel of industry experts. The five-part series aims 'to challenge preconceived notions of beauty'. The winner will land a spread in a women's glossy magazine, shot by one of the world's top fashion photographers. BBC3 controller Danny Cohen said: 'This series aims to challenge the artificial boundaries that seem to exist in the beauty and fashion industries'."
http://www.rte.ie/arts/2008/0305/britainsmissingtopmodel.html
Medical
Arthritis Patients To Benefit From More Drug Therapies - "Patients with an arthritic condition that affects the spinal cord now have more treatment options through government's approval of three new drug therapies, announced [BC]Health Minister George Abbott today. Beginning March 14, 2008, rheumatologists can apply using specialized forms for coverage of adalimumab (Humira), etanercept (Enbrel) and infliximab (Remicade) by fax or mail for patients with ankylosing spondylitis who meet the eligibility criteria through the PharmaCare Special Authority program."
http://www2.news.gov.bc.ca/news_releases_2005-2009/2008HEALTH0020-000300.htm
Cause of disability discovered - (ScienceAlert). "University of Adelaide geneticist Dr Jozef Gecz and a team of Belgium and UK scientists have achieved a major breakthrough in discovering the causes of intellectual disability. Dr Gecz, a senior researcher who is based at the Women's and Children's Hospital in Adelaide, has collaborated with an international research team to reveal that various mutations of a small part of the X chromosome lead to mental retardation. The breakthrough is reported in the February issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics and comes after an intensive collaboration with scientists from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, England and the Genetics of Learning Disability (GOLD) Service in NSW."
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20080102-16835.html
Pain Relief for Osteoporosis Patients With Fractures - (BusinessWeek). "In osteoporosis patients with spinal fractures, vertebroplasty provides significant pain relief and helps decrease disability, according to a new study. Vertebroplasty involves injection of medical-grade bone cement into a fractured vertebra to shore up the fracture and provide pain relief. It's used to treat painful vertebral compression fractures that don't respond to conventional medical therapy with analgesics or narcotics."
http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/613619.html?chan=search
Researchers identify a gene responsible for cases of Lou Gehrig's disease - "A team of Canadian and French researchers has identified a novel gene responsible for a significant fraction of ALS (sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) cases. ALS is commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, an incurable neuromuscular disorder that affects motor neurons and leads to paralysis and death within one to five years. Published in the current online edition of Nature Genetics, the study on 200 human subjects with ALS was led by Doctors Guy Rouleau, Edor Kabashi, Paul Valdmanis of the Research Centre of the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CRCHUM). The team identified several genetic mutations in the TDP-43 gene by studying ALS patients from France and Quebec. They established TDP-43 as the gene responsible for up to five percent of the ALS patients."
http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2008/03/31/researchers_identify_a_gene_responsible_for_cases_of_lou_gehrigs_disease.html
Scientists find 'brake' for blindness in mice - by Joseph Hall (TheStar). "In a discovery almost Biblical in scope, scientists from the University of Utah have been able to make blind mice see again, a paper published yesterday in the journal Nature Medicine says. Mice inflicted with both macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy – two of the most common age-related forms of blindness in humans – were cured when researchers turned on a natural protein brake in their bodies that stopped the haywire blood vessel growth causing their eye ailments. Dr. Dean Li, a professor of medicine at the Salt Lake City school and the senior study author, says most forms of degenerative blindness are caused by erratic blood vessel growth on the retina of the eye. Li says macular degeneration, which gradually destroys central vision, and diabetic retinopathy, which can bring on total blindness, are both fundamentally blood vessel diseases."
http://www.thestar.com/article/346773
Stem Cell Summit - by Lisa Monique Thompson (NewMobility). "In October 2007, the second annual Stem Cell Summit was held in Boston. The Summit, produced by the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, the Genetics Policy Institute, and the Burrill Life Sciences Media Group, gathered many great scientific minds, as well as ardent advocates, in the field of global stem cell research. There was a combined feeling of hope and frustration from researchers, patient advocates and patients themselves. Patients and patient advocates decried what seems to be an interminable wait for U.S. research teams to catch up with international clinical trials. U.S. scientists cited a severe lack of funding combined with a lack of donated eggs to perform somatic cell nuclear transfer research."
This month's New Mobility has a number of articles on Stem Cell research. Also included:
· Stem Cell Gamble
· Dr. Wise Young on Stem Cells
· To Be Wise and Forever Young
http://www.newmobility.com/articleView.cfm?id=11112
Policy/Research
2008 Research Grants Program - Request For Applications - (CFIDS). "Established in 1987, the CFIDS Association of America is the world's leading organization working to conquer chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). The Association works toward this mission by building recognition of CFS as a serious, widespread medical disorder; securing a meaningful response to CFS from the federal government; stimulating high quality CFS research; improving health care providers' abilities to detect, diagnose and manage CFS; and providing information to persons with CFS and enabling the CFS community to speak with a collective voice."
http://www.cfids.org/profresources/2008rfa.asp
AbleNet, Announces a New Academic Research Community - "To expand on its longstanding commitment to intensive market research, AbleNet, created a new academic research community the 'AbleNet Research Consortium' (ARC). ARC is based online, and is designed to foster relationships with academic researchers interested in conducting objective external studies tied to AbleNet's special education curricula, and assistive technologies for students with moderate to severe disabilities. For over 2 decades, AbleNet, has conducted intensive market research to support the design, development and implementation of its innovative special education curricula and assistive technologies for students with moderate to severe cognitive and physical disabilities. Now, the company has broadened its scope of research by reaching out to the academic community through its newly created ARC."
http://www.abilitymagazine.com/news_ablenet.html
Development System Locks Out the Disabled - by Phitalis Were Masakhwe (IndependentLiving). "That the non government (NGO) industry is a major player in the so called development [system] cannot be over emphasized. That billion of dollars have been channeled into the sector to "wipe out" poverty particularly in poor developing countries is a fact. Almost all the NGOs exist to serve the poorest of the poor, voiceless, the disadvantaged, vulnerable populations so to speak! Their mission statements clearly spell out that they operate to bridge the gap between the rich and poor. The NGOs share those pro-poor beliefs with the United Nations system and are bankrolled by the development partners. But do these partners in poverty alleviation and development consider the disabled as poor? If disabled people are not considered poor, and therefore, a major target for these partners, who then is poor? What is the definition of poor or poverty for that matter?"
http://www.independentliving.org/docs7/masakhwe200802.html
Inclusive Livable Communities for People with Psychiatric Disabilities - "March 17, 2008 report from the National Council on Disabilities (NCD) that looks at barriers and solutions relating to people with psychiatric disabilities fully participating in their communities."
http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2008/LivableCommunities.html
Social Security Programs Throughout the World: The Americas, 2007 - "This fourth issue in the current four-volume series of Social Security Programs Throughout the World reports on the countries of the Americas. The combined findings of this series, which also includes volumes on Europe, Asia and the Pacific, and Africa, are published at 6-month intervals over a 2-year period. Each volume highlights features of social security programs in the particular region. The information contained in these volumes is crucial to our efforts, and those of researchers in other countries, to review different ways of approaching social security challenges that will enable us to adapt our social security systems to the evolving needs of individuals, households, and families. These efforts are particularly important as each nation faces major demographic changes, especially the increasing number of aged persons, as well as economic and fiscal issues."
http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/progdesc/ssptw/2006-2007/americas/index.html
Updated Guidelines on Developing Human Rights Policies and Procedures - "Today the Human Rights Commission released an updated version of its Guidelines on Developing Human Rights Policies and Procedures (previously called Developing Procedures to Resolve Human Rights Complaints within Your Organization). This Policy contains the Ontario Human Rights Commission's interpretation of provisions of the Ontario Human Rights Code relating to organizational policies and procedures to prevent and address human rights issues. Commission policies and guidelines set standards for how individuals, employers, service providers and policy makers should act to ensure compliance with the Code. They are important because they represent the Commission's interpretation of the Code at the time of publication."
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/resources/news/gdpp
Rehabilitation
Music Benefits Brain-injured Patients at Crotched Mountain - by Dianne Finch (NHPR). "Scientists have known for some time that music stimulates the brain. Studies suggest music can help people battle depression, recover memory and become more focused. Researchers are also looking at the possibility that playing or listening to music can help the brain heal itself. Those potential benefits bring hope to patients and therapists alike at the Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center."
http://www.nhpr.org/node/15619
Sport
Demo of rowing gear for paraplegics - (TheEngineer). "Specially adapted rowing equipment will be showcased to MPs at the launch of the Assistive Technology (ATcare) Design and Development Centre tomorrow. People with spinal injuries have been able to compete at major rowing tournaments alongside able-bodied competitors thanks to the equipment, which was developed by the functional electrical stimulation (FES) rowing project."
http://www.theengineer.co.uk/Articles/304867/Demo+of+rowing+gear+for+paraplegics.htm
The Paralympic Difference - by Andrew Mitchell (Piquenewsmagazine). "Understanding what drives Paralympians is easy because it's the same things that drive Olympians — the pursuit of personal excellence, a competitive spirit, national pride, a willingness to sacrifice, and the desire to be the best. Understanding the Paralympics, however, is a little more challenging. To view them as an Olympics for people with disabilities is an oversimplification, because no two disabilities are exactly the same and athletes are measured by achieving their personal best rather than the best performance of the day. It's a complex system of classifications and percentages, and one that's not without controversy."
http://www.whistlerforthedisabled.com/accessnews/theparalympicdifference.htm
The people's Games - by Clare Ogilvie (Pique Newsmagazine). "Paralympic officials are concerned that the cost of accommodation in Whistler in 2010 will force them to stay in Vancouver rather than in the resort, which is hosting the majority of the event. 'One of the challenges we are experiencing, especially for Whistler, is that often the (accommodation) prices in that season are quite expensive,' said Arno Wolter, executive planner for the International Parlaympic Committee from headquarters in Bonn, Germany."
http://www.whistlerforthedisabled.com/accessnews/thepeoplesgames.htm
Whistler for the Disabled - "Whistler for the Disabled is a nonprofit travel web site created to help people with disabilities and mobility restrictions. Providing support and assistance to the Disabled Traveler with Accessible Tourism for Whistler BC, Canada. Our focus is to provide access and information to people with disabilities and all abilities, the mobility restricted, seniors, kids and their families. Giving everyone an opportunity to take part in all Whistler has to offer no matter the disability."
http://www.whistlerforthedisabled.com/
Technology
A simplified user interface for people with special needs - "The standard interface to personnel computers is extremely powerful and flexible. It enables people to customise the way they use the interface and to optimise their interactions. However this flexibility is a barrier to accessibility for many people with disabilities. Lots of little icons, multiple open windows on a messy desktop, drag-and-drop, right-click, left-click, double-click, drop-down menus, short-cut keys, different terminology in different applications, help that does not help, and the list could go on, all make using a computer difficult and confusing for many."
http://www.it-director.com/business/compliance/content.php?cid=10372
Liberated Learning - "The Liberated Learning Consortium is dedicated to advancing speech recognition technology and techniques to create and foster barrier-free learning environments to improve accessibility to information. Consortium partners work collaboratively to find solutions to challenges, generate new knowledge, test, research and develop speech recognition technologies and actively raise public awareness about the Liberated Learning concept."
http://www.liberatedlearning.com/index.shtml
Making SL [Second Life] more accessible - by Scarlett Qi (slnn). "The Community Colleges in SL group recently held a discussion workshop on accessibility and the issues it presents in working with students with disabilities. Gentle Heron from Virtual Ability and the Heron Sanctuary was the guest speaker with 16 residents listening and actively participating. New or existing SL users with a disability can receive support at the Heron Sanctuary http://slurl.com/secondlife/Eduisland%204/164/81/25 Virtual Ability is a Colorado nonprofit organization that helps bring people with a wide range of disabilities into SL. They provide help with assistive hardware and software. The Heron Sanctuary is a project of Virtual Ability within SL. Offering customized orientation and training, the Heron Sanctuary offers continuing support for those with disabilities. Staff members work with a college or university's Office of Special Services to help students and teachers to operate in a virtual reality."
http://www.slnn.com/index.php?SCREEN=article&about=heron-sanctuary-3-08
Mind control: the latest assistive technology - "A short article in my newspaper caught my eye 'PC games controlled by thought'. It described the Epoc Headset from Emotive Systems. The headset is a lightweight 'hat' which uses electroencephalography (EEG), to measure brainwaves, and a gyroscope, to detect head movements. The signals are sent wirelessly to a processor. Analysis of the signals enables the system to recognise such things as:
· Facial expressions
· Emotions (fear, excitement, boredom)
· Desired force (lift an object or push it way)
The market for this device is for serious gamers so their avatar can replicate facial expressions, or if boredom sets in, the game could be made more compelling. The thing that really excited me about this device is the price; it is being suggested that when it becomes publicly available later this year it will retail for around 300 US dollars. I assume it is this inexpensive because it is aimed at a very large potential market."
http://www.it-director.com/business/compliance/content.php?cid=10317
Technology reconnects homebound teacher with special ed students - by Phyllis Coulter (Pantagraph). "A Kingsley Junior High School student danced with joy and clapped his hands after he saw his teacher's face and heard her voice with the help of technology. It had been too long. Special education teacher Barb Hartseil was in a serious car accident in late January, and her five students really needed to know she was OK after a nearly two-month absence. Modern technology allayed their fears, with students and teacher using video-conferencing software to see and hear each other. Now, Cody Gravett, 14, and his classmates regularly see and hear their teacher as she recuperates from two broken legs."
http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2008/03/30/news/doc47f01a5217d6a508024915.txt
Test Me: 25 Freebie Website Accessibility Checkers - "Your new website may look sleek, and stylish but it won't get you too far if it won't load, has errors in coding, or isn't accessible to those with disabilities. Great web design isn't just about looking cool, it's also about bringing your product and information to everyone, regardless of what browser they're using or their physical limitations. Luckily, there are numerous free programs out there that can help you to check your accessibility before you fully launch your site. Here are 25 free programs and online accessibility checkers to run your new website through to make sure everyone can enjoy your content."
http://www.virtualhosting.com/blog/2008/test-me-25-freebie-website-accessibility-checkers/
Website Makes Gaming Accessible For Everyone - (Kotaku). "For many of us, playing video games and working on computers is second nature. My laptop and I are practically attached at the hip. But what if, due to physical limitations, you were unable to use your computer for gaming and other applications? Assistive Gaming is a website who aims to provide an answer to this question, offering ways to use assistive technology to play games on Mac computers, and make gaming more accessible to people with physical impairments. Launched this past January, the website's publisher, David Niemeijer, says that many people think only specially adapted 'accessible' games are available, which are generally targeted at younger kids, and would be of little interest to adults and teenagers. However assistive gaming means that anyone can play just about any game, including Unreal Tournament 2004, or World of Warcraft."
http://kotaku.com/364074/website-makes-gaming-accessible-for-everyone
Conferences
(New Conferences)
NADD Teleconference Series – "The National Association for the Dually Diagnosed (NADD) is proud to offer its teleconference series featuring experts in the field of dual diagnosis! Teleconferences allow you to participate in an educational program without having to make travel plans or even leave your office. The sessions will take place on the telephone. However, you may have as many people as you would like around the phone. . . . Handouts are available three (3) days prior to each teleconference for participants to access online. . . Each session will last 60-minutes. The session will include the presentation, and a facilitated Q&A session with the presenters. The sessions feature experts in a variety of different areas in the field of mental health and developmental disabilities."
The teleconference consists of a number of sessions held over two months (April and May).
http://www.thenadd.org/pages/conferences/teleconference.shtml
Canadian
Eighth International Conference on the Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations - June 17-20, 2008 | Montreal, Quebec. "Welcome to website of the Eighth International Conference on the Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations. This Conference is to be held in Montréal, Canada 17-20 June 2008. This conference will address a range of critically important themes in the study of diversity today. Main speakers will include some of the world's leading thinkers in the field, as well as numerous paper, workshop and colloquium presentations by researchers and practitioners."
http://d08.cgpublisher.com/
CHHA - IFHOH, Congress 2008 - July 2-6, 2008 | Vancouver, British Columbia. "The Canadian Hard of Hearing Association and the International Federation of Hard of Hearing People invite you to attend the International Congress for persons with hearing loss to be held in Canada at the fabulous Sheraton Vancouver Wall Center in downtown Vancouver. . . Programs will be of interest to all persons with hearing loss, and to those who live, work and are part of the lives of persons with hearing loss. This Congress is a 'must' if hearing loss has touched your life."
http://www.chha-ifhohcongress2008.com/
Vision 2008, the 9th International Conference on Low Vision - July 7-11, 2008 | Montreal, Quebec. "In 2008, the 9th International Conference on Low Vision will be held from July 7 to 11 in Montréal, one of Canada's major cities. The Institut Nazareth & Louis-Braille (A Rehabilitation Centre specialized in visual impairment) and the University of Montréal's School of Optometry will oversee the organization of this Conference in partnership with the CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind) under the auspices of the International Society for Low Vision Research and Rehabilitation (ISLRR)."
www.vision2008.ca
Biennial Conference - International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication -August 2 - 7, 2008 | Montreal, Quebec - "In August 2008 the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC) will hold its 13th international conference in Montreal. ISAAC brings together people with communication disabilities, professionals, researchers, and academics from all over the world to present and discuss the latest advances for people who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC)."
http://www.isaac2008.org/ex_intro.html
21st RI World Congress - Disability Rights and Social Participation: Ensuring a Society for All - August 25-28, 2008 | Quebec City, Quebec. "The international community is facing a unique opportunity to drastically improve the living conditions of hundreds of millions of people with disabilities by implementing the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This treaty provides the framework for the development of good policies, actions and projects which can have a positive impact on the lives of people with disabilities all over the world. People with disability, their family and friends, human rights advocates, experts, government representatives, service providers and civil society leaders from all over the world will gather in Quebec City, Canada from August 25-28, 2008, for the 21st RI World Congress to discuss key disability issues and build partnerships."
http://www.riquebec2008.org/
Third ICOH Conference on Psychosocial Factors at Work - September 1-4, 2008. | Québec City, Quebec. "The Third ICOH-WOPS international conference "Psychosocial Factors at Work: From Knowledge to Action" will take place in Québec City, September 1-4, 2008. The two first International ICOH Conferences on Psychosocial Factors at Work were held in Copenhagen in 1998 and in Japan in 2005. Both conferences were highly successful attracting more than 300 international researchers in the field. The 2008 conference will address four major themes: Preventive interventions; Disability management and Return to work; Psychological harassment at work; and Public policies on mental health at work. Papers will include mental health, musculosqueletal and cardiovascular diseases; quantitative and qualitative methodology. We hope that you will attend the Conference and it will be a pleasure to welcome you."
http://www.icoh-wops2008.com/Afficher.aspx?langue=en
Employment Now! Diversity Planning for Inclusive Employment - October 5-7, 2008 | St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. "In the development of a framework for a National Employment Delivery Strategy, the Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work (CCRW) is holding its annual conference, Employment Now! Diversity Planning for Inclusive Employment, to discuss and move the Employment Equity agenda forward in Canada. For more than 30 years, the CCRW has been a national leader in employment equity and in promoting and supporting the hiring of persons with disabilities in Canada. Employment Now! will bring experts together to develop a framework for a National Employment Delivery Strategy."
http://www.ccrw.org/en/display.asp?Page_ID=363
Tenth International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility - October 13-15, 2008 | Halifax, Nova Scotia. - "The ASSETS series of conferences is aimed at providing a technical forum for presenting and disseminating innovative research results that address the use of computing and information technologies to help persons with disabilities."
http://www.sigaccess.org/assets08/
The 3rd National Spinal Cord Injury Conference and the 16th Interurban Spinal Cord Injury Conference - November 6-8, 2008 | Toronto, Ontario. - "Toronto Rehabilitation Institute is pleased to announce that the 3rd National Spinal Cord Injury Conference and the 16th Interurban Spinal Cord Injury Conference will be held as one national event on Spinal Cord Rehabilitation: Innovation, Impact and Future Directions at the Hilton Toronto Hotel on November 6, 7, 8, 2008. The conference will include a pre-course, plenary sessions, poster displays and concurrent workshops that are intended to promote collaboration and exchange among attendees in a variety of formats."
http://www.torontorehab.com/education/scic08index.htm
NADD 25th Annual Conference A Quarter Century of Awareness: Assessment, Treatment & Policy Advances (ID/MH) - November 12-14, 2008 | Niagara Falls, Ontario. "You are invited to submit a proposal for the NADD 25th Annual Conference. In celebration of our 25 years, proposals are encouraged that illustrate the evolution of assessment, treatment and policy, as well as other topic areas. Skill-building, 3-hour workshops are encouraged as well."
http://www.thenadd.org/pages/conferences/25th/index.shtml
NEADS 2008 National Conference, "Learning Today, Leading Tomorrow." - November 14-16, 2008 | Ottawa, Ontario. "This year's event will be an exciting opportunity for students, consumer advocates, service providers, employers and all others interested in exploring key issues of equal access to post-secondary education and employment for students and graduates with disabilities. We welcome delegates from across Canada and around the world. The 2008 conference is being organized by a Conference Planning Committee, comprised of NEADS board members and chaired by Agnes Tomkow, NEADS Alberta Representative."
http://www.neads.ca/conference2008/en/info.php
U.S.
From Innovations to Practice - April 14-15, 2008 | Cambridge, Massachusetts. "This state of the science conference brings together participants from the USA, Canada and an estimated 25 nations into an exciting learning community, integrating research, practice and innovations. Goal of Conference: To highlight efforts and practices directed at making recovery a real possibility for the broadest group of individuals with psychiatric disabilities and to promote the mainstreaming of those practices into 'everyday operations'."
http://www.bu.edu/cpr/conference/index.html
The IASTED International Conference on Assistive Technologies - AT 2008 - Quality of Life Technology - April 16 – 18, 2008 | Baltimore, Maryland, USA - "The preliminary conference program will be available approximately two weeks after the registration deadline."
http://www.iasted.org/conferences/conferenceprogram-619.html
2008 Mobility Planning Services Institute - April 21-24, 2008 | Washington, D.C. "The MPS institute offers intensive training and planning activities that result in plans each team can take home to improve services in their communities. The training component of MPS is provided by industry experts serving as faculty for breakout sessions. Interspersed with the learning sessions are hands-on team working sessions. In a relaxed setting, Institute faculty facilitate an interactive learning environment where team members can openly discuss challenging issues and plan solutions."
http://projectaction.easterseals.com/site/PageServer?pagename=ESPA_mobility_planning
Multiple Perspectives on Access, Inclusion, & Disability: Looking Back & Thinking Ahead - April 22-23, 2008 | Columbus, Ohio. "The Eighth Annual Multiple Perspectives conference continues the university's efforts to bring together a diverse audience to explore disability as both an individual experience and social reality that cuts across typical divisions of education & employment; scholarship & service; business & government; race, gender & ethnicity. This year's theme 'looking back and thinking ahead' is meant to encourage presenters and participants to consider topics, methods and programs from fresh perspectives."
http://ada.osu.edu/conferences/2008Conf/callforpapers2008.html#utmost
Brain Pacemakers: A Promising Approach and a New Era of Hope for Neurological Disorders - May 6, 2008 | Washington, D.C. "Deep brain stimulation (DBS) or brain pacemaker technology is an area of rapid growth in medicine with enormous potential for treating various chronic and disabling neurological disorders. There have been over 40,000 DBS implants worldwide. Currently, the FDA approves DBS in the US for the treatment of movement disorders such as Parkinson disease, essential tremor, and dystonia. In the past decade, the scientific literature has demonstrated the long-term safety and benefit of DBS in the treatment of patients with movement disorders. . . . Lectures and discussion will focus on the impact of this technology on patients' quality of life, level of functioning, and return to work. Emphasis will also be placed on access to care, medical innovation, healthcare economics and ethics. The format will consist of didactic lectures and video presentations followed by panel discussions and audience questions and answers."
http://www.clevelandclinicmeded.com/live/courses/2008/brain08/index.asp
NFB National Convention 2008 - June 29 - July 5, 2008 | Dallas, Texas. - "This year we are returning to Dallas and the beautiful Hilton Anatole Hotel, site of the 2006 convention. . . . The schedule this year is a departure from what many of us think of as the usual one. Preconvention seminars for parents of blind children and other groups and set-up of the exhibit hall will take place on Sunday, June 29, and adjournment will be Saturday, July 5, at 5:00 p.m. Convention registration and registration packet pick-up for those who registered online will begin on Monday, June 30, and both Monday and Tuesday will be filled with meetings of divisions and committees, including the Tuesday morning annual meeting, open to all, of the board of directors of the National Federation of the Blind."
http://www.nfb.org/nfb/National_Convention_2008.asp?SnID=1602533494
Toward Culturally Responsive Disability Services: An International Conference - October 6 and 7, 2008 | Niagara Falls, New York. Conference themes are:
· Cultural competency education and training (pre service and in service)
· Best practices in providing culturally responsive services in the disability and health services
· Acquiring and strengthening cultural competence through international experience
· Research on cultural competency
http://cirrie.buffalo.edu/conference2008/index.html
IDA 59th Annual Conference - October 29 - November 1, 2008 | Seattle, Washington. "The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) is a scientific and educational nonprofit organization concerned with dyslexia and related language and learning difficulties. The IDA Annual Conference focuses on the latest advances in these and related fields. IDA is interested in a broad spectrum of research and practical presentations along these lines. The objective of the conference is to bring up-to-date information to a diverse audience that includes educators, researchers, physicians, psychologists, social workers, speech-language pathologists, administrators, parents, persons with dyslexia, and others."
http://www.interdys.org/AnnualConference.htm
11th Annual Accessing Higher Ground: Accessible Media, Web and Technology Conference - November 11-14, 2008 | Boulder, Colorado. "Accessing Higher Ground focuses on the implementation and benefits of Assistive Technology in the university and college setting for sensory, physical and learning disabilities. Other topics include legal and policy issues, including ADA and 508 compliance, and making campus media and information resources - including Web pages and library resources - accessible."
http://www.colorado.edu/ATconference/
ATIA 2009 - January 28 - 31, 2009 | Orlando, Florida. - "The ATIA Conference serves as a leading conference for the Assistive Technology community offering attendees the opportunity to participate in discussions with industry experts, learn about new technologies, best practices, and a host of specialized services. Assistive Technology products and technologies will be represented in various presentations, demonstrations and/or exhibits. In addition, hands-on labs will provide an opportunity to experiment with and evaluate the latest assistive technology devices and software."
http://www.atia.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3280
Overseas
4th Cambridge Workshop on Universal Access and Assistive Technology – April 14-16, 2008 | Cambridge, United Kingdom. "'Creating a better balance of work, living and leisure, for disability and ageing' The workshop theme 'Designing Inclusive Futures' reflects the need to explore the issues and practicalities of design that is intended to extend our active future lives in a coherent way. This encompasses design for inclusion: in the workplace; for businesses; for the individual and of products in these contexts."
http://rehab-www.eng.cam.ac.uk/cwuaat/
11th International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs - July 9-11, 2008 | University of Linz, Austria. - "Over the last decades the advancement in Assistive Technologies (AT) and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have significantly influenced the life of people with disabilities. According changes in awareness and understanding of disability as well as social and legal frameworks, driven by Disability Rights and Independent Living Movements led to what is known as eAccessibility, Universal Design or eInclusion."
http://www.icchp.org/overview
Disability Studies Conference - September 2-4, 2008 | Lancaster University, United Kingdom. "The fourth international disability studies conference will take place at Lancaster University, UK. The purpose of the conference is to bring together researchers, practitioners, policy makers and activits to share and debate research, ideas and developments in disability studies. A call for papers and posters will be issued in January 2008. The closing date for abstracts will be 30th April. Submissions are particularly welcomed from students, activists and first time presenters, activists and first time presenters. We seek to provide a supportive environment for people making their first conference presentations and to be as accessible as possible to all delegates."
http://www.disabilitystudies.net/?content=3
19th IAGG World Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics - July 5-9, 2009 | Paris, France. "Every four years, the World Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics represents a unique and irreplaceable event attended by experts from around the world to discuss the latest findings in the field of ageing. The 19th congress, which is taking place in Paris in 2009, is particularly important, as it coincides with an ideological u-turn. Lifespan extension and the
growing number of elderly people, once considered as catastrophic, are now viewed as an indisputable progress."
http://www.gerontologyparis2009.com/site/view8.php