State Cuts Delay U.S. Benefits, Official Says

The nation’s top Social Security official says benefits for tens of thousands of people with severe disabilities are being delayed by furloughs and layoffs of state employees around the country.

Easter, Passover, Homeschool and Autism

With the holidays here, thought you might enjoy a piece by Lisa Jo Ruddy from Examiner.com. Happy holidays!

A Place to Call Home

The U.S. Supreme Court decided earlier this week that it would not hear an appeal about plans to close the Fernald Developmental Center in Massachusetts. Families and advocacy groups are sharply divided over plans to close the Waltham center and three others for people with developmental disabilities, some of whom have lived in the institutions for decades.

Isn't this long overdue? Fortunately for people with developmental disabilities and their families in New York State, the transition from large institutions to community-based living began in the mid-1970s.

World Autism Day set for April 2

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association shares World Autism Day's mission of increasing knowledge of autism. This article is full of information and provides different resources and facts about autism that parents can reference at any point.

Autism Rates Are Higher for U.S.-Born Somali Children in Minneapolis

Confirming the fears of Somali immigrants in Minneapolis, the Minnesota Health Department agreed Tuesday that young Somali children there appeared to have higher-than-usual rates of autism.

Though health officials emphasized that their report was based on very limited data, they concluded that young Somali children appeared to be two to seven times as likely as other children to be in classes for autistic pupils.

Special Olympics Campaign Fights Use of Word

Special Olympics is kicking off a youth-led campaign stretching from Florida to Alaska to end the derogatory use of the word "retard."

Under the "Spread the Word to End the Word" campaign beginning Tuesday, schools and universities plan to hold rallies and sign pledges to eliminate using the word that organizers say is hurtful to people with intellectual disabilities.

Kirsten Suto Seckler, director of global marketing and awareness for Special Olympics, says the group hopes the campaign sparks a national dialogue about the impact of the word on people with mental disabilities and their families.

Jenny McCarthy on Autism

Check out Time magazine's interview with Jenny McCarthy. She is releasing her fifth book — coauthored with autism specialist Dr. Jerry Kartzinel — titled Healing and Preventing Autism. The book is awfully smart when it comes to hard-headed advice for families trying to heal — or at least draw out — an autistic child. But McCarthy goes soft when she starts exploring the causes of autism, making the usual charges against the usual suspects — including nutrition, environmental toxins and, as always, vaccines.