Vermont's Backlog of Abuse Allegations

BURLINGTON, Vt. -- The state is stepping up its efforts to protect elderly and the disabled after advocates accused the state of ignoring allegations of abuse. In 2010 the Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living received almost 3,000 reports of abuse. The state didn't have the staff to keep up, so the most severe allegations got all the attention while hundreds of cases went uninvestigated.

Autism Documentary Offers Hope

When Tracy Thresher has something to say, he uses his right index finger — and a special computer that gives voice to what he types. Hunched over the device, he begins.
Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap, tap....
Autism silences the 43-year-old Vermont man. He doesn't speak. But he has a message for the world about how people should think of people like him. So he taps it out.
"To think intelligence, even if you see wacky, goofy behavior. We are simply intelligence, shown in a different way," comes the robotic voice, broadcast out of his computer.
Thresher and friend Larry Bissonnette, 53, who have been advocates for 10 years for people with autism and the disabled community at large, are about to get a new platform for spreading their can-do message: They're the focus of "Wretches and Jabberers," a documentary film opening next week in 40 cities that makes the point that "disabled" doesn't mean "dumb."