Workers Still on Job After Settlement

ALBANY — Some of the employees named in a $2.25 million lawsuit stemming from the death of a client at the O.D. Heck facility in Nisakayuna continue to work for the state, caring for developmentally disabled people.

State Advocacy Group Fights District

ALBANY — An organization charged with safeguarding disabled New Yorkers is locked in legal combat with the North Colonie school district over whether the group should be allowed to investigate allegations that special education students suffered abuse and neglect in their elementary school.

According to court filings, Disability Rights New York last June approached the district, seeking to enter Blue Creek Elementary School after receiving allegations that several youngsters in a special "Academic Skills" class were inappropriately isolated in time-out rooms and restrained.

Former Teacher's Aide Claims Special Ed Principal Abused Students

HAVERSTRAW, N.Y. — A former teacher's aide denied tenure by Rockland BOCES is suing his former employers, claiming the principal of a special-education program physically and verbally abused students and later fired the aide for reporting the conduct.

Kenneth Egan

Kenneth Egan said he recorded Principal Kimberly Taylor at the Hilltop School special-education program in June 2011 as she allegedly berated students, cursed and called one of them the R-word during a graduation rehearsal with 250 students present.

Californians Gain More Protection

An additional layer of protection for individuals with developmental disabilities has been added to the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act, a 1969 California law that guarantees equal access to services and rights for persons with developmental disabilities.

AB 1687, also known as the Persons with Developmental Disabilities Bill of Rights, went into effect Jan. 1 and adds a fundamental right to the Lanterman Act: a prompt investigation. It applies to any alleged abuse perpetrated against persons with autism, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, and various other developmental disabilities.

NYS Justice Center Secures Indictments

ALBANY — New York State’s Justice Center has secured indictments against two aides who allegedly abused a disabled man in a Niskayuna facility.

Yosmarvi Tovar and Dominique Mortimore allegedly pushed a man off the couch in an effort to have him take a shower and they were indicted by a Schenectady County grand jury.

How Can Abuse of Special-Needs Students in School Be Prevented?

The media has been full of stories of children with special needs being abused in schools, by teachers, aides, or other students. Each story is more disturbing than the last, with distraught parents threatening lawsuits and criminal charges. How is it that a place parents trust, where they send their child in good faith, hoping to get them the help they need, can turn into a place of abuse and cruelty?

NYS Lags on Firing State Workers Who Abuse People with Disabilities

ALBANY — One state worker bit a patient’s ear.Another sent threatening text messages to a female co-worker, according to state records, including one that said: “I’m gonna gut you like a fish blondie. Don’t even try to call the police.”A third, a nurse, left a patient naked and bleeding from a head injury on a bathroom floor, soaking in his own feces.And a fourth knocked a group home resident out of a chair, hit the resident on the back of the head and squirted water from a bottle in the resident’s face.

All of these state employees care for people with developmental disabilities or mental illnesses. They were all found culpable of wrongdoing in internal disciplinary proceedings. But none were fired.

700,000 children have cerebral palsy in Nigeria

No fewer than 700,000 children are living with cerebral palsy, consultant pediatrician, Prof Afolabi Lesi has said.
Cerebral palsy (CP) is a physical disability that affects movement and posture. It is an umbrella term that refers to a group of disorders affecting a person’s ability to move. CP is a permanent life-long condition, but generally does not worsen over time. It is due to damage to the developing brain either during pregnancy or shortly after birth.

N.J. Doctor Fired for Unauthorized Research

The office door of Dr. Philip May.

TRENTON — The doctor accused of performing unauthorized medical research on intellectually disabled residents at a state institution in Union Township has been fired, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services said Thursday.
The doctor, Philip May, was let go last month after he refused to participate in an internal hearing on charges that he abused clients at the Hunterdon Developmental Center, engaged in inappropriate physical contact and falsified documents, the spokeswoman, Nicole Brossoie, said.

Report: Abuse Ignored at Group Homes

SEATTLE -- A watchdog organization says the state is failing to protect some of Washington's most vulnerable people — those with developmental disabilities who live in group homes. Disability Rights Washington says overworked investigators focus on rule compliance, often overlooking the substance of complaints.

Court Order State to Release Documents

SACRAMENTO -- A state court Tuesday ordered the California Department of Public Health to disclose uncensored copies of dozens of patient abuse cases at institutions for the developmentally disabled.
The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by the Center for Investigative Reporting in Sacramento County Superior Court in January, seeking citations issued to developmental centers in Los Angeles, Orange, Sonoma, Riverside, Tulare and San Jose counties.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/18/4836468/court-orders-state-to-release.html#storylink=cpy

Witness: Ex-Beatrice Staffer Hit, Choked Men

BEATRICE, Neb. — Matthew Pangborn listened quietly Monday as a former co-worker told a jury how she saw him “choke out” one mentally disabled man and hit another with a fist at the Beatrice State Developmental Center.
Stacie Bohlmeyer, a certified nursing assistant who worked with Pangborn for two years, was the first witness called by the prosecution during what will be a significant trial in Gage County District Court in Beatrice.

Editorial: Finally, Good News at Nebraska Nebraska Developmental Center

It has been a long time coming, but the latest news from the Beatrice State Developmental Center is encouraging.
This week, the State of Nebraska learned that after nearly six years of problems, all units at the center for the developmentally disabled have regained federal Medicaid certification.
Losing certification had meant losing about $25 million a year in federal Medicaid funding, money the state had to make up. But more importantly, it showed the depth of the problems at the center where there had been repeated cases of patient abuse and neglect.

New York Strikes Deal on Policing Abuse

ALBANY -- Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and legislative leaders reached a deal Sunday night to create a new state agency to police abuse and neglect of more than one million New Yorkers with developmental disabilities, mental illnesses and other conditions that put them at risk, state officials said Sunday.

The governor also agreed to take some steps to bolster outside oversight of the state’s care, yielding to concerns raised by Assembly Democrats and some advocates for people with disabilities that state regulators have long failed to adequately respond to cases of abuse on their own. Lawmakers also agreed to expand the state’s public disclosure law, requiring thousands of nonprofit groups that provide services to disabled and mentally ill people to make records of abuse and neglect public.

California Senate OK's Abuse Bills

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Two bills intended to improve police investigations into patient abuse and unexplained injuries at California's institutions for the developmentally disabled passed the state Senate Monday.
The legislation, SB 1051 and SB 1522, would require the state to notify outside law enforcement agencies and disability rights groups when it uncovers allegations of violent crimes against patients. Lawmakers and patient advocates have criticized the state's in-house police force, called the Office of Protective Services

N.Y. Cracks Down on Abuse of Disabled

Moving to end the state’s lax oversight of the developmentally disabled, the Cuomo administration on Wednesday announced an agreement with the State Police to establish guidelines for reporting possible crimes against the disabled to law enforcement authorities.

The agreement covers the 126,000 developmentally disabled people who live in state and privately run group homes and institutions or who receive a variety of other services from the state. The plan has the potential to reshape how the state approaches enforcement against abuse of the developmentally disabled, though it remains to be seen how it is carried out and what force it has.

Boy with Down Syndrome Hospitalized After Being Left in Van

PHOENIX -- A 6-year-old boy who has Down syndrome was sent to the hospital after his family says he was left alone on a school van for three hours under the hot Arizona sun. The CEO of the school promised a full investigation to make sure such a thing never happens again.

His mother says he is lucky to be alive.

"They are monitoring him right now,” Tracy Roberts told

Facility Supervisor Charged In Death Of Patient With Autism

NEW YORK -- The parents of Jawara Henry, 27, tearfully praised the Richmond County District Attorney's office for bringing charges against Erik Stanley, 37, of Middletown, N.J in Henry's death last year. The family also announced plans to file a civil lawsuit against the state-run institution where their autistic son died. Henry died while being subdued by workers at the South Beach Psychiatric Center on Staten Island.

Stanley surrendered to police Wednesday morning and was arraigned in State Supreme Court, St. George, on charges of criminally negligent homicide and endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person for Henry's death on Dec. 4, 2010. Stanley pleaded not guilty and was released on his own recognizance.

Slur Wounds Mother of Autistic Man

LANSING, Ind. -- Julia Cox fears a speeding motorist one day will hit her 21-year-old son on her street.

"My son has autism," she said. "You picture a 21-year-old taking off like he's 3 years old, and I can't do anything about it. I don't want him to run out in the street, but sometimes he just does."
For more than a year, Cox, 46, begged the village to put up a sign to warn motorists to drive with extra care in the area. In January, a sign reading "Caution: Handicapped Person" was erected near the end of her driveway, in the 18400 block of Ridgewood Avenue.

On July 22, the sign was vandalized.

"Retard F U" was written across the bottom of it in thick black ink. Cox was hurt and angry.

Autistc Boy Handcuffed at Church Service

What a terrible situation for the family! A little understanding and compassion from the security gaurd could have gone a long way.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Garion Gliniewicz is autistic and has trouble communicating. As his mom, Kristie Teer, describes it, "A lot of the things he says are understandable, but for a stranger it can be very, very hard to understand him. Language is a big issue."

This past Sunday, Teer was with her 18-year-old son at the Springs Church on Jet Stream Drive, when Garion got up to go to the bathroom.

Garion's father Shawn Gliniewicz was told later by church security what happened.

A security guard noticed Garion and thought he was behaving oddly. He followed the teenager into the bathroom and noticed that he pocketed a clear plastic item. The guard then confronted Garion, suspecting the teen was using drugs.