Opinon: 'Born This Way' Suprises One Father; Needs to Promote Inclusion

Reality TV ruins everything. The genre feeds off stereotypes, linking the twinned emotions of fascination and disgust. It thrives by portraying its subjects as Other, rendering them as objects to loathe, mock, desire or praise. If there’s something you really care about, the last thing you should want is to see it portrayed on reality TV.So it was with intense trepidation that I watched the first two episodes of “Born This Way,” a six-episode show from the A&E network about seven Californian millennials with Down syndrome. I am the father of a boy with Down syndrome and a critic of the ways we portray disability in the media. There’s so much wrong with how we represent Down syndrome in particular, but reality TV seemed like the worst possible vehicle to correct those wrongs.

Minn. Olmstead Plan Approved

After nearly four years, several revisions and numerous court filings, a federal judge approved the Minnesota Olmstead Plan Tuesday, giving people with disabilities a clearer vision for how the state would integrate them within the community.U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank said the latest version of the Olmstead plan submitted in August emphasizes key changes including concrete data, specific timelines to establish measurable goals and added commitments that make the plan an "evolving document."

New Jersey Agency Aims for Full Community Integration

UNION COUNTY, N.J. — Milagros Rivera doesn’t speak words and occasionally makes sounds. She spent most of her life at the state-run Woodbridge Developmental Center.But during the past few years, Rivera has lived at a group home in Roselle and has a job feeding papers into a shredder at Community Access Unlimited’s day program. Rivera takes her task seriously, straightening out some pages before feeding them into the shredder.“She’s very content,” said Bernadette Griswold, Community Access Unlimited (CAU) managing assistant executive director. “She’s an awesome person.
”Having those with developmental disabilities fully integrated into the community is what Community Access Unlimited is striving for, especially with state plans to close two developmental centers; the Woodbridge Developmental Center and the North Jersey Developmental Center in Totowa.