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.

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.

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.