Autistic Teen Seeks College Life

NANTICOKE, Pa. – Quentin Karpowicz is a kind-of-shy, 20-year-old who enjoys playing piano and holds down a job in a mail room at a local hospital.
He wants to take a couple of courses at the local community college for self-enrichment and an opportunity to socialize with people his own age.
But officials at Luzerne County Community College won’t let him.
Why?
Because he has autism, said his parents, Leonardia and Edward Karpowicz, of Nanticoke.

Vaccine Consent Measure Revives Autism Debate

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Earlier this month, the British medical journal The Lancet retracted a famous study that linked vaccines with autism.
Public health experts, worried over an uptick in diseases like mumps and measles in children who weren't vaccinated, breathed a sigh of relief. Numerous studies over several years have found no link between vaccines and autism.
But now, an echo of that controversy is back in the Florida Legislature, and pediatricians are moving quickly to silence it.
Sen. Jeremy Ring, a member of a governor's task force on autism spectrum disorders, and Rep. Kevin Ambler, R-Tampa, are sponsoring legislation that would require parents to give signed consent before their children get vaccines that are needed to enter school.
But opponents say signed consent -- generally reserved for surgery and other major treatments -- will only create needless anxiety. Under federal law, parents must be given written information about vaccines.

State Seeks An End To 'R-Word'

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Governor Carcieri is joining forces with the Special Olympics and Best Buddies to ban the word “retard” from everyday speech.
Declaring March 3 to be “Spread the Word to End the Word Day,” Carcieri said the “R-word” is “routinely used to insult people, particularly those with intellectual and developmental disabilities” and should be eliminated from everyday vocabulary.“This is about more than changing a word,” Carcieri, whose late sister had Down syndrome, said in a news release. “It is about changing attitudes toward almost 200 million people in the world who have intellectual and developmental disabilities.”

Temple Grandin: Why Autism Is a Gift

(CNN) -- Temple Grandin sees her autism as a gift, not a disability.
The professor at Colorado State University, who has become a prominent animal rights activist, spoke at the recent TED Conference in California about how people's brains work in different ways -- and how that's something that should be appreciated, not stigmatized.
Grandin, for instance, thinks in pictures, "like Google for images," she said.
She also grabs hold of details, a brain function she feels could help politicians.
"I get satisfaction out of seeing stuff that makes real change in the real world," she said. "We need a lot more of that and a lot less abstract stuff."

England Unveils Autism Strategy To Put More Adults To Work

Once again going outside the U.S. for an interesting story about how England is addressing adult services for individuals with autism.

Adults with autism who wish to live independently are set to benefit from the launch of the first national strategy in England to help them live fulfilling and rewarding lives.
Backed up by the Autism Act 2009, the autism strategy, launched on Wednesday by care services minister Phil Hope, aims change public services and help more autistic adults into work. Just 15 percent of people with autism are currently in paid employment, and 49 percent live with their parents.
The scheme is backed by a range of initiatives, including training sessions for all Jobcentre Plus disability employment advisers, clearer guidance on making public services accessible to adults with autism and a £500,000 investment in awareness-raising programmes.
Mr Hope said: “I want the autism strategy to be the foundation for change in the way our whole society treats adults with autism. They have a huge contribution to make - shutting them out deprives everyone."

Getting The 'Word' Out During Disability Awareness Month

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Disability advocates say we need to clean up our language and use more respectful words to describe people with developmental disabilities. That's why the Missouri Planning Council for Developmental Disabilities prepared materials for libraries, schools and service clubs to help people re-think their language.
"A lot of times people, especially young people will say that word when they're talking about a movie or a book or just an event and really I think that they're not aware they're being hurtful."
Wednesday, March 3, is 'Spread the Word To End The Word' awareness day across the country.

Prosecutor’s employee delivers with speed

As we begin Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, this is a perfect article which illustrates how people with disabilities can shine at their job, just like you and me. This is about a woman who brings a smile to the job every day and gives 110%. Wouldn't you want to hire someone like this? Celebrate Developmental Disability Awareness Month.


HAMILTON — Elizabeth Crehan loves sports. Known as Liz or Lizzy to most, she excels in softball and is looking forward to playing shortstop this spring. But perhaps she should have considered track, because the 39-year-old laps everyone daily in her deliveries for the prosecutor’s office.
Crehan, a Hamilton High School graduate with development disabilities, has held the position for 18 years. She has no plans of making any changes.
“I like what I do,” Crehan said. “I would miss my friends too much."
Her father laughed and said, “they have to make her take a vacation.”
Despite her challenges, Crehan has a memory for numbers, which makes an often-painstaking job a breeze for her. She pulls scores of case files for the seven common pleas court dockets.
“She can pull 70 lickity split,” Holstein said. “It’s amazing how she remembers the cases by their case numbers.”