Mother Fights School for Son's Basic Rights

HOUSTON—It’s a story that made parents everywhere pretty angry; a New Jersey father who sent his autistic son to school with a hidden microphone. Several women who worked at the school were heard on tape yelling at the boy and calling him names.
Parents with autistic kids deal with these kind of legal issues often.
“When I got to middle school, I not only had a teacher who didn’t know anything about autism, but I had aides in that classroom that all did something different. When you have a child with autism, that is the hugest “No-No.”  It has to be structured, it has to be the same, it has to have a purpose,” says Michelle Guppy.

A New Rotation for Some Nursing Students

CRYSTAL LAKE, Ill. -- Every fall nursing students from McHenry County College’s Nursing Program participate in a rotation at Pioneer Center for Human Services.
Pioneer Center nurses mentor the students for the one-day rotation working with individuals with developmental disabilities. Throughout the day, staff nurses educate and guide students through a client’s health assessments to determine which treatments and services could be added to allow them to reach their full wellness potential.
“We foster the student’s communication and interaction with our individuals who may have deficits in verbal skills or social anxiety,” said Sarah Walker, Nurse Manager for Pioneer Center.

Opinion: Too Much Risk in Medicaid Contracts

From Betsy McNamara, a Concord resident, from the Concord Monitor.

CONCORD, N.H. -- In a February column I urged the governor and Executive Council to delay voting on the managed-care contracts for New Hampshire's Medicaid system. It was too fast, I argued. The contracts hadn't been made public yet, and we need time to see what's in them in order to make an educated decision.

These are, after all, the largest contracts in New Hampshire history. For $2.2 billion the state will outsource all of its management of Medicaid - the health insurance program for people who are low-income and for people who have a disability - to three different managed-care companies.
The Executive Council did delay its vote on the contracts, twice. We've now had a month to review the hundreds of pages that will dictate the kind of care my child with a disability can expect to receive as an adult.
The news is not good.

Sparks Fly Over Keegan Autism Center

AKRON, Ohio -- For the past year, friends and acquaintances of Barb Hudak have expressed shock when they discover she is no longer associated with the Robert J. Keegan Family Center for Autism.

The Copley organization was her passion, a way not only to connect with an autistic niece and nephew, but to make a lasting imprint on the city in which she has become a prominent Realtor and volunteer. It seems inconceivable to those who know her that she would have cut all ties.
After remaining mostly mum since her abrupt departure, she has decided to go public.

Student Overcomes Obstacles and Graduates

Craig Johnson at graduation.

SALEM, Ore. -- When Craig Johnson turned in his final paper this past week to Corban University psychology professor Laurie Smith, he made eye contact and gave her a high five.
“This,” Smith said, “from a young man who couldn’t look me in the eye four years ago.”
It was a moment of celebration for both. Johnson had just fulfilled his last requirement for graduation. Smith had just witnessed the culmination of a remarkable journey.

Settlement Provides Glimmer of Hope for Twins

CHATHAM, Va. -- The clock is ticking for Timothy and Joseph Dunkley, who are mentally disabled.

Joseph, left, and Timothy Dunkley.

The 23-year-old twins who live with their grandparents have been on a waiting list for 12 years, hoping to receive Medicaid waivers for funding so they can access what could become a community-based services system for Virginia’s mentally and developmentally disabled.

For now, they cannot afford to seek programs where they could learn life skills like job training or money management. They are aged out of school and soon to be too old for the Boy Scouts, in which they participate once a week. They spend much of their time watching TV and have little social interaction outside each other and their grandparents.

Autism and Ethic of Inclusion

Ari Ne'eman

BLOOMFIELD, N.J. -- When autism advocate Ari Ne'eman, Barack Obama's appointee to the National Council on DisAbility, recently spoke locally, the discussion was not about autism, per se, but about civil rights.
Specifically, Ne'eman discussed how the role of the disabled person relates to history and human rights, and what it means to be “different” in an America built on the tenents of equality and "justice for all.”
“Nobody should have to pretend to be something that they’re not, as a means of being included in their own society,” he said in an one-hour speech at Bloomfield High School on April 26.  “We are taught at a very young age that to be ‘different’ is to be ‘wrong.’  [For those who are different] that’s a horrendous way of living.”
Ne’eman, who is himself autistic, addressed a range of issues facing disabled Americans, specifically those with autism. The definition of ‘normalcy,’ he said, largely determines a school district’s attitude toward classroom inclusion, as well as host of other issues from social acceptance to employability.