Tories seek to end inclusion of students with disabilities

Britain’s Conservative Party wants to see an end to the government’s policy of including children with special needs in mainstream schools, a party working group has recommended. Officials said children should be returned to “special schools” to restore parent confidence and provide better service to vulnerable students.

Said Sir Bob Balchin, the committee’s chair:

“The government’s policy of ‘inclusion’ - closing special schools and sending large numbers of children with special education needs to mainstream schools - has caused great distress.

“This is why we need to recreate many more special school places. Many parents of special needs children have lost confidence in the statementing process and our policies aim to put this right.”

Epilepsy zeitgeist

The number of Google hits for the search "Roberts, epilepsy" as of 7:45 a.m. Eastern: 1,733.

Some examples:

• Roberts facing medical option on 2nd seizure:

  "... he and his doctors will have to decide whether he should take medications to prevent further seizures ... the drugs can have troubling side effects, including drowsiness or insomnia, weight loss or weight gain, skin rashes, irritability, mental slowing and forgetfulness. "

• Experts split on whether Chief Justice Roberts has epilepsy:

  Doctors "were divided on whether the seizure -- the second one the 52-year-old jurist has suffered in 14 years -- is a sign that Roberts has epilepsy, a neurological condition that could require him to take anti-seizure medication to control the disorder."

• Does Justice Roberts have epilepsy?

  "When Chief Justice John Roberts experienced the second seizure of his life on Monday, he may have become, in medical terms, an epileptic ... The diagnosis of epilepsy, say experts, may not necessarily mean that Roberts will have to take anti-seizure medication, which can control the electrical activity of the brain, or have to be concerned that future events will impair his ability to function on the Supreme Court."

Special education's Hager steps down

John H. Hager, the assistant secretary who headed the office of special education and rehabilitative services at the federal Department of Education, has resigned to become chairman of the Virginia Republican State Central Committee, writes Education Week. Hager, a former lieutenant governor of Virginia, had occupied the position since 2004.

ADA anniversary, continued

Just 17 years ago, our family was so preoccupied with Margaret's medical and educational needs that we didn't even notice the passage of the ADA. Similarly, any improvements that the ADA may have made to Margaret's life were certainly not obvious to us, as we struggled to get her a decent education in a largely unresponsive local school district.

With luck, this blog will help me catch up on what I missed, about the ADA as well as other disability-related developments. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, here are a few more documents relating to the act's anniversary.
-- Proclamation from President Bush
-- Statement from Hillary Clinton, pledging to expand economic opportunity for individuals with disabilities
-- Statement from John Edwards, calling for Congress to strengthen the ADA

On the 17th anniversary of the ADA ...

-- From the National Council on Disability: "two reports on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ... show that ADA implementation is not only possible and practicable, it is also good for business."

-- From Radio Iowa: Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin intends to introduce language to "restore the intent" of the ADA, which he says no longer offers protections to people with epilepsy, diabetes and cancer.

-- From WUSA-TV in Washington, D.C. -- Legal advocates say courts have eroded the rights of people by allowing employers to say a person is too disabled to do the job, but not disabled enough to be protected. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) say they will co-sponsor new legislation to restore the ADA to its previous mission.

Democrats shift policy on abortion

Stephanie Simon, writing in the Los Angeles Times, notes that Democrats in Congress and on the campaign trail are adopting some of the language and policy goals of the antiabortion movement.

"In a striking shift, Democrats in the House last week promoted a grab bag of programs designed not only to prevent unwanted pregnancies, but also to encourage women who do conceive to carry to term.

"The new approach embraces some measures long sought by antiabortion activists. It's designed to appeal to the broad centrist bloc of voters who don't want to criminalize every abortion — yet are troubled by a culture that accepts 1.3 million terminations a year."

The story also notes the return of the Kennedy-Brownback bill, which disappeared in committee in the last session of Congress and was reintroduced last week.

"Liberal stalwart Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) is working with staunch conservative Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) to mandate more support services for pregnant women carrying fetuses with genetic abnormalities, such as Down syndrome. Focus on the Family, an influential conservative ministry, praises that bill as 'lifeaffirming.' "

Planned Kevorkian speech draws protests

Jack Kevorkian, shown in 1991 with his "suicide machine."
AP photo from New York Times.

A scheduled speaking engagement by Jack Kevorkian at the University of Florida is drawing protests from critics of euthanasia. Bobby Schindler, brother of Terri Schiavo, is organizing a petition drive seeking to get UF to withdraw its invitation to the man who has been called Doctor Death.

"The scheduled Oct. 11 appearance at UF will likely be his first paid public speaking engagement since his June 1 release from prison, according to his attorney. Kevorkian served eight years for second-degree murder in the poisoning of a man who had Lou Gehrig's disease."

Other recent coverage of Kevorkian includes:

-- An interview in the New York Times after his release from prison.

"But eight years behind bars and a strict list of promises to gain parole have done nothing to mellow the blunt, passionate, combative advocate for physician-assisted suicide. "

-- An interview by Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom.

"After an hour, I knew I wouldn't want to go via Jack Kevorkian, a man for whom the world is bleak, happiness is rare, belief is a waste of time and life is a finite, meaningless entity. The act he champions may indeed be one of compassion, but how can it be delivered by such a cold, cold heart?"

-- A column in the Boston Globe, "Helping my Father Die," by Darshak Sanghavi.

"Dr. Jack Kevorkian was never an attractive poster child for dignified and comfortable deaths for the terminally ill. That's too bad, because Kevorkian was on to something important."

The Zeitgeist

Current reporting on the r-word

A regional campaign chairman for Rudy Giuliani has come under fire for using the word “retarded” when referring to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Former South Carolina congressman Arthur Ravenel Jr. referred to the NAACP as the “National Association for Retarded People” at a rally in support of the Confederate flag in the year 2000. The Democratic National Committee has labeled the comment as “racist.”

From the Wall Street Journal:

“Mr. Ravenel said he wasn't sorry about his remarks but didn't mean to give offense to the retarded. He has previously said that he mistakenly transposed the name of the civil-rights organization with an advocacy group for the mentally disabled with which he worked in the past.”

The anecdote is part of a larger WSJ wrapup on the GOP’s political troubles in the South. The DNC has demanded a denunciation from Giuliani. A column from the Greenville, S.C., News is here.
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Celebrity Courtney Love, visiting London, was quoted criticizing the recently enacted British ban on smoking in bars, workplaces and public buildings. From the (UK) Sun.

Said Love: "The only place I can smoke in England is the Houses of Parliament! That's so retarded!"

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Stats, as of July 21, 2007

From Youtube.com
Videos with the keyword “retarded”: 33,900
Videos with the keyword “tard”: 4,420
Videos with the keywords “so retarded”: 518
Number of videos in the top-4-most-viewed that have the word “retarded” in the title: 1

From Urbandictionary.com
Number of synonyms for the word “retarded”: 50
Number of definitions for the word “retarded”: 31
Number of American presidents referenced in definitions of the word “retarded”: 2