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The Washington Examiner reports today on a promising new education program that provides Amazon (AMZN) Kindles to students to reduce paper use in universities — and how the the Department of Justice stepped in to squash it. The DOJ actually sued the schools, including Princeton, Arizona State and Case Western Reserve, to halt the programs because it decided the e-book reader does not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Overregulation: Leave it to California's 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to mark the 20th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) with another of its goofy, ripe-for-recision rulings. This one involves the counter height at a couple of Chipotle Mexican Grills in San Diego. Seems the 45-inch walls between customers and the food-preparation areas prevent people in wheelchairs from "fully participating in the selection and preparation of their order," as Judge Daniel Friedman put it. In short, Friedman wrote for the court, the wall "significantly reduced" the "ability to enjoy the Chipotle experience." We won't argue that "the Chipotle...

The U.S. Justice Department has struck deals with three universities not to promote Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle or other electronic-book readers unless the devices are fully accessible to blind students. The legal settlements were made with Pace University in New York; Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland; and Reed College in Portland, Ore. Two organizations representing the blind had sued after universities announced pilot classroom projects using the Kindle. ... The Justice Department's civil rights division began examining the issue of whether the use of Kindles and other e-readers violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. In June, the National Federation of...

A Denver-based conservative legal foundation says a federal policy that barred development of about 58 million acres of forests nationwide illegally created de facto wilderness areas. The Mountain States Legal Foundation makes that argument in a brief filed Tuesday in support of the state of Wyoming's fight to overturn the so-called "roadless rule" approved by President Bill Clinton in 2001. Conflicting federal court rulings have upheld and overturned the road-building ban on the national forest land. The California-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in August threw out a Bush administration policy that opened some of the roadless areas to...

It is not your imagination. There really are more dogs strolling through public spaces with their owners. Animals are going where they have never gone before. "In San Francisco, it is just so much more in your face," says Emily Simone, a senior field manager for Guide Dogs for the Blind. "In the '80s and especially in the '90s, I've just seen an explosion. We've become animal obsessed. The East Coast and San Francisco are particular hotbeds for advocacy." San Francisco has become a city filled with "service animals," meaning the owner has a permit that allows him or her...

Nearly all Contra Costa County cities have agreed to dedicate 5 percent of their gas-tax revenues for the next 30 years to make sidewalks more accessible to people in wheelchairs or who cannot see well, as part of a lawsuit settlement. The settlement has not yet received final approval; a Sept. 16 hearing will determine whether the judge will accept the class-action settlement terms. Under the proposed settlement, wheelchair users and other people with vision or mobility disabilities would not be permitted to file additional lawsuits against the cities for the issues covered in the settlement, such as missing curb...

The owner of a tiny but famous Sacramento burger joint said a lawsuit about handicapped access could shut him down. The Squeeze Inn, known for huge mounds of melted cheese on its burgers, violates the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the lawsuit alleges. Kimberly Block, who says she has severly limited use of her legs, argues she suffered "embarrassment and humiliation" and that her civil rights were violated because of inadequate access inside the Fruitridge Road restaurant.

Fat can be disabling. A person 180 pounds over a healthy weight is susceptible to arthritis, has increased blood pressure, a weakened heart and could soon need a walker just to get around. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, such a person could legally be labeled as disabled. But should obesity be considered a disability? On Tuesday the American Medical Association voted a resounding no at its annual meeting. But in a country where nearly one in three people is obese but where laws do not always cover size discrimination, and many health insurance policies do not cover obesity treatments...

Over at Opposing Views, bioethicist Jacob Appel argues that pre-implantation genetic screening for severe disease mutations should be compulsory for parents undergoing IVF. Appell dodges one obvious criticism of this suggestion - that it unacceptably limits parental autonomy - by pointing out that "Western societies have long acknowledged that parental authority cannot undermine the medical interests of a child". As examples, Appell cites the facts that Jehovah's Witnesses cannot deny their own children blood transfusions, however strong their religious opposition, and that "American courts consistently compel pediatric cancer therapy, even when parents object". Given these precedents, Appell argues that allowing...

State lawmakers will cut $8.4 billion from the $58.1 billion budget for public education, lowering per-pupil spending from $8,784 to $8,404 over the next two years. That's $11,400 less for a typical K-12 classroom of 30 kids.

I looked up the ratings of all of the US House and Senate members and did a mini-analysis on them;I used ACU (American Conservative Union - conservative) ratings, and ADA (Americans for Democratic Action - liberal)ACU ratings by party: Percentage of Republicans with 100 percent ACU ratings in 2007 -- 26.40 Percentage of Republicans with 90 percent or more ACU in 2007 -- 56.29 Percentage of Democrats with 0 percent ACU ratings in 2007 -- 52.80 Percentage of Democrats with 10 percent or less ACU in 2007 - 81.82 ADA rating by party: Percentage of Republicans with 0 percent ADA...

Marilynn Phillips is sick and tired of waiting for people to take her seriously. The disability-rights activist has long said Gettysburg lags far behind many other towns when it comes to compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. For years, Phillips has filed complaints with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. But those cases take months, sometimes years, to resolve. In the meantime, Phillips said the businesses and other facilities she files against have largely ignored her concerns. Now with the help of an attorney, Phillips has decided for the first time to file some Gettysburg cases in federal court in...

The good news — you've been offered the perfect job. The not-so-good news — it's contingent on a medical exam. For the disabled, people with diseases like HIV, or those who are simply mega-stressed at the thought of a doctor's waiting room, undergoing a medical exam to qualify for a job can be daunting. For them, new research from Tel Aviv University brings excellent news.

Disability regulations are likely to get “tougher” in Gettysburg, according to town administrators, to help the borough government avoid court time as it battles American with Disabilities Act (ADA) complaints. The municipality is currently mired in 26 disabled rights suits filed with the state’s Human Relations Commission in Harrisburg.(snip) Property owners in Gettysburg, according to town officials, are responsible for sidewalks. Some driveway and sidewalk ADA upgrades, Lawver has predicted, could cost as little as $2,500 and as much as $10,000. (snip) President George H.W. Bush signed the American with Disabilities Act in 1990, making accessibility for disabled persons a...

Congress gave final approval yesterday to legislation that will bring more Americans under the umbrella of “disabled” under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). President Bush said he’d sign the bill (S. 3406). The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 reverses several court rulings from recent years that had limited the scope of ADA protections. It directs U.S. courts to apply a broader definition when deciding what truly qualifies as an ADA-covered disability. The biggest change: The bill makes clear that courts (and employers) should not take into consideration any “mitigating measures” that reduce the impact of an impairment—such as medication,...

Wondering No More [Jonah Goldberg] Yep. The day after 9/11, as part of its "get tough" makeover, the Obama campaign is mocking John McCain for not using a computer, without caring why he doesn't use a computer. From the AP story about the computer illiterate ad: "Our economy wouldn't survive without the Internet, and cyber-security continues to represent one our most serious national security threats," [Obama spokesman Dan] Pfeiffer said. "It's extraordinary that someone who wants to be our president and our commander in chief doesn't know how to send an e-mail." Well, I guess it depends on what you...

Little Trig Palin prompted more than delegate coos when he joined his mother on stage at the Republican convention. He also raised new questions among parents whose children have disabilities. Was Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin simply including her 5-month-old son, who has Down syndrome, in a big family moment, or was she exploiting him in a tight presidential campaign? Would he help break down social barriers facing children with Down syndrome, or would those children now be drawn into the right-to-life debate? Getty Images Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's son Trig joined her on stage with her husband, Todd, at the...

Amid the barbs and hockey banter Wednesday night, Gov. Sarah Palin directed an emotional appeal to the hearts of millions of parents with children who have special needs, promising they would “have a friend and advocate in the White House” in a McCain-Palin administration. Palin’s offer of friendship sparked hope in many parents, advocates and lawyers as the often-marginalized subject of disabilities rights took center stage. ****** Ms. Palin’s effort to rally parents of children with disabilities has also prompted reaction among those who fear that her idea of advocacy might really mean preventing abortions of fetuses with Down syndrome,...

The VP pick's decision to raise a Down Syndrome baby should spark a debate on the value of "imperfect" human beings. When Adolf Hitler set about his plans to craft the perfect, master Aryan race, his first task was to eliminate the handicapped and mentally disabled; as the first step in this goal, midwives and physicians were ordered to register children born with severe birth defects, and “experts” reviewing the cases ordered the deaths of about 5,000 such children from 1939 to 1945. The vulnerable in our society are the canary in the coal mine: When society decides that any...

ScienceDaily (Aug. 26, 2008) — Terminally ill rodents with type 1 diabetes have been restored to full health with a single injection of a substance other than insulin by scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Since the discovery of insulin in 1922, type 1 diabetes (insulin-dependent diabetes) in humans has been treated by injecting insulin to lower high blood sugar levels and prevent diabetic coma. New findings by UT Southwestern researchers, which appear online and in a future issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that insulin isn't the only agent that is effective. Leptin, a...