Free Republic

Members of the Iraqi Wheelchair Fencing Federation, Ali Zhati parries with Mohammed Taliq during the first game of the Boy's Fencing Competition - part of the Rashid Special Olympics, Aug. 22, 2008, at the Al Thura Sports Handicapped Club located in the Rashid District of southern Baghdad. Photo by Staff Sgt. Brent Williams. FORWARD OPERATING BASE FALCON — Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers attended the Rashid Special Olympics, Aug. 22, to show their support for disabled athletes at the Al Thura Sports Handicapped Club, located in the Al Thura Disabled Veteran’s Community of the Rashid District in southern Baghdad.Soldiers of...

(A good friend, who works with the mentally handicapped forwarded a copy of this letter.) Contact Us | The Arc Website 1010 Wayne Avenue, Suite 650, Silver Spring, MD 20910 | 301.565.3842 ACTION ALERT - Offensive Portrayal of People with Intellectual Disabilities in Movie Scheduled for Release on August 13, 2008August 5, 2008To: State and Local Chapter LeadersFrom: Peter V. Berns, Executive Director The following is important information about a movie - Tropic Thunder - that includes a very negative portrayal of a person with intellectual disabilities as well as extensive use of the R-word. Release of this movie was...

The New York Archdiocesan Deaf Choir "signed" a song for Pope Benedict XVI Saturday at a seminary outside New York, where the pontiff blessed some 50 children with disabilities and visited students. The 81-year-old pontiff rose and applauded the choir of 15, accompanied vocally by the Cathedral of Saint Patrick Young Singers, after they had finished their song, "Take Lord, Receive." "God has blessed you with life and with differing talents and gifts," Benedict said in a short speech to the crowd of around 50 families of children with disabilities. "Sometimes it is challenging to find a reason for what...

10/5/2007 - TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFPN) -- Three local children diagnosed with serious illnesses suited up and jumped into the cockpit of an F-15 Eagle during the "Pilot for a Day" event here Oct. 2. The 95th Fighter Squadron hosted the children and their families for a fun-filled event allowing them to experienced a day in the life of an Air Force fighter pilot. "Some of the highlights of the day were taking the kids on a tour around real F-15s, letting them suit up at life support with flight gear, and then fly the same simulator as...

Two Latin American Babies Saved from Abortion by their Governments "Hard Cases" rejected as excuse for killing the unborn By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman LATIN AMERICA, September 5, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) --Two abortions were prevented by government action in two different Latin American countries last week. In Argentina, a judge issued an order preventing the mother of a unnamed mentally handicapped girl from obtaining an abortion for her child. The girl, who is 19 years old, was reportedly raped by someone close to the family, and doesn't fully understand her situation. When her mother discovered the pregnancy, she took her child to a...

For years, Lafayette resident Maureen Birdsall would take her brother, who has cerebral palsy, to appointments and then drive in circles hunting for an empty handicapped parking space. It irked her to see able-bodied people pulling into those spots or using a handicapped placard that she suspected was not theirs. Birdsall now is doing battle with handicapped parking violators. She launched the free Web site http://www.handicappedfraud.org to give people a place to report the license plates, handicapped placard numbers and locations of cars suspected of abusing the law. "Something has to be done," Birdsall said. "It's gone unchecked for so...

Physical and mental disabilities can be such a burden if not viewed with a positive attitude. I write this as someone who has been using a wheelchair for 20 years and first diagnosed as bi-polar about 24 years ago. This is not everyone's experience, just mine. I do find most of the general things are these same, and there is a clear path to the Lord from here to realize our full potential in service to His kingdom. From Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus answered and said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have...

Couple Receives over $21 Million Dollars for "Wrongful Birth" of Handicapped Son Florida Right to Life says, "now we're holding doctors responsible to deliver a perfect baby" By Elizabeth O'Brien TAMPA, Florida, July 24, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A judge has awarded over $21 million dollars to a couple for the "wrongful birth" of their second handicapped son. The couple would have aborted the child if they had known about his disability, the Tampa Bay Tribune reports. Daniel and Amara Estrada have two sons who are both physically handicapped with the same genetic disorder, Smith-Lemli-Opitz, which does not allow them to...

LifeNews.com Note: Bobby Schindler is the brother of Terri Schiavo and works with the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation to help disabled and other patients like her to receive the lifesaving medical treatment they deserve.I recently returned from Austria and Germany where I had the fortunate opportunity to speak in front of several organizations to give witness to my family's struggle to care for my sister Terri. Along with the circumstances of Terri's life and death, I spoke about how the medical community continues to target the disabled by convincing the American people that if someone's "quality of life" is deemed...

When Emilio Gonzales lies in his mother's arms, sometimes he'll make a facial expression that his mother says is a smile. But the nurse who's standing right next to her thinks he's grimacing in pain. Which one it is -- an expression of happiness or of suffering -- is a crucial point in an ethical debate that has pitted the mother of a dying child against a children's hospital, and medical ethicists against each other.

Dunkin’ denial leaves customer steaming By Jay Fitzgerald Boston Herald General Economics Reporter Tuesday, January 9, 2007 - Updated: 12:42 AM EST A wheelchair-bound Weymouth man suffering from multiple sclerosis says he’s being denied his right to a hot cup of coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts. Donald Hayes said he’s bought coffee before by driving his motorized wheelchair up to the drive-up window at a Dunkin’ Donuts shop in the middle of a Weymouth shopping-market parking lot. But now, that Dunkin’ store, which has no inside seating and only serves drive-up customers, has told him he can’t use the window anymore...

LONDON -- A leading British medical college has called on the health profession to consider euthanasia for seriously disabled newborns. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology has said that "active euthanasia" should be considered to spare parents the emotional and financial burdens of bringing up such children. "A very disabled child can mean a disabled family," it says in a formal submission. "If life-shortening and deliberate interventions to kill infants were available, they might have an impact on obstetric decision-making, even preventing some late abortions, as some parents would be more confident about continuing a pregnancy and taking a...

MOUNTAIN VIEW -- Two Sunnyvale men are facing federal charges for allegedly assaulting an older golfer whom they derided as "Gramps" on the NASA Ames Research Center golf course in Mountain View, court records released today show. The suspects, Ryan Maxwell Alexander and Charles Talmage Alexander, allegedly attacked Edwin J. League, 61, on Sept. 18 after the victim asked them if he could "play through" because they were playing slowly at the golf course at Moffett Field, authorities said. "The group of young men were not very good at golf, which caused League and his friends to wait at each...

A Muslim minicab driver refused to take a blind passenger because her guide dog was "unclean". Abdul Rasheed Majekodumni told Jane Vernon she could not get into his car with the dog because of his religion. Islamic tradition warns Muslims against contact with dogs because they are seen as impure. The case emerged as Jack Straw was embroiled in a controversy over Muslim women wearing veils and the row continued after a Muslim police officer was excused guard duty at the Israeli embassy. Today Mrs Vernon, 39, from Hammersmith, said: "This experience was very upsetting. "I was tired and cold...

UIJONGBU, South Korea (Army News Service, July 6, 2006) – Two Camp Red Cloud Soldiers saved an elderly woman and her handicapped daughter when a sandwich shop caught fire just outside the camp's front gate July 1. Pvt. Reid Erickson and Pvt. Russell McCanless Jr. of Headquarters and Headquarters Support Company, Special Troops Battalion, were first on the scene when New York Sub sandwich shop caught fire. “We walked out of 7 Club to see whether or not I could do handstand pushups, and when I was doing them I noticed something behind us,” Erickson said. Standing and turning around,...

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, MARCH 9, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Many prospective parents are waiting for years to adopt children with Down syndrome, according to a recent article in the Associated Press. So why is there an extended wait for kids with special needs, who are usually more difficult to place with families? The reason might be: the growing acceptance of aborting babies with Down syndrome. Elizabeth Schiltz, law professor at the University of St. Thomas and contributor to "The Cost of 'Choice': Women Evaluate the Impact of Abortion" (Encounter Books), shared with ZENIT how aborting children with Down syndrome has not only become...

IPSWICH — Who could have blamed archery deer hunter Dave Myers if he had lost his head when his chance to bag a trophy buck arose? He and others had been tracking the animal for the past few years near Roscoe. To his credit, the rural Ipswich veterinarian kept his cool and bagged the 8x7 buck, estimated to be 6 years old, 290 pounds and with a 32-inch neck. The trouble was, Myers almost lost his leg while dragging the massive animal from the field. Myers, with two artificial legs below his knees, has a medical history as long as...

Wednesday, November 16, 2005 Public Comment Period Closes December 12, 2005 Public comments are now being accepted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on its newly proposed federal regulation regarding the testing of chemicals and pesticides on human subjects. On August 2, 2005, Congress had mandated the EPA create a rule that permanently bans chemical testing on pregnant women and children. But the EPA's newly proposed rule, misleadingly titled "Protections for Subjects in Human Research," puts industry profits ahead of children's welfare. The rule allows for government and industry scientists to treat children as human guinea pigs in chemical experiments...

DAVENPORT --- A developmentally disabled man riding the Ferris wheel Tuesday at the Mississippi Valley Fair in Davenport slipped out of his car and dropped between the wheel's spokes before being rescued by six employees of Evans United Rides, which operates the ride. Caleb Hill, 31, a slightly built man, was one of 120 clients of Davenport's Handicapped Development Center attending the first day of the fair called "Special Needs Day" at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds. He was not seriously injured. The dramatic incident was captured live by KWQC-TV6 in Davenport during its noon telecast, where the station was located...

MIAMI - With more than 16,000 developmentally disabled Floridians on waiting lists for state services, the Agency for Persons with Disabilities won't spend as much as $50 million of its budget this year, state officials said. But state Sen. Nan Rich, D-Weston said the unspent money "will do no good to anybody." She said she believes the agency's surplus could total $63 million, based on information from a Senate staffer. Howell acknowledged the agency, which has lobbied lawmakers to protect future unused funds, is likely to lose this year's surplus to a general state reserve fund. Critics argue the surplus...

What do you guys think; does the president drink tap water or bottled water? One of my professors brought it up today, and we all decided bottled.

Molester's Suicide Raises Questions By ALLEN G. BREED The Associated Press OCALA -- For nearly four years, Chuckie Claxton lived anonymously amid the gated horse pastures and moss-draped oaks of the Florida Orange Groves subdivision. Then the crimes of others drew new attention to his own. In the statewide outrage over the arrests of sex offenders in the separate killings of two young girls, somebody in the Groves went to the state police Web site to see if any sex offenders were living in the neighborhood. That person -- authorities don't know who -- found an entry about Claxton's molestation...

ABC13 Eyewitness News (4/29/05 - HOUSTON) — The mother of a critically ill baby is trying to figure out where to take her child after being told by doctors at Memorial Hermann Hospital that they would stop treating her in 10 days. The five-month-old little girl was diagnosed with leukemia just weeks after her birth. Since then, she's undergone a number of different medical treatments and contracted an infection. Doctors and her parents disagree on what should happen next. The news that Knya Dismute-Howard's doctors believe any more medical treatment would be futile wasn't a surprise to her parents. It...

Nick Silverio of Safe Haven for Newborns in Florida has asked that we spread the word of a disabled newborn in need of adoption. The child, born today, has no arms, only one leg, and is missing a good portion of his jaw - but his prognosis is good.  The baby was abandoned by his mother under the Florida Safe Haven law and, unless potential adoptive parents can be found quickly, the child will become a ward of the state (and, it is feared, the target of euthanasia).  The Florida Department of Children and Families will not become involved unless...

What happened? Hello? Hello? Anybody home? "MESSAGE TO DISABLED FLORIDIANS" December 1998, Florida By Governor-elect Jeb Bush "Talking with a variety of Floridians with disabilities and their families has helped understand a lot more about the lives, challenges and dreams of those with disabilities. However, I know that my education continues with everyone new I meet. People with disabilities are no different than anyone else. They want to work, have families, and live independently. As Governor, I would work hard to create an environment that gives people with disabilities every opportunity to be independent and play an active role in...

MOUNTAIN GATE, Calif. (AP) - An autistic teenager suffered a head injury and a broken elbow in a beating by three sheriff's deputies who mistook him for a prowler, authorities say. Pierre Cowell, a 17-year-old who does not speak, had wandered from his home early Friday. A neighbor, who did not recognize him, called 911 after seeing him outside her home about 2 a.m., Capt. Tom Bosenko said Monday. The woman became alarmed when she heard the doorknob jiggling, he said. As three deputies approached the house, Cowell ran toward them and bumped one of them, Bosenko said. When Cowell...

Continuation of Terri Schiavo daily March threads. Due to overwhelming participation we reached over 5000 posts in three days time!

WASHINGTON -- A House Democrat trying to stop legislation backed by Terri Schiavo's family turned down a request to reconsider his position from her brother when the two ran into each other Sunday in the House Press Gallery. A little awkwardly, Bobby Schindler and Rep. James P. Moran, D-Va., shook hands. Schindler then launched into a passionate defense of the legislation. The bill would effectively take Schiavo's fate out of Florida state courts, where judges ordered the feeding tube removed on Friday, and allow Schiavo's parents to take their case to a federal judge. As reporters and photographers gathered, he...

Terri Schiavo is not hooked up to any machines, but she requires a small feeding tube for nourishment and hydration. In 2000, Greer ordered that the tube be removed, and last week, denying a motion for a further stay, gave the Schindlers until March 18 at 1 p.m. to appeal before the order is carried out. At the 2000 trial, Greer, although initially finding Meyer's testimony 'believable,' concluded that the conversation could not have occurred in 1982, because he believed Quinlan died in 1976. At that time, Terri would have been only 11 or 12 years old and, therefore, would...

Save Terri Schiavo by Terence P. Jeffrey Posted Jan 26, 2005 Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida legislature may not know it, but they acted in the spirit of Sir Philip Sidney when they tried to save the life of Terri Schiavo. When Sidney, a young warrior and poet in the court of Queen Elizabeth I, was mortally wounded in battle, legend has it that he passed up a drink of water in deference to a common soldier who lay nearby in the throes of death. "Thy need is greater than mine," Sidney told the dying man. After his own...

I have an Aunt that is partially mentally handicapped. I say partially because she can do most things for herself except handling money and time scheduling. She spent many years with my family and I basically grew up with her my whole childhood. In the middle 80's (Reagan era actually) there was a great program offered that gave her an opportunity to live on her own, work and become as self sufficient as possible. Being in her upper 40's, she was excited to have some independence and she enrolled and has participated successfully for the last 20+ years. I heard...

I was on 72nd Street, peering into the window of what had once been a kosher restaurant, when a stranger in a motorized wheelchair pulled up alongside and greeted me. "Hello? Can I help you?"A woman was smiling up at me, and I recalled vaguely now having noticed a hatted lady in a wheelchair coming towards me on the sidewalk. Later on it would come back to me how instinctively I had averted my eyes from her. After all, aren't we taught from an early age not to stare at cripples? Isn't it embarrassing to face somebody like that,...

Bob Schieffer just said on Hannity and Colmes that everybody has an opinion except those on life support systems. I am sorry, people on life support have opinions, too. If this were said by a conservative he would hung out to dry.

Believers in the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence: Where is Terri's independence? I'm talking about her independence to learn and to be free from her lonely room. CURRENT STATUS: The Second District Court of Appeals heard Oral Argument in Lakeland wherein Terri's parents are requesting that they be allowed to join the constitutional lawsuit of Michael Schiavo v. Jeb Bush. Judge Baird refused to allow Terri's parents to become a part of the Terri's Law litigation because per Judge Baird, her parents did not prove they had an interest in the outcome of Terri's Law. NO INTEREST? The...

<p>Ever want to yank off someone's leg and beat them over the head with it? A Virginia man may have done just that.</p> <p>Police in Fredericksburg have charged Rodney Prophitt, 27, with pulling off his neighbor's prosthetic limb and then striking him with it, reports The Free Lance-Star.</p>

<p>LOS ANGELES — A bill in the California Legislature would allow women in their final trimesters to apply for a special placard allowing them to park in handicapped spaces (search), but some disabled people say they are worried the additional permits will squeeze them out.</p>

Guide Dogs of Desert may shut STRAPPED: The future of the nonprofit hinges on raising $750,000 fast, its director says. 12:19 PM PST on Tuesday, January 20, 2004 By DAVID HERMANN / The Press-Enterprise To Help Donations to Guide Dogs of the Desert can be sent to: P.O. Box 1692, Palm Springs, CA 92263, or call (760) 329-6257. Rafferty said donations will be held and used only if enough money is raised to allow the program to continue. WHITEWATER - It operates the only school in the nation that specializes in training guide dogs for people who are blind and...

<p>PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - (KRT) - Michael Schiavo is in hiding, concerned over threats to his life, his attorney said Thursday. Yet the attorney for the parents of Schiavo's wife, Terri, the brain-damaged woman at the center of a contentious end-of-life case, says Michael Schiavo was seen shopping at an upscale Tampa mall in recent days.</p> <p>As an advocacy agency continued its state investigation of Terri Schiavo's case Thursday and her parents resumed their vigil outside the hospice near St. Petersburg where she was receiving nutrition through a feeding tube, questions multiplied about Michael Schiavo's role and motivations.</p>

2 strikes for life Posted: October 22, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com Yesterday was one of the most encouraging days in a long time for people who revere life. In Florida, the Legislature, reacting to grass-roots pressure not only from residents of the state but from around the nation, quickly passed "Terri's Law," legislation empowering Gov. Jeb Bush to take action in restoring water and food to Terri Schindler-Schiavo. A court order, requested by her estranged husband, had prompted doctors to remove a feeding tube from the mentally impaired woman. Jeb Bush claimed he was powerless to act,...

Berlin - Some 200 000 handicapped, mentally ill and other institutional patients whose lives the Nazis deemed worthless were killed under the Third Reich during World War II, German officials said on Tuesday as they presented new research into the killings. Data compiled by the German Federal Archive in a three-year project list hundreds of hospitals and clinics in Germany as well as present-day Austria, Poland and Czech Republic where patients or people the Nazis viewed as social misfits were gassed, drugged or starved to death - the most comprehensive look yet at the scope of the Nazis' programme to...

Posted on Mon, Sep. 22, 2003 Fla. State QB Rix Gets Parking Ticket BRENT KALLESTAD Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida State quarterback Chris Rix used an unauthorized handicap parking tag on campus, and paid a $100 fine after fellow students told police. Students recognized Rix as he parked his sports utility vehicle near one of his classes last Thursday, and chastised him as he walked away. They then left a note on his windshield and called police, who put a lock on a tire so the vehicle couldn't be moved, school officials said. Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said...

Lane County commissioners will vote today on a strongly worded resolution urging the federal General Services Administration to incorporate a ramp in the front-entrance design of the new federal courthouse in downtown Eugene. All four sitting commissioners - the board currently has one vacancy - have indicated their support for the resolution and an accompanying letter addressed to the agency's regional administrator, Jon Kvistad. The federal government's design may meet the legal requirement of the Americans with Disabilities Act, but that's not good enough for this community, Commissioner Bobby Green said Tuesday. "This is meant to be a state-of-the-art building,...

<p>Pivoting his body with his right arm and holding a neon-green ruler in his left hand, James Milam, 10, crawled from grave to grave at Nashville National Cemetery yesterday morning, carefully placing an American flag exactly one foot from each gravestone.</p> <p>The energetic fourth-grader took the task seriously.</p>

Sunday, 05/25/03 Cub Scout crawls grave to grave, honoring the dead By HOLLY EDWARDSStaff Writer10-year-old ditches wheelchair to plant flags in front of headstonesPivoting his body with his right arm and holding a neon-green ruler in his left hand, James Milam, 10, crawled from grave to grave at Nashville National Cemetery yesterday morning, carefully placing an American flag exactly one foot from each gravestone.The energetic fourth-grader took the task seriously.''I don't think that's straight at all,'' he said, holding the ruler to a flag and making a minor adjustment. ''There, that's better.''With that pronouncement, James swung back into his...

A couple of folks pointed out to me that some of the terminology in the original article might be cannon fodder for media communists who want to smear this site the same way they keep smearing Heston. I've reworked the article, but I'll only post the link so nobody with an agenda can blame the site for it. To summarize, I was saying that I had fallen for the media portrayal of Heston without having all the facts, and that the more I learn about him (primarily from this site) the more I feel he merits admiration and respect. Plus,...

An upstate New York judge has held for the first time that the courts must reasonably accommodate a visually impaired attorney who breached the time restrictions for submitting a judgment. State Supreme Court Justice Robert F. Julian said the requirement under 22 NYCRR § 200.48 that mandates submission of a judgment within 60 days and deems the order abandoned if the time limit is missed can be waived because of an attorney's handicap. It is the first decision in the state to hold that the time restriction can be lifted to accommodate a physical disability. The decision arose in the...

       

Filed at 11:13 a.m. ET LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The new Kodak Theatre, site of this Sunday's Academy Awards show, is being sued by a group that claims the building lacks proper seating for people who use wheelchairs. The theater violates state and federal laws designed to provide the disabled with access, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in federal court by the Western Law Center for Disability Rights, based in Los Angeles. During a tour of the theater two weeks ago, officials ``couldn't show me a single seat that complied with the law,'' said Eve Hill, director of the...