News On Wheelz

Paralympics: Jason Dunkerley and Andre Beaudoin win gold for Canada
RunnersWeb - 10 hours ago
ESPOO, Finland-Jason Dunkerley of Hamilton and Andre Beaudoin of Cowansville, Que., each won gold to highlight a seven-medal performance for Canada on Friday at the European Paralympic track and field championships for athletes with a disability.

Exerpt from the draft Constitution of Iraq

Article (30):

1st _ The state guarantees social and health insurance, the basics for a free and honorable life for the individual and the family _ especially children and women _ and works to protect them from illiteracy, fear and poverty and provides them with housing and the means to rehabilitate and take care of them. This shall be regulated by law.

Article (31):

1st _ Every Iraqi has the right to health service, and the state is in charge of public health and guarantees the means of protection and treatment by building different kinds of hospitals and health institutions.

2nd _ Individuals and associations have the right to build hospitals, dispensaries or private clinics under the supervision of the state. This shall be regulated by law.

Article (32): The state cares for the disabled and those with special needs and guarantees their rehabilitation to integrate them in society. This shall be regulated by law.

Maybe I need to move to a new democracy? (Know of any not blown up on a daily basis?)

News on Wheelz

Quadriplegic woman sails solo across Channel
By Jenny Booth, Times Online
[Hillary Lister] today broke a world record by becoming the first quadriplegic to sail solo across the English Channel.

Teams ready for wheelchair hoops tourney
Houston Community Newspapers Online
Pasadena is gearing up for the annual International Shootout Wheelchair Basketball Tournament to be held Labor Day Weekend.

Computer Issues.

We are having Computer Issues, so I can't really post tonight-- tune in tomorrow, though, for lots of interesting stuff: supreme court nomination, Murderball, and access in Israel.

News on Wheelz

Family loses right-to-life appeal for baby

Darren Wyatt, 33, and his wife, Debbie, 24, who have been told by the hospital treating their daughter [Charlotte] that she has made "remarkable progress", failed to persuade the Court of Appeal the order should now be rescinded.

News on Wheelz

Segway finds niche among people with disabilities
DetNews.com
Shane Latham said he had tears in his eyes last month when he received his Segway Human Transporter, a self-balancing, electric-powered transportation device.

Taipei Hospital offering custom-made wheelchairs
Taipei Times
BY JEAN LIN. The Rehabilitation Center of Taipei Veterans General Hospital has begun offering wheelchairs specially designed for specific users.

Comment Spam and disclaimer

WLN has gotten its first comment spam. IF you are an actual reader interested in having a conversation with the author of this blog, and not a hit-monger, and your comment was inadvertantly deleted, please re-post it. I have no desire to edit comments that are posted by bloggers and blog readers, only to keep spammers off my blog.

Sometimes I'd like to skip Sundays

I went with my daughter to a church function in a local park last night. It was a fun event; they were giving away bikes, backpacks and clothes to low-income schoolkids, and Char sang and performed some dramas with the youth ministry team. There were even a few dance numbers.

I may just spend a lot of time with "churchy" people, since my daughter's involved with youth ministry and my grandfather is a pastor. But it seems that whenever I go to one of these things, people come up with all sorts of annoying things to say and do. These are actual examples from a two hour time period:

• A guy told me he was "led by the LORD" to bless me by giving me an ugly cookie jar.
  
• A lady assumed I was deaf, since I was sitting near the ASL interpreter.
  
• A guy assumed I knew a friend of his, just because the friend also has disabilities.

Incidentally, I heard these two comments, as well:

• "I'd rather teach in a black school, because in a black school I can pray, I can talk about Jesus. Nobody says anything..."
  
• On being introduced to a young man who recently moved to our area from Ghana: "Oh, do you know Pastor X.? (the young man gives her a puzzled look) Oh, well, er, I think Pastor X. used to be an ambassador to Ghana for our President."

Now, I know these people can't really be idiots, and I know they mean well. I also know that I won't get more than one annoying moment out of a whole day, if I'm just walking around the park with the general public.