News on Wheelz

Talk Show Focusing On Disabilities Makes Worldwide Impact Online
Emediawire (press release) - 6 hours ago
If you are one of 56 million Americans with a disability who have wanted a place to be heard and understood by others, then tune in online to DisAbility News & Views Radio every Tuesday and Sunday.


InstantService and Direct Interactions Partnership Enables People With Disabilities to Work From Home
SEATTLE, WA -- (MARKET WIRE) Technology companies InstantService and Direct Interactions are using the Workforce Recruitment Program provided by the Office of Disability Employment of the U.S. Department of Labor (http://www.dol.gov/odep/) to provide opportunities for people with disabilities to work from home.

People with Disabilities Are Forced Into a Poverty Trap
Newswise (press release)
Newswise — Although the federal government spends some $87 billion a year on income support for people with disabilities, "today's obsolete policies" force many people with disabilities, whether they work or not, into a "poverty trap."

Training Center Opens in Chennai, India
A first-of-its-kind resource-cum-training centre for persons with disabilities was inaugurated here yesterday.

News on Wheelz

Air NZ wheelchair policy challenged
TVNZ
CCS, formerly the Crippled Children's Society, is pursuing its Human Rights complaint about Air New Zealand's treatment of wheelchair users despite the company making significant changes.

Grounds broken for UWI centre for students with disabilities
Jamaica Observer
THE Digicel Foundation has committed $5 million towards the construction of the UWI (University of the West Indies) Lion's Resource Centre for students with disabilities.

News on Wheelz

National Associations to Be Recognized for Empowering Citizens with Disabilities
Business Wire (press release)
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 29, 2005--The National Organization on Disability (NOD) announced today a competition that will recognize five major non-disability associations from across America for their work on behalf of people with disabilities.

TRICARE ANNOUNCES NEW EXTENDED CARE HEALTH OPTION
FedNews-Online
The military health system TRICARE announced recently the Extended Care Health Option, which will replace the existing Program for Persons with Disabilities effective Sept. 1.

Paralympics: BC’s Alan Bergman wins men’s wheelchair marathon
RunnersWeb
ESPOO, Finland-Alan Bergman of Cobble Hill, BC, won the gold medal in the men’s wheelchair marathon Saturday which concluded the European Paralympic track and field championships for athletes with a disability.

Alison Lapper on Parenting and disability

BBC's Ouch! Has posted an interview with Artist Alison Lapper-- the model and collaborator on the sculpture chosen famous "fourth plinth" in London's Trafalgar square.

This interview focuses on Alison's experiences as a mom and as a participant in a televised study on parenting. Her thoughts are not only articulate and pithy, they bring to light experiences I believe are widely felt among parents with disabilities: The need to adapt, educate yourself and get help from experts to find methods that work, the guilt we feel when we perceive ourselves as judged or distrusted by able-bodied parents around us, and the ultimate need to trust our own judgement and our relationships with our children.

Alison mentions the fact that child-welfare authorities have "threatened" her when she didn't have someone able-bodied on hand to look after her son. What are we going to have to do to stop disability itself from being a reason for intervention in obviously loving, functional families?