More news about Springfield MO woman with monkey: Therapy or service animal status is main point in question

I’ve previously written here about
Debby Rose,
The Springfield, Missouri woman with a real monkey of a problem.

Rose has agoraphobia and a panic disorder and travels with a monkey at her side, which she claims is a service animal. She made national news headlines last year when the local health department sent 1,000 letters to local businesses, instructing them that her monkey is considered a therapy animal, and not a service animal as Rose has contended, under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Director of Health said that by that definition, businesses and establishments governed by the ADA do not have to admit Rose with her monkey named Richard. He stated that the monkey’s presence would violate food and health codes. Rose argued that point in a well-publicized effort, but I’d not heard any more on this matter until recently.

There’s been some news lately on Rose’s on-going battle with the Springfield-Grene County Health Department.

She is challenging the health department’s assertion in court. Just this week,
Rose filed a civil suit
against not only the health department, but also Wal-Mart and Cox Health, where she attempted to attend nursing school

She contends that the letters sent out by the health department stopped her from going to public places, but also denied her from getting an education.

Many businesses quit letting Rose and Richard in after the health department sent out the letters to ban the monkey because of food and health codes.

Rose says she was stopped before she could go into the Wal-Mart on Kansas Expressway.

Rose says, “A manager walked in with the letter in his hand laughing saying you’re not getting in here.”

Rose says she and Richard can’t go anywhere that serves food including her daughter’s soccer game, Wal-Mart and even nursing school at Cox Health.

One of the biggest sticking points that the health department cites is the lack of training for the monkey. Even though Rose asserts that Richard is registered as an assistance animal with three different organizations, and is even a required restriction for her driver’s license, she has not convinced the health director of any formal training process that her animal assistant has undergone.

I’m just wondering about that little matter of that driver’s license restriction, wherein Rose says she was told by the state licensing agency that she could not drive without her “service animal due to her disability.” If that is found as a credible and valid point, will that validate Rose’s case?

This matter again brings to light the important legal difference between a therapy animal and assistance animal under the ADA. It also illustrates the reason why colleges and universities need to be proactive in developing a service animal policy.

Accessibility Resources: A rich site for web and software developers, as well as users of assistive technology

While researching some accessibility issues this morning, I came across a rich web site with an abundance of worthwhile links regarding computer and software accessibility. The great news is that it is a global perspective, with information being provided by not only sites in the U.S., but from several companies in Europe as well as Australia.

Accessibility Resources
Is the simple, but succinct, name of the site. It is subtitled the HCI Webliography and offers more than 200 links regarding an assortment of accessibility matters.

The offered links are categorized into the following headings : first choice, companies, discussion, guidelines, organizations, papers, resources, and tools.

There will be some familiar names for those who live or work in the field of assistive technology, but there are many other useful resources offered whose names you’re probably not familiar with. Take some time and look over the site. There are items offered on the expected ADA, Section 508, and W3C concerns, but there are also some you might not expect. It is encouraging to see that the compendium includes links on making Apple, Ajax, and Adobe’s Acrobat and Flash products accessible.

If you’re like me, you’ll bookmark this page and return here for further reading. There is just a whole boatload of information here.

Note: I went through some of the linked web sites to peruse their information and found almost all of them interesting and useful. However, one of the offered resources links is a link to the site for atomicaudio.com. I opened the site and it was a shocker for me. The page presents fine, but then there are a whole bunch of unrelated, adult-themed links at the end of the body of the page. The titles of the links contain filthy language I wouldn’t want my child to read. If presenting a business as a legitimate one, there should be no presentation of this type of language. I have written the editor of the Accessibility Resources page and informed him of this.

Disability viewed as an aspect of multiculturalism

There’s an interesting post about people with disabilities on a blog targeting multicultural marketing and advertising titled,
Is the disabled market the next multicultural opportunity?


The post begins by discussing basic aspects of web accessibility with regards to Section 508 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, then goes on to support that explanation with information that should make every marketer, pollster, and politician take notice. Those paying attention should include our candidates for the upcoming presidential election.

The pure logistics echo what most in the disabilities service field know:

“So how big is this market? According to the aforementioned Census report - 51.2 million people (18.1% of the population) had some level of disability and 32.5 million (11.5% of the population) had a severe disability - About 10.7 million people ages 6 and over needed personal assistance with one or more activities of daily living (ADL) or instrumental activities of daily living (IADL)”
“- Among the population 15 and older, 2.7 million used a wheelchair. Another 9.1 million used an ambulatory aid such as a cane, crutches, or walker.”
“- Approximately 7.9 million people 15 and older had difficulty seeing words and letters in ordinary newspaper print, including 1.8 million people who reported being unable to see .”

For anybody whose profession is in marketing and advertising, they should consider:
“The next question is whether this is a lucrative market for companies to consider. DiversityInc.com put out an article in 2002 that people with disabilities maintain an aggregate income that exceeds $1 trillion, with $220 billion in discretionary spending power. “

And, finally, the piece offers up a good perspective of the scope and strength of the population of people with disabilities—
“To put all of this data in perspective, the disabled market is larger than the 44 million+ Hispanic population that spends $575 billion (according to Synovate’s 2004 U.S. Hispanic Market Report).”

Given the attention that the presidential candidates, especially those from the Democratic party, have been paying to the population of Hispanic voters, that last paragraph should resonate very loudly for politicians, as well as voters with disabilities. This group of individuals have the power of a very sizable voting block. It is up to you to use that power.

If you are not registered to vote, do it. When any runoff elections take place, vote. And, finally, hit the polls in November and make your vote count.

After you are registered to vote, there is one more thing to consider. The strength of the larger population relies on acting as a group in a unified manner. Become active in disability rights organizations. Read up and understand the issues that are going to impact your life. Write to your senators and representatives to let them know which way you want them to represent you. If they don’t vote to support your interests, get active in supporting a candidate who will support what is important to you.

Disability rights advocate Bender speaks up for passage of ADA Restoration Act

There is an interesting article by Joyce Bender, titled
The waiting Game Must End for People with Disabilities,
which was just published in
The Cutting Edge News.

In this well-crafted opinion piece, Bender draws upon the writings of Martin Luther King, Jr. to link the civil rights movement to the disability rights movement. Once that connection is established, she skillfully transitions to make the argument for people with disabilities to be active participants in seeing through passage of the ADA Restoration Act of 2007.

Her call to action reads:
“In his book, “Why We Can’t Wait,” Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “the Negro had been an object of sympathy and wore the scars of deep grievances, but the nation had come to count on him as a creature who could quietly endure, silently suffer, and patiently wait. He was well trained in service and, whatever the provocation, he neither pushed back or spoke back.” This sounds familiar to me. This is the attitude of many of us in the disability community. We in the disabilities community just sit back and wait. We have waited now for almost 20 years. “

She then strongly encourages the affected population to find their voice by getting registered to vote, as well as contacting their Representatives and Senators in Washington D.C., to promote passage of the ADA Restoration Act.

Joyce Bender, a widely recognized disability rights advocate, is the President and CEO of
Bender Consulting,
A technology consulting firm, specializing in creating competitive employment and career opportunities for people with disabilities.

Woman seeks to become first blind acupuncturist in Texas

In Austin, Texas, Juliana Cumbo is being presented an interesting case as she attempts to get licensed to practice acupuncture. This will be her second time to attempt licensure after failing to receive it in October. She currently practices as a graduate intern, has earned a Masters degree in acupuncture and Oriental medicine, and has passed the national board exams.

What’s the problem, you ask?

Cumbo is blind and the licensure committee of the state board of acupuncture examiners doesn’t think she should be able to practice. In October, the state licensing board cited protecting the public as one of the reasons they had denied her request.

That goes against the beliefs of the president of the academy where Cumbo studied, as well as several of her teachers. Cumbo has modified her technique so that she, “is now better at finding acupuncture points than many students who can see,” according to the president.

If successful and she is approved, Cumbo will be the first blind acupuncturist in Texas. The Lone Star State isn’t alone in not having any blind acupuncturists, though. According to the article in the
Austin American Statesman,
Cumbo’s attorney only found three others in the United States.

While the committee cites protecting the public as their intention, they will be going against established practice in Japan, where more than 30% of the acupuncturists are blind.

The latest update about Cumbo is that the committee met last Friday and showed some insight. Instead of refusing Cumbo’s request outright, they voted to have
two neutral observers evaluate her skills
while she examines two patients, one male and one female. That evaluation will be done within six months and the observers, a physician and an acupuncturist, will report back to the committee.

Go get ‘em, Juliana.

Not everybody is working for passage of the ADA Restoration Act of 2007

Just because you feel passionately about the Americans with Disabilities Act and are optimistic about the passage of the ADA Restoration Act of 2007 doesn’t mean that somebody isn’t out there working against what you are hoping will be passed into law.

If you’ve not been keeping up, there are organized efforts working just as hard to stop the passage of H.R. 3195. Some of this work is very direct, while other work is a bit more subtle.

The Washington D.C. conservative think tank, The Heritage Foundation just published a position paper outlining why they feel that the
ADA Restoration Act undermines the employer-employee relationship.

Also, the Society for Human Resource Managers
(SHRM) has called the ADA Restoration Act a bad idea
and has sent out an action alert to its members. This alert is calling for SHRM members to contact their representatives and urge them to vote against the resolution.

If you watched the Republican debate on CNN last night, then you might have noticed that SHRM was one of the sponsors. Remember what I said about the Republican View in my post yesterday? It seems that SHRM noticed it too and is working to promote the cause through the sponsorship of the debate.

George Lenard, A St. Louis labor and employment lawyer
challenges SHRM’s alarmist alert
on his blog and also offers a seasoned labor attorney’s perspective on the pending bill.

There are more web sites than these out there taking a stand against the ADA Restoration Act, but I wanted to share these to point ut that the passage of this legislation is not a slam dunk by any means. While it may make perfect sense to you and I, the conservative, pro-business side is fighting it tooth and nail. Rest assured that there are organized steps being pursued to follow up on their wishes. That means you need to do more than just sit back and pray that this bill will pass. Take action. If you want to see this pass, then you need to contact your representative and let him/her know how you feel.

Is the GOP ignoring people with disabilities?

Access Ability does not usually tend to wade into political waters, but sometimes the worlds of disability rights and politics must inevitably cross. Most recently, they have seemed to do so on the front of the ADA Restoration Act of 2007.

However, some politicians, namely Republicans, would do well to offer an explanation for the events highlighted in a recent article titled,
Why the GOP is ignoring the disabled.

The article, from the online political magazine
eTalkinghead,
spells out several recent occasions where the GOP is ceding the disability rights vote to the Democratic party.

Perhaps there is some greater agenda which the Republican party is pursuing. It does not make any sense for them to let this huge voting block of more than 50 million Americans with disabilities feel alienated.

The article highlights a shift to hardline fiscal conservatism as a possible reason for the GOP’s ignoring the disabled population. If this is because fiscal conservatism is a hallmark of being a Republican, then I would question the past seven years of heightened, Republican-led spending. To this argument, I say, “Damn your shifting definition of fundamentals and do the right thing.”

Then again, the fiscal conservatism argument might explain
Ted Poe’s sidestep
Reply when I asked him to support the ADA Restoration Act of 2007. (Ted Poe is my Republican U.S. Representative.) If this is what Congressman Poe believes, I wish he would have said so instead of dodging the question.

I identify myself as a Republican and have tended to vote conservative, but This may need to be adjusted. I’m but one voice in a sea of millions. More than just me, the Republican party may need to examine what Americans with disabilities are thinking as a whole. If they feel as I do, they are thinking, “If the party platform ignores my basic needs, why should I support the party or its candidates?”

If you haven’t read the article linked above, I encourage you to go back and do so. It presents some serious food for thought.

Texas Tech students seek accessibility

A group of Lubbock students is pursuing an interesting and worthwhile project at Texas Tech University.

The group of four students is proposing that the university make some specific building modifications to make the
Texas Tech campus more accessible
to students with disabilities. The students are emphasizing that one particular building, Holden Hall, be made more accessible. The well presented proposal cites the Americans with Disabilities Act as its support for the merit of such an undertaking.


Not being versed in the particular accessability concerns of the Texas Tech campus, I can not personally comment on the issues raised by the students. However, if the concerns are legitimate, which I will lean towards the students for being accurate, there are some definite needs on the Texas Tech campus.

The students have made a good faith effort to present their case. I wish them well in this pursuit and look forward to seeing the outcome of their work.

Updated: Latest news about the ADA Restoration Act of 2007

The most pressing news to share today is that there is a celebration of support planned tomorrow in Washington D.C. to show solidarity for the Restoration of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Those gathered will also welcome back the Road to Freedom bus.

Senator Tom Harkin will join other supporters from 11 am – 1 pm at the U.S. Capitol to mark the return of the year-long, 50-state bus tour and traveling exhibit. In that year, the bus has logged more than 25,000 miles and made more than 100 bus stop events.

Then, to ice the cake, there is a Senate hearing on the ADA Restoration Act of 2007 at 2 pm.

Below are details from the news release:

When:
November 15, 2007
11:00 AM - 1:00 PM:
Bus and Exhibit of Disability Rights History, welcome from Senator Tom Harkin and Yoshiko Dart, Speakers including NCIL's John Lancaster, AAPD's Cheryl Sensenbrenner, AARP's Brewster Thackeray, CCD's Day Al-Mohamed, NDRN's Curt Decker, NCDR's Youth Advisory Committee Member Ari Ne'eman, NSCIA's Marcie Roth, ADA Watch's Jim Ward, Tom Olin and more.

2:00 PM: Senate Hearing on the ADA Restoration Act of 2007 in Room 430, Dirksen Senate Office Building

Where:
U.S. Capitol and National Mall at 3rd Street, NW

The Road To Freedom is a project of ADA Watch and the National Coalition for Disability Rights (NCDR), an alliance of hundreds of national, state and local disability, civil rights, and social justice organizations united to defend and promote the civil rights of children and adults with physical, mental,
cognitive, sensory and developmental disabilities.

For more information go to:
www.roadtofreedom.org

and for tour photos, go to:
http://adawatch.smugmug.com/gallery/2925333

Major sponsors of Road To Freedom educational activities include Open Society Institute, IndependenceFirst, AARP, AOL, Bruce Hornsby, Ted Leonsis Foundation, Dircks & Associates, Browser Media, Arizona Bridge to Independent Living, Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource Center, Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation, Embassy of Austria, Embassy of Croatia, Democracy In Action, National Disability Rights Network, Sweet Honey In the Rock and more.

Special thanks to DC organizers Bobby Coward and Direct Action, DC Center for Independent Living, ENDependence Center of Northern Virginia, Freedom Center, Capitol Area ADAPT and more. Thanks also to ADAPT, National Council on Independent Living, Consortium of Citizens with Disabilities, American Association of People with Disabilities, National Association of Rights Protection and Advocacy, Mind Freedom International and our state and local organizers throughout the USA.

ADA Watch/National Coalition for Disability Rights
1201 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20004

Update: 11/16/07

Day Al-Mohamed was present at the big day’s activities, and will be posting her comments about it on her
Day in Washington
web site,hopefully by this weekend.

Being these events were on Day’s home turf, and land squarely on her professional domain, I look forward to reading her impressions.

Music Within is our movie

I just read an interesting aside about the movie
Music Within
In
USA Today.

The article linked above profiles Richard Pimentel, who is the focus of Music Within. The biopic brings to light the role he played in the disability rights movement.

Pimentel returned home virtually deaf after an explosion during the Viet Nam war. What followed after that experience led to Pimentel becoming an activist, which grew and drew more attention to his cause.

What I really like about the brief article is that it illustrates that nobody originally sets out to be an advocate of change. It is a role that is thrust upon you.

As Tony Coelho,the author of the Americans with Disabilities Act, said, “It’s the first movie about the ADA movement.”

For anybody who lives with a disability, this is our movie. Keep Music Within on your “To see” list.

Yahoo acknowledges inaccessible content, yet still fails to innovate

Well, if this doesn’t take the cake.

I have posted on Access Ability previously about
Yahoo’s inaccessible CAPTCHA,
those distorted letters and numbers that appear in a graphic and require the user to type them into an edit field to prove there is a human on their end of the computer and not some spam robot. Screen readers like the one I use, JAWS, do not recognize these images and Yahoo has been unwilling to present an accessible solution, of which several varieties already exist on different web sites.

It is as if Yahoo is sticking their head in the sand and ignoring the mere existence of blind computer users and their need for accessible web content. Maybe that is part of the grand Yahoo master plan, just play dumb and we can offer that as our defense.

I personally know, as of today, for a fact that Yahoo can not plead ignorance. (Its not like they really could, given the public outcry and awareness that has been raised over the past few months by advocates such as Darrell Shandrow at
The Blind Access Journal
Over inaccessible CAPTCHA.)

How did I find out that Yahoo knows blind people exist? Let me explain...

I use a Yahoo mail account for email and news alerts pertaining to this blog, and while signing in to my Yahoo account this morning, I was prompted to upgrade to the “ALL-NEW Yahoo! Mail.” In the pitch, I was told that I should “Be a better pal!” This was followed by claims that “We've built a better Yahoo! Mail, so upgrade to the all-new faster and easier version,” and given a list of what was better about their new service.

This all sounds really good, but below that list was the following message in a link:
“Unfortunately the new Yahoo! Mail doesn't currently work with screen readers. Until then, please return to Yahoo! Mail Classic.”

So, Yahoo acknowledges that they recognize there are blind people using their site and products. And, this includes me, as I was being personally directed to go back to Classic mode. Furthermore, they grant that their “ALL-NEW” and “better” Yahoo doesn’t work with screen readers. And, put this all together and Yahoo is saying blind people can’t be “better pals,” at least not if Yahoo has anything to say about it.

This means that one day, if Yahoo decides to make this much ballyhooed product accessible to screen readers, it will be a retrofit used to provide a virtual on-ramp that blind people can use onto this information superhighway, instead of having built in accessibility from the beginning. I just find it disgusting that people like the developers who make these products that can be designed with accessibility from the beginning, choose not to even attempt this. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, a new building must include wheelchair accessibility and only older buildings are allowed to retrofit. Why do information technologies not fall into some equal category for providing accessibility?


After this mornings experience, I have a question for Yahoo that comes to mind about their technologies. If you can detect that I am using a screen reader, and your company considers itself a leader and innovator of web content, then why in the world can the geniuses on your staff not incorporate the screen reader detection that I encountered today with your CAPTCHA to present an accessible method of human verification when you find a blind user is present?

This just gives me another reason to beat the awareness drum for the
Yahoo accessibility improvement petition.
If you have not yet signed the petition, please do so and help spread the news of this still on-going battle.

More discussion on service animals

Several weeks ago, I was engaged in a conversation with a family friend and was explaining the Access Ability blog to him. One of the subjects that I discussed was a letter I had received from a reader, inquiring about therapy animals and access to hospitals in California. This conversation then took on a shift to include comparing service animals and therapy animals.

One of the questions my friend asked was what kinds of animals are used as service animals? (We have previously discussed guide dogs, so I didn’t even approach that group.) He assumed, and I agreed, that it is most often dogs, but I did explain about the case of the Missouri woman who was fighting with her city to recognize her monkey as a service animal. Additionally, on several occasions when I’ve flown with my Seeing Eye dog, I’ve had flight attendants tell me about a woman with some motor impairment, who regularly flies with an assistance monkey. The monkey will open her drinks for her, insert a straw and then hold it up for her to drink.

Of course, there are also other animals being used as service animals. One of the first that may come to mind are
guide horses for the blind,
a novel approach for providing an animal guide which attempts to maximize the miniature horse’s longer lifespan over that of conventional guide dogs.

But, I still defer to my assertion that it is most often dogs being used. Last week, I read a news article about a school presentation being made by somebody with their Hearing dog from
Texas Hearing and Service Dogs.
I think that dogs are well suited to do this type of work for people who are deaf. I would think there is room for other types of animals to conduct these functions, but am not certain that others are being trained in this capacity.

On an ADHD web site, I later also read about
4 Paws for Ability,
an organization that trains and provides service animals for people who have often been turned away from other service animal organizations.

One thing that 4 Paws does, which is quite interesting to me, is that they place animals with children. Some times, they even certify the parent and child together to work as a three part team with the dog. It basically surprised me that they place dogs with children. From my own experience, I know that it is a rare situation that a teenager will be able to get a guide dog.

They claim to be the innovater of the training and use of Autism assistance dogs. This is the organization’s apparent niche as the web site states that 90% of applicants are those working toward getting an Autism assistance dog.

Also on its web site, 4 Paws specifies it is not taking applications for psychiatric service dogs or emotional support animals for adult partners. I also find that note particularly interesting, being I had never heard of the term “psychiatric service dog” until working on my previous post. Now, I see it again, in such a brief time span.

I know there are many other service animal organizations out there doing some good work. I just don’t have their names or web sites handy at this time. If you would like to leave a comment and share the name of your favorite service dog organization, please do so. If you have personal experience with one of these, please share that as well.

University of Rochester case seeking to redefine term "Service Animal"

I have previously written here about how important it is for colleges and universities to act proactively and have a service animal policy in place. This policy should note the characteristics that differentiate a service animal from a therapy animal. The reason for posting about this today are some recent news articles and internet postings I’ve come across. I’ll discuss one of these on this post and write more very shortly.

A University of Rochester student filed a lawsuit on Oct. 1 to
have her Labrador retriever live with her in her dorm
and also Accompany her on campus. She has supplied some medical documentation as well as also supporting documents from dog trainers, but the university has denied her request, stating that she is neither disabled nor her dog a service animal. The comment by the UR Dean implies that they feel her dog is a pet and not a service animal.

In the article linked above, you might note two of the very credible sources the reporter sought out for their perspectives on this matter. First, there is
Jane Jarrow,
a name widely recognized and respected in disability service circles. Secondly, the reporter also sought input from the president of
Guide Dog Users Inc.,
an affiliate organization of the
American Council of the Blind,
one of the two major national blind consumer organizations. Both Jane Jarrow and GDUI are established and credible resources about service dogs and where they fall in under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

One other source cited in the article raises an issue of its own. You will notice the Psychiatric Service Dog Society (PSD) is presented as a respected and established organization. I’ll hand it to the organization. I’ve not heard of them prior to this article, but when checking out
the PSD web site,
the organization certainly appears legit. Additionally, the PSD Board of Directors is impressive and well credentialed. While we may not have heard of this group previously, I’ve got a feeling that we’ll be seeing a lot more from them in the future as well as people fighting to have accessibility with their psychiatric service dog.

Getting back to the original case, because I have no knowledge of the student’s claims or the documentation presented, I will not take a stand on this matter. However, her case serves to illustrate the need once again to have these important policies in place before facing these kinds of situations.

Dancing around the issues: Ted Poe's reply about the ADA Restoration Act of 2007

The purpose of Access Ability is not to be a political blog, but is focused on pursuing interests relating to the world of Disability Support Services. However, there are times when the goals of Access Ability and politics collide. The following is the account of such an intersection.

What is one to make of his congressman when given lip service? Sure, it was politically correct, but it was still lip service.

Case in point is the reply I received from my Representative
Ted Poe, R-TX,
In response to my email asking him to sign on as a cosponsor of H.R. 3195, the
ADA Restoration Act of 2007.

In his response, Rep. Poe gave me a rundown of the bill’s assignment for review and he followed this up by thanking me for sharing my concerns with him.

However, at no time did he acknowledge my request for him to sign on as a cosponsor, nor did he ever state whether he would or wouldn’t sign on as a cosponsor of the legislation. However, by his omission, I’ll assume he’s declining my request.

Rep. Poe's reply and obvious omission harken back to Charles Durning playing the Texas Governor in the movie Best Little Whorehouse in Texas when he busts into a jig, singing “I Dance A Little Sidestep.”

Nice move, Mr. Poe. Was that a cha-cha or just a flat-out hustle?

I understand politics and try not to take them personally. However, I take the ADA personally. It is the backbone to so many aspects of things I enjoy and understand today. If it weren’t for the ADA, I shudder to think what my college experience might have been, much less what might have been in several other facets of my everyday life. So, I take it personally that Rep. Poe has slighted my request.

I now need to think through how to proceed from here.

Okay, I’ve shared my experience of contacting my congressman in support of this legislation. I have three questions for you.

1. Have you written your Representative and done the same?

2. If so, what was your Representative’s response?

3. Any suggestions on how to proceed with Rep.Poe?

Breastfeeding mom denied extra time

There is an interesting case being appealed before the National Board of Medical Examiners. This case is a gray area, blurred because it is framed by societal issues, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the health concerns of a nursing mother, playing out against the backdrop of the rigid enforcement structure of the Clinical Knowledge Exam.

Sophie Currier
Already has her Harvard doctorate and has followed that up with five years of medical training. The final barrier that is keeping her from having a hard-earned MD-Ph.D. is the aforementioned exam.
(Note: registration is required to read this Boston Globe article, but it is free and easy.)

To understand this case fully, you need to know that Currier is the mother of a still nursing, 7-week old daughter. According to the article linked above, “If she does not pump milk from her breasts every two or three hours, she could suffer blocked ducts, the discomfort of hard breasts, or an infection called mastitis.”

Currier is receiving accommodations for dyslexia and attention problems. This includes giving her double time for the nine-hour exam, letting her take the test over a two-day period. On the surface, this may appear to help ameliorate her problems, but it only doubled them, allowing her only the normally allowed break times each day.

She asked the board last week for extra break time to allow her to pump her breasts, but was denied. The board cited the Americans with Disabilities Act as their guide and told her that breastfeeding was not among the covered disabilities.

Yes, it is true that, under the ADA, pregnancy, lactation and related actions such as breast feeding and breast pumping are not covered by the law. However, what they are dealing with in this case are health concerns of the mother. Granted, the short time that she will be subjected to testing is not guaranteed to incur the possible adverse physical results that are possible. Still, there are health concerns that are not necessarily disabilities, no matter how temporary the condition is.

According to the article, “Forty-seven states have passed laws that protect nursing mothers, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Many protect the right of mothers to breast-feed in public, and some exempt them from jury duty, where breaks can be few and unpredictable.” Unfortunately for Currier, Massachusetts, where her case is playing out, has no such laws at this time.

It is interesting that one of Currier’s advocates, Dr. Ruth Lawrence, is a chairwoman on the American Academy of Pediatrics. Here, a medical professional is speaking on Currier’s behalf against the medical testing establishment. Ironic, isn’t it?

“Lawrence said the nursing mother of an infant that age should pump at a minimum of every three hours, for about one half-hour each time. The academy recommends that babies be exclusively breast-fed for the first six months .”

It is understandable that the exam board is trying to avoid setting a precedent, but they need to use the ADA as a guide, not a rigid rule that does not allow for gray areas such as this. A warden once had a sign hanging in his office that read, “When the rules and common sense collide, common sense shall prevail.” Currier’s case is one where common sense should be victorious.


Additional Reading:
Here is a 2006 Boston Globe article about Currier, illustrating how she manages her busy and demanding
life while dealing with dyslexia and ADHD.

Service dogs perform variety of roles

I recently came across a very thorough and comprhehensive discussion about
Balance Dogs and MS
On a blog named Sophie’s Thoughts.

I must admit that, while I have been familiar with the general term of Service dogs and the more specialized guide dogs, I have never heard the equally specialized term “balance dog.” It makes sense, though. A few years back, I met a professor at the University of Mary Hardin Baylor who used a wheelchair and had an assistance dog. She didn’t call her dog a balance dog, but after reading Sophie’s blog, I would think that was a pretty good description of what he did. Sure, the dog did other tasks for the woman, but I’ll never forget one role the canine performed that sticks out in my mind still today. During a presentation, I heard the professor discuss how her dog assisted in transfers from her chair. To perform this task, when commanded, the dog would lock his leg joints to allow her to support herself on his back and execute the transfer. I’m still fascinated today with this specialized role that a dog can provide.

Sophie’s blog post linked above has some general information about service dogs, including legal issues. She also provides a list of other muscular disabilities, aside from MS, where an assistance dog may be able to benefit somebody with one of these disabilities.

ADA Restoration Act of 2007 reference sites

To help interested parties stay abreast on what is going on with the ADA Restoration Act of 2007, I offer the following two links.

First, there is a blog specifically dedicated to
The ADA Restoration Act of 2007.
In addition to the latest updates and co-sponsors of the legislation, this informative blog has links to press releases tracking the progress of the bills in both houses of Congress.

Secondly, there is the ReunifyGally blog that is gathering
links to all blogs that write about the ADA Restoration Act of 2007.

FYI, ReunifyGally is referring to reunifying
Gallaudet University.
From the “About” page on the ReunifyGally web site:
“I established this blog in the hope of helping to support the healing and reunification of the Gallaudet community by enabling dialogue on sensitive topics raised by the protests. By “Gallaudet community,” I mean both people on campus and also those of us across the country and around the world who feel some link to Gallaudet, whether or not we have ever been there. “

ADA Restoration Act of 2007 is introduced

In case you missed it, this past Thursday was July 26, the 17th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Since that act was signed into law, there have been a litany of court cases where people have claimed they had been discriminated against, most often by employers. Too often, though, the claimants have been struck down in the judicial process, basically stating that they weren’t disabled enough to qualify for protection under the ADA. These were usually cases where people had a disability, but were either taking medication or using a prosthetic device or hearing aid to help manage the disability’s impact on their lives. Basically, the employers said the person was too disabled to have the job and this was compounded by the court saying they were not disabled enough to qualify as a covered party under the ADA.

For some time now, people have been pushing for a redefining of the ADA and it is finally happening. On Thursday, not coincidentally, U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) introduced the
ADA Restoration Act of 2007
In the House of Representatives, while a similar measure was also introduced in the Senate.

This update will tweak the original wording of the ADA to hopefully correct the overly narrow interpretation that the Supreme Court has wrought in many cases. In Rep. Sensenbrenner’s own words, “The ADA Restoration Act will force courts to focus on whether a person has experienced discrimination “on the basis of disability,” rather than require individuals to demonstrate that they fall within the scope of the law’s protection at all… The legislation will finally enable Americans with disabilities to shine a light on the discrimination they have experienced.”

In a promising demonstration of bipartisanship, Rep. Sensenbrenner Introduced the legislation at a press conference with the
House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer and Sen. Tom Harkin.

I believe Rep. Hoyer’s words rang true for many when he said, “"Let me be clear: This is not what Congress intended when it passed the ADA. We intended a broad application of this law. Simply put, the point of the ADA is not disability, it is the prevention of wrongful and unlawful discrimination.”

You might want to check out the latest edition of
Government Technology,
An on-line magazine for Information Technology professionals, for an article about the ADA Restoration Act. It is interesting to note the ironic twists of interaction that Tony Coelho has had with the original ADA and its interpretation by the judicial system.

Good article about Disability Service and Mental Health professionals

In the days following the shootings at Virginia Tech, I found myself trying to compose some thoughts on the matter to post here. However, each time, I felt intrusive on the survivors of that tragedy and my words were not near as clear as they were in my mind. As a result, I deleted each attempt, feeling inadequate to express the words that needed to be said.

The compulsion to write about that subject was prompted by the shooter in that event reminding me of the type of students Disability Support Service professionals are periodically alerted to, either as one of the students on their caseload, or one which a faculty member inquires about. I've met a couple of these types and recall the gut response from many of the involved staff and faculty.

Many who have served in the DSS role for any reasonable amount of time have known at least one of these incidents. It prompts a spectrum of emotions and reactions ranging from sincere concern to a hyperactive fear. Striking the proper response is the key.

There is a good piece on this very subject written by a clinical psychologist in the Times Community Newspapers, titled
Are you Seung-Hui Cho's keeper?

Being that the article is written by a mental health professional, it is presented with a good understanding of the ADA and HIPPA and the restraints these laws have on universities.

Without spoiling the body of this well written article, I’d like to share the two closing paragraphs.

“Am I my brother's or sister's keeper? Is it my business if I notice that a fellow human being is having difficulty coping with life? Intruding in one's personal affairs is not always the easiest or wisest thing to do.”

“Nothing in life is guaranteed. We might ask ourselves, however, if there was the slightest possibility that having done so might not only have saved Cho's life, but the life of over 30 others as well.”

The article magnifies the positive alliances that can be achieved when the DSS office maintains open lines of communication with trained mental health professionals. I urge you to click the above link and read the entire piece. It says a lot, the meat of which I had been attempting to grasp and put into words.

Web access: Head's up on time-consuming project and GAID initiative

I will be meeting with a colleague and the head of his university’s web site portal in the coming days. In preparation for this meeting, I will be examining the university’s web content. This will include examining the least prefered design route the university has taken, offering text-only pages, which were recently offered as an accessible alternative to meet the letter of the law in Section 508 compliance...Grrr. Additionally, I will also be looking at web sites being offered by other school’s in the same university system.

My reason for telling you this is to give you a head’s up that posting may be a little on the light side here at Access Ability for the next few days, due to the time commitment I will need to review the large amount of web pages.

I’m not one to leave you hanging high and dry, though. Below is a recent news item related to this very subject of accessibility to web content for people with disabilities who use assistive technology. I will also follow up this with a couple more posts related to this subject before knuckling down on the research for my pending project.

An interesting article in
EContentMag
Reports on the latest efforts of the United Nations’
Global alliance working to bridge the information divide.

This article informs readers about the goals of the Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development (GAID),which has global players from academia, governments, the private sector, and civil society. A strong demonstration of the commitment from the technological industry can be sensed just by noting that the current GAID chairman is Craig Barrett, the chairman of Intel.

GAID’s primary objectives span a wide spectrum, but two areas of the groups interest are discussed in the article; gaining more saturated broadband penetration in Africa and developing better technology solutions to assist people with disabilities in information access.

Explaining the group’s methodology, Sarbuland Khan, GAID's executive coordinator, said, "The goal is not that we, the UN, do it, but we try to get the partners to do it themselves and show that the UN can catalyze. We don't have the resources or the expertise, but we can convene the right people around the right table to work on these issues.”


Another source cited in the article is Daniel Aghion, executive director and co-founder of the Wireless Internet Institute (W2i), which has been working with GAID since its days as the UN’s ICT Task Force, the predecessor to GAID. In December, 2006, the United Nations adopted a convention protecting the rights of people with disabilities to education, health, labor, and other needs. The UN has encouraged all 192 of its member states to ratify this convention, because, according to Aghion, approximately ten percent of the global population has some impairment keeping them from accessing information technology.

As for the United States, Aghion says, "In the U.S., some policies have been set to address that community and are embedded in the Americans with Disabilities Act, but—as far as information technology is concerned—they have not been very actively enforced."

This goes back to the adage about laws only being as good as their enforcement. If things work as planned, the proposals GAID has set out offer some teeth for accountability towards the end of enforcement.

Again, as I’ve posted previously, the United States has yet to sign this UN convention. Please take an active role and contact the White House and your legislators, encouraging our country to sign off on this potential powerful tool for accessibility.