I used to think it was a surprise
Like water lilies in childhood–imperfect, out of reach.
I used to think there was luck.
I turned with these bad eyes,
Watched the absurd insects,
& played all morning alone.
Luck made the world & its strange sights.
But now is dispersed–
Chance, winged seeds,
The prophesying chaos
Until there is the half of wandering,
The half of ceaseless change.
I'd rather be the wind, dear God
In games that go on.
S.K.
EDF Calls On European Commission To Respect Rights Of Passengers With Disabilities
(European Disability Forum)
July 7, 2011
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM– [Excerpt provided by Inclusion Daily Express) Yesterday, the European Disability Movement met with Vice President of the European Commission, Siim Kallas responsible for Transport. EDF wants to make sure persons with disabilities are not discriminated anymore when boarding a plane or otherwise travelling in Europe.
Stig Langvad, EDF Executive Member, recalled that passengers with disabilities do not only face considerable barriers when travelling: “we are repeatedly discriminated against: This is inacceptable. When I book a plane, even months in advance, I am still not sure I am going to reach my final destination. I don’t even know if I am going to board. For persons with disabilities, travelling in Europe is still a challenge.”
This severely infringes the right to free movement in Europe and often makes travelling difficult or even impossible.
Accessibility to transport is one of the disability movement’s priorities. It also has to be a priority for the European Commission.
Entire article:
Passengers with Disabilities Never Know What to Expect
http://www.edf-feph.org/Page_Generale.asp?DocID=13855&thebloc=27641
I am at a conference for educators which is being hosted at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. This morning I spoke with a cattle rancher in the oddly spacious lobby of my hotel. This fellow was losing some of his vision and naturally he saw a person with a guide dog and decided he could confide in me. We had a sharp, funny, and optimistic conversation about how good life is just as long as you can read. The man had cow poop on his boots. He loves the work of David McCullough. A fine entrance into the morning. Sentimentality? Perhaps. But there are still Jeffersonian people in this country.
SK
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Note: Laura Castle is a children’s rights advocate who has written on child abuse matters for POTB. Here are her thoughts on the Caylee Anthony affair.
SK
by Laura Castle
Like so many others, I sat in front of the TV in stunned horror as Casey Anthony was declared Not Guilty of Aggravated Child Abuse.The first degree murder acquittal was not such a shock as there was a lack of the rock hard evidence needed to convict her on that charge .But child abuse? Let’s see now- she failed to report her daughter, Caylee missing as she sat in bars, participated in a hot body contest, got a tattoo, and partied. Last time I checked, Neglect was considered one of the four categories of child abuse.
However, I have since learned that no statute or federal law currently exists that requires a parent to report a missing child. Most parents who experience the horror of a missing child do not need a law saying they must report that their child is missing – their love and concern for the child’s safety is the only impetus they need for that call to the police that can make the difference in that child being found in time. But, the Casey Anthony case opens up the floodgates for other parents who lack the necessary sense of responsibility for parenting to follow her example. One of the purposes of our legal system is to teach others the penalties for inappropriate behavior. What a terrible lesson this case teaches! Too busy having fun to report your child missing? No problem!
Steps are being taken to change this injustice. Representative Paul Wesselhoft R- Oklahoma plans to introduce Caylee’s Law which will require parents to notify authorities of a missing child within 48 hours for a child under 12. Wesselhoft believes this change needs to be made at the state level rather than federal, as states investigate and prosecute most cases of child abuse and neglect. Representative Bill Hager R-Florida is drafting a similar law.
Oklahoman Michelle Crowder has launched a petition to make it a Federal Crime for parents to fail to notify police within 24 hours of a child’s disappearance. It is the fastest growing petition ever found on change.org with a total of nearly 475,000 signatures. Signing this petition is a message to lawmakers that we need some kind of law, either federal or state, to make it a crime to not report a child missing during the crucial time period in which she or he is most likely to be found alive. I urge all readers of POTB to support Caylee’s Law. Thank you!
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
NEW YORK, NEW YORK– [Excerpt from Inclusion Daily Express] Robbie Cunningham would like to live independently but sees no way to get out of the Coler-Goldwater Specialty Hospital & Nursing Facility, his home for the past four years. "I'm not sick," he said. "I'm a quadriplegic."
In the nursing home, he explained, "I have tremendous constraints on what I can do. I would like to choose what kind of food I eat, when I eat and when I go to bed."
Cunningham, 52, feels safe at Coler, a sprawling Roosevelt Island facility, but he doesn't feel free. "As long as I'm alive, I want to keep moving," said the Manhattan makeup artist, who was paralyzed from the neck down in a diving accident seven years ago.
According to a 1999 Supreme Court decision, people with disabilities have the right to live in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs. But Cunningham and thousands of other relatively young people institutionalized by strokes, heart attacks, neuromuscular disorders and traumatic injuries are trapped in nursing homes — segregated from society by bureaucratic bungling and foot-dragging.
Entire article:
Younger people are increasingly trapped in nursing homes
http://www.InclusionDaily.com/news/2011/red/0701b.htm
Over at Sports Illustrated's blog one can read the following:
"Djokovic collapsed to the turf, on his back, but he did not make a show of his triumph."
Oh really? What do you call dropping to your knees and eating grass? Djokovic rolled over, got on his knees and stuffed handfuls of toxic grass into his mouth in front of a worldwide audience.
In general terms I am not opposed to eating grass. Although I don't personally do this, I can imagine the desire to stuff some hallowed vegetation into my maw. Magical thinking and appetite are brothers surely. Didn't my grandmother once shake Richard Nixon's hand and then not wash her hand for a month? But look, my grandmother didn't stuff Nixon's hand into her mouth. Maybe the thought occurred to her, I don't know. But she didn't do it. What made Djokovic chew and swallow the Wimbledon turf?
I would like to hear from readers about this. Is this an old Serbian tradition? Does eating the ground upon which one has scored a victory go back to the Romans? Help me out on this if you have the inclination.
S.K.
I went to bed last night and fell asleep to the sound of my neighbors' bottle rockets. They sounded like small arms fire owing to the headphones I was wearing.
Wouldn't you know it? My unconscious was suggestible. I dreamt I was in a war zone. A man in uniform committed suicide with a German luger. It dawned on me that I was in Finland during the "Winter War" when the Finns were fighting against the Soviet Union. The Finns set themselves up as allies of Hitler in order to get the weapons they needed to fight Stalin. In effect they saved their national sovereignty by making a pact with the devil.
It was a tangled dream. The man who killed himself was an adjutant to Finland's President, General Mannerheim. There was something complicated about selling his soul. Parts of my dream were reminiscent of an early '80's Finnish film called "Pedon Merkki" (Mark of the Beast) which concerned itself with the Faustian narrative of Finland's temporary embrace with the Fascists. In the film and in my dream no one was a good guy.
These are the thoughts of my unconscious as we celebrate the 4th and we still find ourselves in two foreign wars.
Since WWII the Finns have stood consistently and successfully for peace. Some nations learn their lessons.
S.K.
Our friend L.B. has reminded us of the old TV jungle for "Slinky"–remember? ""For fun it's a heckuva toy…"
Every time I'm denied access to a restaurant because of my guide dog I'm going to sing the slinky theme song, really loud. Or the Oscar Meyer weiner song–maybe the theme song from "Green Acres". I mean why bother with the law? It's easier to perform the happy lacuna of unconsciousness.
One could also recite some of Leonard Nimoy's poetry.
S.K.
Great article in the Chronicle of Higher Education about two blind students at Florida State who are suing FSU over inaccessible technology platforms:
Planet of the Blind 