(Apologies for my absence of late - stress from current problems has been making me ill and keeping me from sleeping well. As I don't want this to turn into 'How The Gimp's Life Got Fucked Worse Today' Daily, I thought it best to hold off on posting. The last thing I want is for the wonderful and kind readers of this series to feel I'm constantly complaining or, worse, panhandling. Anyway, my apologies.)
Welcome to the G.I.M.P. Roundup - Growing Involvement in Media and Politics. This is a semi-daily (Mon-Wed-Fri) diary series dedicated to highlighting disabled news, activism, politics and punditry.
In the June 10th, 2010 GIMP Round-up:
- Pelosi's Hecklers? Some Were Gimps
- Today's Headline News and Action Alerts - Special Ed Cuts In LA, Cripple Fights, and Autism DNA
- Closing Thoughts - Changing Schedules
DISABLED AMONG PELOSI'S HECKLERS
Via Politico:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shouted over vociferous protesters Tuesday as she tried to assure attendees at a progressive conference that Democratic leaders will get the country back on track.
About 20 members of the disability rights group ADAPT began shouting just minutes into her speech, creating an uncomfortable atmosphere for Pelosi, who came to speak to a sympathetic liberal audience.
The group is calling for the passage of the Community Choice Act, which would make it easier for the disabled to receive care in their own homes instead of at nursing homes. Pelosi paused to listen to their message but decided to continue the rest of her talk anyway.
Okay, I'm happy to see ADAPT out there doing activism - we need more disabled activists - but why were they at Pelosi's speech? Why can't we ever do this to, say, an asshole like Boehnerade (refreshing orange!)? Getting him to lose his shit on a bunch of gimps would be SWEET. But we're targeting Nancy Pelosi? Seriously?
I get that she's Speaker, and as such some think that she can wave her magic wand and get this on the floor of the House, but THEN what? She's one of the few active supporters of this bill. Right now, with deficits giving cover to anyone looking for an excuse to scream 'cut spending!', this is going to be tough to pass. It shouldn't be, but it will be.
The reason, my dear gimps, is because we're doing it wrong.
We should be raising awareness to the PUBLIC, targeting those lawmakers OPPOSED to the bill, and working to get it PASSED, not simply get it to the floor. Maybe we're new at this, and inexperienced, but that's no excuse. We have to work twice as hard as anyone else, and we have to work smart.
This? Is not smart. AND it gives ammo to those who want to push the whole 'progressives are at war with Democrats' narrative. We really don't need to be adding fuel to that fire right now.
So please, my fellow gimps - pick better targets, and get the press focusing on the issue itself, not the meta narrative.
TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES AND ACTION ITEMS
DISABLED LOSING CLASSES IN LA
My last G.I.M.P. diary focused on Special Education, and I noted that we already underfund REGULAR education, so thinking that the new guidelines for Education would work was silly. Well, here it begins. Via the LA Times:
But now officials plan to spend much less on the disabled: 200 classes will be shut down, as well as a specialized campus, the West Valley Special Education Center. Blend also faces cutbacks; but just as alarming as these overt moves, critics say, is a pervasive focus on saving money by limiting services to individual children.
This is exactly what I mean. Anyone who thinks that disabled students can and should perform at standard levels (especially the severely disabled) needs to look at this and tell me how that's supposed to work.
There. Is. No. Funding.
This isn't rocket science, people.
CRIPPLE FIGHT!
Via the Houston Chronicle:
Workers at a center for distressed children provoked seven developmentally disabled girls into a fight of biting and bruising as staffers laughed, cheered and promised the winners a precious prize: after-school snacks.
Four of the girls were injured, according to records obtained by the Houston Chronicle and The Texas Tribune. State officials learned of the incident at Daystar Residential Inc. in Manvel the day after it occurred, when a Daystar employee doing health checks found bite marks, scrapes and bruises on the girls' bodies.
The fight was one of more than 250 incidents of confirmed abuse and mistreatment in residential treatment centers during the past two years, based on the Chronicle/Tribune review of state records.
Seriously, what the FUCK is wrong with people? And Texas in particular? Between enslaving the mentally disabled on a turkey farm to having them play Mortal Kombat, live-action, this is getting to be a trend.
Knock it the fuck off, already.
AUTISM STUDY GETS INTO DNA
Via Disability Scoop:
In the largest ever look at the DNA of children with autism, scientists said Wednesday they found new genetic variants associated with the disorder that often are not present in the children’s parents.
The findings published online in the journal Nature suggest that autism may be the result of several different genetic changes that are not necessarily shared among people with the diagnosis, even though they have similar symptoms.
Researchers at institutions around the globe looked at blood samples from 1,000 elementary school children with autism and 1,300 without.
“We found many more disrupted genes in the autistic children than in the control group,” said Dr. Stanley Nelson, a professor of human genetics and psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles. “But here’s where it gets tricky — every child showed a different disturbance in a different gene.”
Just in case you thought that vaccines might NOT be behind it all. On one level, this tells us what we already thought - it's in the very DNA. It's not some vaccine side-effect. On another, it kind of scares the shit out of me - it's a different disturbance in a different gene in every kid.
This is going to take a while to unravel.
CLOSING THOUGHTS - SCHEDULE CHANGES
I'm going to be shifting to a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule going forward, so I can spend more time on detail opinion and quality than quantity. As I've been absent this last week, I decided to do this bonus Thursday edition. Starting next week, though, I'll be going Mon-Wed-Fri.
Things have been rough, lately, and my tablet pen is being replaced, so if I still owe you art, please bear with me. My apologies.
Larime