Echoes of IDD abuses around the world. People with #intellectualdisabilities are so vulnerable. The good news in this report is that the BBC is helping to expose the mocking and bullying...
"An undercover reporter spent almost 7 weeks at Life Wirral in Wallasey & witnessed staff using offensive language to mock pupils for their neurodiversity or learning disabilities, as well as manhandling them into dangerous headlocks."
How did we protect my sister Teresa's Rights and help her regain control of her life when she was wrongly put into a nursing home?
Join us & Community Living Ontario for a Zoom webinar on May 23:
- Stephanie Dickson (Partner, PooranLaw),
- Franke James and Teresa Heartchild (Authors of Freeing Teresa: A True Story about My Sister and Me),
- Nicole Flynn (President, Council of CLO)
Thursday, May 23, 2024, 12:00 to 1:30 pm EDT:
https://bit.ly/ProtectingRightsandIncreasingControl #downsyndrome #intellectualdisabilities
When bus driver Hue Sze Wei found out that service 173 that he operates will have a #bus featuring #artwork by #students with #IntellectualDisabilities, the 41-year-old was happy to hop on board with the initiative.
He is no stranger to the invasive stares & rude remarks that members of public sometimes have for those with intellectual #disabilities, as he has a son who attended a kindergarten for autistic children.
The W3C gives advice on how to make content usable for people with cognitive and learning disabilities.
#Accessibility #A11y #Cognitive #CognitiveDisability #LearningDisabilities #Neurodiversity #IntellectualDisabilities #UX #UserExperience
Lawmakers Want To End SSI #MarriagePenalty For People With #DevelopmentalDisabilities https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2024/01/26/lawmakers-want-to-end-ssi-marriage-penalty-for-people-with-developmental-disabilities/30716/
#WomenWithDisabilities #DisabilityJustice #DisabilityPolicy #DisabledAndCapable #IntellectualDisabilities
Lawmakers Want To End SSI #MarriagePenalty For People With #DevelopmentalDisabilities https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2024/01/26/lawmakers-want-to-end-ssi-marriage-penalty-for-people-with-developmental-disabilities/30716/
#WomenWithDisabilities #DisabilityJustice #DisabilityPolicy #DisabledAndCapable #IntellectualDisabilities
"Many people with disabilities face stigma, prejudice and discrimination because of their disability... a general pattern was for #MentalHealth conditions, #IntellectualDisabilities and #autism to be judged more negatively than #PhysicalDisability or #SensoryDisability, despite everything else in the scenario being the same. #PhysicallyDisabled #women are judged more negatively than physically disabled #men with respect to having #relationships."
"An #ESRI survey of 2,000 adults showed higher levels of #ableism towards #MentalHealth conditions, #Intellectualdisabilities #ID and #autism than physical or sensory disabilities...
While they judged potential #prejudice against #DisabledPeople as unacceptable, they viewed it as more acceptable, for example, to reduce the school hours of a child with #autism than a child with a speech and language disorder."
#discrimination #autistic #Ireland
https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2024/0123/1428035-esri-report-ableism/
People with #disabilities have long struggled to access quality #healthcare and research shows that many physicians are ill-equipped to care for this population in the same way as others. https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2023/12/15/adults-with-idd-face-significant-hurdles-at-the-doctor-study-finds/30674/
As a result of the hardships faced, the National Institutes of Health agreed in September to designate people with disabilities as a health disparity population.
#WomenWithDisabilities #WomensHealth #WomensMentalHealth #IntellectualDisabilities #DisabilityPolicy #accessibility
People with #disabilities have long struggled to access quality #healthcare and research shows that many physicians are ill-equipped to care for this population in the same way as others. https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2023/12/15/adults-with-idd-face-significant-hurdles-at-the-doctor-study-finds/30674/
As a result of the hardships faced, the National Institutes of Health agreed in September to designate people with disabilities as a health disparity population.
#WomenWithDisabilities #WomensHealth #WomensMentalHealth #IntellectualDisabilities #DisabilityPolicy #accessibility
After Tackling ‘R-Word,’ Disability Group Seeks To Erase Stigma Associated With ‘Special’
"With a new campaign, #Special Olympics wants to take back the word “special” and other language that they say has been turned against people with #disabilities.
The international sports org for people with #intellectualdisabilities is rolling out the effort dubbed “Yeah, I am Special” with a pair of NYC billboards and a video voiced by ESPN's Stephen A. Smith"
https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2023/12/11/after-tackling-r-word-disability-group-seeks-to-erase-stigma-associated-with-special/30668/ #downsyndrome
Anger in #Japan as report reveals children were forcibly sterilised
“The report noted that #sterilisation under the now defunct #eugenics law – which allowed authorities to carry out the procedure on people with #intellectualdisabilities, mental illness or hereditary #disorders to prevent the birth of “inferior” children…”
“The report did not reveal why the law was created, why it took 48 years to amend it or why the victims were never compensated,” Niisato said.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/22/anger-in-japan-as-report-reveals-children-were-forcibly-sterilised?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Any other caregivers out there who care for their adult siblings with intellectual/developmental disabilities?
#disability #caregiver #caregiving #AskFedi #IntellectualDisabilities #DevelopmentalDisability
Are there any other adult sibling #caregivers of adults with intellectual disabilities out there? I'm interested in talking with others about their experiences, maybe making something like a podcast, and generally connecting with others.
#disability #intellectualdisability #disabilities #intellectualdisabilities #caregiving
International Women’s Day Hero of Invisible Disability Rights – Elaine Wilson:
In celebration of International Women's Day, OutOfExile_IDR honors Elaine Wilson, champion of invisible disability rights and the Olmstead Act. It seems germane, as March is also Developmental Disabilities Month.
During Martin Luther King week, I posted about Lois Curtis, a champion for Invisible Disability Rights (link below). Lois, togather with another woman, Elaine Wilson, fought all the way to the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) for the right to live in the community, rather than being institutionalized. Fighting courageously for their freedom, they won the right to freedom for all people with invisible disabilities. The case is often refered to as the “Brown v. Board of Education” for people with (Invisible) disabilities.
Excerpt below & image of Elaine from:
https://www.olmsteadrights.org/iamolmstead/history/
[“Elaine Wilson became seriously ill when she was one years old. She was hospitalized with a raging fever and it was unclear whether she would survive... When the fever finally broke and Elaine was …sent home, ….Elaine had lost some of her early motor function abilities, such as crawling or even sitting up by herself. The doctors assured Elaine's mother that (it) was only a lingering effect of the illness…. Elaine eventually did recover, but very slowly”.[]
In school, Elaine lagged behind other students having difficulties with focus and learning , eventually being diagnosed with an Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) attributed to the prolonged high fever as an infant. Likley, this was the correct diagnosis.
She was reevaluated as a teen upon enrollment at “Gracewood State School and Hospitol” in Georgia. There, she was diagnosed with an ableist slur containing the “R" word, once used in reference to PEOPLE living with Down Syndrome. Providers believed the only recourse was institutionalization. (I am bitting my tongue and holding back my opinions on the lot of it.)
She would spend about a decade living in institutions (State hospitals) against her will. Following that, in the 1980s, she would be “ping-ponged" from care homes to hospitals, back and forth for nearly two decades of her life.
“When I was in an institution, I didn't like myself," Elaine says. "I was trapped. . . . I had no hope. I thought, Oh God, Oh God - When am I ever going to leave here?"
Another hero deserving mention on IWD is Sue Jamieson, the Atlanta Legal Aid Society Attorney who brought the case. Sue and Lois Curtis were joined by co-plaintiff Elaine Wilson, to blaze the path of freedom for countless individuals with disabilities in their wake.
After more than 30 years and 36 psychiatric institutions, at times living homeless and in varous “care homes", Elaine along with Lois Curtis, was victorious and finally free.
The 1997 ruling by Senior U.S. District Judge Marvin H. Shoob said that “… denying the women a community-based life amounted to segregation of people covered by the Americans With Disabilities Act.” Judge Shoob later remarked “They were both so articulate” in regard to the testimony of Elaine Wilson and Lois Curitis.
Elaine passed in 2004 at the age of 53 but, will be forever remembered as a Disability Rights Legend for her resilience, strength and courage. As part of her testimony, she told the court: “When I was in an institution, I felt like I was in a little box and there was no way out”.
Thanks to Elaine Wilson and Lois Curtis, people with invisible disabilities are afforded the right to live in freedom at home, instead of confinement in a “box", cage or institution, merely because of a health issue. Thanks and honor to Elaine, Lois and Sue on this International Women’s Day.
“The Brave and the Strong” Lois Curitis – OutOfExile_IDR:
https://kolektiva.social/@OutOfExile_IDR_Voice/109690867328587920
Elaine’s story continued:
http://www.olmsteadrights.org/iamolmstead/history/item.5405-Elaine_Wilsons_Story_Continued
More on Olmstead and Elaine’s impact:
https://olmsteadrights.wordpress.com/tag/elaine-wilson/
More from disabilityjustice.org:
https://disabilityjustice.org/olmstead-v-lc/
ADA – Community Intergration for Everyone:
https://archive.ada.gov/olmstead/olmstead_about.htm
International Women’s Day Image from:
https://www.desicomments.com/womens-day/international-womens-day-5/
IMAGE CW - (eye contact)
Don't forget the ALT text.
#InternationalWomensDay #ElaineWilson #LoisCurtis #Hero #OlmsteadAct #SueJamieson #SCOTUS #freedom #home #gratitude #CommunityIntergration #DevelopmentalDisabilities #IntellectualDisabilities #BrainInjury #TBI #ABI #AcquiredBrainInjury #MentalHealth #disability #InvisibleDisabilityRights #Hero #DisabilityJustice #EmbraceEquity
Student with Downs Syndrome Excluded:
A post by @JDS linked an article about an Alabama elementary school girls basketball team that won the championship in a boys league. Despite defeating all the boys teams they faced enroute to the top, the league refused to award the trophy to the girls team. As if this example of “exclusion by bigotry” was not enough to get the juices flowing, the article linked another #disability related story that I couldn’t pass up. So much for easing back into it.
Morgyn Arnold, who lives with down syndrome, worked as the manager of her Junior high school’s cheerleading team. The cheer team at Shoreline Junior High School in Layton, Utah, chose to take two team photos; one with Morgyn and one without. The photo excluding her is the one used on social media and printed in the yearbook. Her name was not even mentioned as part of the team. Despite all of her “hard work and dedication to the team”, she was excluded .
According to a relative of Morgyn's, this “was the second time in three years” that she had “been left out of the yearbook” and had been left off the class list of students by the school in the past. The school issued a statement on social media that was later deleted. Is that the “swooshing" of brooms I hear?
I personally have had a similar taste of this elixir of exclusion during my time broadcasting for one university hockey team. Among the numerous discriminatory and ableist acts I experienced, I too was never mentioned or thanked in anyway by that team. I felt as if I was a dirty secret or that the team that raved about my broadcasts, was ashamed of me.
The big difference? Down Syndrome is not one of my disabilities and I was not 14 years old like Morgyn. Even with my experience, I can’t imagine how she must have felt being subjected to these patronizing, demeaning and deplorable ableist acts of exclusion.
In the mind of the offenders, exclusion, discrimination and bigotry doesn’t have to make sense. Oftentimes, they assume the people living with invisible, developmental or intellectual disabilities to be clueless or lacking reason and intelligence. In actuality, this type of behavior and “stigmatude” suggests that perpetrators may be lacking in some of these areas.
For this blatant act of ableism and oblivion to inclusion, Community Intergration and equality I have no cheers, only jeers.
“HIP HIP! Shame on you.”
OutOfExile_IDR #InvisibleDisabilityRights
Link to the article and photos: https://www.ibtimes.sg/utah-school-under-fire-after-leaving-student-down-syndrome-out-cheerleading-team-photo-claims-it-58223?utm_source=Internal&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=related
#EndAbleism #EndBigotry #InvisibleDisabilities #IntellectualDisabilities #DevelopmentalDisabilities #DownSyndrome #CommunityIntergration #inclusion #equality #stigmatude
Worth reading: Mental Age Theory Hurts: Every adult has the right to grow up. -
By Ivanova Smith
"Have you ever heard the phrase, “That person has the mind of a five-year-old in an adult body?” We often hear the term “mental age of” when medical professionals or news media describe adults with intellectual and developmental #disabilities (#IDD). It is something very harmful that many adults with #intellectualdisabilities have to deal with." https://www.spectrumlife.org/blog/mental-age-theory-hurts-651 #MentalAgeTheory
I've been looking for new #books on #neurodiversity and #disability to request or donate to my local library. I've got tons of books on ADHD and autism to go through now, and a few on dyspraxia, but we need more...well...diversity!
Can anyone recommend books on these topics? Preferably new (2021-2023) and written by neurodivergent authours, but all suggestions are welcome. Looking for queer and BIPOC authours, especially. Thanks!
#BPD
#OCD
#OCPD
#Tourettes
#FASD
#Dyspraxia
#Dyslexia
#Dysgraphia
#Dyscalculia
#LearningDisabilities
#IntellectualDisabilities
#PhysicalDisabilities
#MentalIllness
#Trauma
#CPTSD
#ActuallyAutistic #Bookstodon #Fiction #NonFiction #Libraries #Literature #ChildrensLiterature #KidLit
Edited to add a few tags. Kids books and fiction books with ND, disabled, queer, or otherwise marginalized protagonists are welcome, too!
A social experiment.
👇 👇
The results are in and somewhat sad.
I did a social experiment last night: "Rolos vs IDR - Invisible Disability Rights."
I posted two pieces and the above "social experiment" toot simultaneously so they would appear on the timeline together. Links to both are below.
The score was:
Rolos 9 - IDR 1
The response for Rolo included favoring, boosting and two comments from the same Mastodonian that seemed to want to give a lesson on geometry in reference to the shape of Rolos.
Only one responce for IDR, a single boost. Thanks Jack. :solidarity:
Social change comes with support from all, abled and disabled individuals alike. As long as candy takes precedence over the abuse, mistreatment, exclusion and inequality of human beings, the future looks bleak for persons with invisible disabilities. Experiment failure.
Invisible Disability Rights are #HumanRights and #DisabilityIsDiversity
Heinous abuse of people with invisible disabilities by humanity (cw):
https://kolektiva.social/@OutOfExile_IDR_Voice/109549519506159425
Rolos candy:
https://kolektiva.social/@OutOfExile_IDR_Voice/109674897422321516
#equality #change #amplify #inclusion #support #listen #EndBigotry #EndAbleism #disability #MentalHealth #DevelopmentalDisabilities #IntellectualDisabilities #TBI
#DisabilitySolidarity #Love4All #DisabilityCommunity #InvisibleDisabilityRights #Legend #LoisCurtis #ElaineWilson #OlmsteadDecision #heros
@autisticadvocacy @disabilityjustice @disability
Image courtesy of psu.com
Click here 🧠 to expand.
Your wisdom and opinions here are greatly appreciated. The oppression of POC was, and is an ongoing plague on society. MLK and his wisdoms have always inspired and fueled my fight for Invisible Disability Rights (IDR) as well.
To paraphrase your statement, I feel it is equally important to:
"listen to the (disabled) community, uplift their voices, celebrate their achievements, and lend support in the ongoing fight for (disability) justice and equality.
Below are two articles. One about oppression and one about a great achievement from a black woman who is a hero to people with invisible disabilities. Lois Curtis' landmark SCOTUS case is touted as the "Brown vs Board Education" for persons with invisible disabilities yet, so few know who she is and fail to honor her for what she did.
Two of my favorites from MLK:
“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.
He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it,” King said. “He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it. - Martin Luther King Jr.
Oppression:
https://kolektiva.social/@OutOfExile_IDR_Voice/109549519506159425
Achievement of Lois Curtis:
https://kolektiva.social/@OutOfExile_IDR_Voice/109690867328587920
#equality #change #amplify #inclusion #support #listen #BLM #EndBigotry #EndAbleism #disability #MentalHealth #DevelopmentalDisabilities #IntellectualDisabilities #TBI
#DisabilitySolidarity #Love4All #DisabilityCommunity #InvisibleDisabilityRights #Legend #LoisCurtis #MLK #ElaineWilson #OlmsteadDecision #JohnLewis MartinLutherKingJr #heros
