Normalizing Disabilities

Because I just wrote an exam on it, and because this woman is beautiful and an accomplished athlete, model, and spokesperson for people living with disabilities:

Aimee Mullins - (born 1976 in Allentown, Pennsylvania) is an American athlete, actress, and fashion model best known for her extraordinary collegiate-level athletic accomplishments, despite a disability that resulted in the amputation of both of her legs.She was born with fibular hemimelia (missing fibula bones) and had both of her legs amputated below the knee when she was just one year old. While attending Georgetown University she competed against able-bodied athletes in NCAA Division I track and field events and set Paralympic records in 1996 in Atlanta in the 100-meter dash and the long jump. She says she will have realised one of her ambitions when people describe her as “Aimee Mullins, the model”, rather than “Aimee Mullins, the disabled model”.

sexisnottheenemy

Is sex for the disabled the last taboo?

Claims that health professionals ignore the sexual needs of disabled people arguably reflect a general taboo about sex and imperfection. In March this year there was much media debate after Lucy Baxter told a BBC television programme that she wanted to help her 21-year-old son Otto, who has Down’s syndrome, to lose his virginity. She said she would support him if he chose to visit a prostitute.

The fact that this made headlines suggests a perception of sex as something that only “perfect” people can enjoy.

Is sex for the disabled the last taboo? - Times Online via sexisnottheenemy

Autism Funding Cuts

Last week Children and Families Minister Mary Polak cut funding to Early Intensive Behavioural Intervention (EIBI) programs targeted at working with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), saying that the $70,000 that was given to families was unfair the the other families throughout the province who received $20,000 and then went on to say that regarding the EIBI programs they were "not seeing any appreciable improvements in the outcomes for those kids".

Really? Do you live with a child with Autism? Have you had a child at the age of four sit in fits of rage lashing out at you because they cannot explain to you verbally what it is that is bothering them or because you tried to hold their hand? Have you then sat with that same child a year later who has had sessions with speech therapists, interventionists, and behavioural analysts and has begun to communicate either verbally or with picture cards and can handle physical contact? Having had a summer of working with children with ASD through Recreation Integration Victoria, kids who had been in the EIBI programs and those that had not, it's amazing to see the difference those intervention sessions provide to both the child and their families.

Now Polak is trying to take back her statement, saying that the comment was based on four-year-old research and that sure, the program has made a lot of advances, but the reason for closing down the EIBI programs has nothing to do with quality, it has to do with fairness. She nows says "this is an issue of equity and it's an issue of access".

Ok, my reaction to this is I think what she is only now trying to get at, they're trying to take the money that was directed to the EIBI program and boost the $20,000 families were getting to $22,000. Good step, but not enough. $22,000 still does not make up for the fact that many families do not even know where to begin when it comes to Autism intervention. I think that the mother of one child with ASD, Laurie Cole, says it best, "they should be equalizing in the other direction by creating more EIBI programs". If they chose to take these successful programs and begin to create more and have them in various rural and urban communities, more families will be able to benefit. How hard is it to come to that realization? I know there is stuff I'm probably missing from the ministry/application side, but come on!

Scrapped autism program was unfair: Polak