In the first part of this series, we look at the fastest-growing population in U.S. prisons: women.
- Aug. 13, 2008In Ohio, Inmate Mothers Care For Babies In Prison
If you know or are one of these women with a physical disability who advocated for your Right to Know about your breast health, here is your opportunity to have your story heard. In order to tear down barriers faced by this population, it is important to show that you are a woman first, not just a disability. Every Woman Matters!
If you want to spread this message, be one of twelve spokeswomen for the campaign.
This multimedia exhibit will begin showing on March 6, 2009 from 6 to 9 pm, during the “First Friday” event, at Begleiter Photography Studio located at 223 West Front Street in Missoula. It will feature black and white portraits of women from all over our great state- some of them breast cancer survivors, all of them role models and advocates. Portraits will be augmented by written and recorded commentaries of their experiences. This event will hopefully kick off a traveling show, so don’t be surprised if it ends up in your town as well.
If you are interested in becoming a spokeswoman, or would like to be involved with the event, please contact us by January 10th if possible. Or visit our website at: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/79226/first-night
We are looking to draw in a sample of women that would represent Montana as a whole. Therefore, we would like to have as many different regions involved as possible. We especially are interested in women who have physical disabilities as well as breast cancer, or a survivor of breast cancer. We are also looking for a few women who are role models and advocates in the disability community. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Mary Olson or Desirae Ware.
Mary Olson
The Statewide Independent Living Program Manager position formerly held by Mike Hermanson is now open. Let’s thank Mike for all he did in this position and for putting people with disabilities first on disability issues. Now, pass this around to whoever you think may be interested in this position and with any luck we will find a commendable person for the job who will put people with disabilities first the way Mike did.
Inside The Nation's Largest Mental Institution
Listen Now [8 min 55 sec] add to playlist
This is the second in a three-part series.
In the first part of this series, we look at the fastest-growing population in U.S. prisons: women.
On a recent morning, we took a visit to the floor devoted to the "sickest of the sick." As we arrived, a dozen deputies were working to restrain a patient and inject him with an anti-psychotic drug. The entire ordeal was videotaped — to protect the patient as well as the deputies. It was the first hint at the complexities that emerge from creating a mental hospital inside a jail.
The End Of Public Mental Hospitals
Until the 1970s, the mentally ill were usually treated in public psychiatric hospitals, more commonly known as insane asylums.
Then, a social movement aimed at freeing patients from big, overcrowded and often squalid state hospitals succeeded. Rather than leading to quality treatment in small, community settings, however, it often resulted in no treatment at all.
As a consequence, thousands of mentally ill ended up on the streets, where they became involved in criminal activity. Their crimes, though frequently minor, led them in droves to jails such as Twin Towers, says Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca.
"Incarcerating the mentally ill is not the right thing to do," he says.
Read more...June 25, 2008Here’s an earlier post on the Montana Main Street Blog if you are interested. http://montanamainstreetblog.typepad.com/montana_main_street_blog/2008/05/i-159-seius-att.html
SEIU Retreats: I-159 Getting Pulled from Ballot
Word on the street is that I-159 will be "voluntarily" pulled tomorrow today at a press conference. I-159 is the Service Employees International Union's (SEIU) attempt to unionize home health care workers in Montana through a ballot initiative.
This is good news since many Montanans would not have gotten the full story on this initiative before they were expected to vote it up or down. Signature gathers around the state for this initiative highlighted the initiative's increased funding for home health care services, background checks and hightened training standards for home health care workers. Few pointed out that the more than half of the initiative focused on new collective bargaining laws. It's a classic stealth campaign with a hidden agenda with big dollars coming from out-of-state to fund it.
Apparently there was pressure from I-155 (Cover All Kids - SCHIP) supporters, the administration, legislators and others to pull this from the ballot. I-155 is going to cost taxpayers more, and supporters of that initiative worried too much money was being requested on ballot measures at a time when state government will likely see leaner times. According to recent news articles, Helena could be seeing red ink next session after present law adjustments are factored into the next budget. Additionally, it didn't help that groups like AARP came out against the initiative. If you can't get the support of the people who will supposedly benefit from this initiative, it can be a hard sell.
This won't be the last SEIU attempts to grow in Montana. They have had some success unionizing a variety of different workers around the country, including strippers. Still, many workers are finding out that SEIU's heavy-handed style is not the kind of representation they want.
Posted at 09:18 AM in Elections Permalink
A note from Diana: The St Lucie County Public Schools web site is at http://www.stlucie.k12.fl.us/ Ironically, their motto is “Every child. Every day.” One wonders what it IS they’re doing to every child, every day. – DS
______________________________________
Tuesday, May 27
Action Alert from The Autistic Self Advocacy Network...
Hello,
As some of you may already be aware from news articles and blog posts on the topic, last week a Morningside Elementary Kindergarten teacher had students "vote out" of the class a 5-year old autistic student named Alex Barton. According to the news article, the teacher had each of Alex's classmates, including his sole friend in the class, state publicly what they disliked about him and then announced that they would take a vote to remove him from the class. Alex has not been back to school since and has suffered significant emotional trauma as a result of this incident. Regardless of who you are or what your connection to the autistic and autism communities might be, I think we can all agree that this is unacceptable.
We need to band together to prevent future such abuses from occurring, to ensure that this teacher is properly disciplined and to encourage this school to adopt both a strong bullying prevention policy and training on respect for all forms of diversity aimed at both teachers and students. As such, we've provided contact information below for you to write to communicate your outrage. Please be polite yet firm in your comments, pointing out the unacceptability of such actions when aimed at any student, as well as the need for this school to adopt policies to prevent this from happening in the future. This is an opportunity to drive home the message that we will not stand by while one of our own is abused. We ask that you please cc: info@autisticadvocacy.org in your e-mails to the school district so we can keep track of the strength and sources of this response. Remember: abusive messages hurt our cause - please be respectful in your comments.
Contact info:
Morningside Elementary School Principal:
Mrs. Marcia Cully
cullym@stlucie.k12.fl.us
(772) 337-6730
St. Lucie County Schools Superintendent:
Michael J. Lannon
4204 Okeechobee Road
Ft. Pierce, FL 34947-5414
Phone: 772/429-3925
FAX: 772/429-3916
e-mail: lannonm@stlucie.k12.fl.us
St. Lucie County School Board Chair:
Carol Hilson
772-519-0397
HilsonC@stlucie.k12.fl.us
Vice Chair:
Judith Miller
772-528-4545
MillerJ@stlucie.k12.fl.us
[Thanks to Paula C. Durbin-Westby for compiling this contact information and for members of the autistic and autism communities who have supported this effort.]
Regards,
Ari Ne'eman, President,
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network
1101 15th Street, NW Suite 1212
Washington, DC 20005
http://www.autisticadvocacy.org
732.763.5530
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]