[Onthebarricades] Disability rights protests, Apr-Aug 2008

[Andy]

ON THE BARRICADES:  Global Resistance Roundup, April-August 2008
https://lists.resist.ca/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/onthebarricades
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/



*  INDIA:  Protest over "humiliating" scenes in film

*  US:  Autistic groups protest offensive remarks by far-right talk-show 
host Savage

*  US:  People with disabilities protest film Tropic Thunder over "R-word"

*  US:  People with disabilities protest for healthcare expansion in Texas 
and Washington D.C.

*  INDIA:  Protest over transfer of schools for blind children

*  US:  Disability activists arrested after being refused meeting with 
McCain

*  CANADA:  Protest against forced chemotherapy for boy with cancer

*  US:  Palm Beach people with disabilities protest against aid cuts

*  INDIA:  Karnataka people with disabilities protest for bus passes

*  IRELAND:  Protest against relocation of "mental hospital" into prison

http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/10/stories/2008071060130500.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Protest in front of Censor Board
Staff Reporter
VHPS alleges 'humiliating' scenes in Telugu film 'Gorintaku'

- PHOTO: P.V. Sivakumar

Touchy issue: Manda Krishna of the MRPS staging a 'dharna' outside the 
Censor Board office at Masab Tank on Wednesday.
HYDERABAD: Nearly 200 activists of the Vikalangula Hakkula Porata Samiti 
(VHPS) demonstrated in front of the Central Censor Board office at Masab 
Tank on Wednesday in protest against scenes 'humiliating 
physically-challenged persons' in the Telugu film 'Gorintaku'.
The protest demonstration lasting over an hour threw traffic movement out of 
gear on the bustling Masab Tank-Mehdipatnam stretch.
Mild tension prevailed as the protesters tried to barge into the Board's 
office located in the 'Samachara Bhavanam' defying the huge contingent of 
police.
Sit-in staged
The agitators tried to break open the lock of the main gate even as 
policemen prevented them from forcibly entering inside.
Later, the VHPS workers staged a sit-in on the road bringing the traffic 
movement to a grinding halt. The Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti (MRPS) 
founder-president Manda Krishna Madiga joined the demonstration pledging 
support to the agitators.
He urged the Government to delete the scenes portraying 
physically-challenged persons in poor light in 'Gorintaku'.
"The Government should also ensure that scenes humiliating 
physically-challenged persons are not included in films in future," the 
agitators demanded.
They maintained that VHPS was forced to take up the agitation since the film 
director failed to respond to their demand for unconditional apology and 
threatened to intensify it in the future.
Later, they submitted a memorandum to the Censor Board officials.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/28/BAOU120FGO.DTL

S.F. protest against Savage's autism remarks
Robert Selna, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, July 28, 2008
Parents of children with autism, along with politicians and other 
protesters, convened Sunday in front of a San Francisco radio station and 
renewed calls for the firing of talk show host Michael Savage, who recently 
suggested that most autism diagnoses were fraudulent.
A crowd of 50 to 60 people gathered in front of KNEW radio's Townsend Street 
offices Sunday to protest the decision by KNEW and Talk Radio Network, the 
company that syndicates Savage's shows, to keep him on the air despite his 
controversial statements.
"Michael Savage's remarks were hurtful to the safety and the well-being of 
vulnerable children and we want him off the air," said Evelyn Ain, president 
of Autism United in Long Island, whose 8-year-old son has autism. "If this 
(KNEW) and other radio stations don't stop carrying Savage's signal, then we 
will pursue every advertiser until they drop him."
Ain was joined at the protest by Craig Johnson, a New York state senator 
from Long Island, who has advocated for spending on autism issues and 
education, and by Alice Lai-Bitker, an Alameda County supervisor, and 
others.
As part of his July 16 conservative, nationally syndicated talk-radio show, 
"The Savage Nation," Savage said that autism is being over-diagnosed and 
actually is a result of parental failures.
"They don't have a father around to tell them, 'Don't act like a moron. 
You'll get nowhere in life,' " Savage said during his show. " 'Stop acting 
like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don't sit there crying and 
screaming, you idiot.' "
Representatives of Talk Radio Network could not be reached Sunday. In a 
statement, the company said it would not fire or suspend Savage and was 
satisfied that he did not mean any disrespect to autistic children or their 
families but instead was, "reiterating his long-standing concerns on public 
health issues."
Savage has not apologized. Representatives of KNEW, an AM station, also 
could not be reached Sunday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 1 in 150 
children are diagnosed with what is called "autism spectrum disorders," 
which range from severe to mild problems in communication and social 
behavior.
Specialists are increasingly diagnosing autism. The CDC's Web site states, 
"It is unclear how much of this increase is due to changes in how we 
identify and classify (autism spectrum disorders) people, and how much is 
due to a true increase in prevalence."
Savage routinely is controversial, and this is not the first time groups 
have called for his firing.
During one of his radio broadcasts in 2007, Savage suggested that supporters 
of an immigration reform bill, who fasted in San Francisco's Civic Center 
Plaza, should starve to death. In May he made light of Massachusetts Sen. 
Edward Kennedy's malignant brain tumor.
Savage's off-color remarks have not hurt business. With 8 million listeners 
a week on 400 radio stations, Savage is the third-most-listened-to radio 
talk show host in the country, behind only Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.
On Friday, a federal judge in San Francisco dismissed a copyright 
infringement lawsuit by Savage against a Muslim rights group that reprinted 
his attacks against Islam.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations posted four minutes of an Oct. 29 
broadcast in which Savage called the Quran a "hateful little book" and a 
"document of slavery."


http://www.wyff4.com/entertainment/17166765/detail.html#-

Mentally Disabled Protest 'Tropic Thunder'
Studio Plans No Changes To War Movie Spoof
POSTED: 8:24 am EDT August 12, 2008
UPDATED: 12:46 pm EDT August 12, 2008
LOS ANGELES -- The president of the American Association of People with 
Disabilities calls the new movie "Tropic Thunder" offensive from "start to 
finish."
He and many others are upset by what they say is the "tasteless" portrayal 
of the mentally disabled, including scenes littered with a disparaging term 
used to describe them.
Protesters at the Monday premiere in Los Angeles held up signs with slogans 
such as "Call me by my name, not by my label" and chanted phrases like "Ban 
the movie, ban the word."
In the movie, director and co-star Ben Stiller is a fame-hungry actor cast 
in a war movie, after previously playing a role as a mentally disabled 
character named Simple Jack.
A DreamWorks spokesman has said "no changes or cuts to the film will be 
made."
It also stars Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/MYSA043008_7B_DisabilityProtest_EN_38d2871_html4147.html

Web Posted: 04/29/2008 2:00 CDT
Disabled Texans join more than 1,000 at D.C. protest

WASHINGTON - Disabled Texans traveled to Capitol Hill and participated in a 
march Tuesday in support of legislation that would expand Medicaid and 
Medicare coverage to include home health care and community services.
About 35 people from Texas joined more than 1,000 people with disabilities 
for protests and exhibits sponsored by the Americans Disabled for Accessible 
Public Transit, or ADAPT.
"It's the largest turnout we've ever had," said Danny Saenz, 48, of Austin, 
who was among disabled Texans from Seguin, El Paso, Sugar Land, Odessa, 
Conroe and Fort Bend taking part in three days of activism in the nation's 
capital.
Saenz, who was born in South Texas with cerebral palsy and is confined to a 
wheelchair, said people with disabilities rely on community-based services.
ADAPT and other advocacy groups for the disabled support bipartisan 
legislation introduced in the House and Senate that would make eligible for 
Medicare and Medicaid coverage the services provided by home health care 
providers.
Many of those services are covered when provided by nursing homes and 
hospitals, but not by community-based providers.
The legislation, the Community Choice Act of 2007, would allow people to 
receive services in their homes, instead of being forced into institutional 
settings.
The bills, introduced last year, have yet to emerge from committees in the 
House and Senate with oversight over Medicare, Medicaid and health care 
services.
President Bush has proposed a $183 billion cut over five years in the budget 
for fiscal year 2009, which begins Oct. 1.
The budget proposals and regulatory changes could result in a $104 million 
cut in nursing home care in Texas alone, according to an analysis by the 
American Health Care Association.
The Community Choice Act legislation would provide federal matching funds to 
help states develop long-term care through home health care and 
community-based services.

http://www.nbc4.com/health/16039065/detail.html

People With Disabilities Protest Medicaid Cuts
POSTED: 5:09 pm EDT April 28, 2008
UPDATED: 5:38 pm EDT April 28, 2008
WASHINGTON -- People with disabilities protested Medicaid cuts outside the 
Department of Health and Human Services in the 200 block of Independence 
Avenue in southwest D.C. on Monday.
According to ADAPT, which promotes assisted-living community services for 
the disabled to help them live independently, thousands of senior citizens 
and people with disabilities are forced into nursing homes and other 
institutions because of the inaction and regulations of Health and Human 
Services.
ADAPT demanded that Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt 
increase states' flexibility with the Money Follows the Person Demonstration 
Projects, immediately eliminate rules causing undue burdens in regard to 
case management, eliminate rules discouraging small, grass-roots providers 
from meeting the needs of their consumers, eliminate regulations and 
interpretations of "spousal impoverishment" and "risk" that promote 
institutionalization of people with disabilities, work with ADAPT to pass 
the Community Choice Act, and meet with ADAPT leaders within 30 days in 
regard to these demands and any other barriers to community-based services.

http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/05/stories/2008050559640400.htm

Protest by differently-abled
Staff Reporter
Hyderabad: Members of the Andhra Pradesh Welfare Committee of the Blind 
(APWCB) held a protest meeting against the transfer of five schools for the 
visually and hearing challenged from the Education Department to the 
Disabled Welfare Department on Sunday afternoon at Indira Park.
Over 50 students from five schools participated in the protest against the 
G.O.MS 33 that was passed in February this year. Apart from the transfer, 
the order stated that the disabled welfare department can seek help from 
philanthropic individuals and NGOs to run these schools, which was strongly 
opposed by the students.
"A similar order was passed 20 years ago but the Government had revoked it 
then. The five schools that are situated at Malakpet, Darul Shifa, Kadapa 
and Kakinada are being run by the Department of Education and have good 
standards compared to those under the Disabled Welfare Department," said, 
Chairman of APWCB, N. Venkat Ramulu.

http://www.thehindu.com/2008/06/05/stories/2008060559580400.htm

Visually-challenged in protest mode

Oppose transfer of schools to Department of Disabled Welfare

HYDERABAD: Members of A.P Welfare Committee of the Blind (APWCB) launched a 
relay hunger strike at Dharna Chowk, Indira Park, on Wednesday protesting 
the government's decision to handover control of five schools for blind and 
deaf children, presently under School Education Department, to the 
Department of Disabled Welfare.
GO passed
The government has issued an order (G.O. Ms No.33) allowing transfer of 
these schools to the Department of Disabled Welfare.
The order also says that residential institutions under Disabled Welfare 
Department will be formed into societies to enable co-management and 
co-option by philanthropic individuals and NGOs.
"Once the five schools are transferred to the Disabled Welfare Department, 
private persons and NGOs will be able to control and manage them. 
Effectively, it will reduce the role of the government in managing such 
schools," said N. Venkat Ramulu, Chairman of APWCB.
Out of the five residential schools, two schools are exclusively for the 
deaf in Malakpet, Hyderabad, and Kakinada in East Godavari. Out of the 
remaining three, one blind school is in Kadapa while the other two, are in 
Malakpet and Darul Shifa.
The APWCB members also felt that the government was not clarifying on the 
issue of whether it would continue to fund the schools after handing them 
over to the societies.
They also demanded that visually handicapped persons should be appointed as 
headmasters and school education officers so that they could understand the 
travails of the blind.

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=116&sid=1395548

Disabled group members arrested at McCain's office
April 29, 2008 - 6:38pm

By LAURIE KELLMAN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - At least 20 disabled activists, most of them in 
wheelchairs, were arrested outside Sen. John McCain's offices Tuesday after 
being refused a meeting with the GOP presidential nominee-to-be over a bill 
to expand Medicaid coverage to more people who want in-home care.
"If he should be president, it would be ironic that he comes from a party 
that talks a lot about family values," said Bob Kafka, national organizer 
for ADAPT, a group advocating for passage of the bill. Without the 
legislation, many disabled and elderly people don't have the choice to apply 
coverage to anything other than institutional care, he said.
"Families are devastated because they don't have a choice to keep people at 
home," Kafka said.
McCain was not in his office during the protest. He was campaigning Tuesday 
in Florida on his health care plan.
The bill, stuck in committee since last year, would amend the Social 
Security Act to allow people who are eligible for Medicaid coverage of 
nursing home costs to spend it instead on home-based, or community care.
Sponsored by Sens. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., it also 
would grant extra money to states that participate in the program, according 
to a summary of the bill.
Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, 
rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, are co-sponsors of the 
bill, but McCain is not.
Capitol Police Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said about 20 people from the group 
were arrested outside McCain's office in the Russell Senate Office Building 
on Tuesday and charged with unlawful assembly.
McCain's Senate chief of staff said the protesters turned down an offer to 
meet immediately with McCain's aides. Mark Busey said he didn't know 
McCain's position on the legislation but would ask. The chances are slim, 
however, that the senator himself would be meeting with members of the 
group.
"We are more than happy to let them know when he will be back in the 
Washington area at public events, town halls and the like," Busey said in a 
telephone interview. "Right now we do not know when he's going to be here 
for a meeting."

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=dce99959-f95e-40fc-9a0a-1eb87c033c43

Supporters of cancer-stricken boy protest forced chemo
Canwest News Service
Published: Monday, May 12, 2008
HAMILTON - McMaster Children's Hospital was the scene of a small but 
emotional protest Monday morning over the plight of an 11-year-old boy 
forced by the Children's Aid Society to undergo cancer treatment.
The boy's parents were joined by about a dozen supporters who say the CAS is 
wrong to order the child to endure chemotherapy when he says he doesn't want 
it.
"I want them to leave me alone. I'm doing the right thing and taking natural 
medicine," the boy, whose name cannot be released because of his age, told 
CHCH-TV in a telephone interview.
The boy has an aggressive form of leukemia and has undergone chemotherapy 
before. His parents say he suffered through it, and they decided as a family 
to stop the treatments.
On Thursday, when they brought the boy to the same Hamilton hospital for 
routine tests, the CAS seized him. When his father protested, he was 
handcuffed and evicted from the premises.
The parents were allowed to go into the hospital to visit him Monday morning 
and his mom brought him to a window to wave to supporters.
The next step in the dispute is expected to take place in court Tuesday. The 
parents say they anticipate the CAS will ask a judge to allow the 
organization to assume custody of their son. The parents have hired a 
prominent Toronto lawyer, Marlys Edwardh, to fight their case.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/local_news/epaper/2008/05/21/0521disabilitiesrally.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=76

Hundreds protest cuts to programs for people with disabilities
By KATHLEEN CHAPMAN
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Hundreds of people with disabilities held up stop signs to protest state 
budget cuts today, and asked Palm Beach County commissioners not to further 
reduce aid to the most vulnerable this summer.
State lawmakers cut money for programs that serve people with mental 
disabilities by $43.5 million dollars this session - a 5 percent reduction. 
And Palm Beach County Administrator Bob Weisman has warned all social 
service agencies that get money from the county that they could lose another 
5 percent because of local budget shortfalls.
Those cuts affect programs that help people with disabilities like cerebral 
palsy and Down syndrome to get jobs in the community or sheltered workshops. 
The money also pays for group homes, as well as support for families who 
have adult children with disabilities.
"Stop those cuts," people with disabilities shouted Wednesday at the rally 
held by Palm Beach County agencies that serve the disabled.
Several parents and agency leaders said the continuing cuts are 
unconscionable because they follow previous years of budget-cutting for 
programs that serve the disabled.
Rita Head of Boca Raton, who spoke at the rally, said she is a registered 
Republican. But she is tired of attending events year after year to ask 
state leaders not to cut programs for her daughter Brandon, now 41.
"I've been to three or four of these rallies in the last 10 years, and I've 
been to Tallahassee," Head said. "I'm a Republican, but the Republicans have 
not been listening. And come election time, they may want to listen."
Brandon has seizures and mental disabilities that prevent her from getting a 
job in the community. But for the past 22 years, Brandon has found work and 
a sense of purpose at the Habilitation Center of Boca Raton, where she 
assembles parts for Motorola.
Lawmakers need to ask themselves, Head said, where they expect people to go 
if they continue cutting money for programs that allow disabled people to 
work.
"What are they going to do - put them back in institutions?" she said. 
"Where are we going to go? That is what they have to ask themselves."
Head said she was upset that Republican lawmakers in Tallahassee refused to 
approve a even a small tax hike on cigarettes to help pay for the most 
vulnerable citizens because they didn't want to be seen as raising taxes.
Sometimes, she said, you can't just vote your party: "You have to vote your 
conscience."

http://www.thehindu.com/2008/06/01/stories/2008060154760500.htm

Protest by the handicapped
KOLAR: Led by the taluk unit of Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha (KPRS) 
scores of handicapped people staged a dharna in front of the Karnataka State 
Road Transport Corporation's Divisional Controller's office here on 
Saturday. They demanded issue of bus pass to physically challenged people.
They also urged authorities to initiate action against the conductors 
responsible for atrocities on handicapped persons in KSRTC buses.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/mhgbidgbojkf/rss2/

Protestors to step up mental health plans
06/07/2008 - 12:07:23
Relatives of mental health patients opposing the relocation of one of the 
country's largest facilities to the grounds of a new super prison will this 
week step up their campaign.

The Central Mental Hospital carers' group wants to stop the Dundrum centre 
being closed and moved to a site in north Co Dublin earmarked for Thornton 
Hall.

Members will appear before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and 
Children on Tuesday to hand over its report, Patients Not Prisoners, which 
was published jointly with the Irish Mental Health Coalition and 
Schizophrenia Ireland.

A spokesman said concerned members will also present evidence invalidating 
the Government's proposal and urge the committee to call on Health Minister 
Mary Harney to reverse the decision.

The Central Mental Hospital carers' group, which is made up of relatives and 
carers, is campaigning for improved facilities, care and human rights for 
patients.