Getting outside helps improve attention in children with ADHD

The news article linked in the title of this post may be a big revelation to some, but not to those of us with kids.  Kids need to be outside.  This is actually a huge issue for me and the topic of another manuscript I'm working on at the moment...but I thought I'd post this here for your information and to get your thoughts. 

Okay, I'm back to academic writing...the Inclusion Study is coming to a close and my writing spirit is wearing thin...

Obama, Palin, and Children with Special Needs

I would highly recommend that anyone concerned about disability issues in the upcoming election read this editorial by the inimitable Paul Longmore. Longmore's piece discusses the differences in the McCain and Obama plans for disability related issues and highlights the issues that should be addressed to woo the disability vote. As Longmore points out there are many who are placing their hope in Palin putting a high priority on disability issues because she has a child with Down's Syndrome, but the fact of the matter is that Palin isn't even a year into her experience with Trig and hasn't even begun to encounter the tremendously frustrating disability service system. Only a person that has attended twice-a-year IEP meetings, just to see the IEP go unimplemented can understand the deeply dysfunctional special education system. Only a person that has tried to qualify for Medicaid waiver services or SSDI by wading through months of paperwork, tests, and evaluations, can understand what it might take to move the disability service system in a more progressive direction.

Palin says she supports special needs children but, as Ann and Rud Turnbull point out in a guest editorial on Patricia Bauer's blog:

"When a young governor line-item vetoes six appropriations for community disability services or for accessibility modifications to public accommodations, that governor gives us reason to be skeptical about promises and prospective performance. When the appropriations totaled $749,000 in a state that has a huge budget surplus, and when the governor apparently knew at the time that her nephew has autism, that governor gives us special reason to doubt her commitment to people with special needs."

As Longmore explains in his editorial, only the Obama campaign website provides concrete disability policy proposals, whereas the McCain campaign website doesn't even address disability issues. If you don't believe me go check for yourself. Similarly, Obama has co-sponsored many disability related policies in his short time as a U.S. Senator, one of the most important being the Paul Wellstone Meant Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007 and the SCHIP expansion. Whereas the McCain/Palin campaign really can't point to anything solid with regards to proposals or history of supporting disability rights.

Thus I think the disability community needs to approach with upcoming election with "Caveat Emptor" first and foremost in their minds...make sure you're not being sold a fraudulent bill of goods by a campaign that sees no importance in protecting the rights of the largest minority in this coutry. As many from the trenches can attest: just because you have a child or family member with a disability, it doesn't mean you are an advocate or even a friend of the disability rights community.

Hate Crimes Bill Still Stalled in Congress

I was just updating myself on the news of the day when this article came across my screen.  With the economy, the war, and everything else going on now it seems that the issue of strengthening laws regarding hate crimes has taken a back seat.  Of course, this isn't terribly surprising since the individuals who are the targets of hate crimes are already marginalized and deprived of their voices.  Whether it's disability, race, gender, sexual orientation, culture, or religion the people who are targets of hate crimes are usually members of oppressed minority groups.  Without a strong voice and political presence how can they reasonable expect legislation like that discussed in this article to overcome the hegemonic discourse of the ruling class(es).  It's these issues of discourse and voice and how they are used and abused within our society that really worry me.  We use these discourses of power to move people with silenced voices to the margins of society where they are more vulnerable to predators.  It's essentially the use of hegemonic discourse to perpetuate a largely invisible system of social Darwinism.

Okay, I'll stop my ranting.  Read this article and let me know your thoughts...

A Week of Frustration and Depression...

For some reason this week has been very difficult for me. I feel like I’m battling ignorance and prejudice at every turn. I think that the biggest issue has arisen from several accusations that my views are “Marxist”, “socialist”, or “commie”. Although I do admit to having the occasional Marxist tendency, I generally try to keep those tendencies in check when talking with friends and students. Now, it’s not that I’m upset at being called a “Marxist”…I don’t think that’s necessarily anything to be ashamed of, but I am rather distraught by the prevailing notion among the people I’ve talked with this week that any argument for equality, equal rights, inclusion, universal health care, or other issues of social justice is tantamount to fomenting radical socialist revolution. When did issues of equality become so warped in the minds of Americans? (Don’t answer that, because I’m about to…)

Actually, we have a long history of not understanding equality beginning with the Founding Fathers. Most rights enumerated out the founding of our country were specifically written for the benefit of the wealthy, white, landowners who wrote them, and their friends. Although the Declaration of Independence states: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”, they were really only talking about rich, white, men. Women, African American slaves, Native Americans, immigrants and other groups were not covered by this inspiring vision of liberty and equality. It has been an extremely slow and excruciating process to try and expand this vision to all classes, creeds, and colors of people in the United States and we still haven’t quite achieved it. Individuals with disabilities, including mental illness, are still the most frequent targets of discrimination and abuse in the world today (see: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/jul/21/mentalhealth.socialexclusion and http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/summary_0199-7933918_ITM )

Individuals with disabilities and mental illness are still frequently deprived of their fundamental rights without their consent. When people with disabilities want to vote, they are still turned away because of ignorant poll workers. When an individual with mental illness needs a sick day they are laid off and called “lazy”. When an individual with mental illness talks to him/herself they lock them away and medicate them into a stupor...and these examples are only the tip of the iceberg. So why do we do this and why do we continue to allow it to happen? Don’t all people deserve to be treated as human? Shouldn’t we all have the same fundamental rights? I think we should, but a lot of the people I’ve talked with this week feel that we shouldn’t be coddling or helping people who can’t take care of themselves.

This notion that we shouldn’t take care of those who can’t take care of themselves seems to be the idea that’s been depressing me this week. Am I the only person in the U.S. who believes that we should at least be trying to do a better job of protecting oppressed populations in our country? Am I the only person who thinks that in this day and age of remarkable medical technology that we should be extending the benefits of this technology to everyone who needs it? Am I the only person who feels like the profit motive should be removed from the health care equation? Am I the only person out there who believes that everyone should be treated equally regardless of health status, age, color, creed, size, shape, sex, race, or culture?

Are you out there? Are you listening?

A Foruitous Song...

I was lecturing on the history of disability today in my "What is Normal" class and we got up through the Middle Ages and to the beginning of institutionalization. After I got home from my daughter's soccer game tonight I was doing the dishes and listening to an old Townes Van Zandt CD. All of a sudden Townes' classic song "The Sanitarium Blues" came on and I was immediately struck by how well he captured the modern predicament of individuals institutionalized for mental illness. Townes' ragged voice and experienced tone only made the song more poignant as I thought back to a lot of the images I'd been showing in class from Christmas in Purgatory (click the link to see some of the images). It was a moment that required me to shut off the water, put down the dish towel and just listen to Townes' poetry.

Townes was in and out of rehab and institutions for much of his life as a result of his addictions, so he definitely knew what he was talking about. It still amazes me that we do this to people in the U.S. and that families choose to do this to their family members. It seems to me that with all the money we're spending on wars and financial bailouts that we could find a little cash to support rehabilitation programs and community based mental health supports for individuals and families. Sometimes I have to wonder what is wrong with this country....then I get depressed thinking about all the people we're failing in the U.S. But, this isn't the place for a post on the things that depress me. I just wanted to share Townes' great song; a song that is borne on Townes' own painful experience. Perhaps that's why the song is so powerful. So, in the interest of sharing, I thought I'd post the lyrics here for your consideration:

The Sanitarium Blues by Townes Van Zandt
(follow this link to hear the song)

The folks, they just can't take no more
Throw you in the back seat, slam the door
No stoppin' as down the road you go
Got no time to lose

Gigantic one way gate ahead
You're thinkin' man I'd as soon be dead
They decided to give you life instead
The sanitarium blues

Big ole nurse all dressed in white
Slaps you on a table in the middle of the night
Then he straps you down real tight
You're wonderin', what'd I do?

They hose you down, make sure you're clean
Wrap you up in hospital green
Shoot you full of Thorazine
The sanitarium blues

Could be TB or maybe a tumor
Eavesdropping on the doctors, listening to the rumors
Can't see your friends, hear the hum of the wheels
Hey my man, you know how it feels
Like the sanitarium blues

Then upon some sunlit day
They figure there's no need for you to stay
They're pretty sure you can't be cured
So they send you on your merry way

You hit the pavement, hang around
Nobody's on the outside to be found
You're just tryin' to stay above the ground
You start to thinkin', what's the use?
The sanitarium blues

Watch this Movie!: WarDance

Okay, I don't usually go out of my way to promote films, but last night my wife and I watched Wardance and I was literally blown away. I pride myself in being pretty tough and standing strong in the face of some pretty disturbing things...I have to in the field I work in...but this film brought tears to my eyes and left me speechless. The cinematography is beautiful and brings to life the beautiful countryside of northern Uganda, but even more compelling are the stories told by the children documented in this movie.

The movie primarily focuses on three children from the Acholi tribe of northern Uganda, a region of Africa that has been subject to terror and violence at the hands of the Lord's Resistance Army, under the guidance of Joseph Kony, for almost 20 years. Over that time the LRA has targeted the children of the Acholi as recruits and sex slaves. The stories told by the children in this movie are devastating and leave you speechless. You see these young kids, some as young as 8 or 9, who have killed people, served as sex slaves, and have seen their parents killed in front of them and yet still they manage to get on with their lives. I was particularly touched by the story of Rose. Maybe it was her beautiful face, or her soft voice, or the calm resolve that she displayed every day, but she left the deepest impression on me. I could listen to her voice for hours...the lilting, melodic phrasing of the Acholi language off her tongue is hypnotizing....

Okay, okay, I know I'm gushing and I know that this doesn't seem to have anything to do with disability...but it does! I watched these kids and about halfway through the movie I said to Lianne: "Why don't these kids seem to display any of the outward signs of PTSD?" Surely, there are the occasional breakdowns and struggles, but in general the kids documented in this film seem to get along just fine as they work through the stresses of the music competition that forms the focus of the film. As I have thought about this issue today, I have come to realize that maybe the PTSD was 1) not shown by the film makers, or 2) not present to the extent it would be in a Western child because what these kids had gone through was the "norm" in their region of the world. Now that's a terribly disturbing thing to say, but because everyone in the school and refugee camp had gone through similar experiences there was a built in support group, but also a tacit expectation that you get on with your life. This got me to thinking further: "Could PTSD also be socially constructed depending upon the societal "norm" where you live?" What do you think?

So, here's my challenge to you: watch the movie and then let me know what you think. Even if you don't want to let me know what you think, WATCH THIS MOVIE! DO IT! TONIGHT!

As an added bonus, much of the music on the soundtrack comes from one of my favorite artists of all time: Geoffrey Oryema (here's his MySpace page). Geoffrey is also an exiled member of the Acholi tribe documented in this film and his music is absolutely transcendent. Just another reason to watch this film...

Here's the trailer:

Creature Discomforts Introduces New Characters: Who is your Favorite?

So, I'm finally getting around to writing on the new Creature Discomforts ads developed by Leonard Cheshire Disability, a large disability service agency that operates throughout the UK. I would imagine from reading the LCD site that they are very similar to the ARC or independent living centers here in the U.S., although their reach and agenda seems to be much broader than just delivering services. They work globally and claim to work with NGO's in 52 different countries and has six regional offices in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. One of the more impressive campaigns pursued by LCD has been the Creature Discomforts series of PSA's.

I first stumbled across the Creature Discomforts series last fall as I was preparing to teach a new liberal education class at the University of Idaho called "What is Normal Anyway?" The class encompassed an entire year where we explored the construct of normality, especially as it applies to the (mis)construction of ability and disability. One of the first assignments I had the students do was go out and collect media items that portray disability and then we, as a class, would critique the portrayal. One of my students stumbled on this site through her research. After viewing many disempowering or downright stigmatizing portrayals of disability it was refreshing to see the ads on the Creature Discomforts site. As a class we went through all of the ads on the site and discussed the issues presented: access, stigma, etiquette, rights, and even sexuality are covered in these short 30 second PSA's and present a message that counters the dominant discourse about disability being a tragedy or a flaw in the individual.

When I first watched these ads there was an air of familiarity about them that I couldn't quite put my finger on, but after doing some further reading on the Creature Discomforts site I realized that the characters seemed so familiar because the animation was done by the same studio that created "Wallace and Gromit", Chicken Run, and other animated classics. Even though these are short 30 second PSA's they still retain the high production values we have come to expect from Aardman Animation and perhaps even more impressive is the fact that LCD and Aardman Animation went out of their way to hire disabled voice talent for each of the characters. In the U.S. we often see nondisabled actors playing characters with disabilities...like Daniel Day Lewis in My Left Foot, or Cuba Gooding Jr. in Radio, so it's nice to see that even for an animated ad campaign like this where the viewing audience can't tell who the voice talent is, the producers placed a high priority on authenticity and reached out to involve the disabled community in the UK...especially in Cardiff.

So, I'd better wrap up this post, but before I do I guess I should get to the point of the post, but first a little background. LCD did a first run of these Creature Discomforts ads a couple of years ago and they were so popular that they went back to Aardman Animation and asked them to develop a second run with all new characters. They've been releasing a new character every couple of weeks this summer. So I wanted to get my humble readers' opinion on their favorite character(s). Of course, that means all two of you will have to respond to this post...LOL...but seriously, what is your favorite ad? Who's your favorite character?

My favorite character you ask? Well, that's a tricky question because I like a lot of them but I think that Tim the Tortoise is my favorite of the original run of PSA's. There's just something about his voice that vaguely reminds me of my grandfather...and the scenario Tim discusses is really down to earth. Everyone likes candy right? I love his last line here...makes me chuckle every time, although there's a certain element of dark humour to it.

In terms of the new characters I think that the ad with Roxy the Rabbit and Millie the Mouse is the most groundbreaking...therefore it's my favorite. There is still this societal taboo around discussing sexuality, and especially around the sexuality of individuals with disabilities. There is this notion among many people that people with disabilities can't or shouldn't be allowed to be sexual beings. In fact many parents of children with disabilities have a very difficult time with this issue and seek to keep their child from fully developing into an adult by sheltering them from issues of sexuality and attraction. Taken to the extreme this infantilization of disabled people results in phenomena like the Ashley X scandal of last year that further drove a wedge between parents groups and self advocacy organizations. Even the most committed of advocates for disability rights sometimes struggle with the issue of sexuality, because it is the ultimate admission that a person with a disability has a right to engage in the procreative process like anyone else. So, that's why I like Roxy and Millie...they directly address this issue.

Now, we just need to get U.S. networks to air these ads during
primetime...think of the uproar it would cause here. I think it would be great. At least it would get people talking and thinking about how we treat individuals with disabilities.