Deaf NJ school student told”use sign language and you’ll get suspended”

Sign Language Ban Imposed on N.J. Girl

Reposted from a story By Bryan Robinson April 18

School officials have threatened a hearing-impaired girl with suspension if she uses sign language to talk to her friends on the school bus, the girl’s parents say.

Danica Lesko and her parents say sign language is the only way to for the 12-year-old to communicate, especially while riding to school on a noisy bus.

But officials at Stonybrook School — which is not a school for the hearing-impaired — and district officials in Branchburg, N.J., apparently believe signing is a safety hazard. They have sent a letter to the Lesko family ordering Danica to stop using sign language on the school bus or risk a three-day suspension.

The March 30 letter from her principal that said Danica was “doing sign language after being told it wasn’t allowed on the bus.”

The Leskos may file a lawsuit over the sign language ban, claiming officials are violating Danica’s civil rights and violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“She has a hearing problem, and now she’s being punished for using sign language,” Mary Ann Lesko, Danica’s mother, told The Star-Ledger of Newark. “It’s absurd.”

Danica’s parents told the paper that other students who rode to school with their daughter made fun of her, and refused to stay in their seats as they teased other girls who were using sign language. They said school officials are singling out Danica and not addressing those who should really be reprimanded.

Schools Officials: Safety First

In a statement released through the school district’s attorney, David Rubin, the Branchburg Board of Education refused to discuss the details of Danica’s case, saying only that its version of events differs from the parents’ version.

However, the board insisted it has not violated anyone’s rights and is only trying to protect other students who must ride on the school bus.

“The Board is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to all students with disabilities, and is satisfied that there has been no violation of that policy in this case,” officials said in the statement. “The Board is also committed to assuring the safety of all students who travel on District buses, and will continue to take appropriate steps to accomplish that goal.”

One deaf-rights advocate said Danica’s parents have a strong basis for a lawsuit because sign language could be a considered a foreign language, and school officials could be violating the girl’s First Amendment right to communicate.

“Why should there be a ban?” asked Charlotte Karras, outreach coordinator for the Edison, N.J.-based Alliance for Disabled in Action. “It’s a violation of her communication rights. She’s said it’s the only way she can communicate with her friends … It’s [the ban] against the ADA and violates the First Amendment and her family can file a discrimination suit citing the Americans With Disabilities Act.”

Karras said her organization would be willing to help the Leskos with any legal action.

Danica’s parents say she began losing her hearing last November, when a classmate allegedly shot a bottle rocket near her ear. They have already sued the Branchburg School District over that incident

NCD Calls for the Prosecution of Hate Crimes against People with Disabilities Following Death of Autistic Teenager

Federal law defines a hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, ethnic origin or sexual orientation.”

Hate crimes laws punish actions rather than thoughts or beliefs. While abhorrent, hate in and of itself is not a crime — and the National Council on Disability (NCD) is mindful of the importance of protecting free speech and other civil liberties. But when a crime has been committed because of hate, it deserves a swift, decisive and appropriate response. Hate crimes deserve to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

On Monday, June 10, the mother and godmother of 14-year-old Alex Spourdalakis, his caregivers, attempted to kill the autistic teenager with an overdose. When the attempt to poison Alex didn’t achieve the desired result, his killers tried again, repeatedly, eventually stabbing him. No one knows exactly how long it took – several hours by police estimates – but in time, they succeeded.

Why was Alex Spourdalakis killed? The perpetrators, who have since confessed and been arrested, admitted Alex’s death was not a crime of passion. It was planned at least a week in advance. And it was motivated by Alex’s disability. Because Alex Spourdalakis was autistic.

As we have done several times beginning over a decade ago in 2000, NCD renews its call for the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to work with civil rights, community and disability groups to ensure that the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act be diligently applied in the prosecution of those who injure adults and youth with disabilities with increased urgency as alarming incidents such as these seem to increasing both in regularity and severity.

In recent years, as has often been the case in similarly horrific deaths of people with disabilities caused by family members or caregivers, many in the news media have attempted to make sense of this tragedy by either excusing Alex’s murder or even sympathizing with his killers – either by citing the difficulties of raising a child with a disability or the need to improve the quality and availability of services. The issues should not be confused. Alex Spourdalakis did not die because of lack of services, or because living with or raising a child with a disability is difficult. Prior to murdering him, Alex’s mother refused services offered to her by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. No, Alex Spourdalakis was killed; killed by those entrusted to care for and protect him.

NCD urges the FBI to prioritize and investigate crimes demonstrating clear hostility toward individuals on the basis of disability and for local and federal prosecutors to pursue robust prosecutions of hate crimes against persons with disabilities. Evidence suggests that the tragic death of Alex Spourdalakis is one of these instances and it deserves to be investigated as such.

To do otherwise sends the message that the short life of Alex Spourdalakis was worth less than the lives of other children and reinforces the notion that killing one’s child if they are disabled, while regrettable, is understandable. This way of thinking should not go unchallenged, and the fervor with which we investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of crimes against people with disabilities should not be diminished.

Equal protection under the law insists that we can, we must, do better.

On behalf of the National Council on Disability,

Jeff Rosen, Chairperson

Amputee, former Marine enjoys second career as fitness model

Mia’s thoughts- To all my readers who got pissed off by my story on the AMA declaring obesity a disease this guy has an actual medical problem and a reason to give up and he didn’t

Reposted from a story by Eun Kyung Kim TODAY

Video: Four years ago, Alex Minsky nearly died from an IED blast in Afghanistan that cost him part of his right leg, but today he is overcoming his injuries and struggles with alcoholism to inspire others as a fitness model. NBC’s Tamron Hall reports.

Double takes are nothing unusual around Alex Minsky, but not because of this war veteran’s prosthetic leg.

His tattooed, finely chiseled body often gets a second look – along with a blush or two – for how good he looks in his skivvies.

The former Marine-turned-model works out twice a day – a grueling maintenance schedule – but nothing compared to what Minsky, 24, experienced before reaching this point in his life.

Four years ago, he lost part of his right leg, and nearly his life, in a roadside explosive in Afghanistan.

“It did look very grim. I had a Stage 3 brain injury,” he told TODAY’s Tamron Hall. “I was in a coma for 47 days.”

Minsky, a Purple Heart recipient, learned to walk with the help of a prosthetic limb. But two months after leaving the Marines, his younger brother passed away. Minsky coped with the death, along with his lingering physical injuries, by drinking.

“I was using alcohol to numb whatever was going on in my head,” he said.

His mother, Jackie Minsky, said her son was “hellbent on destroying himself” during this period.

“When you have demons in your head and you are depressed, there isn’t anybody that can really take care of that besides yourself and it’s not easy,” she told TODAY.

Purple Heart recipient Alex Minsky overcame his injuries to become a fitness model.
TODAY

Purple Heart recipient Alex Minsky overcame his injuries to become a fitness model.

After being arrested on numerous DUI charges, Minsky decided to quit drinking and focus on physical fitness. The decision paid off immediately.

“Second day I was sober, I was working out just doing my thing, and this guy came up to me. He said, ‘I really like the way you look and I want to know if you’ve ever modeled before,’” he recalled.

That guy was photographer Tom Cullis.

“Alex has inspired me to look at beauty differently,” he said.

Nine months after his first photo shoot, Minsky is heating up the Internet with photos of his ripped body. But Minsky said he’s getting more from this experience than fame.

It’s about “my sanity, my happiness, you know?” he said. “I’m working on me. For the first time I’m not running away anymore.”

American medical association redefines obesity as an official disease??

Well today in my opinion the AMA threw the very obese baby out with the bath water,they declared obesity a disease? It’s not your fault your too lazy to walk around the block or do push upps or sit ups or lift weights? Don’t give me the crap, You can’t afford a gym your lives are a gym, Get off the bus a stop early for work and walk, drive past the drive through to the supermarket and buy vegetables, next time someone asks will that be delivery or pick up say pick up and go to the park not the mall. It’s time to sell the x box for a lunch box and send healthy food to school with your kids.Did you know for the same price as a x-box you can buy a swing set or a bicycle or a skate board or a home basketball hoop, stop going to the movies and go to the ice skating or the roller skating orthe swimming pool. The only disease you have is laziness, and yes a certain person I know will scream at me and probably unfriend me but I don’t care how busy you are, you’re not too busy too die from obesity and food related illness so for once try living through health.

So you have ten meetings a day, take the stairs.
so you have five committee meetings a week ride a bike to two.
You built your body to where it is, if you built it you can unbuild it, busy people eat at their desks my partner just lost 90lbs she is the vice president of a company she works close to 80 hours a week. Your office has a fridge in the coffee room, hers does so she has fruit and veg and healthy bread in it. I send her lunch when I can, you can too.
AMA you got it wrong this time just so the drug companies can make billions and fat people can say between bites of their mc fish “it’s not my fault I have a disease, are yu going to eat that?” they will have the first script written that asks “do you want fries with your Medicine”.
The only thing fast about fast food is the damage it is doing to the world!
Get over the excuse making, if a gimp in a wheelchair can lose 300lbs while never being able to walk, you can lose what ever you have to you work a b job and you’re on 6 committees and you look after family, well you’re eating something to keep you going through all that just make it healthy. This decision today will be the death of more people than it helps, because with our already over loaded public health system you will go to a clinic with 500 other people all with 9a appointments and see some intern who will tell you it’s not your fault give you a drug to make you pee more and tell you to come back oin 6 months and when you do and you have lost half a whole pound thye will throw a party and you will say yeah a half apound lets celebrate at Mcdonalds.

When you get pissed off at me for this article get really angry and run and scream, and when you do it’s called exercise and if I got you off your ass then it was worth it.

Austin Hudson-Lapore Missing: University Of Chicago Student Last Seen Wednesday

RePosted From the huffington post on 06/17/2013 11:41 am EDT | Updated: 06/17/2013 2:40 pm EDT

Austin Hudson Lapore Missing University Of Chicago
Austin Hudson-Lapore, a 20-year-old student at the University of Chicago, was last seen Wednesday.

The search continued Monday for the 20-year-old University of Chicago junior last seen Wednesday evening.

Austin Hudson-Lapore, last seen around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at his apartment in the 5300 block of South Kimbark Avenue, had just taken his last final exam of the school year before he stepped out from his apartment without his wallet or cell phone, only taking his keys, according to Fox Chicago.

And the biochemistry student from Albuquerque, N.M. has yet to return to the apartment as of Monday morning.

Hudson-Lapore had just Skyped with his family earlier Wednesday and seemed happy, CBS Chicago reports.

The student’s parents said their son was passionate about meteorology and may have left his apartment and walked to the nearby lakefront to get a better look at the storm that swept across the Chicago area Wednesday evening, according to ABC Chicago.

Gregg LaPore, Austin’s father, pleaded for the community’s help in finding their son.

“We love Austin very much,” his father, Gregg said Friday. “He’s a smart, happy, and outgoing young man who was fully engaged in his community. And we’d like your help in getting him safely back.”

Austin is described as 5 feet 7 inches tall, about 120 pounds, with blonde hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing black gym shoes and blue jeans. Additional photos and information about Austin have been added to a website at FindAustinHudson.com as well as a Tumblr blog.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Chicago police at 312-747-8380.

Feds charge 3 in Ohio slavery case,A mentally challenged family kept as slaves

By CNN Staff

(CNN) — A mentally disabled woman and her child were held in an Ohio apartment for two years, forced to perform manual labor and threatened with dogs and snakes to keep them compliant, federal authorities said Tuesday.

The people accused of holding the woman and child captive in the Ashland, Ohio, apartment collected the woman’s government benefits and beat her in order to get painkillers for themselves, federal prosecutors announced. All three have been charged with forced labor, with one of them facing an additional count of tampering with a witness.

The apartment was home to “numerous” pit bulls and reptiles, including pythons and a poisonous coral snake, which the woman’s captors used to keep her in line, prosecutors said. The situation was discovered in October when the woman was arrested for trying to steal a candy bar and asked to be taken to jail, the U.S. attorney’s office in Cleveland said in a statement detailing the allegations

Police: Infant died after mother invited pedophile boyfriend to rape child

Reposted from an online story By David EdwardsTuesday, June 18, 2013 11:46 EDT

Jessica Lynn Howell charged with murder and child abuse
A Missouri mother has been charged with child abuse and murder after police said she let her boyfriend rape her 14-month-old infant, resulting in the child’s death.

Prosecutors in St. Charles County on Monday released details about how 25-year-old Jessica Lynn Howell sent text messages to her boyfriend, Jordan Lafayette Prince, indicating that she was willing to let him have sex with her daughter even though she knew he had previously been convicted for sexual abuse of a minor.

“In those text messages, she suggested and encouraged some unspeakable things,” St. Charles Prosecuting Attorney Tim Lohmar told KTVI. “It is very, very disturbing.”

Lohmar said that Prince sexually assaulted the infant and then strangled her to death.

“Ashlynn was sexually assaulted causing multiple tears to her anus, a massive laceration to her rectum with massive hematoma in the area of the pelvis,” the probable cause document states. “The injuries to her anus and rectum of Ashlynn were sufficient to eventually cause her death even without the strangulation.”

Howell was being held on $1 million bond and was schedule to be arraigned on Tuesday. Prince remains in jail awaiting trial for first-degree murder charges