| Handicapped: Exploring the Myth
Disabled. Handicapped. Crippled. Challenged. These words conjure up images of wheelchairs, seeing-eye dogs, sign language, marred features, pained expressions and a variety of other visual oddities. For most, being in the presence of a handicapped person is awkward, and many will go out of their way to avoid this phobia.
The disabled fought long, hard battles for the right to participate in society. One of the victories of these battles is the ability to obtain an education. Laws provide educational arena, smashing the myth that an external limitation reflects emotional and mental limitations. Many excel in the world of education because the playing field is even. Running and jumping are not prerequisites to algebra, chemistry and literature.
There are those, too, whose disabilities are not visible.
Nancy and me: A lament
Nancy Pelosi and I grew up in the same Baltimore, in the days of May Processions and Forty Hours' devotions, of Baltimore Catechisms and nuns in starched wimples, of Catholic heroes like John Unitas and Gino Marchetti of the Baltimore Colts. Nostalgia is always suspect when judging the texture of a time and a place: in this case, a town of ethnic neighborhoods in which Catholic kids unselfconsciously identified themselves by parish. Yet it's hard not to feel a twinge of reverence for something that wasn't perfect --- but, dang, it was great. Or, as another product of that period, Garry Wills, once wrote, "Not a bad ghetto to grow up in." In the Fifties, Nancy D'Alesandro was the mayor's daughter --- her father being "Big Tommy" D'Alesandro, as distinguished from Nancy's brother, "Young Tommy," who was mayor during riot time in 1968 and then left public life.
Grants available for children's medical needs
The UnitedHealthcare Children's Foundation announced Thursday it is offering assistance grants for children whose medical services are not fully covered by health insurance. Parents and caretakers will be eligible to apply for grants of up to $5,000 for health-care services to help improve their children's health and quality of life, according to a news release. The types of medical services covered by the grants include: speech therapy; physical therapy and psychotherapy sessions; medical equipment such as wheelchairs, braces, hearing aids and eyeglasses; and orthodontia and dental treatments, the release stated. Children must be 16 or younger to be eligible for the grants. Families must meet economic guidelines, live in the United States and be covered by a commercial health insurance plan, according to the release.
Photography exhibition displays heroic stories of disabled
An impressive collection of black-and-white photographs of disabled people, who posed for Serdar Bilgili's camera during a project aimed at raising public awareness about disabled people in Turkey, opened at Istanbul's Dolmabahe Palace on Monday. The exhibition titled Engellere Ramen (Despite the Barriers) and slated to run through Jan. 30, is part of a campaign that was launched last year by the weekly Tempo magazine to highlight the hardships disabled people suffer daily in Turkey. Turkey has been sharply criticized for not offering sufficient amenities for the handicapped. Bilgili, a businessman and former president of Beikta Football Club, has collaborated with Tempo in commissioning the collection that features 35 photos. Twenty-two successful people from diverse professions including swimmers, painters and singers posed for the photographs, which were also featured in the Nov.
Angry riders assail planned mass transit cuts
The Port Authority holds public hearings every time fare increases and service cuts are proposed -- five times since 2000 -- but yesterday's sessions were the first for new Chief Executive Officer Steve Bland. He got an earful. More than 140 people on foot and in wheelchairs testified at four-hour sessions at the Hilton Pittsburgh, Downtown, and later at the University of Pittsburgh's Alumni Hall in Oakland. They expressed anguish, outrage and frustration over the planned elimination of 124 of 213 bus routes, combined with a fare hike, to address an $80 million budget deficit for the 2007-08 fiscal year that begins July 1. Mr. Bland, who came from an Albany, N.Y.-based transit system in June to run the nation's 15th-largest system, found the hearings "depressing and, at times, sobering." .
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