Link: Blindness
Blind people quarantined in a mental asylum, attacking each other, soiling themselves, trading sex for food. For Marc Maurer, who's blind, such a scenario — as shown in the movie "Blindness" — is not a clever allegory for a breakdown in society. Instead, it's an offensive and chilling depiction that Maurer fears could undermine efforts to integrate blind people into the mainstream.
Link: Popovich
Former CSU swimmer Erin Popovich continued her impressive run through the 2008 Paralympic Games today by setting another world record while winning the women’s 100-meter breaststroke in the SB7 disability classification.
Link: Playgrounds
A nonprofit called Shane's Inspiration has built 16 playgrounds for Southern California children with disabilities and now plans to expand internationally with 80 new playgrounds. "I think you're seeing a spark from Los Angeles that's going to ignite the nation and the world," said Jon Kirk Mukri, general manager of Los Angeles' parks department. "It's a lab, a learning lab -- a real learning lab where kids can get together and see, except for wheelchairs and leg braces, there's not much difference between kids' laughter."
Link: The Enquirer
Inspired by actress Marlee Matlin, who is competing on "Dancing with the Stars," students in an Ohio club for 11- to 18-year-olds with hearing impairments learned to use body language and vibrations to move along with music. "Dance is a visual thing. And sign language has rhythm, just like dancing," said Rachel James, a sign-language interpreter and professional dancer who taught the teens to dance.
Link: MLive.com
Henry Winkler's greatest compliment may have come from a young reader of his children's books. "I got a letter from this little boy in Missouri who said he laughed so hard at (his Hank Zipzer books about a 10-year-old with dyslexia), his funny bone fell out of his body," Winkler said gleefully during a phone interview from his Southern California home. "I love that!" For the 62-year-old actor, reaching out to children who struggle with learning disabilities through the now 14-book Hank Zipzer series means the world to him. Winkler's pride reaches back to when he was a young boy, harassed at school and at home because he couldn't read properly.
Link: Variety.com
Jon Stewart will host his second star-studded event of the year when he oversees Comedy Central's "Night of Too Many Stars: An Overbooked Benefit for Autism Education."
Link: OrlandoSentinel.com
Robin Donnelly, whose spina bifida keeps her from walking, loves the freedom her adapted motorcycle gives her, so in 2004 she launched the Disabled Riders of America. The organization networked many bikers who once thought they were alone in retrofitting their motorcycles to meet their needs.
Link: Cleveland.com
For Addie Schmeeter, life is about making the best of a bad situation. So when she and her dysfunctional mother move into a dinky trailer in Schenectady, N.Y., she goes about making the place home. And searching for home is at the center of this warmhearted novel by Leslie Connor about Addie's ability to overcome many obstacles, including dyslexia.
Link: Boston.com
In 1992, two teachers at Massachusetts' Carroll School, a private school for children with language-based learning disabilities such as dyslexia, began creating a musical based on their students' experiences with learning disabilities. Sixteen years later, they have polished the show, "Breaking Through," and their students are performing it at schools throughout the state and are preparing to produce a DVD for national distribution due to its success. Response to the musical has been overwhelmingly positive from other students at the school, and from many family members and friends who say they finally understand what it would feel like to have a learning disability after watching the show.
Link: WickedLocal.com
To draw attention to the challenges of dyslexia and other language-based learning problems, students from the Carroll School are visiting other Massachusetts schools to perform "Breaking Through," a musical about a young girl who realizes she has a learning disability. For the cast, the musical is more than just a performance; it's a reflection of their own lives.
