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Shareware Overload Trio 2
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1994-06-05
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[The following issue may be freq'd as COD9406A.* from Lincoln Legacy
(1:109/909),(703-777-5987), HandiNet BBS (1:275/429), and other BBSs
carrying ABLENEWS files. Please allow a few days for processing.]
Cross Our Desk...
More items cross our ABLEnews desk than my poor typing fingers and our
generous distributors--Hubs, SysOps--could carry. And while Of Note,
CURE's biweekly disAbility/medical news digest, has broken the 85
barrier, it only covers a modest portion of the stories we review.
In keeping with our philosophy of sharing information, ABLEnews will cite
some of these uncovered stories from time to time. Here are a few that
recently came Cross Our Desk...
Story: Autistic Girl's Rape Case Heightens Debate
Over 'Facilitated Communication'
Author: Eugene Meyer
Source: Washington Post
Date: December 27, 1993
Quote: Federick, MD--A 27-year-old teacher's aide is being prosecuted
here on charges of raping an autistic child who made the
allegations through a controversial method of communication in
which a "facilitator" held the child's arm while she typed on a
omputer keyboard. The case, the first of its kind in Maryland
and one of only a handful of US criminal prosecutions based on
"facilitated communication," has posed a classic conflict
between a defendant's right to confront his accuser and a
victim's right to have her day in court. "How can you exclude
an entire population of silent prisoners to abuse?" asked
ssistant State's Attorney Kathi Hill. "Now that they are able
to communicate, they have a right to be heard. But Scott L.
Rolle, attorney for the defendant, who is retarded, said, "It's
our belief it's not her communicating, it's the facilitator."
Autism is a neurological disorder that inhibits the ability
tospeak. Autistic children also have difficulty with motor
coordination, preventing them from holding their arms steady
enough to type in any organized way. Adherents of "faciitated
communication" contend that autistic people have unrealized
intellectual potential, stunted by their inability to express
themselves orally. Critics of the method, which was introduced
in this county in 1989, say it is a sham. They point to a
mounting number of studies in which autistic children produced
only gibberish when the facilitator was not allowed to look at
the keyboard while holding the child's arm. Its supporters say
facilitated communication cannot be fairly tested by such
methods, which produce negative results because of "failed
confidence," according to Douglas Bicklen, director of the
Facilitated Communication Institute at Syracuse University.
ABLEnews Editor's Note: For additional information on
facilitated communication, see "Facilitated Communication:
Resource Guide" in the March 1993 ABLEnews Review (ANR9303.*),
"Facilitated Communication: What Are They Talking About?" in
the February 1994 ABLEnews Review (ANR9402.*), and our report
on "The Furor Over a New Technique" in the February 15, 1994 Of
Note (ON9402B.*). Additional ABLEnews posts on the subject are
available from CURE on request.
Story: Don't Let These Happen to Your Child
Author: Robert Yeager
Source: Reader's Digest
Date: March 1993
Quote: Alora Burgan was a bubbly one-year-old who had, as her dad Matt
says, the biggest blue eyes you've ever seen." Only July 8,
1991, Alora became the second Placer County, CA toddler in two
months to drown in a bucket. On her way to her best friend's
birthday party, Katie Fritz, six, of Farmington, MN had taken
her bike out of the garage and gone back to close the automatic
door. Minutes later, Katie's older brother, Nathan, found her
trapped beneath the heavy wooden door. Hours later she was
dead. While playing in his bath, Brad Allen, two, of
Ponchatoula, LA, caught sight of a hair dryer plugged into a
nearby outlet. His mother found him face down in the water, the
hair dryer--switched to the "off" position--submerged beside
his lifeless body. Freak accidents you say--things that
couldn't happen to your child? Maybe. But mishaps with causes
that range from rocking a vending machine to riding in the bed
of a pickup truck claim thousands of young lives annually.
Obviously, a parent can't prevent every accident. But to make
sure you're doing everything humanly possible, adopt a
"passive" prevention plan to keep accidents from happening even
when you're not around. Buy kid-safe latches, outlet covers,
and stairway gates. And educate your children. Says Dr. Marty
Eichelberger, president of the National Safe Kids Campaign,
"Make safety something you talk about at dinner, like school
and sports."
Story: Faith Is Definitely a Way of Life
Source: National Catholic Register
Date: May 17, 1992
Quote: When the movie "The Doctor" was released last year, Bill
Mallette saw art imitate life--his own, to be exact. "The
character played by William Hurt, that was my story. It really
hit home. I knew exactly what he was going through." Based on a
real life event, the film tells the story of a physician who is
forced to view the medical community from the patient's side
when he develops cancer. It's a rude awakening to the sometimes
inhumane and often cold manner sick people must endure when
undergoing tests and treatment. Mallet's own experience is a
close parallel to the movie. Crippling arthritis and heart
problems prematurely ended his career as a surgeon and family
practice physician in St. Petersburg, FL. But what was a loss
to the medical profession was a gain to the Tampa Bay
community, where Mallette has devoted his post-retirement years
to public service. "What I've learned is that people pay more
attention to what you do, rather than what you say," the 60-
year-old Mallette says. 'It's a matter of good citizenship. We
can't sit back and wait for the government to take care of us.
To get something done, people have got to get involved to make
it work." Among his contributions: serving on the board and
providing medical treatment to clients at the Pinellas
Association for Retarded Citizens; serving on the board for the
Family Service Center, which provides counseling to battered
wives and others; working with the "Buddy" program through
Catholic Charities, which pairs volunteers with AIDS patients;
mobilizing parishes into social and pro-life activism through
Respect Life; and teaching converts with his wife Mary, at the
Cathedral of St. Jude in St. Petersburg. He's quick to credit
Mary, his wife of 37 years, for giving him the support he needs
to balance such a hectic load. "She keeps me honest."
Story: Fighting AIDS
Author: Verne Palmer
Source: Washington Times
Date: January 28, 1992
Quote: Elizabeth Glasser stood atop a sand dune on Martha's Vineyard
and surrounded by her family, released eight pink and purple
balloons into the twilight sky. It was her way of saying happy
birthday to the daughter who would never be 8. Ariel Glasser
died August 12, 1988, a week after her seventh birthday of
AIDS, a disease that isn't supposed to happen to kids. The one-
time Los Angeles Children's Museum director and her husband,
actor/director Paul Michael Glaser. had always lived quietly in
their sprawling Mediterranean-style home on the beach. They
were a family-oriented couple, not part of the Hollywood scene.
But after the birth of their daughter in 1981, Elizabeth
hemorrhaged and had to be given a blood transfusion. The blood
she received was contaminated and she passed the AIDS virus to
Ari during breast feeding and to son Jake, now 7, in utero.
Only Paul escaped infection. It wasn't until Ariel got sick at
age 4 that they discovered what had happened. The immensity of
the tragedy all but devastated Mrs. Glaser. In the end it
transformed her. In 1989, with the help of two close friends,
she founded the Santa Monica, CA-based Pediatric AIDS
Foundation, a nonprofit agency that has raised an additional
$7.5 million for pediatric AIDS research. The alternative was
to go crazy or give up, she says in her autobiography, "In the
Absence of Angels" (Berkeley Books). "When I started meeting
with people (AIDS specialists) in Los Angeles, I was hoping to
add momentum to an issue that was already up to speed. I wanted
to find the coach of the pediatric AIDS team and say, 'Hey, I'm
ready to get in the game.' Instead, I found there was no coach,
no team; no one was out there actively lobbying on behalf of
children with AIDS." It was a revelation that both shocked and
dismayed her. She decided that if no one else was doing it, she
had better start.
Story: Now Hear This
Author: Jeanie Wilson
Source: Reader's Digest
Date: March 1993
Quote: One wife whose 40-year-old husband had been growing
increasingly deaf over several years finally told him she could
no longer make small talk unless he agreed to see a doctor.
"After 15 years of marriage," she told him, "there's not a lot
I have to say that's worth repeating five times. I'll let you
know if the house is on fire." Hearing problems aren't confined
to the elderly. Millions of adults under the age of 44 have
chronic hearing impairment. By ages 44 to 64, that number may
include as many as one in ten Americans. Refusal to acknowledge
the problem is not simply denial, however. "Most of the time,
hearing loss develops very slowly," explains Laura Kepler, an
audiologist with the University of Colorado in Boulder.
"Gradually, a person adapts to it and may truly believe there
is no impairment--until several people mention it." It's
important to have a hearing problem assessed, since the loss
could signal diabetes, circulatory disease, or even acoustic
neuroma--a rare but potentially life-threatening tumor on the
auditory nerve. Or the trouble could be as simple as wax
blocking the eardrum, which your doctor can easily remove.
Exactly how much improvement can be hoped for depends on which
of the ear's three main parts are involved. The outer ear
receives and channels sounds to the taut eardrum causing it to
vibrate. In the middle ear, these vibrations are passed by the
body's three tiniest bones--the hammer, the anvil, and stirrup-
-to the cochlea of the inner ear. The cochlea, coiled like a
snake, has fluid-filled channels with microscopic hair cells
that translate sound frequencies into electrical nerve
impulses. These, in turn, are carried to the brain by the
auditory nerve. Cochlear implants, electronic devices that
restore partial hearing in those with profound to complete
hearing loss have been placed in some 6000 people worldwide
(1300 of them children).
Story: This "Tree" Can Save Your Life
Author: Sue Browder
Source: Reader's Digest
Date: March 1993
Quote: Sitting at her kitchen table, 42-year-old Kathy Krause of Los
Angeles was distraught. She had just learned that her youngest
sister, Susan, 38, had cancer of the ovary and uterine lining.
Less than two months before their father had died of ureter and
prostate cancer. And in 1972, Kathy's mother had succumbed to
ovarian cancer at age 56. Kathy's mind raced. Was her whole
family destined to die of cancer? Several years earlier Kathy
had pulled together a family health tree. Now, studying it more
carefully, she saw that cancers were everywhere. Alarmed, she
and her other sisters, Peggy and Carol, visited their doctors.
Not only were they at high risk for colon and endometrial
(uterine lining) cancers, but they had an exceptionally high
risk--up to 50%--of developing ovarian cancer. All the doctors
prescribed a mammogram, a colonoscopy, and removal of the
uterus and ovaries. After consulting specialists, the three
sisters took the advice. As it turned out, Peggy was cancer-
free. But Kathy had a tiny, symptomless ovarian cancer that, if
left to grow undetected, could have killed her. And Carol had a
small malignant tumor in her colon in the exact spot of a tumor
that had killed her paternal grandfather at age 33. As these
women learned, charting your family's health tree could save
your life. Doctors once thought that hereditary diseases were
limited to rare diseases like hemophilia or certain birth
defects. But ongoing research indicates there is some genetic
component in nearly all ailments--including heart disease,
cancer (breast, ovarian, and colorectal), diabetes,
hypertension, Alzheimer's disease, asthma, allergies,
alcoholism, ulcers, and manic depression. Whatever fruits your
family health tree may bear, view them as reason not for
despair, but for hope. As modern medicine continues to expand
our knowledge of gene-linked diseases, your family's medical
history is being seen in a whole new light--not as a death
sentence, but as a lifesaver.
En Passant:
Design a Diet That Works for You (Reader's Digest, 3/93)
Do it your way! That's the word from weight-loss experts. Designing a
diet that fits your likes and dislikes is the surest way to succeed--
much more effective than trying to conform to a cookie-cutter regimen.
Research backs the idea/ In a 1990 California study, 73% of the
"maintainers"--those who lost weight and kept it off--had devised their
own plans for cutting back on sweets and fatty foods. (76% of
maintainers also exercised regularly) By contrast only 39% of the
"relapsers"--those who reached their weight-loss goals, only to yo-yo
back up--had created their own. "It's more important that your diet and
exercise plan fit into your life-style than your life-style fit into
your diet and exercise plan," says Ronna Kabatzick, psychological
consultant to Weight Watchers International. "The best way to succeed
is by creating realistic goals rather than making big, dramatic
changes. Cut down to one dessert a week, instead of saying you'll never
eat sweets again."
One Proverb Is Worth a Thousand Words (Reader's Digest, 3/94)
Mental health and IQ are sometimes measured by how people explain
proverbs. Such tests have been used since the early 1900s, in the
belief that people with certain mental disorders, particularly
schizophrenia, cannot comprehend a proverb's abstract meanings.
Similarly, some psychologists use proverb abstractions to measure
intelligence. However, Wolfgang Mieder, the world's top expert on
proverbs, questions the value of proverbs for psychological testing.
Many proverbs do not fit our changed society. A city youth who has
never met a Rhode Island Red might have trouble deciphering "Never
cackle unless you lay." Nationality can affect interpretations. The
Scots, for instance, tend to read "A rolling stone gathers no moss" as
extolling the virtues of action as opposed to the more sedentary life.
The English, however, tend to equate it with the beautiful growth of
moss on a stone in a stream, a metaphor for tradition and stability.
ABLEnews Editor's Note: Oh, well, as the saying goes, "You can always
teach a Scotsman, but you cannot teach him much." <grin>
Pope Urges Youth to Resist 'Culture of Death' (Washington Post, 8/16/93)
A crowd of about 350,000 packed into a suburban Denver park this
morning to hear Pope John Paul II, on the final day of his US visit,
call on youth to combat a "culture of death" in the world by
proclaiming Christianity anew in the faith's third millenium. "The
family especially is under attack. And the sacrec character of human
life denied," said the pope in a homily at the 3 1/2 hour outdoor Mass
that capped the Church's World Youth Day, a four-day event that drew
youth here from around the world. "Young pilgrims, Christ needs you to
enlighten the world and show it the path to life," the pope declared.
"I think the more the Holy Father stands agains the values of
contemporary society, the stronger the Church is going to be," said
Bernie Victory, of Falls Church, VA. "Any compromise with contemporary
values will weaken, rather than strengthen, the Church."
Study: Half of US Adults Have Had Mental Illness (WP, 1/14/94)
Nearly half of all American adults have had a significant, broadly
defined, mental illness at least once during their lifetimes and nearly
a third of them have one in any given year, according to a study by
Ronald Kessler at the Institute for Social Research at the University
of Michigan. The study, published in the Archives of General
Psychiatry, found psychiatric disorders serious enough to warrant
treatment more prevalent than previously thought. Among those counted
in the survey were episodes of major depression, schizophrenia,
significant manic episodes and delusions, alcohol and drug abuse. "The
majority of people with psychiatric problems receive no professional
treatment," the study found. Among those with at least one disorder
during their lifetimes, "the most common psychiatric disorders were
major depression and alcoholic dependence." The study found that women
were more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression disorders, men
more likely to suffer from substance abuse.
[Ellipses omitted to facilitate reading.]
Cross Our Desk is published by ABLEnews, a Fidonet-backbone echo
featuring disability/medical news and information. ABLEnews is
carried by more than 300 BBSs in the US, Canada, Australia, Great
Britain, Greece, and Sweden. The echo, available from Fidonet and
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Exchange networks, is a public service of CURE.
ABLEnews text files--including our digests: Of Note and Mednotes
(suitable for bulletin and file use) are disseminated via the
ABLEfile Distribution Network, which is available from the filebone
and Planet Connect.
...For further information, contact CURE, 812 Stephen Street, Berkeley
Springs, West Virginia 254511 (304-258-LIFE/5433).