Forced electroshock in Minnesota

I've copied the following in its entirety from The Trouble with Spikol : URGENT: Forced Electroshock ...

Palin to speak today on disability issues

I haven't really blogged yet about my opinion on veep candidate Sarah Palin and her claim that having an infant son with Down Syndrome g...

Slumgullion #45

Yeah, I'm still here. I got new eyeglasses this weekend, and while it may take a few days to adjust to the bifocals (!) I hope to be spe...

The Russian

On my first night at the rehab hospital, I was about as vulnerable as a person can be. I'd been in the ICU at a different hospital for a...

Grand Rounds: Briefing the Next U.S. President

The latest Grand Rounds, a weekly carnival on medical and health blogging, is a collection around the theme of "Briefing the Next U.S. ...

Phoning It In

Last month, the state of Massachusetts issued a report on an August 2007 incident at one of the group homes of the Judge Rotenberg Center (...

Prison suicides and mental illness

Piggybacking on Amp's report of recent NYT statistics on prisons and prisoners in the U.S. is the news that prisoner suicides in Massa...

Remake of the Ramones' song

Direct link to YouTube video here . Visual description: This is a video remake of the classic Ramones song "I Wanna be Sedated" su...

More Profit, Less Nursing

A recent NYT article on nursing homes illustrates how for-profit institutions can be dangerous for inmates of those homes: The typical nur...

One more photo

These group action pics give me happy chills. Image description: From observer rachelleb , this color photo is taken from several stories ab...

I think it's safe to say. . .

that folks in wheelchairs have the edge in creating successful sit-in protests . Not that it's all about sitting around, but we do bring...

Updated: ADAPT action in Chicago

"Individually, no one's more invisible than a person in a wheelchair. Collectively they're pretty spectacular." Source How...

On Ruben Navarro

If you read just one thing this week about disability in America, read this . I briefly mentioned Navarro's case here but the above lin...

Updated: CNN , developmental disability and institutionalization

There's a CNN special report about to air (today or possibly tomorrow, I'm told) on the treatment of developmentally disabled people...

Friday music: Mr. Larkin by State Radio

Direct link to the YouTube live version of this song. A softer version is available at eMusic . Lyrics: Mr. Larkin I work in the kitchen At...

Olmstead Anniversary and the "right to die"

Today, June 22, 2007, is the eighth anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Olmstead v. LC and EW . LC and EW are Lois Curtis and Elain...

Ron Kovic on war

This is a video of activist Ron Kovic by MoveOn.Org speaking about war, the disability it causes and the cost to Americans. Thanks to Trini...

Coming Tuesday -- Info pulled upon request

The full info on Tuesday. Update: Info here .

Medical professionals who are excellent, asses and part of a failing system

My posse and I trekked into the Twin Cities this morning (despite threats of dangerous weather that have come true all around Minnesota ove...

Montes de Oca

I had several fantastic social studies and history teachers when I was in high school in suburban Chicago, and one of them arranged a fieldt...