www.aspie-editorial.com

 

This week, President Obama announced in his State of the Union address a forthcoming executive order requiring that all employees of federal contractors make at least $10.10/hour. The Autistic Self Advocacy Network applauds the President’s commitment to a living wage for low-income workers, yet is profoundly concerned by reports that the White House and Department of Labor do not intend to allow people with disabilities working for federal contractors with 14(c) certificates to receive the new $10.10/hour minimum wage protection. 

 

Twenty-four years after the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), it is long past time for people with disabilities to receive equal rights and equal pay. ASAN urges the White House to include people with disabilities working for federal contractors with 14(c) certificates in the new $10.10/hour minimum wage protection. In response to remarks made by Secretary of Labor Tom Perez after the State of the Union stating that the White House lacks the authority absent congressional action to prevent subminimum wage for workers employed by federal contractors with 14(c) certificates, ASAN has produced a legal memorandum analyzing and outlining the President and the Secretary of Labor’s authority to take such action. As the President himself stated, “If you cook our troops’ meals or wash their dishes, you shouldn’t have to live in poverty.” Surely, such a principle should apply to all Americans, with and without disabilities.

 

Download Our Legal Memo Here

 

This Saturday, March 1st, the disability community will gather across the nation to remember disabled victims of filicide–disabled people murdered by their family members or caregivers.

 

In recent years, we’ve seen a horrifying trend: parents and caregivers-those we should be able to trust most-are committing murder against disabled people under their power. There have been over forty such murders and murder-suicides that we know of in the last five years alone. The media portrays these murders as justifiable due to the “burden” of having a disabled person in the family. The murderers are then given sympathy and comparatively lighter sentences, and the victims are unfairly disregarded. For the last three years, ASAN, ADAPT, Not Dead Yet, the National Council on Independent Living and other disability rights organizations are coming together to mourn those losses, bring awareness to these tragedies, and demand justice and equal protection under the law for all people with disabilities.

 

This past year has been particularly tragic, as several prominent murder cases have occurred in our community. Just last month, on December 15th, the body of eight-year-old Randall Barrow was discovered in Alabama. His mother had drowned him and later killed herself. Only days later in Pennsylvania, 52 year-old Mickey Liposchok was found shot to death by his father in a murder-suicide. In both gruesome cases, the victims had a developmental disability.

 

Join the disability community and ASAN on March 1st to mourn the lives of those we’ve lost and bringing awareness to this horrific trend of violence against our community. If you’re interested in leading a vigil in your area, please e-mail Julia Bascom, Director of Programs at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, at jbascom@autisticadvocacy.org. ASAN will provide a toolkit and information on how to organize a vigil in your local community to all volunteers.

 

Join ASAN’s Director of Public Policy Samantha Crane at 2:00pm this Tuesday, January 21st, for an hour-long webinar exploring the health care needs of autistic young adults and youth with other developmental disabilities as they transition to adulthood.

 

The webinar will address policy issues and research related to healthcare transition for autistic young adults, as outlined in ASAN’s policy brief on the topic. In addition, recommendations to ensure that young adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) receive consistent access to quality health care, as well as support in taking on adult levels of autonomy with respect to their own health care needs, will also be offered.

 

Space is limited. Reserve your seat now for this webinar.

 

Greetings!

 

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network is now accepting applications for the 2014 Autism Campus Inclusion (ACI) Leadership Academy!  Accepted applicants will travel to Washington, DC and participate in advocacy training from June 8th to June 14th, 2014.  All expenses for the training are covered by the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, including travel and lodging.

 

The ACI summer leadership training prepares Autistic students to create systems change on their college campuses. Participants will acquire valuable skills in community organizing, policy formation, and activism. Applicants must be Autistic and current college students with at least one year remaining before graduation.

 

To apply, please submit a completed application to Natalia Rivera Morales at NRiveraMorales@autisticadvocacy.org with the subject line “2014 ACI Application”. You will receive a confirmation that your application has been received within one business day.

 

If you need assistance or accommodations at any stage, please contact Natalia Rivera Morales at NRiveraMorale@autisticadvocacy.org. 

Apply now!

Revelation: The permanent operation that will leave the man substituting food for liquid was sanctioned by health workers rather than a court of law

•  
• *Permanent operation leaves man on liquidised food for life
• *Revelation came as House of Lords investigates Labour’s 2005 Mental Capacity Act and secret court that the ruling created
• *Follows scandal of woman whose baby was taken and adopted

By Steve Doughty

PUBLISHED: 22:54, 5 January 2014

 

An autistic young man had all his healthy teeth removed on the orders of doctors, it was revealed yesterday.

 

The permanent operation left the man facing the rest of his life subsisting on liquids or forced to use dentures to chew solid food.

 

The decision to carry out the procedure and inflict a long-term disability was not tested in a court of law or approved by a judge, according to evidence provided by lawyers who work in the secretive and controversial Court of Protection.

 

Instead it was taken in secret after it is believed the Court of Protection ruled that the man was mentally unfit to decide for himself. Health workers said the procedure was necessary to stop the man from harming himself.

 

The harsh and radical dental operation was disclosed in files presented to a House of Lords committee investigating the Court and the law which gave birth to it, Labour’s 2005 Mental Capacity Act.

 

It follows the scandal last month over the decision of a Court of Protection judge to order a forced caesarean operation on a pregnant Italian woman who had been detained under mental health laws after suffering a breakdown at Stansted airport.

 

The treatment of Alexandra Pacchieri – whose baby was taken by Essex social workers for adoption in Britain – led to a renewed wave of calls for greater openness in the courts and from social and health workers who take life-changing decisions about families and patients behind closed doors.

 

The removal of the autistic man’s teeth came in a submission to peers by a group of lawyers who work regularly in the Court of Protection, which was set up by Labour’s mental capacity law to take decisions on health care and finance for people too ill to decide for themselves.

 

Led by barrister Victoria Butler-Cole, the lawyers said that among the defects of the law and the Court is ‘confusion about what counts as serious medical treatment and when health professionals need to go to court to obtain declarations.’

 

They added: ‘One example is a case in which an autistic young adult had all his teeth permanently removed to stop him self-harming, without the Court’s involvement.’

 

In keeping with the secrecy surrounding such decisions in the NHS, children’s and adult social work departments, and often in the family courts and the Court of Protection, no further details of the incident were discussed in nearly 2,000 pages of evidence which has now been published by the Lords committee.

 

The lawyers called for a string of reforms to the Mental Capacity Act and the Court of Protection, including changes to the ‘deprivation of liberty’ powers which allow judges to order someone to be detained in a care home.

 

The Lords committee, which is expected to report this year, was also told about research into the workings of the Act commissioned by the Department of Health, but never publicised.

 

Researchers from Bristol and Bradford Universities said aspects of the law were ‘worrying’ and criticised the way the Court of Protection decides when someone has no capacity to think for themselves.

 

Read in Full:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2534300/Doctors-order-autistic-mans-teeth-removed-Decision-taken-closed-doors-stop-self-harming.html